Mobile phone (cell phone) use is increasing extraordinarily
rapidly worldwide. There are now 4.6 billion mobile phone subscribers
worldwide.1
In many low- and middle-income countries use of cell phones has made
communications possible in vast areas lacking cable
connections.
Increasingly, in high-income
countries, cell phones have replaced ‘land lines’ for personal
telecommunications.
Users of mobile phones are exposed to
electromagnetic radiation, which has long been hypothesized to have
adverse health effects,
including increased risk of cancer.2,3
Research on biological mechanisms of cellular and tissue injury by
electromagnetic radiation has been inconclusive, and consequently
epidemiological studies have been the principal
source of evidence on potential health risks of mobile phone use.
Brain
tumours
have been of particular concern because the
electromagnetic radiation generated by mobile phones passes through the
brain
when the phones are used without a hands-free
device. To date, findings of diverse studies on mobile phone use and
brain tumour
risk have been reported with mixed findings, but
with no clear indication of increased risk for cancer.4,5
To provide needed evidence on the potential risk of brain cancer
associated with mobile phone use, the International Agency
for Research on Cancer (IARC) initiated a
multi-centre case–control study, the INTERPHONE study, in 1998–99.
A much awaited report from this large international study on mobile phone use and brain tumours is published in this issue
of the IJE.6
A number of previous papers cited in the article reported only partial
findings from components of the multicentre study,
heightening expectations on what the full data set
would eventually show.
The component studies were relatively
underpowered,
but they exhibited a rather consistent and baffling
reduced risk among cell phone users. We now have the complete results and the researchers' interpretation of them.
The INTERPHONE
investigators …
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