Important Information 241
many of the studies that showed increased tumor development
used animals that had already been treated with cancer-causing
chemicals, and other studies exposed the animals to the RF
virtually continuously – up to 22 hours per day.
For the past five years in the United States, the mobile phone
industry has supported research into the safety of mobile phones.
This research has resulted in two findings in particular that merit
additional study:
1. In a hospital-based, case-control study, researchers looked
for an association between mobile phone use and either
glioma (a type of brain cancer) or acoustic neuroma (a
benign tumor of the nerve sheath). No statistically
significant association was found between mobile phone
use and acoustic neuroma. There was also no association
between mobile phone use and gliomas when all types of
types of gliomas were considered together. It should be
noted that the average length of mobile phone exposure in
this study was less than three years.
When 20 types of glioma were considered separately,
however, an association was found between mobile phone
use and one rare type of glioma, neuroepithelliomatous
tumors. It is possible with multiple comparisons of the
same sample that this association occurred by chance.
Moreover, the risk did not increase with how often the
mobile phone was used, or the length of the calls. In fact,
the risk actually decreased with cumulative hours of mobile
phone use. Most cancer causing agents increase risk with
increased exposure. An ongoing study of brain cancers by
the National Cancer Institute is expected to bear on the
accuracy and repeatability of these results.
1
2. Researchers conducted a large battery of laboratory tests to
assess the effects of exposure to mobile phone RF on
genetic material. These included tests for several kinds of
abnormalities, including mutations, chromosomal
aberrations, DNA strand breaks, and structural changes in
the genetic material of blood cells called lymphocytes.
None of the tests showed any effect of the RF except for
the micronucleus assay, which detects structural effects on
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