Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

[Guest guest]

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/mobile-\

phones-more-dangerous-than-smoking-or-asbestos-802602.html?r=RSS

 

Geoffrey Lean

The Independent on Sunday

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:19 EDT

 

Brain expert warns of huge rise in tumours and calls on industry to

take immediate steps to reduce radiation

 

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a

study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people

should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the

mobile phone industry must take " immediate steps " to reduce exposure

to their radiation.

 

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet

published of the health risks.

 

It draws on growing evidence - exclusively reported in the IoS in

October - that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk

of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop,

invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which

included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

 

Earlier this year, the French government warned against the use of

mobile phones, especially by children. Germany also advises its people

to minimise handset use, and the European Environment Agency has

called for exposures to be reduced.

 

Professor Khurana - a top neurosurgeon who has received 14 awards over

the past 16 years, has published more than three dozen scientific

papers - reviewed more than 100 studies on the effects of mobile

phones. He has put the results on a brain surgery website, and a paper

based on the research is currently being peer-reviewed for publication

in a scientific journal.

 

He admits that mobiles can save lives in emergencies, but concludes

that " there is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a

link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumours " . He

believes this will be " definitively proven " in the next decade.

 

Noting that malignant brain tumours represent " a life-ending

diagnosis " , he adds: " We are currently experiencing a reactively

unchecked and dangerous situation. " He fears that " unless the industry

and governments take immediate and decisive steps " , the incidence of

malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to

rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far

too late to intervene medically.

 

" It is anticipated that this danger has far broader public health

ramifications than asbestos and smoking, " says Professor Khurana, who

told the IoS his assessment is partly based on the fact that three

billion people now use the phones worldwide, three times as many as

smoke. Smoking kills some five million worldwide each year, and

exposure to asbestos is responsible for as many deaths in Britain as

road accidents.

 

Late last week, the Mobile Operators Association dismissed Khurana's

study as " a selective discussion of scientific literature by one

individual " . It believes he " does not present a balanced analysis " of

the published science, and " reaches opposite conclusions to the WHO

and more than 30 other independent expert scientific reviews " .

 

Comment: Dr. Khurana's full report is available on his site:

 

http://www.brain-surgery.us/mobph.pdf

 

It is presently being peer-reviewed for publication in a mainstream

scientific journal.