WHO Suggests Mobile Phone-Cancer Link

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The World Health Organization is raising a red flag about the potential cancer risks of using a mobile phone.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a unit of the WHO, moved on Tuesday to classify radiofrequency electromagnetic fields associated with mobile phone usage as "possibly carcinogenic" to humans. The so-called "2B classification" is the same tag that the agency places on lead, the pesticide DDT and gas exhaust fumes, according to a report in U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

The WHO is currently directing a decade-long investigation into the possible adverse health effects of mobile phones, given its estimate that there are 5 billion phones in use worldwide. The effort has involved a group of 31 scientists from 14 countries at an expected cost of about $32.9 million.

Specifically, the International Agency for Research on Cancer said its classification is based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer. The agency said the evidence was evaluated as being "limited among users of wireless telephones for glioma and acoustic neuroma," and was deemed inadequate to draw conclusions for other types of cancers.

It noted, however, that one study showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users. This study evaluated cell phone use up to 2004 and defined a heavy user as 30 minutes per day over a 10-year period.

"The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk," said Dr. Jonathan Samet, the chairman of the agency's working group on the issue, which has met in France for the past week to evaluate research.

The WHO didn't hit the panic button based on the research to date but did suggest the classification was enough to justify taking steps to reduce exposure.

"It is important that additional research be conducted into the long‐term, heavy use of mobile phones," said Christopher Wild, the director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in the statement. "Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands‐free devices or texting. "

In May 2010, the WHO said it viewed tissue heating as the principal concern between radiofrequency energy and the human body, but added that: "Research does not suggest any consistent evidence of adverse health effects from exposure to radiofrequency fields at levels below those that cause tissue heating,"

--Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail]

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints