Cellular Phones Cancer Link Passes Scrutiny
The Age
Monday July 26, 1993
THE CELLULAR Telecommunications Industry Association has moved to allay fears of a link between cellular phones and brain cancer. In an announcement last week, the association said that after reviewing research on the effects of electromagnetic radiation, it has not found evidence that cellular phones cause brain cancer.
Recent studies have suggested that the electromagnetic field generated by cellular phones can stimulate the growth of cancerous cells. But Mr Georges Carlo, who is directing the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's (CTIA) research program, said these studies were not as rigorous as they needed to be. Of the studies CTIA has reviewed so far, he said, ``There is no strong biological basis to suspect that there is a cancer link.
Concern over the health hazards of cellular phones, which use high- frequency radio waves to transmit conversations, arose in January when a Florida widower filed a lawsuit contending that his wife's fatal brain tumor was caused by her use of a cellular phone. The debate focused on the smaller, hand-held units whose antennas are held close the user's head, not so much on those found in cars.
``We have established a process to discover problems," said Mr Thomas Wheeler, president of the CTIA, ``and the process has not revealed any link between cellular phones and cancer.
The findings will be reviewed by a peer group and research will begin soon into any areas where questions remain. ``It is important to emphasise that this is a step-by-step scientific process," Mr Wheeler said.
Mr Albert Vandegriek, deputy director of the division of life sciences at the Food and Drug Administration, said in response to the CTIA review that there was not enough evidence to come to a conclusion about the effect of cellular phones.
``Nothing that was said by CTIA changes that," Mr Vandegriek said. It would probably take years, he added, to develop reliable data on the impact of cellular phones on people.
No one has yet completed a study of whether people who use cellular phones develop brain cancer more easily than others, Mr Carlo said.
The cellular telephone has been around only for the past decade, and he said it takes about that long for a brain tumor to develop.
Since the January scare, only two lawsuits have been filed against cellular phone manufacturers, according to Mr Wheeler. Neither case has gone to trial yet. Mr Wheeler said the CTIA will continue to fund research for the next three to five years, at an estimated cost of $US15million ($A22million) to $US25 million. _ Washington Post
© 1993 The Age
