Those who had hoped that the World Health Organization (WHO) could settle the argument over the potentials of cell phone radiation increasing brain cancer risk will be sorely disappointed. The massive 10 year study which involved 13,000 participants has proved inconclusive, according to a report due to be published in a medical journal on Tuesday.
The paper, which will be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was compiled by researchers in 13 countries. Scientists interviewed 12,848 participants, of which 5,150 had either meningioma, a commo but frequently benign tumor, or glioma, a rarer but deadlier form of the disease. Included in the study were Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, but not the U.S.
There were "suggestions" that using cell phones for more than 30 minutes each day could increase the risk of glioma, according to the study by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the authors added that "biases and error prevent a causal interpretation" that would directly blame radiation for the tumor. Longer call times appeared to pose a greater risk than the number of calls made, the study found.
Researchers admitted that their study had flaws. They called for further investigation before any conclusions were drawn. One item of note, according to the scientists, was that people's use of cell phones has changed considerably since the start of the study in 2000. A recent report, in fact, showed that data use is rising while voice use is falling.
Additionally, the effects of using handsfree devices or the risk of having a cell phone near while not making calls, such as next to the bed at night, in a pocket, or on a belt clip, were not examined.
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