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Interphone: Heavy mobile users risk cancer
United Kingdom Created: 16 May 2010
PEOPLE who use their mobile phones for at least 30 minutes a day for 10 years have a greater risk of developing brain cancer, a landmark study has found.

The chance of suffering from a malignant tumour is increased by more than a third with prolonged use, according to a long-awaited report by the World Health Organisation.

The outcome of the 10-year Interphone study — the largest of its kind, compiling research from 13 countries — has been eagerly anticipated by both the phone industry, which contributed substantially to its funding, and campaigners who warn of radiation risks from handsets.

Its results, which will be published this week, show that only those in the “heaviest user” category are at increased risk of developing glioma tumours, a type of brain cancer.

This category, however, includes anyone who regularly uses their handset for more than 30 minutes a day.

They concluded that there was no increased risk of cancer in other users.

However, the report is expected to spark a row over the validity of its findings.

The scientists have admitted that more research will be needed because of their broad categorisation of heavy phone use and also because phone users under the age of 30 were excluded from the study.

Interphone scientists defined a “regular” mobile user as anyone making one call a week over a six-month period.

The average mobile phone use of those in the study was between two and 2 1/2 hours a month.

“Today mobile phone use has become much more prevalent and it is not unusual for young people to use mobile phones for an hour or more a day,” the scientists said in a statement.

Some of the questions raised by the Interphone research are puzzling. The statistics appear to show that at lower levels of usage, mobile phones actually protect against cancer, something that even the study’s authors reject as implausible.

Critics of the Interphone study, which was based on interviews with more than 5,000 brain cancer victims, claim omissions and errors have left it deeply flawed.

They believe that the propensity of mobile-phone radiation to cause cancer is much greater than the study shows.

A new piece of research, backed by the European Union, has been launched to investigate possible links between brain tumours in children and mobile phone use.
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Source: Times Online, Daniel Foggo, 16 May 2010

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