The Captain's Blog ™

Can mobile phone use cause brain tumours? Does using a mobile phone damage your health?

Given that these are clearly such important questions, should we be surprised that the scientific community seemingly has yet to agree on the answers?

One of the most recent contributions to the debate was published last month by a group of international activists who focus on matters relating to electromagnetic fields and radiation. Their message and recommendations are endorsed by scientists, doctors and other professionals from 14 countries.

The report – “Cellphones and Brain Tumors – 15 Reasons for Concern” – is designed to aid balanced reporting of soon to be published (and long awaited) results from the Interphone study, a series of multi-country, telecom industry-funded research studies into potential cancer risks associated with mobile phone use.

The activists believe that the Interphone study is fundamentally flawed and the results misleading. They identify issues ranging from how participants were categorised to a reliance on people recalling accurately how they used mobile phones up to ten years previously. Such criticism isn’t limited to activist groups: a year ago, The Economist magazine described the Interphone study as having ended “in chaos” and a “farrago of misinformation”.

Results from individual Interphone country studies have been published by national teams since 2004, but some conclusions have served only to fuel controversy about Interphone’s validity. For example, some suggested that, statistically speaking, having used a mobile phone for less than ten years offers significant protection again certain types of brain cancer. Australia’s lead Interphone investigator (a professor) said in 2008 that such an unlikely finding pointed immediately to a problem with the study.

A summary of Interphone’s combined results is expected soon, four years after it was originally due. Even then, it will still be missing a summary of effects on the acoustic nerve. This is reportedly because “the full set of related data has yet to be circulated”, despite the passage of five years since it became available.  Should this alone ring alarm bells? After all, the acoustic nerve apparently receives the highest levels of exposure to signals from mobile phones that are held to the ear.

If any of this has you thinking about reaching for a tinfoil hat, you may also wish to consider some of the more practical “personal action” recommendations contained within the activists’ report.

They suggest eight simple steps that people can take to reduce their expoure to mobile phone (and DECT cordless phone) radiation:

• When on a call, use a wired headset (not a wireless headset such as Bluetooth), or use in speaker-phone mode, or send text messages.
• Keep the mobile phone away from your body (especially not in trouser or shirt pockets) or use a belt holster designed to shield the body from mobile phone radiation, when not in use (ie when in stand-by mode).
• Avoid use in a moving car, train, bus, or in rural areas at some distance from a mobile phone mast / base station as any of these uses will increase the power of the mobile phone’s radiation.
• Use the mobile phone like an answering machine. Keep it off until you want to see who has  called. Then return calls, if necessary, using steps 5 and 1.
• Whenever possible, use a corded land-line phone instead of a wireless / cordless phone.
• Avoid use inside of buildings, particularly with steel structures.
• Do not allow your children to sleep with a mobile phone beneath their pillow or at the bedside.
• Do not allow your children under 18 to use a mobile phone, except in emergencies.

The full report “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern. Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone” is available for download as a PDF from the EM Radiation Research Trust website.

For my part, I’ve replaced our DECT cordless phone with two corded models. Whilst I’m no scientist, I never really liked the idea of sitting next to a DECT base station. If you’re likewise inclined, you may wish to visit Telephones Online, who sell corded phones from BT and other manufacturers, including many factory refurbished models at bigger discounts. You can also visit Mobile Fun, who sell handsfree headsets for a wide range of mobile phone handsets.

HAVE YOUR SAY: What do you think? Could mobile phones yet turn out to be as bad for you as smoking cigarettes? You can share your views on our forum.

Other references:

The Economist, “Mobile Madness”, 25 September 2008 (“a shame that a massive multinational study on the question has ended in chaos”).
Business Week, Management IQ blog, “Cellphones Cause Brain Tumors, Says New Report by International EMF Collaborative”, 24 August 2009
IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) > Research Groups > Radiation Group > INTERPHONE
ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection)
Powerwatch – information about electromagnetic fields including microwave frequency electromagnetic radiation and radiofrequency EMFs and health risks.