In the edition of the first month of 2001 for the prestigious scientific journal New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a study conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Health in the United States on using cell phones and the risk of brain tumor. The mobile phone contains a small transmitter that emits radiation near the head. This has caused great concern among the population, since no one knew if this radiation could cause cancer of the brain or other organs of the central nervous system. In fact, studies are done with reference to this subject since 1994. That study included 800 patients with this type of tumor from institutions of the U.S. cities of Phoenix, Boston and Pittsburgh and 800 cases of control. Data collection consisted of a comprehensive survey custom, with very specific questions about the date of commencement of cell phone use, how long used, last date and level of use. There was no information about the appliance model. The data collected at the end of 1998. The researchers found no evidence that the risk of an individual of developing a brain tumor increased with the number of years or minutes of average daily use of cell phones. Nor brain tumors tended to occur more often than expected on the side of the head in that reported using the phone.
Among those most in use, the average was about 15 minutes per day or more for at least three years. Very few people used this type of aircraft often by more than five years. Peter Inskip, Sc.D., who was the principal investigator, said that they found no evidence that the use of cell phones cause brain tumor, however, clarified, whether the increased risk occurs after more than five years of use, or in people with high intensity of use, this study will probably not detect it. The research was conducted between 1994 and 1998 which were most frequently used analog phones. Currently dominated by digital, which operate at a frequency higher.
However, there is no evidence so far that the risk of cancer differs between these two types of phone. Similar results were found in two other studies, one published in December 2000 in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Muscat et al, which included 469 cases of brain tumor and 422 controls and another study conducted in Sweden by Hardell et al which included 233 cases and 466 controls. Neither of these two investigations found association.
Only reported a relationship between the side of the head that was used to talking on the phone and the location of the tumor, but this association was based on very few cases. Today, there are three types of wireless or mobile phones that are used: cell phones for cars, cell phones and portable wireless. All these involve a minor brain's exposure to radiation as the unit that is emitted at some distance from the person. If cell phones are too small to carry in your hand does not present a greater risk of brain tumor, it would be very surprising that these other types of phones do cause, as exposed to a much lower frequency radiation. The number of users of mobile phones has increased tremendously over the past 10 years and trends continue like this. Because of this, a lot of scientific research examining the relationship between cell phone use and brain tumor, is currently under way.
The largest, is an international multicenter study comprising 3000 cases and 3000 controls, coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), based in Lyon, France. Still remain several years for results. On the other hand, it is expected that the results of another investigation in Denmark that included 550,000 users of mobile phones from 1982 to 1995, to be published. Currently in the United States and the United Kingdom, and funds are being devoted efforts to continue the development of research on this topic.
The causes of brain tumor is unknown, so scientists at the National Cancer Institute in the United States, evaluated a broad range of potential risk factors that include the environment, those related to lifestyle and genetic. These include occupational exposure to chemical agents and electromagnetic fields, dietary factors, family history of tumors, genetic factors, use of some home appliances, reproductive history and hormonal exposure, viruses, and exposure to both medical and dental radiation ion. The results of these reports will appear in future publications and due to the interest of the population, the use of cell phones will be the first.
