WASHINGTON-A new study published in the British Medical Journal failed to find a cancer link from mobile-phone use for up to 10 years, saying only additional research will be able to address longer latency periods for the development of brain tumors in adults.
“Overall, we found no raised risk of glioma associated with regular mobile-phone use and no association with time since first use, lifetime years of use, cumulative hours of use or number of calls,” the study stated.
The study, partially funded by global mobile-phone manufacturers and wireless carriers in the United Kingdom, was conducted by researchers at several universities and the Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom. The study is part of the larger international Interphone wireless health research project.
Between 2000 and 2004, the researchers interviewed 966 people diagnosed with gliomas and 1,716 other individuals in five regions of the United Kingdom. The newly published case-control study included a finding among individuals who reported using the mobile phone on the same side of the head as the location of the tumor. But researchers dismissed the finding as likely faulty due to recall bias.
Powerwatch, a watchdog group in the United Kingdom, slammed the study as misleading and said it may make it harder to get funding to study high-grade gliomas.
