MESSAGE
| DATE | 2008-06-08 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Cellphone DO kill ....
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June 3, 2008 Well Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer By
TARA PARKER-POPE
What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of
us don’t?
Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry
King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think
the safe practice,†said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the
microwave antenna away from your brain.â€
Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian
National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said:
“I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.†And
CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at
Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.
Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma,
a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cellphone use,
the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite a long-simmering debate
about cellphones and cancer.
That supposed link has been largely dismissed by many experts, including
the American Cancer Society. The theory that cellphones cause brain tumors
“defies credulity,†said Dr. Eugene Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery
at Montefiore Medical Center.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology
studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. CTIA — the Wireless
Association, the leading industry trade group, said in a statement,
“The overwhelming majority of studies that have been published in
scientific journals around the globe show that wireless phones do not
pose a health risk.â€
The F.D.A. notes, however, that the average period of phone use in the
studies it cites was about three years, so the research doesn’t answer
questions about long-term exposures. Critics say many studies are flawed
for that reason, and also because they do not distinguish between casual
and heavy use.
Cellphones emit non-ionizing radiation, waves of energy that are too
weak to break chemical bonds or to set off the DNA damage known to cause
cancer. There is no known biological mechanism to explain how non-ionizing
radiation might lead to cancer.
But researchers who have raised concerns say that just because science
can’t explain the mechanism doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Concerns
have focused on the heat generated by cellphones and the fact that the
radio frequencies are absorbed mostly by the head and neck. In recent
studies that suggest a risk, the tumors tend to occur on the same side
of the head where the patient typically holds the phone.
Like most research on the subject, the studies are observational, showing
only an association between cellphone use and cancer, not a causal
relationship. The most important of these studies is called Interphone,
a vast research effort in 13 countries, including Canada, Israel and
several in Europe.
Some of the research suggests a link between cellphone use and three
types of tumors: glioma; cancer of the parotid, a salivary gland near
the ear; and acoustic neuroma, a tumor that essentially occurs where the
ear meets the brain. All these cancers are rare, so even if cellphone
use does increase risk, the risk is still very low.
Last year, The American Journal of Epidemiology published data from Israel
finding a 58 percent higher risk of parotid gland tumors among heavy
cellphone users. Also last year, a Swedish analysis of 16 studies in the
journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed a doubling of risk
for acoustic neuroma and glioma after 10 years of heavy cellphone use.
“What we’re seeing is suggestions in epidemiological studies that
have looked at people using phones for 10 or more years,†says Louis
Slesin, editor of Microwave News, an industry publication that tracks
the research. “There are some very disconcerting findings that suggest
a problem, although it’s much too early to reach a conclusive view.â€
Some doctors say the real concern is not older cellphone users, who
began using phones as adults, but children who are beginning to use
phones today and face a lifetime of exposure.
“More and more kids are using cellphones,†said Dr. Paul J. Rosch,
clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical
College. “They may be much more affected. Their brains are growing
rapidly, and their skulls are thinner.â€
For people who are concerned about any possible risk, a simple solution
is to use a headset. Of course, that option isn’t always convenient,
and some critics have raised worries about wireless devices like the
Bluetooth that essentially place a transmitter in the ear.
The fear is that even if the individual risk of using a cellphone is low,
with three billion users worldwide, even a minuscule risk would translate
into a major public health concern.
“We cannot say with any certainty that cellphones are either safe or not
safe,†Dr. Black said on CNN. “My concern is that with the widespread
use of cellphones, the worst scenario would be that we get the definitive
study 10 years from now, and we find out there is a correlation.â€
well-at-nytimes.com
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