January 28, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 08, 1428

LONDON: Long-term use of mobile phones could be linked to brain tumours, a new study by scientists suggests. People who have used a mobile for ten years or more seem to have a 39 per cent higher risk of developing a type of tumour called a glioma on the side of their head where they hold their phone.

But scientists have urged caution in interpreting the results as a warning against using mobile phones. They argue that the results are of “borderline statistical significance” and that much of the supporting evidence does not show an overall link between phones and brain cancers.

In the biggest study of its kind, an international team of researchers interviewed 1,522 glioma patients and 3,301 cancer-free participants in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. Their results, published recently in the International Journal of Cancer, found no overall increase in the risk of developing a glioma with regular mobile use.

The only anomaly was recorded when researchers asked people with gliomas, who had also used their phones for ten years or more, on which side of their head they normally used their phones. The chance that the tumour would be on that side of the head was 40 per cent greater than average. In contrast, long-term users are two per cent less likely than average to develop a glioma on the side of the head where they do not hold their phone.

Anthony Swerdlow, of the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who took part in the research, said there were inherent biases in the study. “People’s recall of use ten years ago and which side of the head they used the phone on might be biased by their knowledge that they have a tumour on one side.” He said more research was needed.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service