“I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use,” the memo says.
Dr Herberman’s warning to 3,000 staff says children should be protected as their brains are still developing.
He lists tips including switching sides regularly while talking on mobiles.
A major six-year research study in the UK said last year that there were no short-term adverse effects to brain and cell function from mobile phone use.
However, the UK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme said there was a “hint” of a higher cancer risk in the long term and that its research would look into the effects over a 10-year period.
Programme chairman Professor Lawrie Challis said: “We can’t rule out the possibility at this stage that cancer could appear in a few years’ time.”
An earlier UK report said in 2005 that mobile phone use by children should be limited as a precaution – and that under-eights should not use them at all.
Mobile phones emit radio signals and electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the human brain, and some campaigners fear that this could seriously damage human health.
A US analysis by the University of Utah this year of thousands of brain tumour patients found no increased risk as a result of mobile use, but added that the effects from long-term use “awaits confirmation by future studies”…
Research reported in 2006 by the British arm of an international project called Interphone concluded that mobile phone use did not lead to a greater risk of brain tumour.
How about that Interphone study, which gets so much mention?
Project Funding and Independence
The coordination of the INTERPHONE project and the national data collection has been funded by the European Union and by other national and local government funding bodies. The GSM Association and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum also provided funds, which were administered by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) in order to ensure scientific independence. The sponsors of the INTERPHONE project do not have access to any results of the studies before their publication. They may, however, be informed, together with representatives from other interested organisations such as consumers’ groups, a maximum of seven days before the publication of the results, under strict terms of confidentiality.
Would you believe tobacco cancer research funded by the cigarette manufacturers?
