News for Finland

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More INTERPHONE wierdness as significant "protective effect" reported as "no association"
Finland Created: 11 Sep 2008
The latest Interphone paper by Lahkola et al from Finland [Lahkola 2008] incorrectly summarises its findings as "Our results do not provide support for an association between mobile phone use and risk of meningioma". In actual fact, their results suggest a very distinct and fully significant protective association between mobile phones and meningioma risk. Their figures suggest that being a mobile phone user can lower your lifetime risk of developing a meningioma by as much as 25%!

In reality of course this association is unlikely, but to conclude that there was no support for an association is misleadingly hiding behind the fact there are some very serious flaws in the study design that would prevent a positive association from being found. There are 65 odds ratios in the paper, of which 62 of them are below 1 - we would expect about 50% below and 50% above if there was truly no association and no significant design flaws.

In the paper text itself the authors do recognise the over-abundance of low ORs, and explain that this is likely due to "selection bias" which would lead to an "underestimation of risk". This is true, and is an issue covered repeatedly in great detail in Lloyd Morgan's excellent column. What they then failed to mention is the three ORs that were over 1 were all in the heaviest user category. As we covered before on the last paper that we found with this significantly protective effect (also, curiously, from the same author), a crude adjustment for the selection bias gives a very different picture for risk in the highest user group. Their 2007 paper[Lahkola 2007] would have found approximately a 40% increase in risk for the highest user group with ajustment for the nonexistent "protective" effect, and this paper would have found a 30% increase (of borderline significance). This is crude statistical maths and is not in any way a water-tight argument, but to have not covered (even speculatively) what controlling for the selection bias would have done to the heaviest user group is a very serious omission by the study authors. With 62 of the 65 ORs below 1 (showing a protective effect), and 27 of these being statistically significant, there are clearly very serious issues with the paper. There is a very real chance that this study does in fact support an association between long term mobile phone use and an increase in brain cancer risk once the study flaws are adjusted for, and this possibility should have been mentioned in the study abstract.

Louis Slesin has also covered this issue on Microwave News, and looks at the findings in context with the other papers in the Interphone project, including the continuing rift between project researchers about how to interpret the low ORs generally and the consistent increase for long term phone users.

References

1. N Lahkola A et al, (August 2008) Meningioma and mobile phone use--a collaborative case-control study in five North European countries, Int J Epidemiol. 2008 Aug 2.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18676984

2. P Lahkola A et al, (April 2007) Mobile phone use and risk of glioma in 5 North European countries, Int J Cancer. 2007 Apr 15;120(8):1769-75
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17230523
Click here to view the source article.
Source: PowerWatch UK, 03 Sep 2008

Studies from T. Alanko and co-researchers in the area of telecommunications published
Finland Created: 5 Aug 2008
Telecommunications ; Studies from T. Alanko and co-researchers in the area of telecommunications published
2008 JUL 22 - (NewsRx.com) -- According to a study from Helsinki, Finland, "At specific situations, workers need to approach very close to the transmitting base station antennas. In this study, occupational exposure to RF fields from base station antennas was assessed at several rooftops."
"The measurements were carried out by mapping the power densities around the antennas. The results were compared with the ICNIRP guidelines," wrote T. Alanko and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "The results indicate that the reference levels for workers and the general public may be exceeded in front of the transmitting antenna at distances up to 1 and 2 m, respectively."

Alanko and colleagues published the results of their research in Annales Des Telecommunications - Annals of Telecommunications (Occupational exposure to RF fields from base station antennas on rooftops. Annales Des Telecommunications -
Annals of Telecommunications, 2008;63(1-2):125-132).

For additional information, contact T. Alanko, Finnish Institute Occupational Health, Topliuksenkatu 41 A A, Helsinki 00250, Finland.

The publisher of the journal Annales Des Telecommunications - Annals of Telecommunications can be contacted at: Springer-Verlag France,
1 Rue Paul Cezanne, Paris, F-75008, France.

This article was prepared by Science Letter editors from staff and other reports. Science Letter via NewsRx.com.
Source: Sylvie

"The measurements were carried out by mapping the power densities around the antennas"
Finland Created: 21 Jul 2008
Telecommunications; Studies from T Alanko and co-researchers in the area of telecommunications published
According to a study from Helsinki, Finland, "At specific situations, workers need to approach very close to the transmitting base station antennas.
In this study, occupational exposure to RF fields from base station antennas was assessed at several rooftops."
"The measurements were carried out by mapping the power densities around the antennas. The results were compared with the ICNIRP guidelines," wrote T. Alanko and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "The results indicate that the reference levels for workers and the general public may be exceeded in front of the transmitting antenna at distances up to 1 and 2 m, respectively."

Alanko and colleagues published the results of their research in Annales Des Telecommunications - Annals of Telecommunications (Occupational exposure to RF fields from base station antennas on rooftops. Annales Des Telecommunications -
Annals of Telecommunications, 2008;63(1-2):125-132).
For additional information, contact T. Alanko, Finnish Institute Occupational Health, Topliuksenkatu 41 A A, Helsinki 00250, Finland.

The publisher of the journal Annales Des Telecommunications - Annals of Telecommunications can be contacted at: Springer-Verlag France, 1 Rue Paul
Cezanne, Paris, F-75008, France.

This article was prepared by Science Letter editors from staff and other reports. Science Letter via NewsRx.com.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Sylvie

Mobile phone radiation affects human tissue
Finland Created: 13 Feb 2008
A new study completed by the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) on effects of the mobile phone radiation on human skin strengthens the results of the human cell line analyses: living tissue responds to mobile phone radiation. The results were published in the web journal of BMC Genomics on February 11, 2008.

Earlier studies have shown that mobile phone radiation (radiofrequency modulated electromagnetic fields; RF-EMF) alters protein expression and activity in human endothelial cell line. STUK’s new study is globally unique, because for the first time it has examined whether a local exposure of human skin to RF-EMF will cause changes in protein expression in living people.

In the study, a small area of forearm’s skin in 10 volunteers was exposed to GSM signal for one hour. After that skin biopsies were collected from exposed and non-exposed areas of skin and all extractable proteins were examined. The analysis of 580 proteins identified 8 proteins that were statistically significantly affected.

”Mobile phone radiation has some biological effect. Even if the changes are small, they still exist”, says Dariusz Leszczynski, Research Professor at STUK.

According to Leszczynski it is much too early to say will these changes induced by the mobile phone radiation have any effect on health.

”The aim of this project was not detecting any possible health effects, but to find out whether living human skin responds to mobile phone radiation and whether proteomics approach is useful in sorting out this issue”, he states.

A more extensive study with 50-100 volunteers is now planned at STUK. If the financing is settled, the study will be launched in 2009.

Funding for the present study was provided by Tekes - Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation and STUK, and it was a part of national HERMO project (Health Risk Assessment of Mobile Communications) finished in September 2007. The entire article Mobile phone radiation might alter protein expression in human skin is available in the BMC Genomics web journal: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/77/abstract

Additional information:

Research Professor Dariusz Leszczynski, tel +358 9 759 88 694
Information officer Riikka Laitinen-Sorvari, tel +358 9 759 88 210
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Leszczynski et al., 12 Feb 2008

No "ka-ching!" for Ka-Shing - Hutchison 3G TV rescue plan is a flop
Finland Created: 25 Sep 2007
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Europeans' interest in watching mobile television is as tiny as cellphone screens, a new study showed on Monday, even though the industry has been buzzing about offering TV on handsets for years.

Mobile operators hope that mobile TV could encourage users to spend an extra 5 to 10 euros a month, compensating for declining revenues from voice calls, but mobile television and video downloads ranked close to the bottom of consumer interest in a Gartner study in Europe.

Only about 5 percent of Europeans expressed interest in watching television or video on their cellphones in the next 12 months, the study said. At the same time some 20 percent of Asians said they would watch TV on their phone screens.

"I think the main reason is the compromise you are making on the device you need to carry to watch TV -- either too big if you want a nice experience or too small and you do not have a good experience," said Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner analyst.

Also lack of consensus on business models, variety of different technologies and shortage of airwaves has been hampering takeup of mobile TV.

Because spectrum availability is not a problem in many Asian countries, commercial DVB-H broadcasts have already started in India and Vietnam, with Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia also set to open networks this year.

In Europe, three countries have started commercial networks.

Research firm Informa has projected entertainment services -- games, music, TV, adult content and gambling -- would grow to $38 billion by 2011 from around $18.8 billion in 2006.

Music has been the main driver for mobile entertainment so far, but players in the field have expected a boost from mobile television -- a conclusion thrown into doubt by the study.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Reuters, 24 Sep 2007

New Finnish Paper May Explain Inconsistent RF Findings
Finland Created: 31 May 2007
Every now and then a new paper comes along that gives hope that one day we'll make sense of the conflicting results that have become the hallmark of EMF research. A team of Finnish researchers from the University of Kuopio has published such a paper. It's in the June issue of the International Journal of Radiation Biology.

Anne Höytö, Jukka Juutilainen and Jonne Naarala have shown that the type of cells used in in vitro studies can determine whether they will respond to RF radiation. They ran the same experiment with primary cells —those taken directly from an organism— and with secondary cells —those that have been grown in a petri dish. They exposed both types of cells to two different RF signals, CW and modulated (GSM), at various intensities (SAR =1.5, 2.5 or 6 W/Kg) for various amounts of time (2, 8 or 24 hr), and then measured the activity of ODC (ornithine decarboxylase), an enzyme related to cellular growth and differentiation.

The results are startling. "In experiments with rat primary astrocytes, [highly] statistical differences [in ODC activity] were found at all exposure levels and signals," they reported. (Astrocytes are brain cells.)

The Finns tried three different types of secondary cell lines. All were unresponsive under the various exposure conditions, with only a few isolated exceptions.

These findings raise a number of questions that need to be answered. For instance, the Finns did not see a difference in ODC activity in the primary cells between modulated and unmodulated signals (GSM vs. CW). And while they saw changes after a 2 hr and an 8 hr exposure, they did not see any after a 24 hr exposure.

Yet, the Finnish researchers are the first to check for variations in the responses of primary and secondary cell lines and, as they themselves remarked, their results are "very interesting." They went on to point out that primary cells better represent "normal tissues" than do secondary cell lines. That is, primary cells are more likely to behave like those in a functioning organism. [Neither Höytö nor Juutilainen answered a request for further comment.]

While others (for example, Craig Byus & Ross Adey) have seen increased ODC activity following RF exposure, the Finns saw a decrease. But as the Kuopio team explains, a decrease in ODC could impair a cell's ability to protect DNA from free radical attack. This means, for instance, that mobile phone radiation could lead to an increase in DNA breaks.

Link to study abstract:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a778361233
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Microwave News, 30 May 2007

Oh yeah, pull the other joke: : "Mobile phone industry aims to reduce pollution:
Finland Created: 24 Sep 2006
"Mobile phone industry aims to reduce pollution:
HELSINKI/BRUSSELS (Reuters)
- Nokia said on Thursday it and other mobile industry players have agreed on measures to reduce pollution from the manufacture and disposal of mobile phones. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-09-21T192706Z_01_L21459895_RTRUKOC_0_US-PHONES-ENVIRONMENT.xml

Click here to view the source article.

Cellphone radiation study
Finland Created: 10 Mar 2006
Helsinki, March 5 (Reuters): Finland's radiation watchdog is to study the effects of mobile phones on human proteins by direct tests on people's skin, to see if handset transmissions affect their health.
A pilot study, to be conducted next week, will expose a small area of skin on volunteers' arms to cellphone radiation for the duration of a long phone call, or for one hour, research professor Dariusz Leszczynski said on Friday.
Researchers will then take a skin sample to study and compare with one taken before the radiation exposure, he said.
Cell samples used in previous laboratory tests by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority were all from women, and to keep consistency in the data, 10 female volunteers will be used in the new study — all of them employees at the watchdog.
In previous tests, Leszczynski's group found evidence of mobile phone radiation causing cell-level changes such as shrinkage, but he said it was still impossible to say if that had significant health effects.
"Cells function in a different way when they are in the body than in laboratory surroundings. Now we want to confirm whether radiation causes cell level changes in humans as well," he said.


Click here to view the source article.
Source: S:

Finns to test mobile phone radiation on human skin
Finland Created: 6 Mar 2006
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's radiation watchdog is to study the effects of mobile phones on human proteins by direct tests on people's skin, to see if handset transmissions affect their health.
A pilot study, to be conducted next week, will expose a small area of skin on volunteers' arms to cellphone radiation for the duration of a long phone call, or for one hour, research professor Dariusz Leszczynski said on Friday.
Researchers will then take a skin sample to study and compare with one taken before the radiation exposure, he told Reuters.
Cell samples used in previous laboratory tests by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority were all from women, and to keep consistency in the data, 10 female volunteers will be used in the new study -- all of them employees at the watchdog.
In previous tests, Leszczynski's group found evidence of mobile phone radiation causing cell-level changes such as shrinkage, but he said it was still impossible to say if that had significant health effects.
"Cells function in a different way when they are in the body than in laboratory surroundings. Now we want to confirm whether radiation causes cell level changes in humans as well," he said.
The results of the study are due by the end of the year, and Leszczynski's team hopes to show if radiation has any impact on the body's natural barrier that prevents toxins and other dangerous proteins that might be in the bloodstream from reaching brain cells.
Some researchers suspect brain cancer has become more common as a result of cellphone use, but there is no clear evidence to support that, Leszczynski said.
"If harmful proteins get through to the brain, it could have an indirect link with cancer, but this is pure speculation," he added.
Finland, home to top global mobile maker Nokia, has one of the most mature telecom markets in the world, with almost everyone having a mobile handset.
Click here to view the source article.
Source: Reuters, Fri Mar 3, 2006

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