A global study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology was inconclusive in determining if cell phones cause cancer.
This study, titled the Interphone study, found no evidence that using a mobile phone and holding it against one’s ear increases the risk of brain cancer, but the study could not conclusively prove that the link does not exist.
Researchers in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and eight other countries, but not the U.S., conducted the study. They interviewed 12,848 participants over 10 years. Of those, 5,150 had either meningioma or glioma, the two most common types of brain cancer.
“There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma, and much less so meningioma, in the highest decile of cumulative call time, in subjects who reported usual phone use on the same side of the head as their tumor and, for glioma, for tumors in the temporal lobe.
Biases and errors limit the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn from these analyses and prevent a causal interpretation,” according to a press release from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, which organized the international study.
About one quarter of the $24 million (19.2 million euros) to fund the study came from the cell phone industry. The World Health Organization said measures were taken to make sure the scientists maintained independence.
Results from other similar studies have been inconsistent and have not addressed the effects of cell phone use among children and heavy or long-term cell phone users, according to a press release from the National Cancer Institute.
The study seemed to show cell phone users had a lower risk of cancer than people who do not use cell phones, which the researchers said was “implausible.”
The decade-long study was inconclusive, but researchers are planning on investigating the issue further to include newer technologies such as hand-held devices and cell phones’ effects on children. Worldwide cell phone use also increased since 2000, when the study began.
“While the findings are predominantly negative, they are highly unlikely to end the controversy about whether cell phone use affects cancer risk,” American Cancer Society Vice President of epidemiology and surveillance research Michael Thun said in a statement.
Cell phones emit radiofrequency (RF) energy, a form of electromagnetic radiation. Exposure to high levels of RF energy can cause body tissue to heat, but RF levels from cell phones are too low to cause significant tissue heating, according to the National Cancer Institute’s Web site.
“All cell phones sold in the U.S. must comply with the FCC’s radiofrequency exposure standards, which are designed to include a substantial margin of safety for consumers,” according to a press release from the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.
The Interphone study is the largest ever conducted on cell phone use and brain tumors. It ran from 2000 to 2010.
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