Israeli study says regular mobile use increases tumour risk
Regular use of mobile telephones increases the risk of developing tumours, a new scientific study by Israeli researchers and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed on Friday.
An extract of the report seen by Israel's Yedoit Aharonot newspaper put the risk of developing a parotid gland tumour nearly 50 percent higher for frequent mobile phone users -- more than 22 hours a month.
The risk was still higher if users clamped the phone to the same ear, did not use hands-free devices or were in rural areas.
"Analysis restricted to regular users or to conditions that may yield higher levels of exposure (eg heavy use in rural areas) showed consistently elevated risks," said an abstract of the report in the US journal made available to AFP.
The study included 402 benign and 58 malignant incident cases of parotid gland tumour diagnosed in Israel at age 18 years or more, in 2001-2003.
The research was led by Dr Siegal Sadetzki, a cancer and radiation expert at the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Israel and as part of a World Health Organisation project. https://www.physorg.com/news116235712.html
I've caved in and now use cell phones quite a bit, but less than 22 hours a month.
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For now we see through a glass, darkly.... 1st Corinthians 13:12
I think the jury's still out on this one. Here's the most recent study to further muddy the waters ...
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Japanese scientists looking at patients with brain tumours say they can find no evidence to support fears that using a mobile phone boosts the risk of cerebral cancer.
In a study published on Tuesday in the British Journal of Cancer, researchers led by Naohito Yamaguchi compared the history of mobile phone use in 322 brain cancer patients with 683 healthy people living in Tokyo.
"We studied the radiation emitted from various types of mobile phones and placed them into one of four categories relating to radiation strength," said Yamaguchi.
"We then analysed how they would affect different areas of the brain, taking into account the organ's complex structure."
He added: "Using our newly developed and more accurate techniques, we found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, providing more evidence to suggest they don't cause brain cancer."
Previous studies into mobile phone use have thrown up conflicting findings, although the biggest investigation, covering 420,000 people and spanning in some cases more than a decade of phone use, failed to find a cancer connection.
Yamaguchi, from the Tokyo Women's Medical University, looked at patients with three types of brain cancer -- glioma, meningioma and pituitary adenoma -- which comprise around 85 percent of all brain tumours.
Several countries have guidelines such as advising the public to make shorter calls on mobile phones, use hands-free sets and let children only make essential calls in order to limit exposure to electromagnetic energy.
Hopefully Al Queda are using cell-phones often and for prolonged periods of time ...
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Spending hours on a cell phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary research suggests.
In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' cell phone use and their sperm quality.
On average, the more hours the men spent on their cell phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.
The findings, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, add to questions about the potential health effects of cell phones and other wireless devices. Some studies, for example, have linked long-term cell phone use to a higher risk of brain tumors, though many other studies have found no such connection.
The concern is that, over time, the electromagnetic energy emitted from mobile phones could theoretically harm body tissue -- by damaging DNA, for example.
However, the new findings do not prove that cell phones somehow damage sperm, according to the researchers.
"Our results show a strong association of cell phone use with decreased semen quality. However, they do not prove a cause-and- effect relationship," lead researcher Dr. Ashok Agarwal told Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues based their findings on semen samples from 361 men who came to their infertility clinic over one year. All of the men were questioned about their cell phone habits.
In general, the researchers found, sperm count and sperm quality tended to decline as daily cell phone hours increased. Men who said they used their phones for more than four hours each day had the lowest average sperm count and the fewest normal, viable sperm.
"We infer from our results that heavy cell phone use ... is associated with a lower semen quality," Agarwal said. But whether cell phones somehow directly affect men's fertility is not clear.
Agarwal said he and his colleagues have two studies underway aiming to shed light on the issue. In one, they are exposing semen samples to electromagnetic radiation from cell phones to see what, if any, effects occur.
The second is a follow-up to the current study that is assessing a larger group of men. Agarwal said this study is more rigorously designed and will account for certain other factors like lifestyle habits and occupational exposures that might affect sperm quality.
Cell Phones & Cancer
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