mobile phones and brain tumors
Mobiles linked to brain tumoursBy staff writers
January 25, 2007 04:17pm
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SCIENTISTS have found long-term users of mobile phones are more likely to
develop a certain type of tumour on the side of their head where they hold
their handsets.
Britain's Daily Telegraph reports today that a large-scale study found that
using a mobile phone for more than 10 years makes users 40 per cent more
likely to develop tumours called gliomas.
Gliomas are tumours that form from glial cells in the central nervous
system.
The findings of the study, which contradicts others which have failed to
establish health risks linked to mobile phone use, will be published later
this year in the International Journal of Cancer. The abstract of the
research paper has been published online.
The Telegraph quoted Louis Slesin, the editor of microwavenews.com, which
reported on the study, as saying: "We now have two tumour types found among
people who use mobiles for more than 10 years shown by two different
research groups."
The researchers refused to draw firm conclusions but said the findings
warranted further investigation on the effects of long-term use of mobiles.
"The possible risk in the most heavily exposed part of the brain with
long-term use needs to be explored further before firm conclusions can be
drawn," the authors wrote.
Headed by researchers from the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in
Finland, the study compared the mobile phone use of 1521 glioma patients
with that of 3301 people without the turmous.
The Telegraph also quoted Professor Anssi Auvinen, a researcher involved in
the study, as saying it "makes sense in terms of the length of time it takes
for tumours to develop".
The tumours were "localised to the side of the head where the handset is
held".
Your humble servant,
Hari-sauri dasa
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