International EMF Collaborative Advisory on Forthcoming Interphone Brain Tumor Study
Media Advisory
Contact: USA—L. Lloyd Morgan
510-528-5302
UK— Graham Philips
Tel. 01353 778422
graham@powerwatch.org.uk
International EMF Collaborative Advisory on Forthcoming
Interphone Brain Tumor Study
May 14, 2010. The Interphone Study Group will publish partial results of its long-awaited cell phone and brain tumor study next Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Results from the 13-country, $30M study are 5 years overdue, without any justification for the delay. It has been reported that there are deep divides over interpretation of the Interphone results among the 21 investigators.
The expected announcement, under embargo now, will be the first time Interphone results for all participating countries will be released for any tumor type. According to Microwave News and other sources, the results will still only be partial results, publishing the data on gliomas and meningiomas but not the other tumor types studied. Data collected on the 1,100 acoustic neuromas and 400 parotid gland tumors, or tumors that are closest to the ear, will not be included in the results, to the dismay of many independent scientists and brain tumor patients and their families.
According to Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc., lead author of the white paper, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone” (http://www.radiationresearch.org/pdfs/15reasons.asp), published August 25, 2009, only releasing the glioma and meningiomas results means that “this large long term study purported to determine if there is a connection between cell phone and brain tumors will not represent an accurate risk of brain tumors within the 20% of the brain’s volume where the cellphone radiation is deposited.”
Morgan and the other co-authors from the International EMF Collaborative are calling for an immediate release of all Interphone raw data so other scientists can report the results of acoustic neuromas, salivary gland tumors and the risk of tumors within the 20% of the brain’s volume which is irradiated by cell phones.
Morgan says, “This data is already past its ‘sell-by’ date. Further delays in releasing the other data are not acceptable. In my opinion, the whole Interphone study has turned into a scandalous and expensive fiasco.”
Last August, more than forty leading independent scientists, physicians and other experts from fourteen countries endorsed “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone”. The design of the research protocol was criticized in that report on the basis of eleven serious flaws that cause any risk to be underestimated. Quantification of the impact on the estimation of risk in the Interphone study results will be presented at the Bioelectromagnetics Society meeting in Korea this June.
The report, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern” concluded:
- There is a risk of brain tumors from cellphone use;
- Telecom funded studies underestimate the risk of brain tumors, and;
- Children have larger risks than adults for brain tumors.
Design flaws in the Interphone study included categorizing subjects who used cordless phones (which emit the same microwave radiation as cellphones,) as ‘unexposed’; exclusion of many types of brain tumors; exclusion of people who had died, or were too ill to be interviewed, as a consequence of their brain tumor; and exclusion of children and young adults, who are more vulnerable. (Read Press Release here: http://snurl.com/w5ce3).
Cellphone use has also dramatically increased since the time the Interphone studies were conducted (2000-2004), rendering the results of little relevance as a gauge of risk today. The small ‘heavy cell phone user’ population in which the Interphone study has reportedly found risk of brain cancer after 10 years of using cell phones only used the phone about 30 minutes a day compared with often several hours of use per day today among adults and children alike.
In October 2009 the Journal of Clinical Oncology published, “Mobile Phone Use and Risk of Tumors: A Meta-Analysis” (http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/short/27/33/5565) . This study, by South Korea’s National Cancer Center, including Joel M. Moskowitz, PhD, Director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley, found high quality studies often show potential cancer link but industry-funded studies were likely to show no link.
Last week, on May 6, 2010, the President’s Cancer Panel reported that “the true burden of environmentally induced cancers has been grossly underestimated” and named cell phones and other wireless technologies as potential causes of cancer that demand further research and precaution. In its recommendations to the President, the panel stated “Methods for long-term monitoring and quantification of electromagnetic energy exposures related to cell phones and wireless technologies are urgently needed given the escalating use of these devices by larger and younger segments of the population and the higher radiofrequencies newer devices produce.”
President’s Cancer Panel Report:
http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf
Heads Up For Journalists:
Next week, shortly after the release of the Interphone study, the International EMF Collaborative, authors of “Cell Phones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern: Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone” report, will issue a statement responding to the Interphone study results to be published Tuesday, May 18, 2010 in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Commentary will be posted at www.RadiationResearch.org. Groups affiliated with the International EMF Collaborative include Powerwatch and the Radiation Research Trust in the U.K., and in the U.S., EMR Policy Institute, ElectromagneticHealth.org and The Peoples Initiative Foundation.
Resources for Journalists Covering the Subject of Cellphones and Brain Tumors:
Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone (8/09)
http://www.radiationresearch.org/pdfs/15reasons.asp
International scientists endorsing “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern” include Ronald B. Herberman, MD, Director Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; David Carpenter, MD, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, University at Albany; Martin Blank, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University; Professor Yury Grigoriev, Chairman of Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, and many others.
Quotations from Independent Scientists, Physicians and Others on the Evidence for Risk of Brain Tumors from Use of Cell Phones
http://electromagnetichealth.org/pdf/Quotations-from-Brain-Tumor-Paper-Endorsers.pdf
You Tube Introduction to “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern” (8/09)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwjC_OUIo8I
Media Teleclass on Cell Phones and Brain Tumors with Devra Davis, PhD, Joel Moskowitz, PhD, Lloyd Morgan, B.Sc. and David Carpenter, MD (12/10/09)
Environmental Health Trust.org – International Expert Conference on Cell Phones and Health & Coverage of Senate Hearing on Cell Phones and Health (9/09)
http://www.environmentalhealthtrust.org/content/agenda-video-and-slides-conference
Campaign for Safer Cell Phones
A new campaign addressing cell phone safety has been launched by a collaboration of leading health advocacy organizations with the support of eminent scientists and physicians from the U.S. and Europe. The Campaign for Safer Cell Phones seeks to educate the public on cell phone safety; advocate for safer phones; revise cell phone radiation exposure guidelines; support major, long-term, multidisciplinary independent research on cell phones and health; and require both pre-market health and safety testing and post-market surveillance.
www.environmentalhealthtrust.org
Campaign for Safer Cell Phones -Briefing Book – Includes Warnings, Advisories and Legislation from Countries Around the World to Protect Citizens’ Health from Cell Phone Radiation
Microwave News—“Children and Cell Phones: Time to Start Talking Sense” (5/10)
http://www.microwavenews.com/children.adults.html
GQ Magazine—“Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health” (2/10)
http://www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadgets/201002/warning-cell-phone-radiation?currentPage=1
Men’s Health Magazine—“Cellphone Risks and Radiation – Is Your Life On the Line?”
Video in Support of the Children’s Wireless Protection Act
http://www.thepeoplesinitiative.org/Home_Page.html
Quotations from the Public On Ill Effects of Cell Phones
Download Brain Tumor Report (8/25/09) Cover Image (High Resolution)
http://electromagnetichealth.org/images/Brain-Tumor-Report-Cover-Image.jpg
Interphone Study Protocol
http://www.iarc.fr/en/research-groups/RAD/INTERPHONEStudyProtocol.pdf
