(Press-News.org) There is no link between long-term use of mobile phones and tumours of the brain or central nervous system, finds new research published on bmj.com today.
In what is described as the largest study on the subject to date, Danish researchers found no evidence that the risk of brain tumours was raised among 358,403 mobile phone subscribers over an 18-year period.
The number of people using mobile phones is constantly rising with more than five billion subscriptions worldwide in 2010. This has led to concerns about potential adverse health effects, particularly tumours of the central nervous system.
Previous studies on a possible link between phone use and tumours have been inconclusive particularly on long-term use of mobile phones. Some of this earlier work took the form of case control studies involving small numbers of long-term users and were shown to be prone to error and bias. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields, as emitted by mobile phones, as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
The only cohort study investigating mobile phone use and cancer to date is a Danish nationwide study comparing cancer risk of all 420,095 Danish mobile phone subscribers from 1982 until 1995, with the corresponding risk in the rest of the adult population with follow-up to 1996 and then 2002. This study found no evidence of any increased risk of brain or nervous system tumours or any cancer among mobile phone subscribers.
So researchers, led by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, continued this study up to 2007.
They studied data on the whole Danish population aged 30 and over and born in Denmark after 1925, subdivided into subscribers and non-subscribers of mobile phones before 1995. Information was gathered from the Danish phone network operators and from the Danish Cancer Register.
Overall, 10,729 central nervous system tumours occurred in the study period 1990-2007.
When the figures were restricted to people with the longest mobile phone use – 13 years or more – cancer rates were almost the same in both long-term users and non-subscribers of mobile phones.
The researchers say they observed no overall increased risk for tumours of the central nervous system or for all cancers combined in mobile phone users.
They conclude: "The extended follow-up allowed us to investigate effects in people who had used mobile phones for 10 years or more, and this long-term use was not associated with higher risks of cancer.
"However, as a small to moderate increase in risk for subgroups of heavy users or after even longer induction periods than 10-15 years cannot be ruled out, further studies with large study populations, where the potential for misclassification of exposure and selection bias is minimised, are warranted."
In an accompanying editorial, Professors Anders Ahlbom and Maria Feychting at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden say this new evidence is reassuring, but continued monitoring of health registers and prospective cohorts is still warranted.
INFORMATION: END
Studies of ant populations in Borneo reveal an unexpected resilience to areas of rainforest degraded by repeated intensive logging, a finding which conservationists hope will lead governments to conserve these areas rather than allow them to be cleared and used for cash crop plantations.
Leaf litter ants are often used to measure the overall ecological health of an area because of the large number of species present and because the health of the leaf litter is a good indication of the overall health of the forest.
It is commonly assumed that repeated logging of rainforests ...
Visitors to Puchong in Malaysia this November will have the opportunity to participate in the IOI Community Run 2011, an exciting charity race event.
To be held on November 20th, the race sees families and friends banding together on a fun-filled Sunday morning to take part in a physically demanding run through Puchong in order to help raise money for charity.
Partners of the IOI Community Run 2011 include relief charity World Vision Malaysia, the SSL Stroke and Welfare Development Foundation and local foster home Rumah Shalom.
Those participating will be able ...
Thailand visitors will be able to enjoy a celebration of friendship and local culture during next month's Silk Phuk Siew Festival and Red Cross Fair.
Running from November 29th to December 10th this year, the event has been bringing the people of the area together since 1980 and centres around the friendship-making ritual of Phuk Siew.
In local culture, the principle of siew refers to the most inseparable of affectionate relationships between two people, whose ties extend across both of their families.
Phuk Siew is organised concurrently with the local silk ...
We all know the feeling, the short, sharp shock of waking to the sound of an alarm clock. Whether the traditional clattering metal bells, the incessant beeping of digital or the dulcet tones of today's radio news reader. Even the chance to slap the snooze button to grab a few extra moments between the sheets does not leave everyone feeling refreshed when they finally crawl out of bed. Now, researchers in India think they have the answer.
Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, the researchers describe an alarm ...
Amateur athletes will be congregating in Phuket next month to take part in the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, which is to be held on November 27th this year.
Running for the last sixteen years, the event allows participants to put themselves to the ultimate physical test alongside top triathletes, while passing through striking tropical scenery.
Professionals such as Mark Allen, Greg Welch, Craig Alexander, Paula Newby-Fraser, Michellie Jones and Chrissie Wellington are among those who have taken part in past years.
The race starts with a 1.8 km swim from the beach, ...
A book or a screen – which of these two offers more reading comfort? There are no disadvantages to reading from electronic reading devices compared with reading printed texts. This is one of the results of the world's first reading study of its kind undertaken by the Research Unit Media Convergence of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in cooperation with MVB Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels GmbH. "E-books and e-readers are playing an increasingly important role on the worldwide book market. However, readers in Germany are particularly skeptical when ...
A healthy diet is especially important during the menopause – a period in which the risk of suffering from health problems increases. Various studies analyse the diet of peri- and postmenopausal women in Spain alongside the troubles that come with this transition. The results show that all of those groups studied have a deficient intake of vitamin D.
Marina Pollán, researcher at the Carlos III Institute of Health and one of the authors of the study explains that "biological and physiological changes in women caused by the menopause come with a greater risk of developing ...
SDC and Party Erotique come together again to bring you "Party Erotique Dallas" at the Aloft Saturday, October 29th, 2011. Doors open at 9pm and *masks are required* for entry. The Aloft is located at 1033 Young St in downtown Dallas. Advance ticket purchases are only $30 and if purchased the day of the event $50.
Make it an Erotique Halloween Weekend and purchase a package starting at only $199 per couple. Packages include accommodations for two at Starwood's flagship Aloft Hotel, admission to afternoon educational seminars and demos, two tickets to Party ...
"It will be the first non-destructive method. This means that measurements can be taken in closed packaging and the gas composition over time can be checked. This will make it possible to check a much higher number of products than at present", says Märta Lewander, Doctor of Atomic Physics at Lund University in Sweden.
Dr Lewander developed the technique in her thesis and now works as chief technical officer for the company Gasporox, which is commercialising the technology.
Today, spot checks are performed on individual samples, with the risk that damaged products ...
"It is hoped that this reconstruction is a good likeness and that, if someone who knew him in life had been presented with this restoration, they would hopefully have recognised the face", says Jenny Barber, an MSc student at the University of Dundee in Scotland.
She has scientifically rebuilt the face of the strong and stocky Viste Boy, who lived in the Vistehola cave near Stavanger, so that people can now look him right in the eye.
Ms Barber is studying forensic art, an unusual discipline embracing such elements as human anatomy and identification in order to recreate ...
