Mobile phones should carry cancer warnings

Manufacturers should put labels on phones and packaging warning of the potential for brain cancer associated with electromagnetic radiation. The warnings should also warn that the most vulnerable users like children and pregnant women keep the devices away from their head and body.

This has raised concerns about health risks, primarily increased risk for brain tumours, owing to the proximity of the brain to the radiation antenna with the potential for absorbing comparatively large amounts of electromagnetic energy.

Latest studies led by Professor Lennart Hardell of the University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden have shown that using mobile phones for 10 years or more significantly increases the risk of brain tumours.

Other significant findings by the Hardell group are that:

— For every 100 hours of mobile phone use the risk of brain cancer increases by 5%.

— For every year of mobile phone use the risk of brain cancer increases by 8%.

— After 10 or more years of digital mobile phone use, there is a 280% greater risk of brain cancer.

According to a detailed report by the International EMF Collaborative, which reviewed Hardell’s research, their findings are precisely what would be expected if mobile phones lead to brain tumours, in particular:

— The higher the cumulative hours of mobile phone use, the higher the risk.

— The greater the number of years since first mobile phone use, the greater the risk.

— The more power radiated from the mobile phone during use, the more the risk.

— The greater the exposure (phone use on the same side of the head as the tumour), the greater the risk.

— The younger the user, the higher the risk.

Studies have also found that young people today are 5 times more likely to get brain cancer if they are mobile phone users.

Children are especially vulnerable to radiation from mobile and cordless phones, Wi-Fi and other devices because their brains and nervous systems are still developing and since their heads are smaller and their skulls are thinner, the radiation penetrates deeper into the brain.

Professor Hardell says those who started using mobile phones young, were also 5 times more likely to get acoustic neuromas, which are benign but often disabling tumours of the auditory nerve, which usually cause deafness, whereas people who were in their 20s before using handsets were only 50% more likely to contract gliomas and just twice as likely to get acoustic neuromas.

In another earlier report, Mobile Phones and Health, Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the national Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), said that there are 4 studies which have caused concern. One 10-year study in Sweden suggested that heavy mobile users are more prone to non-malignant tumours in the ear, evidence of cell damage from fields typical of those of mobile phones and brain, while a Dutch study had suggested changes in cognitive function. A German study has hinted at an increase in cancer around base stations, while a project supported by the European Union had shown evidence of cell damage from fields typical of those of mobile phones.

A number of scientists have discovered that mobile phone radiation causes permanent damage to DNA, an undisputed cause of cancer.

According to one report, there is an obvious disturbance of communication between cells which is a prerequisite for the uninhibited proliferation of cells that is characteristic for cancer development occurs at mobile power levels just a few watts per metre.

Equally alarming, the report explains that these effects can take place within the brain. The body normally has a self protective mechanism to prevent toxins from entering the brain, but mounting evidence shows that mobile phone frequencies can cause the blood-brain barrier to break down. Besides cancer, mobile phones have been linked to a number of other health problems:

— reduced sperm quality

— memory impairment

— weakened bones

— autism

— symptoms of electro sensitivity, such as tiredness, stress, headache, anxiety, concentration difficulties and sleep disturbances

In view of the dangers associated with mobile phones, CAP calls on the Government to:

— require mobile phones to carry warnings that they increase the risks of brain cancer

— issue a warning to parents to ban their children under the age of 12 years from using mobile phones

— run campaigns to educate and warn the public of the dangers of radiation exposure from mobile phones

Meanwhile CAP reiterates its call to consumers to refrain from using mobile phones unless in an emergency and if you have to use it, use the speakerphone function so the phone is 20 cm away from the head. Use landlines wherever possible.

Read about how mobile phones fry your brain, raise brain cancer risks and damage your DNA in the CAP Guide, How Unsafe Is Your Mobile Phone