It was not long ago when mobile phones were considered luxury items or tools reserved for corporate executives. A decade and a half later, every Joe, Jane, and their child now sport a cell phone or some multimedia-capable variant thereof. Fortunately for the general populace and myself, a recent case-control study done in Japan has shown no significant relationship between mobile phone use and brain cancer. There have been many other studies with similar findings, but this is the first to further analyze the spatial relationship between radiofrequency exposure and tumor location.
The case population included 322 patients newly diagnosed with a brain tumor (88 with glioma, 132 with meningioma, and 102 with a pituitary adenoma). They were pooled from neurosurgery departments throughout Tokyo and 25 neighboring cities. The control group comprised of 683 healthy volunteers who were randomly contacted by cell phone. From both groups, the study participants were interviewed on their patterns of cell phone use: type of phone, length of use, average duration per call, frequency of calls, etc. Use of cordless telephones was also considered. The study further analyzed the 3D spatial relationship between source of radiofrequency exposure and location of tumor. These data were used to estimate a specific absorption rate (SAR) within the tumor.
The study did not find a significant increase in the odds (presented as odds ratio with 95% confidence interval) of the three tumor types with typical use of mobile phones. There was no significant difference found in incidence of tumor with increased cumulative time of use. There was also no substantial increase in risk when analyzing subgroups according to mean levels of maximal SAR. The researchers therefore conclude that there was “no increase in overall risk of glioma or meningioma in relation to regular mobile phone use among [their] Japanese subjects“.
It is interesting to note how the general public had embraced mobile phones long before learning of its relative safety. Could this be attributed to our collective state of denial (”it won’t affect me“), the immense utility and convenience of the device overweighing any potential health risks, or the sheer skill of the Sprint-Verizon-Cingular- marketing machine? Fortunately, most research studies have so far dismissed links between mobile phone emissions and brain cancer. But what if they didn’t?
Related Post: Mobile phones are safe in hospitals
- Source
- Takebayashi T, Varsier N, Kikuchi Y, Wake K, Taki M, Watanabe S, Akiba S, Yamaguchi N. Mobile phone use, exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic field, and brain tumour: a case-control study. Br J Cancer 2008;98:652-9.
