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Mobile phone use 'does not' raise risk of tumours
Last updated at 00:07am on 06.12.06
A study in Denmark has found that using a mobile phone is not linked to a higher risk of brain tumours
Using a mobile phone does not raise the risk of brain tumours, the biggest ever study of its kind has found.
Research involving almost half a million people has concluded there is no link between mobile phone use and cancers of the head or neck.
UK experts last night said the important study, which followed phone users for up to 10 years, should give people confidence that using a mobile is not linked to a higher risk of brain tumours.
The findings are particularly relevant given that more than 40 million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones, including many children.
The research only involved people who used phones up until 1995, which means many would have been on older-style analogue phones.
Experts say this is particularly important as they emit higher levels of radiation than modern digital handsets we use today - and yet still there was 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. This therefore raised fears that 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 in fact 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 tumours.
The researchers led by Dr Joachim Schuz concluded: "We found no evidence for an association between tumour risk and cellular telephone use among either short-term or long-term users."
In fact among men, they found the phone users had a lower risk of cancer than the general population.
They put this down to the fact that mobile phone users at this time tended to be in better paid jobs, had healthier lifestyles and were less likely to smoke.
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.
Since 1995 mobile phone use has soared in the UK. Then around five million mobile phones were in use in Britain compared to an estimated 65 million phones today.
Although the study involves large numbers, which means it is statistically reliable, if there was any small effect it is possible that might only emerge if millions, rather than hundreds of thousands of people were studied.
However the authors also said the research had several strengths.
"Because of the nationwide coverage, the large size of the cohort and the long follow-up period, we were able to address the potential risks many years after first telephone use that has not been possible in most studies conducted to date."
Professor Tricia McKinney, of the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Leeds, who is a leading expert on mobile phones and tumours, said: "The results of this Danish cohort study are important as they have analysed data from mobile phone company records and do not rely on users remembering for up to 10 years in the past how often they used their phone. "The large numbers of subscribers in the study mean we can have some confidence in the results that have not linked mobile phone use to a risk of any cancer, including brain tumours."
She said the study did not differentiate between analogue and digital phones, some of which would have been in use at this time.
But overall the radio frequency radiation from modern digital handsets is lower than analogue phones.
"The fact that they still found no risk of cancer with the older phones is important," she added.
A spokeswoman for the Mobile Operators Association said: 'This finding is consistent with majority of published studies in this field and the overall significant body of research reporting no adverse health effects from using mobile phones.'
Reader views (3)
Any person with a minimal background in Physics know that electrmagnetic waves bring power and that power is absorbed by the brain, and raises its temperature. It is not a natural process for our body.
Nobody can really tell what effect can have this process on a complicated system like the brain.
The fact that it does not causes cancer does not mean it can have other undesirable effect on the brain activity, memory or intelligence etc.
- Carlo, US
The evidence is still there that Mobile phone masts do emit microwves and these waves can effect the brain. Prof Barrie Trower has wrtten papers on this subject and he did work for the Gov during the 60's experimenting with microwaves. There is a new digital system out now that is as dangerous as before. Although mobile phones are deemed to be safe so was asbestos!
- Kevin Herniman, Chippenham, UK
Nobody gets cancer from smoking within the first 10 years either. It's too early for any serious scientific institution to make any kind of recommendation either way. Phone user associations in France recommend individual mobile phone calls shouldn't last any more than 3 minutes.
- Philippe, Germany
