ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS: Conference, Hearing Call Up Cell Phone Use

Although experts agree more research is needed to investigate whether cell phone use can cause brain cancers, especially in children, a group of scientists, physicians, and public health specialists around the world are urging that simple precautionary measures be taken just in case. Environmental groups have also stepped up pressure for regulatory action, but very little has taken place in the United States to date. The widespread use of cell phones throughout the world makes questions about their safety " one of the most important matters that we have to deal with in public health today, " says Devra Davis, a professor of epidemi ology at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and co-organizer of a conference on the topic held in Washington, DC, in September 2009. There were an estimated 277 million cell phone users in the United States as of June 2009, according to the industry group CTIA–The Wireless Association®, and about 4.1 billion worldwide, according to the United Nations. " With so many users, [cell phones] could translate into a significant public health problem should their use even slightly increase the risk of adverse health effects, " said John Bucher, associate director of the National Toxicology Program, at a hearing held during the conference by the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee. Bucher also said the configuration of chil-dren's skulls allows cell phone radiation— which falls between FM radio and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum—to penetrate deeper into the brain. In areas such as Africa and Brazil the majority of users are very young, Davis says. However, although some researchers believe children receive a higher dose of radiation from cell phone use, no studies published to date have evaluated their risk. In one of the most recent reports on the issue, a review of case–control studies comparing brain tumors in cell phone users versus non-users showed a slightly elevated risk of acoustic neuroma and glioma in people who began using cell phones as adolescents. Risk was highest for ipsilateral tumors—those occurring on the same side of the head that patients reported typically holding their phones—although such retrospective measures are notoriously difficult to confirm. The review was published in the August 2009 issue of Pathophysiology by Lennart Hardell and colleagues. Hardell's findings are supported by a meta-analysis published 13 October 2009 ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical …