Brain tumor risk rises through cell phone rays

Researchers are investigating the association between mobile phone use and brain tumor risk

05/14/2014

Does frequent cell phone use increase the risk of developing a cancer? There has been disagreement among experts over this issue for years. But now, French researchers have apparently found evidence that high-telephony operators are in fact more at risk and two to three times more likely to develop a brain tumor.

Question about health risk from mobile phones has been unexplained for years
Are cell phones harmful or not? This question keeps coming up and so far the experts in this field have not been able to agree on that. Now, however, researchers have the French „University Victor Segalen Bordeaux“ apparently found evidence that frequent cell phone use could be far more damaging to health than previously thought. According to him, people who use their mobile phone for more than 15 hours every month for more than five years have a two to three times higher risk of developing a brain tumor.

Regular mobile phone users are not more at risk than non-users
Like the researchers around Dr. Gaëlle Coureau in the journal "Occupational and Environmental Medicine" report, the aim of the research was in it „analyze the association between mobile phone use and primary tumors of the central nervous system (gliomas and meningiomas) in adults.“ To this end, in 2004 and 2006, Ghislaine Bouvier, Pierre Lebailly and colleagues studied 253 glioma cases and 194 meningioma cases and compared them to 892 healthy, representative adults. As a result, people who use their cell phones for more than 15 hours a month for five years have a two to three times higher risk of developing a brain tumor. However, researchers say that those who only use their cell phones occasionally are no stronger endangered as non-users: „When comparing regular mobile users with non-users, no association was found with brain tumors“ - The researchers also included other risk factors for brain tumors in their research and also considered that 14 percent of respondents used a hands-free device, so the cell phone does not have to be kept constantly at the ear.

Data supports earlier results
In the so-called „gliomas“ These are certain brain tumors of the central nervous system, which occur in most cases in the brain, but can also occur in the area of ​​the spinal cord and the cranial nerves. These brain tumors can be benign or malignant and, together with the most benign („benign“Meningioma to frequent brain tumors. „This additional data supports earlier findings about a possible association between frequent cell phone use and brain tumors“, the researchers continue: Already in 2010 was the French „Interphone study“ came to the conclusion that so-called „Heavy users“ have a 40% increased glioma risk and a 15% increased meningioma risk. At that time, however, some errors and distortions during the study meant that ultimately no clear statement could be made about the actual relationship between mobile phone use and the risk of brain tumor. (No)