Industry Study Hints at Possible Cell Phone, Cancer Link
Preliminary results from research funded by the cellular telephone industry suggest there may be a correlation between cell phone use and cancer, according to the director of the program. The study found possible connections both in biological tests and statistical analysis of cell phone users.
The findings are at odds with many previous studies, which found no such link. But at a time when use of cell phones is exploding--roughly 70 million were in use in the United States as of December--the findings will enter the debate over whether the phones’ radio emissions can be harmful.
The data, while “important,” only suggest that more research is necessary, said George Carlo, chairman of the industry-funded Wireless Technology Research group. “We’re now in a gray area that we’ve never been in before with this. When we’re in a gray area, the best thing to do is let the public know about the findings so that they can make their own judgment.”
An official of the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the safety of cell phones, agreed. “These results seem to have been done well--the question now is ‘OK, we’ve got a result. What do we do with it? How do we follow through?’ ” said Elizabeth D. Jacobson, deputy director of science at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
Jacobson and other FDA officials have been briefed on the Wireless Technology Research results; Jacobson said that if a clear health threat emerged from the studies, she and the agency would move quickly to address the problem.
In this case, however, Jacobson said that the results make a strong case for conducting more research but not for taking regulatory action at this time. “We didn’t see what we thought were public health problems.”
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn. would not comment on the record about the new research but has called for further studies under the direction of the federal government and international health agencies.
Early-model cell phones were mounted in cars, with the transmission antenna and its radio waves far away from the user.
But in the 1990s, as handsets held directly against the ear became common, some people began to worry that the radiation might be harmful.
The debate broke into the open when a Florida man went on the “Larry King Live” program in 1993 and alleged that a cellular telephone caused his wife’s brain cancer. Regulators and scientists subsequently have struggled to shed light on whether the phones have any health effects.
Radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes kinds of radiation that are clearly carcinogenic, such as X-rays, and others that are harmless, such as visible light. Also, cell phone users, who tend to be more prosperous than the general population, might share other risk factors for cancer that have not yet been subjected to scrutiny.
The industry formed Wireless Technology Research in 1993 to conduct a $25-million series of independent studies and hired Carlo to coordinate the effort.
The new findings are the first major disclosure by the group of the results of its research.
These and all WTR-sponsored findings to date will be presented at a colloquium in Long Beach on June 19 and 20.
Some of the research was conducted at Stanford University and Integrated Laboratory Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
