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Friday 12 March 2010
Cellphones and Brain Tumors

The health hazards posed by cell phone usage are getting increasingly hard to ignore. They include, but are not exclusive to, an increased risk of brain cancer for people who have been using the phones for more than a decade. Numerous European countries, Israel and Canada are already pursuing guidelines for safer use of cellphones. A year ago a group of surgical neurologists at the University of Pittsburgh called for access to industry data. Even the FCC is beginning to drop hints of a problem.

I was shocked to learn that this past November (following close on the heels of an epidemiological review confirming a link between long-term cellphnone use and brain cancer in the journal of Surgical Neurology) the FCC quietly issued the following statement regarding concerns about radio frequency (RF) exposure from cellphones: “Keep wireless devices away from your body when they are on. Do not attach them to belts or carry them in pockets. Use the cell phone speaker to reduce head exposure. Consider texting rather than talking.” A link to this statement is now published in the fine print that accompanies a new cellphone, but any thinking citizen has to wonder, why has this crucial health information not been publicized?

Separating fact from fiction in the debate over health risks posed by cellphones has not been easy. On one hand a growing body of solid scientific evidence links long-term heavy cellphone use to an increased risk for brain cancer, especially when a person begins using a cell phone prior to age 20 (as much as 5-fold increased risk of brain cancer.) On the other hand there is a rather rabid group of nuts who excoriate cellphone usage along with most other modern conveniences even as they travel along the extraterrestrial highway spotting UFOs and little green men. These competing messages leave the average purchasing public feeling confused and ready to tune out the naysayers in favor of unbridled access to cellphones.

The debate, however, is beginning to be dominated by evidence-based science. There are several large peer reviewed analyses of data from as far back as 2007 (in the well respected Journal of Occupational Health) and as recently as September 2009 (in the gold-standard Journal of Surgical Neurology) establishing a link between heavy cell phone use of longer than 10 years and increased risk of brain tumors. While there are many telecom sponsored studies that show no correlation between short-term use of cell phones and brain cancer, there are no studies that refute the link between long term cell phone usage and brain cancer.

Notes

  1. scienceideas reblogged this from azspot
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  5. snowwhiite reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Sadly, no story relating to developing cancer seems to surprise me anymore… Read the article at azspot
  6. peace-truth-love reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Mum’s been saying this for so long… it scares me at times, but I’m not going to change my lifestyle drastically for what...
  7. anotheraveragejoe reblogged this from willw2 and added:
    crap, i’m reading this as I talk on my cellphone
  8. shelivesinafaerytale reblogged this from azspot and added:
    We knew this is possible. We knew it was coming. Next to be considered hazardous: wireless internet. It’s a good thing...
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  18. giftedboi reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Hanging out last night, we had a discussion about wifi, and we just sort of went “and who knows what that’s doing to...
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  20. morninggloria reblogged this from azspot and added:
    So all those times I wish that those idiots who constantly wear bluetooth headpieces get brain cancer and then they...
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