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Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 11:48 AM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1449
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 23/5/2013 |
This is becoming a bit of an old chestnut but a court in Rome has ruled that there is a causal link between excessive mobile phone usage and cancer, after a man who used a mobile phone for 5-6 years for 12 years developed a tumour in the trigeminal nerve near to where the phone touched his head. The tumour is non-cancerous His face was left paralysed and he takes daily morphine for pain. An oncologist and professor of environmental mutagenesis Angelo Gino Levis said that electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile and cordless phones can damage cells, making tumours more likely. However, whilst WHO claim that mobile phone use is possibly carcinogenic - there is not enough evidence for mobile phones to be directly blamed for cancer. What do you think about this ruling? Does it add to a growing hunch? Or is the causal link too flimsy? If a link could be directly attributed, perhaps the mobile phone manufactures might go the way of the tobacco companies? |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 12:10 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1270
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 23/5/2013 |
Anecdote is a poor form of evidence - but it's still evidence and should point us in the direction of better studies/trials. Mobile phones have now been around long enough and been in widespread enough in use to see if there has been a genuine increase in tumours of the neck, face, ears, eyes, brain or cranial nerves (as in this case). Common sense might hint that microwaving your head for hours a day, day after day, year after year might not be very good for you but most of us don't use our mobiles in that way. |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 2:12 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3045
First: 27/3/2012 Last: 20/5/2013 |
At present there is not enough evidence to say that mobile phones might cause cancer. But it is the fact that cell phones emit non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, which may stimulate the body cells to behave in an abnormal pattern, causing cancer. The amount of radiofrequency energy a cell phone user is exposed to depends on the technology of the phone, the distance between the phone’s antenna and the user, the extent and type of use, and the user’s distance from cell phone towers. |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 3:53 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2056
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 23/5/2013 |
The CEPHALO study looked at mobile phone use in young peole with brian tumours, and found no association: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21795665 This study included ALL Danes who owned a mobile phone before 1996, and looked for MS. It found no association: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22558088 The same population was followed up for brain tumours and no association was found A very recent review has criticised the Danish study on statisical grounds: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22755267 But clearly, Nordic studies have no relevance in La Bella Italia! John |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 9:23 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 322
First: 12/11/2010 Last: 20/5/2013 |
A few dodgy lawyers managed to persuade a judge to give some cash to someone who used a mobile phone for stupd amounts of time; Similarly, italian scientists who did not guess the right wway about an earthquake end up in jail. The law is an ass, |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 22/10/2012 9:47 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1789
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
The INTERPHONE study has shown increased risks for parotid gland tumors, brain tumors and acoustic neurinomas.There are other studies on cellular levels showing influence on genetic level. Although most studies demonstrated association among heavy users in areas where there were less antennas, still we should not overlook the influences. Less talking is better.
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 23/10/2012 7:08 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
No NO NO NO NNNOO NOOOO! I think the 'lets get everything to cause us cancer' wears very thin with me these days. As previous people have posted, the evidence is either sketchy or non-existant so I think it should just be discounted and left alone for a while untill proper eveidence backs up the hypothesis. |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 23/10/2012 7:14 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
For example, what makes this man more likely to get a tumour? There must have been pre-dispoing factors or the guy must have the thing strapped to his face permanently strapped to his face. Why oh why oh why should the whole of mobile phones be used as the basis for an argument surrounding mobile phone risk when this is based on an n=1? Silly... |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 23/10/2012 9:06 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2056
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 23/5/2013 |
yoram, Hang on. The Interphone study? That was re-evaluated by this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22403263 that concluded "Raised risks of glioma with mobile phone use, as reported by one (Swedish) study forming the basis of the IARC's re-evaluation of mobile phone exposure, are not consistent with observed incidence trends in US population data, although the US data could be consistent with the modest excess risks in the Interphone study." John |
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Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
posted at 23/10/2012 10:19 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1789
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 23/5/2013 |
In Response to Re: Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?: yoram, Hang on. The Interphone study? That was re-evaluated by this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22403263 that concluded "Raised risks of glioma with mobile phone use, as reported by one (Swedish) study forming the basis of the IARC's re-evaluation of mobile phone exposure, are not consistent with observed incidence trends in US population data , although the US data could be consistent with the modest excess risks in the Interphone study ." My underline. And the actual INTERPHONE Study Group found that "There was no increase in risk of acoustic neuroma with ever regular use of a mobile phone or for users who began regular use 10 years or more before the reference date." My underline http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21862434 And the original INTERPHONE Study found that: "There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma in long-term mobile phone users with high RF exposure and of similar, but apparently much smaller, increases in meningioma risk. The uncertainty of these results requires that they be replicated before a causal interpretation can be made." My underline http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21659469 The nature and objective sof the INTERPHONE study are described in this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17636416 and mentions collecting parotid tumour data, but I can't find a report. Please post a link. John Posted by John D Here is the abstract about parotid tumors.
Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Feb 15;167(4):457-67. Epub 2007 Dec 6. Cellular phone use and risk of benign and malignant parotid gland tumors--a nationwide case-control study.Sadetzki S, Chetrit A, Jarus-Hakak A, Cardis E, Deutch Y, Duvdevani S, Zultan A, Novikov I, Freedman L, Wolf M. SourceCancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit, Gertner Institute, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. siegals@gertner.health.gov.il AbstractThe objective of this nationwide study was to assess the association between cellular phone use and development of parotid gland tumors (PGTs). The methods were based on the international INTERPHONE study that aimed to evaluate possible adverse effects of cellular phone use. The study included 402 benign and 58 malignant incident cases of PGTs diagnosed in Israel at age 18 years or more, in 2001-2003, and 1,266 population individually matched controls. For the entire group, no increased risk of PGTs was observed for ever having been a regular cellular phone user (odds ratio = 0.87; p = 0.3) or for any other measure of exposure investigated. However, analysis restricted to regular users or to conditions that may yield higher levels of exposure (e.g., heavy use in rural areas) showed consistently elevated risks. For ipsilateral use, the odds ratios in the highest category of cumulative number of calls and call time without use of hands-free devices were 1.58 (95% confidence interval: 1.11, 2.24) and 1.49 (95% confidence interval: 1.05, 2.13), respectively. The risk for contralateral use was not significantly different from 1. A positive dose-response trend was found for these measurements. Based on the largest number of benign PGT patients reported to date, our results suggest an association between cellular phone use and PGTs.
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Forums » Off duty » News & media » Do you think that mobile phones cause cancer?
