Study: Link between mobiles and cancer not confirmed

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The link between mobile phone use and heightened cancer risk has not been confirmed by newly released research, but flaws in the data have led to calls for additional studies.

Results from the International Agency for Research in Cancer's Interphone Study Group, which forms part of the World Health Organisation, did not establish that such a relationship existed.

However, the majority of subjects who took part in the research, which was started in 2000 and has been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, were not heavy mobile users by today’s standards.

There were also indications of a heightened chance of getting certain kinds of tumour, including glioma and meningioma. Such suggestions of increased risk were found "in the highest decile of cumulative call time, in subjects who reported usual phone use on the same side of the head as their tumour and, for glioma, for tumours in the temporal lobe”, the study read.

“Observations at the highest level of cumulative call time and the changing patterns of mobile phone use since the period studied by Interphone, particularly in young people, mean that further investigation of mobile phone use and brain cancer risk is merited,” director at the IARC Dr Christopher Wild said in a statement.

The IARC admitted, however, that biases and errors mean the strengths of the study’s conclusions are limited.

On average, modern devices do not expose users to as much radiofrequency as older models, the IARC also pointed out, possibly offsetting any heightened risks associated with the rise of mobile phone use. Concerns had been raised in the late 1990s over the health dangers of low-level exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields.

Furthermore, the greater use of texting and hands-free capabilities mean that the phone is often not used next to the head, thereby reducing any potential danger.

Dr Jack Rowley, the director for research and sustainability at the mobile industry body GSM Association, suggested it is unlikely that no single study will be able to determine outright whether or not a link between cancer and mobile phone use exists.

He told IT PRO, however, that the Cohort Study on Mobile Communications is so far the “gold standard” for such analysis.

It will follow users’ behaviour in real-time and get rid of many of the problems with previous investigations, such as not being up-to-date with current usage levels, Dr Rowley added.

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