Heavy Cell Phone Use Might Raise Risk of Brain Tumors

Study found small increase in incidence, but experts suggest using ear piece, speaker phone to be safe

Friday, June 10, 2011

FRIDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) -- The debate over whether or not cell phones might cause brain tumors continues, as a new international study finds a small risk among people who are heavy cell phone users or who have used them for a long time.

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, was not involved with the latest research, but said that "the study is not conclusive that cell phones cause brain tumors."

The study shows a correlation between cell phone use and the risk of brain tumors, Brawley said. "But this is a suggestion, it is by no means definitive," he said.

Brawley noted there is an ongoing study bombarding the brains of mice with radio frequency radiation to see if brain tumors develop. "If that study is positive, that's going to really tell us that cell phones are not good. If that study is negative, the debate will continue," he said.

The latest report was published in the June 10 online edition of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) added cell phones to its list of things that might cause cancer. WHO said cell phones are "possibly carcinogenic to humans" and placed them in the same category as the pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust.

For the new study, a research team led by Elisabeth Cardis, from the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain, collected data on 1,229 people with brain tumors and 3,673 people without brain tumors.

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