Cellphone - Cancer Link: Two European Studies with Exactly Opposite Results

Ten years of using a mobile phone results in no increased risk of a tumour in the nerve connecting the ear to the brain, according to researchers from Institute of Cancer Research. Austrian Chamber of Physicians and Swedish scientists disagree.

“The results of our study suggest there is no substantial risk in the first decade after starting use,” said Anthony Swerdlow of the Institute of Cancer Research.

“Whether there are longer-term risks remains unknown, reflecting the fact that this is a relatively recent technology.”

The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, focused on the risk of acoustic neuroma, benign tumors which grow in the nerve connecting the ear and inner ear to the brain, close to where handsets are held.
Source: Reuters

On the other hand:

The Austrian Chamber of Physicians warned on Tuesday of a heightened risk of tumours from long-term use of cellphones.

It urged users to be cautious, and children not to be allowed to use the phones at all. There were both cancer and genetic hazards.

The chamber quoted two recent Swedish studies published in the specialist journals Environment Research and Neuroepidemology. The studies had confirmed previous evidence of more danger of tumours of the auditory nerve.

For the first time, there had also been evidence of heightened risk of malignant brain tumours such as astrozytoms for people using analogue or digital cellphones, or cordless phones, for a number of years.

“The thing that matters, as in many environmental and lifestyle factors also with electromagnetic fields and rays, is the dosage,” said the chamber’s specialist for environmental medicine, Gerd Oberfeld, in a press statement.

“It accumulates in the course of the years, as the present studies show us. Children should in principle not use mobile phones at all.”

The warning followed a recent similar one by the Vienna city Chamber of Physicians, which said the ubiquitous “handies” were dangerous, particularly for children. A recent study commissioned by the EU had clearly defined a gene-toxic effect from radiation.
Source: IOL

On closer look the British researchers didn’t discount the possibilities of long-term effect of mobiles. And apparently that is what is happening. Not only there is increased cancer risk with long-term usage but also risk of genetic defects which are likely to pass on to younger generations.
Keep this in mind before tugging along your mobile with you everywhere.