Report warns mobile phone users risk brain tumours

Use your mobile phone and you risk developing a brain tumour, a report by the International EMF Collaborative has warned.

Children are at a greater risk than adults and should be banned from using mobile phones altogether. The report even claims that studies sponsored by telecommunications companies are seriously flawed.

The report by the International EMF Collaborative on the effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMF) from mobile phones was sponsored by non-governmental organisations and endorsed by academics from 14 developed countries.

The findings of Cellphones And Brain Tumours: 15 Reasons For Concern were widely reported internationally, especially in technology publications.

The International EMF Collaborative is made up of such groups as Powerwatch and the EM Radiation Research Trust in the UK, and the EMR Policy Institute ElectromagneticHealth.org and The Peoples Initiatives Foundation in the US.

The aim of the report is to expose serious flaws in the Interphone study, begun in 1999 and sponsored by major players of the telecoms industry, to determine the risk of brain tumours to mobile phone users.

The report goes as far as to accuse the Interphone report of skewing the data and grossly underestimating the risk of brain tumour.

"Telecom-funded studies have been reporting highly questionable results in comparison with independent studies. Studies independent of industry consistently show there is a significant risk of brain tumours from cellphone use.

"The existing ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection) and FCC (Federal Communications Commission) exposure limits are based on a false premise that only thermal effects cause harm. In this regard the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for a review of the existing exposure limits.

"The risk to children is far greater than to adults, and though some government recommendations or guidelines have been published, no mandatory actions have been taken.

"Soon, after years of delays, for the first time, partial results from all 13 countries of the Interphone study will be published. Whatever these results show, they must be interpreted with the understanding that the Interphone Protocol's design flaws result in a systemic-protective-skewing of all reported results."

The reports insists that the flaws in the Interphone study, that result in an underestimation of the risk of brain tumours, include an unrealistic definition of a "regular" mobile user, selection bias that excluded children from the sample, treating study subjects who used a cordless phone as "unexposed" to microwave radiation, insufficient latency time to expect a tumour diagnosis, the exclusion of many types of brain tumours, and the exclusion of people who had died, or were too ill to be interviewed, as a consequence of their brain tumour.

The report also takes the Interphone study to task for the fact that the names of the persons responsible for these study design flaws have not been made public so they could be questioned about why these design choices were made.

"In no profession, and in particular for a public health matter, are the responsible people not held accountable for the product of their work," the report lamented.

The editors and the endorsers of this report said they fully support the actions called for by the European Parliament as a result of the Health Concerns Associated With Electromagnetic Fields vote and call on governments to take several initiatives for the sake of the health of their citizens.

These include a ban on marketing campaigns of mobile phones designed solely for children; a review of the scientific basis and adequacy of the EMF exposure limits; proof of liability insurance coverage for potential health risks associated with mobile phones and similar wireless devices prior to their being offered for sale; the allocation of research funding, independent of industry funds and influence, to evaluate long-term adverse effects of mobile phones; putting warning labels on all wireless devices; finance consumer awareness campaigns on the health risks and keeping the public informed on the exposure to electronic equipment that emits radiation including power lines and communication antennae.

The report Cellphones And Brain Tumours: 15 Reasons for Concern also comes up with a list of things mobile phone users can do to reduce the health risks. These include using a land-line rather than the mobile phone for voice calls whenever possible; sending text messages rather than making voice calls; keeping the mobile handset away from the body (particularly trouser or shirt pockets) or using a belt holster designed to shield the body from cellphone radiation when not in use (stand-by mode); and banning children under 18 to use the mobile phone except in emergencies, let alone allowing them to sleep with a handset beneath their pillow or at the bedside.

The Malta Communications Authority is the Maltese authority responsible for monitoring EMF radiation in the Maltese islands and it uses the ICNIRP guidelines.

Results of its measurements show that all radio communication equipment, and not just mobile base stations, emits less than five per cent of the ICNIRP scale, and is therefore deemed safe.