Consistent pattern of increased risks of acoustic neuromas and brain tumors
April 5... Taken
together, the available epidemiological studies of long-term cell phone users
point to a "consistent pattern" of increased risks of acoustic
neuromas and brain tumors, according to a new analysis by the Hardell-Mild team
in Sweden.
In their paper, which was posted on the Occupational and
Environmental Medicine Web site yesterday, Lennart Hardell of Örebro
University and Kjell Hansson Mild of the National Institute for Working Life in
Umeå show that the tumor risk among those who have used mobile phones for ten
years or more is highest on the same side of the head the phone was used
(ipsilateral exposure). "These results are certainly of biological
relevance since the highest risk was found for tumors in the most exposed area
of the brain using a latency period that is relevant in carcinogenesis,"
they wrote, adding that, "Our findings stress the importance of longer
follow-up to evaluate long-term health risks from mobile phone use."
The Swedish researchers and their American collaborator, Lloyd Morgan of
Berkeley, CA, assembled a total of 15 case-control epidemiological studies, of
which 11 had data for those who had used cell phones for ten or more years. In
their meta-analysis, they found that the long-term, ipsilateral risk was
two-and-a-half times higher for acoustic neuromas and twice as high for glioma
(a type of brain tumor) as would normally be expected. Both risk estimates are
statistically significant.
Earlier this year, a meta-analysis by members of the Interphone study group also reported an increased risk of
ipsilateral brain tumors among those who had used mobile phones for ten or more
years (see our January 22 post). Previously, Interphone researchers had found an elevated risk of acoustic
neuromas among long-term users. See also our comment "Is There a Ten-Year Latency for Cell
Phone Tumor Development?"
Source: http://www.microwavenews.com/