Study on cell phone link to cancer inconclusive

If there's one lifestyle tool that's ubiquitous, from American cities to remote villages of the developing world, it's the mobile phone.
But with its meteoric rise came concerns about safety and whether it can cause brain tumors.
The frustratingly unresolved debate erupted again this week with the release of a $24 million U.N. study covering 13 nations that suggests frequent cell phone use may increase — albeit marginally — the chances of developing a rare but deadly form of brain cancer.
What is more, since cancers takes years, even decades to develop — longer than cell phones have been in widespread use — even the study's authors say there is no way yet to tell how big the risk is, if there is one.
Experts were nearly unanimous in saying the results of the study are inconclusive. But the fact that it turned up even some evidence of an increased cancer risk may cause some disquiet among people who have become accustomed to seeing the device as extensions of themselves.
From farmers in Africa who rely on cell phones to check crop reports to hedge fund traders obsessively checking BlackBerrys at trendy restaurants to suburban American kids spending hours calling their friends — people around the world have come to rely on mobile phones as never before.
Cell phones send out radio waves in a form that's similar to the one used in microwave ovens, but at very low levels. There is no accepted theory to explain how or if these weak radio waves can affect the body, beyond heating it to a very small degree.
All the same, U.S. and European regulators already limit the energy cell phones can project into the body and today's digital phones radiate less power than the analog phones that dominated in the early '90s. Common advice for those concerned about the radiation is to use a headset, since these emit even less power.
The survey of almost 13,000 participants — the biggest ever of its kind — found up to 40 percent higher incidence of glioma, a cancerous brain tumor, among the top 10 percent of people who used their mobile phone most.
No increased risk was obsered for meningioma, a more common and frequently benign tumor.
Researchers ignored the time spent using handsfree devices, keeping the phone in a pocket or beside the bed at night because even a distance of 4 inches (10 centimeters) reduces the amount of radiation to the brain to almost zero.
But because cell phone use has boomed since the study started, the researchers' definition of heavy use as 30 minutes of calls or more a day is now common.
"The users in the study were light users compared to today," said Prof. Elisabeth Cardis of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, which organized the study.
The highest risk found was for tumors on the same side of the head as users held their phone, particularly for tumors in the temporal lobe closest to the ear, Cardis told reporters in Geneva on Monday. "This is the region of the head which receives the most exposure."
The 21 researchers involved in the study disagreed on the conclusion, in part because participants were asked to remember how much and on which ear they used their mobiles over the past decade — leading to what scientists call "recall error."
For example, the study appeared to show that casual users had a lower risk of getting cancer than people who didn't use cell phones at all, a result the researchers described as "implausible" and blamed on these methodological problems.
The message? The researchers refused to rule out that cell phone use causes brain cancer but wouldn't say it does either.
"We can't establish without any doubt that there is no link," said Prof. Anthony Swerdlow of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research, another of the study's authors. But he added that "it seems unlikely that there are large risks that happen soon."
Handset manufacturers and network providers, who paid for about a quarter of the study, have seized on such conclusions as evidence their products were safe.
"The overall conclusion of no increased risk is in accordance with the large body of existing research and many expert reviews that consistently conclude that there is no established health risk from radio signals that comply with international safety recommendations," said Jack Rowley, director of research for the telecoms companies' association GSMA.
The Mobile Manufacturers Forum likewise welcomed the study and insisted their industry "takes all questions regarding the safety of mobile phones seriously and has a strong commitment to supporting ongoing scientific research."
But Christopher Wild, director of IARC, cautioned that the results related to a time when cell phones were much less common than they are now. "This investigation is a victim of the changing patterns of mobile phone use over the years," he said.
Critics contend the study also ignored several important factors such as the slow growth rate of most brain tumors, which can take up to 25 years to develop.
"It is simply too early to detect anything," said Graham Philips of the Britain-based anti-radiation campaign group Power Watch.
Prof. Bernard Stewart, a scientific adviser to Cancer Council Australia, said the study "tells us little about any risk associated with mobile phone use over decades."
"In particular," he said, "insufficient time has passed since mobile phones were introduced to determine whether there is a risk in children."
Cardis acknowledged that with X-rays and atomic explosions the spike in tumors could take up to 30 years to show up, but said it was unclear whether cell phones have the same effect on the body as those forms of radiation.
Most of the estimated 4.6 billion cell phone subscribers around the world today appear prepared to take the risk even without firm assurances that it's safe.
In Copenhagen, student Michaela Vinter, 27, said she wasn't worried.
"I have heard about this for all the years that I have had a cell phone and I have never heard anything firm about the risk," she said.
The scientists involved in the study plan to publish a comprehensive overview of available research within two years. Separately, researchers are also examining whether cell phone use increases the risk of tumors in the ear's acoustic nerve and the parotid gland, where saliva is produced. Another study will look into the effects of cell phone use on children, who are believed to be more susceptible to the effects of radiation.
"Until stronger conclusions can be drawn one way or another it may be reasonable to reduce one's exposure," said Cardis. One way to do this would be to make calls using a handsfree device.
"It can't hurt," she said.
The IARC study, which was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was compiled by researchers in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. Scientists interviewed 12,848 participants, of which 5,150 had either meningioma or glioma tumors.
There is no similar, large-scale study going on in the U.S., though here have been smaller studies which failed to show links between cell phone use and cancer. The federal government mandates that states collect data on benign brain tumors, at least partly in response to concerns about radiation.To see a world in a grain of sand
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Phils roll behind Rollins and sluggers

His last pregame jog, 30 games and 35 days ago, had ended badly. So on Monday night, his patience strained as badly as his right calf had been, Jimmy Rollins finally headed for another light run in Citizens Bank Park's outfield.
The early arrivers among the sellout crowd of 45,371 saw the returning all-star as he neared first base. As more fans spotted him, aided by Ryan Howard's emcee-like pointing, the cheer grew deeper and stronger until soon the impromptu ovation rumbled through the ballpark like the Frankford El.
It was matched when Rollins was introduced, and again in the first inning when he both gunned down Andrew McCutchen and drove in the Phillies' first run in a 12-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With Rollins back at shortstop for the first time since he strained his calf before the season's sixth game and went on the disabled list, the Phillies J-Rolled to their fourth straight victory, their 10th in 12 games.
Rollins also singled, doubled and walked to add to a reawakened offense's 13-hit output. Howard (a two-out, two-run single) and Jayson Werth (a three-run homer) drove in five runs in back-to-back, third-inning at-bats, while Kyle Kendrick settled down to coast to his second victory of 2010.
Howard belted his franchise-record ninth career grand slam off ex-Phillie Jack Taschner in the eighth and Werth doubled home another run in the seventh.
The return of Rollins had to be a sobering sight for the remainder of the National League. A Phillies team that already looked to be finding its form after a so-so April now has one of its chief catalysts and best players back.
Normally, Rollins would be at the top of the lineup. But last night, when Chase Utley was unable to play because of "flulike symptoms, Charlie Manuel put Rollins in the No. 3 spot.
"He's been swinging the bat," said Manuel, when asked if his shortstop might be rusty. "He's seen live pitching. He's ready.
There was no urgency for Manuel to reinsert Rollins into the leadoff slot. The Phillies, after all, hadn't been suffering there recently.
Shane Victorino, who hit there again Monday, was on base three more times, singling twice and scoring on Rollin's RBI ground ball in the first.
On the team's just-completed road trip to Colorado and Milwaukee, Victorino hit .435 with a double, three triples, a homer and 7 RBIs.
Still Rollins adds an emotional spark as well as offense, speed and defense. He showed a little of all three in his return.
Two batters after Pittsburgh's Delwyn Young led off the game with a homer to right field, the speedy McCutchen smoked a ground ball into the hole. The Gold Glove shortstop got it on a backhand grab, set his feet instantly, and lasered a throw that nipped the Pirates centerfielder.
In the bottom of the inning, after Victorino had singled, stole second and moved to third on Placido Polanco's right-side grounder, Rollins pushed a Charlie Morton breaking ball to second base to score the tying run.
Rollins' defensive play seemed to settle Kendrick, who allowed just one more run in eight innings on a night when the bullpen needed a break.
The shortstop popped up on an impatient, not-so-untypical first-pitch swing when the Phils had loaded the bases in the third, only to be picked up by Howard and Werth.
But he singled in the fifth and, seemingly running as fluidly as ever, doubled to right and scored in the seventh.
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