Cell Phones: More Than A Decade Of Warnings

This week's finding by the World Health Organization (WHO) that cell phone radiation might be a carcinogen made big news, but it was hardly the first time the issue has been raised. There have been a number of studies and warnings over the years that have raised that possibility.

For example, in May 1999, tests funded by the cellular industry itself found a possible link between cell phone usage and cancer. The studies found both biological indications of cell changes and a statistical link correlating cell phone usage with certain types of brain cancer.

At the time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the results indicated a strong need for more study but not for immediate action to curb cell phone usage.

The tests were conducted at Stanford University and Integrated Laboratory Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and found changes in blood cells subjected to the same type of electromagnetic radiation emitted by hand-held cell phones.

In 2000 a Maryland neurologist sued Motorola and Bell Atlantic, the forerunner of Verizon, claiming his cell phone caused a brain tumor. At the time, Robert Tufel of the National Brain Tumor Foundation, urged the public to use caution around their mobile phones.

 "We don't want to unduly alarm the public, but some of the information we have read is very compelling, Tufel said a the time. "The foundation recommends that people take precautions such as limiting phone time or using an ear piece to put distance between themselves and the phone until this is resolved."

Alarmist, unfounded

In a June 29, 2000 editorial, ConsumerAffairs.com compared the growing concern about the safety of cell phones with another popular product a few decades earlier.

“In the mid-20th Century, doctors routinely advised patients to take up smoking to aid in weight control,” the editorial stated. “The notion that inhaling tobacco smoke could be harmful was regarded as alarmist, unfounded, almost superstitious.”

In October 2004 a study in the international journal Epidemiology found that people who have used cell phones for at least 10 years may have an increased risk of developing a rare brain tumor.

A research team from the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that using a cell phone for a decade or more quadrupled the risk of developing acoustic neuromas. The rare tumors generally occurred on the side of the head where the phone was most often held.

"We were surprised by the results," said Anders Ahlbom, professor of epidemiology at the institute and leader of the research team. "We think this is relatively strong data that is not down to chance."

The World Health Organization sponsored the research and medical and technology experts said at the time it would likely renew concerns about cell phone safety.

Different conclusions

True, there were other studies that reached different conclusions – that there is no connection between cell phones and malignant tumors. For example, in 2005 researchers at Washington University School of Medicine found that the electromagnetic radiation produced by cell phones does not activate the stress response in mouse, hamster or human cells growing in cultures. The study was funded by Motorola.

Over the next few years, there were a lot of studies about the health effects of cell phones. It seemed like half of them found serious health effects while the other half didn't.

All ended with the conclusion that more study is needed – as, in fact, did the WHO report. But this time the report did suggest that perhaps now is the time to implement precautionary procedures, such as hands free devices, to keep the devices at a safe distance.