New Study Warns that Cell Phone Use May Slightly Increase Cancer Risk

[Ed Hardy]

An extensive study overseen by the World Health Organization has found that cell phone use may cause a slight but measurable increase in several types of tumors, some of which are dangerous.

The Interphone study, which was overseen by the World Health Organization, interviewed over 12,000 people in 13 countries in the first half of this decade.

The results have not yet been published, but a preliminary report says that it found “significantly increased risk” of tumors from using mobile phones for over 10 years.

This study found cell phones cause an increased risk of glioma, a type of brain tumor. It also showed an increased chance of getting acoustic neurinoma, a benign tumor of a nerve running from the ear to the brain, and tumors of the parotid salivary gland.

Some Perspective
It's important to keep in mind that even with these increases, the odds of getting one of these tumors is still very low.

For example, gliomatosis cerebri is one of the most common type of brain tumor, but it still only affects about 1.3 people in 100,000. One part of the Interphone study found a 39% increase in the chance of getting this type of tumor from years of cell phone use. While this sounds dramatic, it means that the incidence in the population increases to just 1.8 people in 100,000.

The Interphone study does not seek to explain why cell phones are causing these tumors, only that cell phones users are slightly more likely to have them.

Take Precautions
The head of this study, Dr Elisabeth Cardis, told The Daily Telegraph that “In the light of a number of studies which, though limited, suggest a possible effect of radio-frequency radiation, precautions are important.”

She recommends restricting children's access to cell phones. She also brings up hands-free kits as "interesting" possibilities, in addition to simply reducing the amount of time spent talking on the phone.

Choose the Right Phone
Not all mobile phones put out the same amount of radio waves. The Environmental Working Group recently published a ranking of over 1,000 phones.

According to this stude, smartphones putting out the most radio-frequency radiation include the T-Mobile myTouch 3G, BlackBerry Curve 8300 and 8330, BlackBerry Bold 9000, and the Palm Treo 600 and 650.

On the other side of the coin, models that put out the least include the Samsung Impression, Samsung Propel Pro, and BlackBerry Storm.

The Environmental Working Group has an online form that lets look up how many different phone models rank in output; this can be found on its website.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

[CalebSchmerge]

Interesting results. It would be interesting to find out if older phones (i.e. the phones the participants had early in the study) would have increased the risk over newer phones.

Maybe someday we will see a phone that is "cancer free".

[Johnny T]

Perhaps the different frequencies used by different network also have an effect?

For their so called "Worst phones" list, 5/10 of them are on CDMA networks. Oh the "Best phones" list only 1 of them uses CDMA.

Here is something odd I spotted in the "Exec. Summary":

More than 4 billion people around the world use cell phones (ITU 2009). Because cell phone technology has been around for just two decades, scientists do not yet fully understand long-term health risks from cell phone radiation. But recent research has prompted serious concerns about exposure to wireless emissions.

I am inclined to believed that there are 4 billion cell phone users in the world.


Lastly, if we were to use BT headsets and leave our phones in our pockets, surely that will "increase" the risk of testicular cancer for us males? O_o Of course I don't see the mention of such possible risk anywhere, probably because "brain tumour" sounds alot worst to people and they are just trying to catch people's attention.

[Ed Hardy]

More than 4 billion people around the world use cell phones (ITU 2009).

This number is actually a bit low. The International Telecommunication Union said there were around 4.1 billion cell phone users worldwide at the end of last year. That number has almost certainly gone up by now, considering that in 2002 there were just 1 billion mobile phone users.

This means that over 60% of the entire human race has a cell phone.

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[Johnny T]

I can believed that there are 4+ billion cellphones (numbers?)out in there somewhere right now, but not 4+ billion unique users.

Then again I suppose even 10yr old kids have cellphones nowadays in some places. :-/

[Ed Hardy]

This study shows why this issue has been so hotly debated over the years: it appears that mobile phones do increase the risks from certain kinds of tumors, but only very slightly.

So there's two ways to look at this. The odds of you personally getting cancer from your phone are very slight. The odds you you getting struck by lighting in your lifetime are probably higher: 1 in 5,000.

On the other hand, if you look at the whole population, those tiny odds add up. Consider the statistics I gave on gliomatosis cerebri. Cell phones appear to increase the number of people who will be killed by this dangerous type of brain tumor by 1 in 200,000. Considering there are at least 4.1 billion cell phone users in the world, that means cell phones could eventually kill 20,500. Looked at that way, it's understandable that people are concerned.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
The thing I tried hardest to do with this article was not be a fear monger. Some journalists when reporting stories like this only give you half the facts, deliberately or not deceiving the public, making the situation seem like a crisis.

If someone told you that your cell phone increased your chances of getting a deadly type of brain cancer by 40%, you'd probably be scared. But pay careful attention to what is being said: it does not mean that your chance of getting brain cancer from your cell phone is 40%.

You have to take what your chance of getting this cancer is without a cell phone, and increase those chances by 40%. In this case, your odds of getting gliomatosis cerebri are minute, and when you factor in your cell phone they are still minute.

This happens in other areas too. The next time some reporter tells you that the odds of something happening have increased dramatically, ask what the odds where beforehand. Doubling almost nothing still gives you almost nothing.
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[Johnny T]

I completely agree with that. Cell phones probably lead to the death of people talk on the phone whilst driving than possible related illnesses.

[Antoine Wright]

I wonder if the study accounted for diet, stresses, and regional genetic variaions in making those conclusions. Cancer - that is, cells that don't act within the normalized method of beavior and function - is a tricky thing to diagnose outside of obvious cases, and there are too many vectors to simply state one thing or another is the cause (entierly).

Nevertheless, glad to know that someone is going about doing a full study on this that is closer to accurate than others done in the recent past.

There are approx 4-4.1 billion unique users of mobile phones; not long after the turn of the year there will be about 4.5-5billion registered mobiles. There are an increasing amount of regions where mobile phone penetratoin rates are over 100% and rising and this is the cause for the discrepenacy. The US sits around 93% if memory serves right (might be 83%); places such as South Africa, South Korea, UK, etc. are well over 100% and rising pretty steadily.

[Ed Hardy]

Originally Posted by Antoine Wright

I wonder if the study accounted for diet, stresses, and regional genetic variations in making those conclusions.

I believe this is the reason why the study was performed in 12 different countries, in an attempt to weed out regional differences.

Originally Posted by Antoine Wright

Cancer - that is, cells that don't act within the normalized method of behavior and function - is a tricky thing to diagnose outside of obvious cases, and there are too many vectors to simply state one thing or another is the cause (entirely).

This is a statistical study, not a medical one. It seeks to show there is a statistical link between people who use mobile phones and and certain types of tumors, not explain the medical reasons for this connection.

There's always a danger in this type of study, as when not done carefully it can come up with false connections. My high school science teacher explained it like this: it's possible to use statistics to "prove" that baseball causes warm weather, because every spring it always gets warm about the time baseball season starts.

As I said, I don't want to be a fear monger, which is why I generally don't report on these types of studies. But the fact that the World Health Organization is overseeing this research made me make an exception in this case.
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[Antoine Wright]

Go figure, Tomi Ahonen just posted this:
http://communities-dominate.blogs.co...he-planet.html

That should help with some of the scope of this dicussion