mobile phones linked to brain tumors

[Rachid Zitouni <azittouni@yahoo.com>]

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For your information:


The Irish Times, May 25, 1999 wrote today:

        Mobile phones linked to brain tumours 


By Kevin O'Sullivan, Environmental and Food Science
Correspondent 

Both Eircell and Esat Digifone, who between them supply
mobile phone services to almost one million Irish users, have declined
to comment on the latest research linking mobile phone usage with brain
tumours. This is despite scientists in the US and Sweden calling for
the introduction of explicit health warnings and recommending reduced
usage.

In line with mobile phone manufacturers, who deny any
indication of significant risk in published research, both companies
said that they would comment once they had had an opportunity to
examine in detail two new studies featured on last night's Panorama
programme on BBC television.

Eircell, which services some 660,000 mobile phone users, said that it
had no evidence to justify introducing a health warning or to recommend
reduced usage. However, cancer and radiation specialists warned on the
programme that mobile phone users should consider using low-emission or
"hands-free" devices because of research linking usage with brain
tumours.

"As of yet, there has been no sound, peer-reviewed scientific evidence
to suggest that mobile phones are harmful", said Eircell's community
relations manager, Ms Olivia Dobbs.

Esat Digifone, which has more than 300,000 subscribers, said that if
the studies were shown to have any validity the company would "go from
there".
Speaking on RTÉ News, Dr Carmel Mothersill, of the Dublin Institute of
Technology, said that it was too early to establish a link between
mobile phone usage and brain damage. A study of a large section of the
mobile phone-using population would be needed to gauge the long-term
effects of lowgrade radiation exposure.
The team of scientists who conducted the studies called on the Panorama
programme for the public to be given more detailed health information.
Dr Lennart Hardell, a Swedish cancer specialist, said that there was a
"biological indication of a problem" which required further research.
His study of patients with brain tumours had found that people who held
mobile phones to the side of their head had a 21/2 times greater risk
of getting a tumour than non-users.
Dr George Carlo, head of a research body funded by the
mobile phone industry in the US, outlined the findings of a study which
had indicated increased risk of a rare type of brain tumour. It was no
longer a responsible position for the manufacturers to say that there
was no problem, he said. "We have moved now into a grey area that
suggests that there could be a problem that needs to be looked at very,
very carefully."
Mr Ben Briscoe, the Fianna Fáil TD, called on the European Parliament
to fund a "definitive study" into any link between mobile phone use and
tumours.
Ms Nuala Ahern, the Green Party MEP, called on
manufacturers to comply with a European Parliament
recommendation that mobile phones carry a health warning which would
encourage people to use attachments rather that hold handsets directly
to the side of the head.
Cellular World, a leading Irish mobile phone retailer, confirmed that
there has been a big increase in demand for hands-free equipment. While
in the past such accessories had been bought for convenience or to
facilitate car usage, a spokeswoman for the firm said that media
coverage of possible health risks had fuelled customer demand for
hands-free sets.

A. ZITOUNI
azittouni@yahoo.com

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