"Our analysis suggests that the increased and widespread use
of mobile phones . . . has not lead to a noticeable increase in the incidence
of brain cancer in England between 1998 to 2007". That's the conclusion of a
group of transatlantic researchers from the Institute of Occupational Medicine
in Edinburgh, Scotland and Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The
team published its findings recently in the journal Bioelectromagnetics.
As
the newest voice in the "Do cell phones cause cancer?" debate, the group's research analyzes nine years' worth data from the U.K. Office of National Statistics. If
the radio frequencies (RF) that cellphones emit caused brain cancer, the researchers
reasoned, Britain would have seen a significant increase in brain cancer during
the last 20 years, a period in which cell phone usage exploded.
The
paper's strengths include a consideration of the amount of time between radiation
exposure and the start of cancer. Assuming a 5 to 10 year period between
exposure and illness, a significant number of Britons who began using cell
phones between 1990 and 2002 would have been diagnosed with cancer during the
1998 to 2007 timeframe. But this was not the case.
Nevertheless,
the study softens its conclusion by noting that "we cannot exclude the
possibility that there are persons who are susceptible or some rare brain
cancers are associated with RF from mobile phones". So what do you think? Does
this latest study provide enough proof that cell phones don't cause cancer?
Source: Washington
Post
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