New links between cell phones and tumors
One analysis shows cell phone users have a 10% to 30% increased risk of tumors -- but more research is still needed to confirm the findings.
Wed, Oct 14 2009 at 12:31 PM EST
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Just a month after Environmental Working Group released its online consumer guide to cell phone radiation, new studies suggest that cell phones are indeed a gadget to be concerned about — though how alarmed we should be still remains unclear.
The Los Angeles Times reports that when data from 23 different studies were pooled together, no link was seen between cell phone use and brain tumors. However, when data from the eight strongest studies from the 23 were singled out, “cell phone users were shown to have a 10 percent to 30 percent increased risk of tumors compared with people who rarely or never used the phones.”
That said, seven of those eight studies were conducted by a single Swedish researcher. And the data could be affected by the fact that many people in Sweden live in more rural areas, where more radio-frequency energy is generally required for cell phone use.
What can we take away from these findings? We need more and better studies that aren’t funded by the cell phone industry, according to the researchers. In the meantime, use Environmental Working Group’s online consumer guide to cell phone radiation to find out how the radiation level of your phone compares to that other phones — and what you can do to reduce cell phone radiation exposure.
Photo: Billie Hara
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Comments
John Henning
10/21/2009 15:01 PM
By "eight strongest studies" does that mean the eight most extensive studies or does that mean the eight studies that show the strongest connection between cancer and cell phone usage? In other words, let's say you did ten studies to determine if cell phone usage was involved in car accidents. seven of them show an increase in accidents when cell phones are used while driving while three show no difference between using a cell phone or not in the rate of accidents. If you threw out the 7 and.... More
Siel
10/21/2009 15:12 PM
Hey John -- Clicking on the link to read the whole LAT articles will answer this more in full for you, but the "eight strongest studies" refers to the studies that 1) didn't get funding from the cell phone industry, and 2) researchers were not told which people had tumors.
Richard Cameron
10/16/2009 03:57 AM
There is no doubt in my mind that cell phone radiation in dangerous, but my biggest concern is that everybody keeps looking at cell phones but the biggest potential problem is DECT cordless phones. I bet you were not aware that they are transmitting pulsed microwave radiation 24/7 even if a call is not being made. This is because the original specification called for constant communication between the base stations and all the handsets. This failing has been addressed in some parts of Europe.... More
