Post subject: Using a mobile phone regularly maybe does not cause cancer

Using mobile phones regularly for up to 10 years does not cause brain tumours, according to one of the largest studies into the link between cancer and cellphone radiation.

The findings lend further weight to the mounting evidence showing that mobile phones do not appear to cause serious illnesses - at least in the relatively short period in which they have become commonplace.

Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London said yesterday that they found no correlation between a type of brain cancer called acoustic neuroma and the number of years a patient had used a mobile phone.

Neither did they find any link between the brain cancer and the length of time someone used a cellphone, the total number of hours the phones were used or the total number of calls that were made.

A comparison of older analogue headsets with the newer digital versions also failed to establish any link between the devices and the occurrence of acoustic neuromas in the brain.

Acoustic neuromas are benign tumours that grow in the nerve connecting the ear and inner ear to the brain. They appear close to where people usually place their mobile handsets so it was an obvious choice of cancer for the scientists to investigate.

It is estimated that a billion people worldwide use mobile phones so even a small increased risk of cancer could mean that cellphones might be responsible for many thousands of extra brain tumours.

However, the scientists said that there was relatively little information on the long-term use of mobiles and they could not rule out the possibility of a risk emerging over time.

The study, published in the online journal The British Journal of Cancer, studied 678 people with acoustic neuroma and compared their use of mobile phones over a 10-year period with a group of 3,553 people who had not developed the condition.

An international team of scientists selected people in five different countries - Britain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden - to participate in the study. All the countries had established mobile phone networks relatively early and so made good places to carry out the study.

“The study suggests there is no substantial risk of this tumour in the first 10 years after starting mobile phone use. However, an increased risk after longer term use could not be ruled out,” said a spokesman for the Institute of Cancer Research.

Professor Anthony Swerdlow, a senior investigator on the study at the Institute of Cancer Research, said mobile phone use was a relatively recent phenomenon and that longer-term problems may yet emerge.

Aaron

Post subject: Re: Using a mobile phone regularly maybe does not cause canc