전자파 감시단체인 Powerwatch와 EMR 정책연구원이 2009년 8월 “휴대전화와 뇌 종양 : 우려되는 15가지 이유, 과학, 편견(정보조작), 인터폰의 밝혀지지 않은 진실”이라는 보고서를 발표했습니다.
휴대전화 사용이 뇌종양, 안구종양, 침샘종양, 고환암, 림프종 이상과 백혈병 등을 유발한다는 사실이 과학적으로 밝혀진 적도 있습니다.
WHO를 비롯한 국가 및 공공 의료기관들은 위해성에 관한 결정적인 증거를 확보하지 못했다는 이유로 휴대전화의 사용에 대해 어떠한 제제도 가하지 않고 있습니다만… 앞으로 휴대전화의 건강상 위해와 안전성에 관한 논란은 더욱 가속화되리라 예상합니다.
산업의학 전공자들과 전자기기의 안전성에 관심 있는 전문가들의 많은 연구와 관심이 필요한 사안이라 생각합니다.
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Once again: Do cell phones cause brain tumors?
출처 : [CNET] August 26, 2009 7:12 AM PDT
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10318075-247.html
A collaborative of international electromagnetic radiation (EMR) watchdogs, including Powerwatch and the EMR Policy Institute, sent a paper to government leaders and media Tuesday detailing several design flaws in a major but oft-delayed telecom-funded Interphone study.
Now consumers get to wonder yet again whether the message behind the paper, “Cellphones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern, Science, Spin and the Truth Behind Interphone,” is legitimate or the result of overzealous conspiracy theorists.
The paper’s main conclusions are: There is a “significant” risk of brain tumors from cell phone use; EMR exposure limits that have been used by governments and supported by industry are based on the false premise that EMR has no biological effects except for heating; and design flaws of the Interphone study include selection bias, insufficient latency time to expect a tumor diagnosis, unrealistic definition of what makes a “regular” cell phone user, exclusion of children and young adults from the study, exclusion of many types of brain tumors, and exclusion of people who had died or were too ill to be interviewed as the result of brain tumors.
Read the full report here (PDF), as well as CNET’s cell phone radiation level chart (a few Motorola models top the list, with several Samsungs coming in lowest).
The paper’s primary author, L. Lloyd Morgan (a retired electronics engineer and member of the Bioelectromagnetics Society), is backed by endorsers (mostly scientists) from 14 countries when he cautions that cell phone use might lead to an increased risk of more than just brain tumors:
Exposure to cell phone radiation is the largest human health experiment ever undertaken, without informed consent, and has some four billion participants enrolled. Science has shown increased risk of brain tumors from use of cell phones, as well as increased risk of eye cancer, salivary gland tumors, testicular cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and leukemia. The public must be informed.
The World Health Organization does not seem terribly worried about the effects of cell phone use on health: “None of the recent reviews have concluded that exposure to the RF fields from mobile phones or their base stations causes any adverse health consequence.” But this statement–last updated nine years ago–relies on precisely the kind of data these watchdogs suggest is flawed.
Several other studies, many of which are referenced in the book “Cancer Biology,” including one of 195,775 workers manufacturing and testing cell phones, indicate no association between EMR exposure and brain or other nervous system cancers. But again, this book was published in 1995; time for an update?
Yesterday’s announcement also calls into question the wide use of wireless technologies beyond cell phones. If GSM cell phones are dangerous in the 1.8GHz band, does that render Wi-Fi, at 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, even worse? These are questions that need to be addressed, preferably by researchers who do not receive their funding from the telecommunications industry.
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
