U.S. Senate to Investigate Whether Cell Phones Cause Cancer
Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:08 pm
The U.S. Senate Health Committee plans to probe deeply into any potential links between cell phone use and cancer, concerned that the case may be similar to the cigarette-lung cancer connection that was denied by tobacco companies for decades.
Iowa senator Tom Harkin, who became the committee head after the death of Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, said that he was concerned that no one has been able to prove cell phone do not cause cancer.
"I'm reminded of this nation's experience with cigarettes," said Harkin. "Decades passed between the first warnings about smoking tobacco and the final definitive conclusion that cigarettes cause lung cancer."
Some researchers believe that low levels of radiation from cell phone use may cause cancers of the brain and central nervous system -- similar to the malignant brain tumor that Kennedy had been battling with.
Years of research have failed to establish any clear link between their use and several kinds of cancer, including brain tumors.
Four years ago, Danish researchers studied the cell phone usage of brain tumor patients and reported that the two were unlikely connected but said that "we won't be able to make any firm conclusions until we can confirm these results with studies with more long-term and heavy cell phone users."
Studies in France and Norway last year reported similar results.
However, recent worries have been raised by U.S. and British researchers who suggest that many of the previous studies were telecom-funded and had a "systemic-skew" that greatly underestimated the chance of tumors, such as excluding people who "had died or were too ill to be interviewed as a consequence of their brain tumor and children and young adults who are more vulnerable."
While no solid link between cell phones and cancer has been established, studies indicate the likelihood of such a connection calls for a precautionary approach.
An estimated 275 million people in the U.S. and 4 billion worldwide use cell phones.
