Photo: Pong Research

After one of the most expensive and extensive studies of its kind ever conducted, we are left in much the same situation as when we started. We wanted to know if the radiation emitted from cell phones can have damaging health effects. What did we learn from Interphone?  Well, it seems that “no clear conclusions” were drawn from the Interphone study. Christopher Wild is the director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which coordinated the study, and he said that “an increased risk of brain cancer” was not established.

That’s to say that the study revealed nothing, though. They did say that there are “suggestions of an increased risk [at] the highest exposure levels.” In this way, they haven’t found the fire, but they found some “smoke” worth investigating.  However, other people are saying that the “data were dirty,” citing the way that the data was collected. There is going to be bias — recall bias, selection bias, participation bias — and this can skew the results.  For my part, these cell phone studies are starting to sound a little like the studies that try to link cancer to smoking. It’s hard to prove a causal relationship; you can only imply a correlational one.

The post Interphone: Cell phones might or might not cause cancer appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

This paper will only show the incidence of brain tumors, acoustic neuromas or parotid gland tumor research was stopped years ago, according to a report.  It’s sad to see such critical information being handled so haphazardly. I for one minimize cellphone use as much as possible and use a wired headset whenever a situation allows me.  Will the results of this study effect the way you use your cellphone?

The post Cellular phone industry’s fate coming May 18th appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The committee studied all the reports from around the world between 2003 and 2005 before announcing that the result has either proved inconclusive or do not meet scientific criteria.

The council also studied the 2003 Dutch TNO study into the effect of UMTS radio base stations, currently the same study is also being carried out in other countries. However this single study can’t prove health damage or a reduced feeling of well-being. the council also differed in its conclusion of other studies carried out in Naila, Germany, and Netanya, in Israel — saying that the design and execution of the study is not sufficient to substantiate that living in the proximity of a base station can cause cancer.

Studies carried out in Hawaii, Sydney, Britain, Vatican and Korea, also couldn’t establish the fact that living in proximity to radio and TV transmitters pose an increased risk of leukemia or any other form of cancer.

The Dutch health council said that “For (malignant) brain tumors, there does not, at this stage, appear to be any association,” and no reason at this stage to discourage mobile phone usage for children older than two years. This statement is based on the fact after it studied a WHO sponsored study called INTERPHONE in 14 countries, which has looked for a relationship between mobile phone usage and brain tumors.

Welcoming the report, MoNet which represents Netherlands mobile telecom carriers, expressed hope that it would encourage authorities to relax rules on where to build new towers and stations. However MoNet should not jump to conclusions as mobile phones and mobile phone towers are quite different in respects to frequency output strength.

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