[escepticos] antenas y salud - nuevos estudios

["Javier Armentia" <javarm@...>]

New epidemiological review finds no causal association between the use of
cellular phones and cancer

For further information, please contact:
Britt Ekman
The Swedish Radiation Protection Authority
britt.ekman en ssi.se
+46 729 71 34

Posted By:
The Swedish Research Council    20 September 2002

keywords
Physics, Health

The Swedish Radiation Protection Authority has engaged two internationally
well-known epidemiologists to review published epidemiological studies on
the relationship between the use of cellular telephones and cancer risk.
They are Dr. John D. Boice, Jr. and Dr. Joseph K. McLaughlin from the
International Epidemiology Institute, USA.

In their review, no consistent evidence was observed for increased risk of
brain cancer, meningioma, acoustic neurinoma, ocular melanoma, or salivary
gland cancer, examined over a wide range of exposure measures, including
type of phone, duration of use, frequency of use, total cumulative hours of
use, tumor location and laterality (concurrence of tumor location with hand
normally used during phone conversations).

Dr. Boice and Dr. McLaughlin have also reviewed the Swedish studies by
Lennart Hardell et al., which demonstrated an association between the use of
cellular phones and cancer. These and a few studies that addressed this
concern in the United States are non-informative, either because the
follow-up was too short and numbers of cancers too small (USA) or because of
serious methodological limitations (Sweden).

In contrast, five well-designed epidemiological studies have been conducted
in three countries and using different designs: three hospital-based
case-control studies in the United States, a registry-based case-control
study in Finland, and a registry-based cohort study of over 400,000 cellular
phone users in Denmark. Dr. Boice and Dr. McLaughlin find a consistent
picture from these studies that appears to rule out, with a reasonable
degree of certainty, a causal association between cellular telephones and
cancer to date.

Complementing the human data are the emerging results of experimental
studies, which have failed to confirm earlier reports of possible adverse
outcomes from radiofrequency exposure. Moreover, there is no biologically
plausible mechanism to support a carcinogenic effect of non-ionizing
radiofrequency waves.

Many people today worry about the possible risks associated with the use of
cellular phones. While the current state of the science is reassuring,
ongoing case-control studies being conducted in 13 countries using a shared
protocol, and continued follow-up of cohorts of cellular phone users, should
provide further evidence regarding any possible carcinogenic effect
associated with long-term cellular telephone use.

Notes for editor
Fore more information please contact:
Lars-Erik Paulsson, Principal Scientist for Non-Ionizing Radiation,
Ph +46 8 729 71 66

Ulf Bäverstam, Deputy DG,
Ph +46 8 729 71 80
Mobile ph +46 709 14 69 87

Britt Ekman, Information Head,
Ph +46 729 71 34
Mobile ph +46 709 72 07 97
The full report can be found on www.ssi.se







   Reference URL : http://www.ssi.se