Mobile phone brain cancer link rejected in Danish study

Research led by the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Denmark suggests there is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer. The study looked at more than 350,000 people with mobile phones over an 18-year period and researchers concluded users were at no greater risk than anyone else of developing brain cancer.

Of the 358,403 mobile phone owners looked at, 356 gliomas (a type of brain cancer) and 846 cancers of the central nervous system were seen - both in line with incidence rates among those who did not own a mobile.

Even among those who had had mobiles the longest - 13 years or more - the risk was no higher, the researchers concluded.

However, the researchers accepted that there were some limitations to the study, including the exclusion of "corporate subions", thereby excluding people who used their phones for business purposes, who could be among the heaviest users.

The findings have been published on the British Medical Journal website.

There has also been some recent research casting doubt on mobile phone safety, prompting the World Health Organization to warn that they could still be carcinogenic. And the Department of Health continues to advise that anyone under the age of 16 should use mobile phones only for essential purposes and keep all calls short.

Article from RoSPA e-bulletin