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Cell phones and risk of brain tumors: What’s the real science? (CNN):
“…In 2011, the World Health Organization classified the kind of low-energy radiation that cell phones emit as “possibly carcinogenic” because of a link between cell phone use and a type of malignant brain tumor called glioma and a benign brain tumor called acoustic neuroma…Although the WHO classification sounds ominous, it puts cell phones on the same level of cancer risk as caffeine and pickled vegetables. The position of numerous health organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is even more measured, stating that current evidence is not conclusive and more research is needed…
The Interphone study is the largest study to date looking at cell phones and brain tumors…The study found no association between cell phone use and glioma rates, except in the group of participants who reported using their cell phone for at least 1,640 hours in their lifetime without a head-set. Those participants were 40% more likely than those who never used a cell phone to have a glioma. However authors of the Interphone study stated that people with brain tumors might be more likely than healthy people to exaggerate their cell phone use, and thus the link between heavy phone use and brain tumor risk in the study might not be real…
There are a number of ways to reduce exposure to cell phone radiation, if users are worried about the possibility of health risks, including using a headset and texting instead of talking.”
Study: Mobile phones, brain tumors, and the interphone study: where are we now? (Environmental Health Perspectives)
- BACKGROUND: In the past 15 years, mobile telephone use has evolved from an uncommon activity to one with > 4.6 billion subscriptions worldwide. However, there is public concern about the possibility that mobile phones might cause cancer, especially brain tumors.
- OBJECTIVES: We reviewed the evidence on whether mobile phone use raises the risk of the main types of brain tumor—glioma and meningioma—with a particular focus on the recent publication of the largest epidemiologic study yet: the 13-country Interphone Study.
- DISCUSSION: Methodological defcits limit the conclusions that can be drawn from the Interphone study, but its results, along with those from other epidemiologic, biological, and animal studies and brain tumor incidence trends, suggest that within about 10–15 years after first use of mobile phones there is unlikely to be a material increase in the risk of brain tumors in adults. Data for childhood tumors and for periods beyond 15 years are currently lacking.
- CONCLUSIONS: Although there remains some uncertainty, the trend in the accumulating evidence is increasingly against the hypothesis that mobile phone use can cause brain tumors in adults.
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