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Study finds no brain cancer link to mobile phone use
PARIS : The largest study to date of the safety of mobile phones has found no clear link to brain cancer, although it said further study is merited given their increasingly intensive use.
"The study doesn't reveal an increased risk, but we can't conclude that there is no risk because there are enough findings that suggest a possible risk," the study's chief author, Elisabeth Cardis, told AFP.
The results of the Interphone study, which included 2,708 cases of glioma tumours and 2,409 meningioma tumours in 13 countries over a 10-year period, is due to be published on Tuesday in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
It found no increased risk of glioma or meningioma tumours after 10 years of using a mobile phone, although it found "suggestions of higher risk" for the heaviest users.
The heaviest users who reported using their phones on the same side of their heads had a 40 per cent higher risk for gliomas and 15 per cent for meningiomas, but the researchers said "biases and errors" prevent making a causal link.
Given that the heaviest users in the study talked an average of half an hour per day on their mobile phones, a figure which is not heavy by today's standards, the researchers recommended further research.
They also cited the need for the study of the impact of mobile phone use among young people, who have rapidly become intensive users, and who were not included in the Interphone study.
"Observations at the highest level of cumulative call time and the changing patterns of mobile phone use ... particularly in young people, mean that further investigation of mobile phone use and brain cancer is merited," said Christopher Wild, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which coordinated the study.
The researchers noted, however, that the latest mobile phones have lower emissions, and the popularity of hands-free devices and texting reduce exposure to the head.
Cardis said the European Union is funding a new study of risks of brain tumours from mobile phone use during childhood and adolescence.
By:Dewei
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I think it is a great news that the safety of mobile phones has no clear link to brain cancer. It is because nowadays, everyone owns at least one mobile phone and if the study has found that the use of mobile phones will lead to brain cancer, the whole world’s population would be affected. Furthermore, the sales of mobile phones would also decrease rapidly.
However, I think that it is not wise to use mobile phone too often. Although the study did not mention any increased risk, but it does not conclude that there are no risks as through the research, they have found sufficient evidence to prove that there is a possible risk of using mobile phones. Also from what I know, an electromagnetic radiation is emitted from mobile phones which will affect human brain tissue.
Through the Interphone study, no increased risk of glioma or meningioma tumours had been found after 10 year of using a mobile phone except for the heaviest users. In my opinion, I think that this study might not be accurate as in the research, it did not include the young people who are becoming intensive users.
The researchers have also noted that the latest phones have lower emissions and the popularity of hands-free devices and texting reduce exposure to the head, which I agreed to it. The reason is because nowadays, due to the advanced technology, most mobile phones are now “touch screen”. This resulted in the reduced of exposure to the head like what the researchers had mentioned.
In conclusion, I think that although mobile phones make our life more convenient, it does not mean that there is no risk. As the technology becomes more advanced, there is no doubt that mobile phones would not cause harm to the human body.
By Sien Wee.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, it is a relieve that there is no brain cancer link to mobile phone user. With mobile phone being a necessary item in most human’s life; it will be terrifying to see the number of brain cancer patient increasing all around the world. However, the research mention that the heavy users who use more than half an hour per day had a 40 per cent higher risk for gliomas and 15 per cent for meningiomas.
I also do agree with the researchers that further research should be recommended as half an hour of using the mobile phone is not really consider heavy nowadays. Many people do more than half an hour of calling per day for many purposes such as for business, contacting and more.
Moreover, I also feel that the need for the study of the impact of mobile phone use among young people, especially teenagers should be made too. As young people are more technological advance, some of them love to chat with friends using their mobile phone. As a result, most of them falls into the intensive users category. Research should be made to see if they will have any impact on them while they are growing up.
It was found that the latest mobile phones have lower emissions. This does not surprise me as technology is constantly advancing. I believe that maybe in the near future, it might be possible to have phones that have such low amount of emissions that it does not actually pose a threat even to the intensive users.
In conclusion, I believe that regardless if using of mobile phones will harm us or not, it will not change the fact that mobile phone is an invention that has greatly supported us in our life. In the past before research has proven that there were no brain cancer link to mobile phone use, it did not affect most people decisions to use them, now, after this study, i believe that it will not have much effect on the people either.
By Yee Hong.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article, I am doubt to the study of the safety of mobile phones has found no clear link to brain cancer. For the past years, researchers had said that mobile phones will lead to certain percent of brain damages which include brain cancer. However, in this report, study says that mobile phone have no clear link to brain cancer. This has lead to my suspicion. How can a study being flip flop by a newest research where the old research had let people believe mobile phones do cause brain damage for the past many years???
However, I feel relieve that does not include the further study is merited given their increasingly intensive use. With the high advanced technology that we are having, mobile phone is a "MUST” item to many of us nowadays. Past research has told us that mobile phones do cause radiation especially when you are having a conversation with others in phone. With such heavy usage of mobile phones, it will sure cause severely brain damage especially for those heavy users of mobile phones.
Researchers also found that the latest mobile phones have lower emissions and the popularity of hands-free devices and texting reduce exposure to the head, which I agree to a certain extent. Latest mobile phones may do have lower emissions, hands-free devices and texting reduce exposure which will certainly reduce the damage of our brains but due to the high popularity usage of mobile phones, it will still cause damages to our brain as people will subsequently increase the usage of mobile phones after reading through this article.
In conclusion, I do not agree that mobile phones have no clear link to brain damages while there are still high demands and usage of mobile phones. However, it will not change our daily life as mobile phones are widely connected to the world society.
By Adeline
ReplyDeleteAlthough result had showed no brain cancer link to mobile phone use, I feel that there is a high possibility that excessive mobile phone usage might cause brain cancer as there are enough findings that suggest a possible risk.
However, the results of the Interphone study found no increased risk of glioma or meningioma tumours after 10 years of using a mobile phone. I do not believe in this statement because most people would know that there is high radiation from the mobile phone. Therefore, it is likely that there might be some side effect.
In addition, the need for the study of the impact of mobile phone use among young people, who have rapidly become intensive users, and who were not included in the Interphone study. How can they left out one of the most critical people that they should research on? This proves that the research is biased. In the reality, we spend about at least two hours on the mobile phone per day. Hence, the research based on half an hour per day is inaccurate.
Nevertheless, with improvement in technology, the latest mobile phones have lower radiation. This is heartening as it is beneficial to us as mobile phone is a necessity in our modern society especially among the teenagers and students who communicate with each other over the phone everyday.
For our safety precaution, here are some steps you can take to minimize the effects of cell phone radiation exposure:
1. Limit use to essential calls and keep calls short. Even a two-minute call has been found to alter the natural electrical activity of the brain for up to an hour afterwards.
2. Do not make a call when the signal strength is one bar or less, which means the phone must work harder to establish a connection.
3. If using the phone without a headset, wait for the call to connect before placing the phone next to the ear.
After reading this article,I feel a little fearful of what mobile phones can affect the society at large.It is indeed relieving to know that mobile phones do not post any danger to people YET.
ReplyDeleteSince technology is growing at such a rapid stage,it would not be surprising to me if such diseases start to appear after maybe another one or two decades.
I always had doubts that this was really true as it is such a grandmother's tale that putting the phone too near you while you sleep is bad.I grew up to believe that too!
However,despite being an old grandmother's story,i believe some parts of it would be true.In the article,people who keep using their phones on the same side of their heads would have higher chances of getting gliomas.I feel that the idea to reduce the radiation exposure to the head and having lower emission handphones,is a great way to prevent these growing chances of brain tumours from appearing.
whoops.the above comment is from me okay!HAHAHA.TERESA :D
ReplyDeleteBy Yeh Gee
ReplyDeleteDue to its convenience, the duration of the use of mobile phones has increased a lot by today’s standard as compared to the average of half an hour per day for the previous ten years when the Interphone study was carried out.
Moreover, the intensive users of mobile phones are young people nowadays, thus another concern of researchers may be whether the use of mobile phones will affect young people differently from adults.
Mobile phone networks use microwaves for telecommunications transmissions. In addition, some studies do suggest that long-term exposure to microwaves can cause negative effects, as microwaves have the ability to damage cells and disrupt cellular metabolic processes. However, it requires further studies to find out whether the long-term use of mobile phones can increase the risk of brain cancer.
The study did not specify which were the 13 countries involved. The environment and weather conditions of these countries may differ from Singapore. The study also did not state clearly which generation, brand or model of mobile phones were used, as different mobile phones may emit different frequencies of waves, and thus affects the human brain differently. Therefore, Singaporeans should take this study only as a reference.
Due to the advanced technology, new models of mobile phones have lesser emission of waves. In addition, hands-free devices and texting have lesser exposure to the head, thus it may lead to lesser risk for brain tumours.
In conclusion, mobile phones are essential in the daily lives for most people due to its convenience. However, if the exposure of mobile phones to the head can lead to negative effects to the brain, people may wish to consider using hands-free devices and texting more often.
In my opinion, Singapore may consider conducting a similar study, as the results will more accurately show how the use of mobile phones affects Singaporeans. We will then have a better understanding to tackle and solve the related health problems.