Pittsburgh Cancer Center Warns of Cell Phone Risks + 2 urls to related articles

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Pittsburgh Cancer Center Warns of Cell Phone Risks

_http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080723/Cell.Phone.Warning/_

(http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20080723/Cell.Phone.Warning/)

 

The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented

warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the

possible risk of cancer.

 

 

PITTSBURGH — The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an

unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use

because of the possible risk of cancer.

 

The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of

Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a

link between cancer and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration.

 

Herberman is basing his alarm on early unpublished data. He says it takes

too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action

now — especially when it comes to children.

 

" Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn't wait for a

definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than

sorry

later, " Herberman said.

 

No other major academic cancer research institutions have sounded such an

alarm about cell phone use. But Herberman's advice is sure to raise concern

among many cell phone users and especially parents.

 

In the memo he sent to about 3,000 faculty and staff Wednesday, he says

children should use cell phones only for emergencies because their brains are

still developing.

 

Adults should keep the phone away from the head and use the speakerphone or

a wireless headset, he says. He even warns against using cell phones in

public places like a bus because it exposes others to the phone's

electromagnetic

fields.

 

The issue that concerns some scientists — though nowhere near a consensus —

is electromagnetic radiation, especially its possible effects on children.

It is not a major topic in conferences of brain specialists.

 

A 2008 University of Utah analysis looked at nine studies — including some

Herberman cites — with thousands of brain tumor patients and concludes " we

found no overall increased risk of brain tumors among cellular phone users. The

potential elevated risk of brain tumors after long-term cellular phone use

awaits confirmation by future studies. "

 

Studies last year in France and Norway concluded the same thing.

 

" If there is a risk from these products — and at this point we do not know

that there is — it is probably very small, " the Food and Drug Administration

says on an agency Web site.

 

Still, Herberman cites a " growing body of literature linking long-term cell

phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer. "

 

" Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are

sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary

advice on cell phone use, " he wrote in his memo.

 

A driving force behind the memo was Devra Lee Davis, the director of the

university's center for environmental oncology.

 

" The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain, " she

said in an interview from her cell phone while using the hands-free speaker

phone as recommended. " I don't know that cell phones are dangerous. But I

don't know that they are safe. "

 

Of concern are the still unknown effects of more than a decade of cell phone

use, with some studies raising alarms, said Davis, a former health adviser

in the Clinton Administration.

 

She said 20 different groups have endorsed the advice the Pittsburgh cancer

institute gave, and authorities in England, France and India have cautioned

children's use of cell phones.

 

Herberman and Davis point to a massive ongoing research project known as

Interphone, involving scientists in 13 nations, mostly in Europe. Results

already published in peer-reviewed journals from this project aren't so

alarming,

but Herberman is citing work not yet published.

 

The published research focuses on more than 5,000 cases of brain tumors. The

National Research Council in the U.S., which isn't participating in the

Interphone project, reported in January that the brain tumor research had

" selection bias. " That means it relied on people with cancer to remember how

often

they used cell phones. It is not considered the most accurate research

approach.

 

The largest published study, which appeared in the Journal of the National

Cancer Institute in 2006, tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including

thousands that had used the phones for more than 10 years. It found no

increased risk of cancer among those using cell phones.

 

A French study based on Interphone research and published in 2007 concluded

that regular cell phone users had " no significant increased risk " for three

major types of nervous system tumors. It did note, however, that there was

" the possibility of an increased risk among the heaviest users " for one type of

brain tumor, but that needs to be verified in future research.

 

Earlier research also has found no connection.

 

Joshua E. Muscat of Penn State University, who has studied cancer and cell

phones in other research projects partly funded by the cell phone industry,

said there are at least a dozen studies that have found no cancer-cell phone

link. He said a Swedish study cited by Herberman as support for his warning was

biased and flawed.

 

" We certainly don't know of any mechanism by which radiofrequency exposure

would cause a cancerous effect in cells. We just don't know this might

possibly occur, " Muscat said.

 

Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of radiation that is a form

of electromagnetic radiation, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Though studies are being done to see if there is a link between it and tumors

of

the brain and central nervous system, there is no definitive link between the

two, the institute says on its Web site.

 

" By all means, if a person feels compelled that they should take precautions

in reducing the amount of electromagnetic radio waves through their bodies,

by all means they should do so, " said Dan Catena, a spokesman for the

American Cancer Society. " But at the same time, we have to remember there's no

conclusive evidence that links cell phones to cancer, whether it's brain tumors

or

other forms of cancer. "

 

Joe Farren, a spokesman for the CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group

for the wireless industry, said the group believes there is a risk of

misinforming the public if science isn't used as the ultimate guide on the

issue.

 

" When you look at the overwhelming majority of studies that have been peer

reviewed and published in scientific journals around the world, you'll find no

relationship between wireless usage and adverse health affects, " Farren said.

 

Frank Barnes, who chaired the January report from the National Research

Council, said Wednesday that " the jury is out " on how hazardous long-term cell

phone use might be.

 

Speaking from his cell phone, the professor of electrical and computer

engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder said he takes no special

precautions in his own phone use. And he offered no specific advice to people

worried about the matter.

 

It's up to each individual to decide what if anything to do. If people use a

cell phone instead of having a land line, " that may very well be reasonable

for them, " he said.

 

Susan Juffe, a 58-year-old Pittsburgh special education teacher, heard about

Herberman's cell phone advice on the radio earlier in the day.

 

" Now, I'm worried. It's scary, " she said.

 

She says she'll think twice about allowing her 10-year-old daughter Jayne to

use the cell phone.

 

" I don't want to get it (brain cancer) and I certainly don't want you to get

it, " she explained to her daughter.

 

Sara Loughran, a 24-year-old doctoral student at the University of

Pittsburgh, sat in a bus stop Wednesday chatting on her cell phone with her

mother.

She also had heard the news earlier in the day, but was not as concerned.

 

" I think if they gave me specific numbers and specific information and it

was scary enough, I would be concerned, " Loughran said, planning to call her

mother again in a matter of minutes. " Without specific numbers, it's too vague

to get me worked up. "

 

___

 

Jennifer Yates reported from Pittsburgh. Science Writer Seth Borenstein

reported from Washington. Reporter Ramit Plushnick-Masti contributed from

Pittsburgh and Science Writer Malcolm Ritter contributed from New York.

 

 

On the Net:

 

Advice from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute:

_http://www.environmentaloncology.org/node/201_

(http://www.environmentaloncology.org/node/201)

 

Food and Drug Administration on cell phones:

_http://www.fda.gov/cellphones/qa.html_ (http://www.fda.gov/cellphones/qa.html)

 

 

 

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