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Researchers reporting the largest study of its kind ever -- almost half a million people -- found there is no connection between mobile phone use and cancers of the head or neck.(File Photo)
Photo Gallery >>> | BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhuanet)
-- Researchers reporting the largest study of its kind ever -- almost half a
million people -- found there is no connection between mobile phone use and
cancers of the head or neck.
The research, which followed users for up to 10
years, only involved people who used phones up until 1995. That means many
test subjects would have been using older-style analogue phones.
Experts, Tuesday evening said this is particularly
important because analogue phones emit higher levels of radiation than modern
digital handsets, yet there was still no higher risk of cancer from
long-term use.
When mobile phones are used, the unit emits a radio
frequency electromagnetic field that can penetrate up to two inches into the
human brain, raising fears they may trigger cancers in the brain.
A Swedish study in 2004 found that using mobiles for
10 years or more can raise the risk of non-invasive growths called acoustic
neuromas.
The Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in
Copenhagen decided to carry out a major study to investigate whether the use of
a mobile phone was linked to a higher risk of cancers.
The team looked at 420,095 people who used mobile
phones between 1982 and 1995. They were then followed through until 2002 to see
if any developed cancer.
Overall they found 14,249 cancers were diagnosed in
the men and women studied, but there was no suggestion that any were linked to
mobile phone use.
They concluded mobile phone use was not linked to a
higher risk of tumours in the brain, salivary glands, eyes or around the ears.
Even for those who used their phones for 10 years
there was no greater likelihood of brain tumors.
"We found no evidence for an association between
tumor risk and cellular telephone use among either short-term or long-term
users," said lead researcher, Dr. Joachim Schuz.
They acknowledged there were some limitations to
their study -- namely that people who had company phones were not included as
they were not listed as individual subscribers, and the fact that many of the
comparison group were people who would have started using phones since 1995.
"This finding is consistent with the majority of
published studies in this field and the overall significant body of research
reporting no adverse health effects from using mobile phones," said a
spokeswoman for the Mobile Operators Association.
(Agencies)
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