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WHO links brain cancer to cellphone use
Study advises consumers to use hands-free devices to reduce radiation risks
Aditi Tandon/TNS

New Delhi, June 1
You would be better off avoiding extensive cellphone use, given a significant new research of the WHO which links mobile usage to a heightened risk of glioma, a malignant tumour that starts in the brain.

For the first time since mobile use began in the early 1990s, the WHO yesterday suggested possible links between the use of wireless devices and brain cancer, as the Organisation’s cancer research wing, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), placed cellphones in the category of potentially dangerous pesticide DDT, petrol engine exhaust and coffee. India currently has over 811.59 million cell users.

The classification followed a review of epidemiological evidence, with the IARC saying that radiofrequency electromagnetic fields generated by cellphones could be “possibly carcinogenic to humans”. It called for additional research (to determine long-term effects of mobile phone use) but advised consumers to use hands-free devices to reduce radiation risks.

The study is path-breaking as no former research ever linked mobile use so strongly with brain tumour. A retrospective case-control study on adults called INTERPHONE, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer earlier conducted to see if mobiles caused head and neck cancers, also found no increased risk of glioma or meningioma among users of over 10 years.

There were, however, indications of increased glioma risk for those who reported the highest 10 per cent of cumulative hours of cellphone use. The new study reaffirms this risk. By 2012, the WHO will also present results of a health risk assessment of radiofrequency fields it commissioned earlier.

Meanwhile, the WHO India Office has written to the International Agency for Research on Cancer for details and implications of the study. It said the IARC statement was an advisory in its own right and was globally valid.

‘Every time you take a call, you cook your brain’

Oncologists in India backed the findings, saying epidemiological research examining long-term risks from radiofrequency exposure was certain to link brain cancer and mobile use. “Every time you take a call, you cook your brain. It is potentially hazardous. The WHO study is a warning,” Dr Ashok Vaid, medical oncologist at Medanta Medicity today told The Tribune, adding that the WHO should immediately issue an advisory against mobile use. Director, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, Anil D’Cruz also backed the new research and said though it could take long before cancer risks of low-level radiation exposure were conclusively proved, people should use non-radio frequency devices like headphones for safety.