Scientists and campaigners condemn new mobile phone study as misleading and irresponsible

October 21, 2011 in -Mailing List, Cell phone news, Tobacco science and the art of spin by EMFacts

From Vicky Fobel, director of MobileWise:

20 October 2011 – London – A new study published today in the British Medical Journal (embargoed for 11.30 pm tonight) concludes that mobile phone use does not raise the risk of getting a brain tumour. But scientists and campaigners both in the UK and across the globe have dismissed the study as being seriously flawed and offering misleading and false reassurance to the media and public as to the safety of mobile phones.

The study – Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study – looked at data on the whole Danish population aged 30 and over and born in Denmark after 1925 and subdivided this data into subscribers and non-subscribers of mobile phones before 1995. This was done in order to compare the brain tumour rates within these two groups. The apparent conclusion was that there was no comparative increase in brain tumours among mobile phone subscribers.

Despite this apparently simple and clear-cut conclusion, the Danish study is in fact seriously flawed and misleading according to scientists and campaigners in the UK and the US who have examined the data.
Firstly, the study implies that it is looking at long-term users (which is crucial when looking at the incidence of brain tumours, given the latency lag of about 30 years), when in fact the maximum confirmed use period looked at was only seven years and the minimum was as little as one year.

Furthermore the study excludes business users who were by far the heaviest users in Denmark in the 1990’s. This removed those at highest risk of tumours, severely inflating the apparent risk of non-mobile users with whom they were compared. It also included as ‘non-users’ people who started using mobiles after the study began. Together, these methods distorted the findings by greatly diminishing the difference in risk between mobile users and non-users.

Such are the flaws in the study that Denis Henshaw, Emeritus Professor of Human Radiation Effects, University of Bristol has stated that he “considers the claims in the study to be worthless”. He goes on to comment that: “The researchers misclassified the 88 per cent of the Danish population who started using a mobile phone after 1995. This seriously flawed study misleads the public and decision makers about the safety of mobile phone use. ”

Moreover, the researchers themselves have admitted the analysis is flawed. It states in the report that: “A limitation of the study is potential misclassification of exposure. Subscription holders who are not using their phone will erroneously be classified as exposed and people without a subscription but still using a mobile phone will erroneously be classified as unexposed. Because we excluded corporate subscriptions, mobile phone users who do not have a subscription in their own name will have been misclassified as unexposed. Also, as data on mobile phone subscriptions were available only until 1995, individuals with a subscription in 1996 or later were classified as non-users.”

Epidemiologist Dr Devra Davies of the Environmental Health Trust in the US says the study is not new, but an extension of a study published by the Danish team two years ago. It was widely criticised at the time and was not considered by the World Health Organization to be reliable when the WHO reviewed the evidence of mobile phone risks and classified phone radiation as a ‘possible carcinogen’ in May 2011.

Lastly, the study is described in the BMJ press release as the largest study of its kind to date, when in fact it is widely recognised by scientists that a cohort study (as opposed to a case-controlled study) despite being ‘big’ is an inappropriate method for studying relatively rare diseases such as brain tumours. This is because there are usually not enough incidents of the disease within the cohort to draw any valid conclusions.
Vicky Fobel, director of MobileWise, a charity advising on mobile phone and health, says: “This study and the press release promoting its findings are misleading the public by implying that phone use has the all-clear. The study only looked at short-term use of mobile phones and by mis-analysing the data has massively underestimated the risks. All the other studies that have looked at the long-term risks have found a link between phone use and brain tumours. This study gives false reassurance and distracts us from the important job of helping the public, especially children, to cut the risk from mobiles.”

MobileWise is shortly publishing a report highlighting the growing body of evidence that points to a link between mobile phone use and a range of health hazards including brain tumours, infertility and DNA damage, and the implications of this for public health policy. The report, endorsed by scientists working in the radiation field, is due to be released in early November

Notes to editors

http://www.emfacts.com/2011/10/scientists-and-campaigners-condemn-new-mobile-phone-study-as-misleading-and-irresponsible/
For further information or to arrange interviews please contact: Tessa Thomas, MobileWise Communications Director, Tel. 020 8888 3600 Mobile: 07796 942 281 Email: Tessa Thomas tessa.thomas@mobilewise.org

Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study can be downloaded at http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/october/mobilephones.pdf

MobileWise was set up in 2010 to help children use phones more safely. For more information on MobileWise and the Safe Mobile Code www.mobilewise.org The Safe Mobile Code has been formulated to offer practical solutions for those who want to cut exposure to phone radiation, particularly to the head and groin, which are shown by research to be vulnerable.

http://www.emfacts.com/2011/10/scientists-and-campaigners-condemn-new-mobile-phone-study-as-misleading-and-irresponsible/

Experts at Maine conference say cellphones cause cancer

Posted Oct 18, 2011 by JohnThomas Didymus

Empirical evidence connecting cellphone use and cancer has been the subject of a fierce debate in recent years between researchers and operators of the telecommunications industry, including federal regulators.

Photo by Eelke Dekker

The National Cancer Institute, taking a middle ground in the debate, said that "Studies thus far have not shown a consistent link between cell phone use and cancers of the brain, nerves, or other tissues of the head or neck. More research is needed because cell phone technology and how people use cell phones have been changing rapidly."

But, according to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, researchers at a conference at the University of Southern Maine on Monday (October 17), have claimed that the connection between cellphones and certain types of cancer is becoming increasingly clear. The researchers have called on governments to take measures to protect people from the cancer risk involved in use of cellphone, smart meters and radio broadcast towers.

Bangor Daily News reports that researchers at the conference said cellphone use today is like smoking decades ago. According to the Bangor Daily News, one of the researchers, Dr. David Carpenter, head of Institute for Health and Environment at the University of Albany, said:

"There’s enough science to suggest the activity can cause cancer, but not enough political will to implement measures to reduce exposure...We’re setting ourselves up for an epidemic of cancers in the future that should be preventable based on the knowledge we have now."

Dr. David Carpenter says evidence of connection between cancer and cellphone use is increasing in spite of denial by the telecommunications industry:

"If you use a cell phone and hold it to your head, the cancers you see elevated are brain cancer, tumors of the auditory nerve, tumors of the parotid gland, the salivary gland and the cheek right by the ear."

Dr. Carpenter also said that the concern is not only about cellphones. He says there is growing evidence that people who live close to radio towers are at increased risk of cancer:

"If your whole body is exposed, as is the case in people that live near towers — there are studies with AM radio towers in Rome or in Korea — then the cancer that one sees most prominently is leukemia."

Dr. Carpenter says the growing mass of evidence that radio frequency fields expose people to increased risk of cancer explains why the World Health Organization (WHO) recently identified cellphones and radio towers as class 2B carcinogens:

"That's a classification that means the evidence isn't all there but there's reason to be concerned...There have been several other very major advances recently — the study that came from the National Institutes of Health demonstrating directly that a cell phone held to the head, when it was active, it resulted in changes in glucose utilization in the brain. So yes, the evidence is getting strong with time."

Dr. Carpenter's statement was in reference to a recent WHO announcement that radiation from cell phones may possibly cause cancer. Medscape Medical News recently reported that the WHO announcement was based on,

"...an extensive review of studies on cell phone safety by a working group of 31 scientists from 14 countries, who have been meeting regularly to evaluate the potential carcinogenic hazards from exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. They reviewed exposure data, studies of cancer in humans and experimental animal models, and other relevant data."

One of the participants at the Maine conference, Stuart Cobb of Portland, who recently recovered from a type of brain tumor called a glioma, is convinced that his illness was caused by years of daily use of cellphone. According to Cobb:

"I have had one for an awful long time — ever since I was 19 — and I had averaged between 3 to 6 hours per day on it, which is pretty heavy...I am 100 percent convinced it was from RF radiation. As humans we just weren't meant to have transmitters bolted to our heads for long periods of time."

Medscape Medical News reports that one of the strongest evidence supporting Cobb's conviction that there may be link between brain tumors and cellphone use comes from a series of studies at the Department of Oncology, Orebo Medical Center in Sweden. The studies showed that the risk of brain tumors increases with number of hours of use and that younger users suffer a greater risk. Other studies have, however, given results inconsistent with the results of the Swedish study, leading some authorities to conclude that "additional research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn."

Medscape Medical News reports another line of research evidence that cellphone use may cause cancer: Researchers have shown that use of cellphone "for as little as 50 minutes at a time appears to affect brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the phone's antenna."

According to Medscape Medical News:

"Investigators used positron emission tomography (PET) during cell phone use in the on and then off positions and found that although whole-brain metabolism was not affected, metabolism was increased in the orbitofrontal cortex and the temporal pole areas of the brain while the cell phone was on, areas that are close to where phone's antenna meets the head."

The author of the study Nora D. Volkow, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland, said,

"We do not know what the clinical significance of this finding is, both with respect to potential therapeutic effect of this type of technology but also potential negative consequences from cell phone exposure."

But she strongly recommends "in the interim" hands-free devices or speaker-phone mode to avoid direct contact of the telephone with the head. According to Volkow,

"Previous work suggests that if the phone is a foot or more away it is very unlikely to have any effects...So there are some very easy solutions that don't cost anything for those who want to play it safe."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/312995#ixzz1babh9HHp

Study: Most Cell Users Exposed To Alarming Radiation Levels

Questions Of Long-Term Side Affects Raised

POSTED: 9:52 am EDT October 17, 2011
UPDATED: 6:38 pm EDT October 17, 2011

BOSTON -- A new report suggests that 97 percent of Americans are exposed to cell phone radiation levels well above the Federal Communications Commission limit.

The FCC underestimates the amount of radiation that people who carry cell phones are exposed to, according to the a study published in the journal Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

"The standard for cell phones has been developed based on old science and old models and old assumptions about how we use cell phones and that's why they need to change," said Devra Lee Davis of the Environmental Health Trust.

Because the existing process uses a mannequin model that represents 3 percent of the population, the authors report that 97 percent of the population, especially children, will exceed the certified level of absorbed radiation when they hold a cell phone up to their ear.

The authors suggest an alternative certification process -- one that uses MRI scans to test real humans.

The authors also raise questions of long-term side effects, like infertility in males who carry phones in their pockets, an exposure unaccounted for in the traditional certification process.

Independent scientists told ABC News there are no conclusive studies that cell phone radiation causes cancer.

"There are different types. The radiation from x-rays is ionizing radiation. The kind from cell phones is the same from microwave ovens. There is no good proof that that caused cancer," said ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor Richard Besser.

The group is calling for a revision of the process, especially in children, who have smaller heads than the traditional male adult mannequin model.

Copyright 2011 by TheBostonChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/29506108/detail.html#ixzz1bkxV4cE2

It's Official - Cell Phones are Killing Bees

It's Official - Cell Phones are Killing Bees

by Lori Zimmer, 05/21/11

filed under: environmental destruction

Scientists may have found the cause of the world’s sudden dwindling population of bees – and cell phones may be to blame. Research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland has shown that the signal from cell phones not only confuses bees, but also may lead to their death. Over 83 experiments have yielded the same results. With virtually most of the population of the United States (and the rest of the world) owning cell phones, the impact has been greatly noticeable.



Led by researcher Daniel Favre, the alarming study found that bees reacted significantly to cell phones that were placed near or in hives in call-making mode. The bees sensed the signals transmitted when the phones rang, and emitted heavy buzzing noise during the calls.  The calls act as an instinctive warning to leave the hive, but the frequency confuses the bees, causing them to fly erratically. The study found that the bees’ buzzing noise increases ten times when a cell phone is ringing or making a call – aka when signals are being transmitted, but remained normal when not in use.

The signals cause the bees to become lost and disoriented.  The impact has already been felt the world over, as the population of bees in the U.S. and the U.K. has decreased by almost half in the last thirty years – which coincides with the popularization and acceptance of cell phones as a personal device.  Studies as far back as 2008 have found that bees are repelled by cell phone signals.

Bees are an integral and necessary part of our agricultural and ecological systems, producing honey, and more importantly pollinating our crops.  As it is unlikely that the world will learn to forgo the convenience of cell phones, it is unclear how much they will contribute to the decline of bees, and their impact on the environment.
Via Daily Mail


Read more: It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building 

Cell tower radiation harmful to humans: study

Multiple radio signals enough to cause physical and psychological problems

CBC News Posted: Nov 05, 2010 3:58 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 05, 2010 4:30 PM ET

A newly published report draws some disturbing conclusions about radiation people are absorbing from cellphone towers and its effects on human health.

Cellphone towers have become part of the landscape, but a new report says the radiation coming from them poses a threat to human health. ((Dick Whipple/Associated Press))

"The bottom line is that these very chronic low-level intensities are not biologically inert," study author Blake Levitt told CBC News.

Levitt, a medical and science journalist, has been studying radio frequency exposures since the 1970s, and has written two books on the subject. Her latest article appeared online Friday in Envrionmental Reviews, a Canadian journal that publishes peer-reviewed papers summarizing previous scientific studies on environmental topics.

Levitt says the exponential growth of wireless use and the accompanying low-level signals are a concern. The paper notes there are now 5.5 billion cellphones in use worldwide. In addition to the cell signals, there are also Wi-Fi networks and Wi-Max, which began rolling out in the U.S. last year and uses lower frequencies with higher power densities.

Similar to cold war embassy bombardment

The results, according to Levitt, are conditions similar to the intentional irradiation of employees at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow starting in 1953 during the Cold War.

"We're getting a mirror effect now, because the exposures close to cell towers now are almost identical in frequency, in signalling characteristics and in long-term low-level chronic exposure duration as that early microwave sickness paper from the irradiation of the Moscow embassy."

In 1978, researchers at Johns Hopkins University published a study on the long-term effects of that radiation exposure and found it led to several serious health problems. Among them: eczema, psoriasis, allergic and inflammatory reactions, neurological and reproductive problems, tumours and mood disorders such as depression, irritability and lack of concentration.

Levitt says these symptoms have been reflected in other studies on long-term exposure and have been seen in real-world practice.

"It is being increasingly reported when anyone looks at the symptoms that are being reported in populations that live near cell towers or low-level infrastructure."

The medical and scientific community is very much at odds over the impact of cellphone radiation. Health Canada maintains there is no problem.

"Health Canada has reviewed this article and has noted that no new data is presented," the department said in a statement to CBC News. "As well, the conclusions made by the authors are not based on a full examination of the scientific evidence."

Many of the studies cited in the article claim biological or harmful health effects may occur at radiofrequency levels below Health Canada's exposure limits.

"As long as exposures respect the limits set in Health Canada's guidelines, the department has no scientific reason to consider exposure to low-level radiofrequency fields, such as those from cell towers, dangerous to the public," the statement added.

Environmental Reviews is published by Canadian Science Publishing. Before it became private in September, the online publication was overseen by the National Research Council.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/cell-tower-radiation-harmful-to-humans-study-1.958047

Is Cell Phone Radiation Bad For Your Eyes?

Is Cell Phone Radiation Bad For Your Eyes?

Posted by Lloyd on October 14, 2010 under Cell phone radiation danger | 

Our eyes are one of our most important assets.  For many of us a significant part of the information our brains receive comes through our eyes. 

Can electromagnetic field exposures (EMFs) from cell phones and the like cause damage to our eyes?

Yes they can. The use of cell phones has been linked to cancer of the eye by a German study.  Whats-more, using a cell phone may increase your chances of getting eye cancer by 300%, so the studies say.

Besides the development of eye cancer, cell phone radiation can also be responsible for the formation of cataracts.  Burning of the eyes, pain behind the eyes, ‘floaters’ (actually little bits of gel that detach themselves from the inside of the eye and float around), and a general deterioration of the vision are all hallmarks of damage caused by cell phone radiation.

Tips To Reduce Cell Phone Radiation Exposure To Your Eyes

1. Try whenever possible, to use a land line phone instead of a cell phone.  This will be easiest when you are at home, only using a cell phone when absolutely necessary will cut back on your exposure to this damaging radiation. Click here for my tips on reducing your exposure to cell phone radiation.

2. There are herbal products that offer protection from the effects of cell phone radiation and keep your eyes healthy.  Both bilberry and ginko biloba are powerful antioxidants.  These herbs are especially good at preventing and healing damage to the eyes, and bilberry can help to increase blood flow to the eye’s capillaries, which will help to heal any damage caused by radiation.  The ability to perform as an antioxidant is also important in cleaning up any abnormal cells that may result from cell phone use.

3. If you wear eyeglasses like me, make sure that the frames are plastic rather than wire, the metal in the wire frame can act as an antenna.  Like a radio or television antenna, this antenna can direct the cell phone radiation into your eyes and brain.

4. The mineral zinc has many beneficial uses for the body in general and can be particularly helpful in maintaining high levels of antioxidants in the eyes.  I don’t advocate taking supplements on a long term basis, but taking zinc can be beneficial.

5. Increase your melatonin levels. You can take melatonin supplements but better still, help your body create the conditions so a natural supply of melatonin is assured. 

There are those that advocate using EMF “chips”, “neutralizers” and “harmonizers” to gain protection from EMF radiation.  Some of these devices are meant to be worn others you plug into your electrical supply, to supposedly protect yourself from cell phone radiation and other forms of EMF pollution. I DO NOT view these kinds of devices as a solution – some of them can be dangerous.

Take the necessary action to protect you and your family against the devastating effects of cell phone radiation and other EMFs on your eyes.  Everyone, even if you do not personally use a cell phone, is exposed to EMFs whether it be from computer screens, wifi, cell phone towers, electrical wiring etc.

Take action now, protect your eyes from EMFs.

http://www.electricsense.com/1140/is-cell-phone-radiation-bad-for-your-eyes/

Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Warning:
Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health

Ever worry that that gadget you spend hours holding next to your head might be damaging your brain? Well, the evidence is starting to pour in, and it's not pretty. So why isn't anyone in America doing anything about it?

By Christopher Ketcham










Photograph by Tom Schierlitz




Earlier this winter, I met an investment banker who was diagnosed with a brain tumor five years ago. He's a managing director at a top Wall Street firm, and I was put in touch with him through a colleague who knew I was writing a story about the potential dangers of cell-phone radiation. He agreed to talk with me only if his name wasn't used, so I'll call him Jim. He explained that the tumor was located just behind his right ear and was not immediately fatal—the five-year survival rate is about 70 percent. He was 35 years old at the time of his diagnosis and immediately suspected it was the result of his intense cell-phone usage. "Not for nothing," he said, "but in investment banking we've been using cell phones since 1992, back when they were the Gordon-Gekko-on-the-beach kind of phone." When Jim asked his neurosurgeon, who was on the staff of a major medical center in Manhattan, about the possibility of a cell-phone-induced tumor, the doctor responded that in fact he was seeing more and more of such cases—young, relatively healthy businessmen who had long used their phones obsessively. He said he believed the industry had discredited studies showing there is a risk from cell phones. "I got a sense that he was pissed off," Jim told me. A handful of Jim's colleagues had already died from brain cancer; the more reports he encountered of young finance guys developing tumors, the more certain he felt that it wasn't a coincidence. "I knew four or five people just at my firm who got tumors," Jim says. "Each time, people ask the question. I hear it in the hallways."

It's hard to talk about the dangers of cell-phone radiation without sounding like a conspiracy theorist. This is especially true in the United States, where non-industry-funded studies are rare, where legislation protecting the wireless industry from legal challenges has long been in place, and where our lives have been so thoroughly integrated with wireless technology that to suggest it might be a problem—maybe, eventually, a very big public-health problem—is like saying our shoes might be killing us.

Except our shoes don't send microwaves directly into our brains. And cell phones do—a fact that has increasingly alarmed the rest of the world. Consider, for instance, the following headlines that have appeared in highly reputable international newspapers and journals over the past few years. From summer 2006, in the Hamburg Morgenpost: are we telephoning ourselves to death? That fall, in the Danish journal Dagens Medicin: mobile phones affect the brain's metabolism. December 2007, from Agence France-Presse: israeli study says regular mobile use increases tumour risk. January 2008, in London's Independent: mobile phone radiation wrecks your sleep. September 2008, in Australia's The Age: scientists warn of mobile phone cancer risk.

Though the scientific debate is heated and far from resolved, there are multiple reports, mostly out of Europe's premier research institutions, of cell-phone and PDA use being linked to "brain aging," brain damage, early-onset Alz­heimer's, senility, DNA damage, and even sperm die-offs (many men, after all, keep their cell phones in their pants pockets or attached at the hip). In September 2007, the European Union's environmental watchdog, the European Environment Agency, warned that cell-phone technology "could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking, and lead in petrol."

Perhaps most worrisome, though, are the preliminary results of the multinational Interphone study sponsored by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in Lyon, France. (Scientists from thirteen countries took part in the study, the United States conspicuously not among them.) Interphone researchers reported in 2008 that after a decade of cell-phone use, the chance of getting a brain tumor—specifically on the side of the head where you use the phone—goes up as much as 40 percent for adults. Interphone researchers in Israel have found that cell phones can cause tumors of the parotid gland (the salivary gland in the cheek), and an independent study in Sweden last year concluded that people who started using a cell phone before the age of 20 were five times as likely to develop a brain tumor. Another Interphone study reported a nearly 300 percent increased risk of acoustic neuroma, a tumor of the acoustic nerve.

As more results of the Interphone study trickled out, I called Louis Slesin, who has a doctorate in environmental policy from MIT and in 1980 founded an investigative newsletter called Microwave News. "No one in this country cared!" Slesin said of the findings. "It wasn't news!" He suggested that much of the comfort of our modern lives depends on not caring, on refusing to recognize the dangers of microwave radiation. "We love our cell phones. The paradigm that there's no danger here is part of a worldview that had to be put into place," he said. "Americans are not asking the questions, maybe because they don't want the answers. So what will it take?"

To understand how radiation from cell phones and wireless transmitters affects the human brain, and to get some sense of why the concerns raised in so many studies outside the U.S. are not being seriously raised here, it's necessary to go back fifty years, long before the advent of the cell phone, to the research of a young neuroscientist named Allan Frey.


Read More

http://www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadgets/201002/warning-cell-phone-radiation#ixzz0n7bkSznh