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For the past five years in the United States, the mobile phone industry has
supported research into the safety of mobile phones. This research has
resulted in two findings in particular that merit additional study:
1. In a hospital-based, case-control study, researchers looked for an
association between mobile phone use and either glioma (a type of brain
cancer) or acoustic neuroma (a benign tumor of the nerve sheath). No
statistically significant association was found between mobile phone use
and acoustic neuroma. There was also no association between mobile
phone use and gliomas when all types of types of gliomas were
considered together. It should be noted that the average length of mobile
phone exposure in this study was less than three years.
When 20 types of gliomas were considered separately, however, an
association was found between mobile phone use and one rare type of
glioma, neuroepithelliomatous tumors. It is possible with multiple
comparisons of the same sample that this association occurred by
chance. Moreover, the risk did not increase with how often the mobile
phone was used, or the length of the calls. In fact, the risk actually
decreased with cumulative hours of mobile phone use. Most cancer
causing agents increase risk with increased exposure. An ongoing study
of brain cancers by the National Cancer Institute is expected to bear on
the accuracy and repeatability of these results.
1
2. Researchers conducted a large battery of tests to assess the effects of
exposure to mobile phone RF on genetic material. These included tests
for several kinds of abnormalities, including mutations, chromosomal
aberrations, DNA strand breaks, and structural changes in the genetic
material of blood cells called lymphocytes. None of the tests showed any
effect of the RF except for the micronucleus assay, which detects phone
1.Muscat et al. Epidemiological Study of Cellular Telephone Use and Malignant Brain
Tumors. In: State of the Science Symposium; 1999 June 20; Long Beach, California.
