PITTSBURGH (AP) - The head of a prominent
cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and
staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.
The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of
Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a
link between increased tumors and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Herberman is basing his alarm on early, unpublished data. He says it takes
too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action
now -- especially when it comes to children.
"Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn't wait for a
definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than
sorry later," Herberman said.
Herberman's advice is sure to raise concern among many cell phone users and
especially parents.
In the memo he sent to about 3,000 faculty and staff Wednesday, he says
children should use cell phones only for emergencies because their brains are
still developing.
Adults should keep the phone away from the head and use the speakerphone or
a wireless headset, he says. He even warns against using cell phones in public
places like a bus because it exposes others to the phone's electromagnetic
fields.
The issue that concerns some scientists -- though nowhere near a consensus
-- is electromagnetic radiation, especially its possible effects on children. It
is not a major topic in conferences of brain specialists.
A 2008 University of Utah analysis looked at nine studies -- including some
Herberman cites -- with thousands of brain tumor patients and concludes "we
found no overall increased risk of brain tumors among cellular phone users. The
potential elevated risk of brain tumors after long-term cellular phone use
awaits confirmation by future studies."
Studies last year in France and Norway concluded the same thing.
"If there is a risk from these products -- and at this point we do not know
that there is -- it is probably very small," the Food and Drug Administration
says on an agency Web site.
Still, Herberman cites a "growing body of literature linking long-term cell
phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer."
"Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are
sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary
advice on cell phone use," he wrote in his memo.
A driving force behind the memo was Devra Lee Davis, the director of the
university's center for environmental oncology.
"The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain," she
said in an interview that she did from her cell phone. "I don't know that cell
phones are dangerous. But I don't know that they are safe."
Of concern are the still unknown effects of more than a decade of cell phone
use, with some studies raising alarms, said Davis, a former health adviser in
the Clinton Administration.
She said 20 different groups have endorsed the advice the Pittsburgh cancer
institute gave, and authorities in England, France and India have cautioned
children's use of cell phones.
Herberman and Davis point to a massive ongoing research project known as
Interphone, involving scientists in 13 nations, mostly in Europe. Results
already published in peer-reviewed journals from this project aren't so
alarming, but Herberman is citing work not yet published.
The published research focuses on more than 5,000 cases of brain tumors. The
National Academy of Sciences in the U.S., which isn't participating in the
Interphone project, reported in January that the brain tumor research had
"selection bias." That means it relied on people with cancer to remember how
often they used cell phones. It is not considered the most accurate research
approach.
The largest published study, which appeared in the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute in 2006, tracked 420,000 Danish cell phone users, including
thousands that had used the phones for more than 10 years. It found no increased
risk of cancer among those using cell phones.
A French study based on Interphone research and published in 2007 concluded
that regular cell phone users had "no significant increased risk" for three
major types of brain tumors. It did note, however, that there was "the
possibility of an increased risk among the heaviest users" for one type of brain
tumor, but that needs to be verified in future research.
Earlier research also has found no connection.
Joshua E. Muscat of Penn State University, who has studied cancer and cell
phones in other research projects partly funded by the cell phone industry, said
there are at least a dozen studies that have found no cancer-cell phone link. He
said a Swedish study cited by Herberman as support for his warning was biased
and flawed.
"We certainly don't know of any mechanism by which radiofrequency exposure
would cause a cancerous effect in cells. We just don't know this might possibly
occur," Muscat said.
Cell phones emit radiofrequency energy, a type of radiation that is a form
of electromagnetic radiation, according to the National Cancer Institute. Though
studies are being done to see if there is a link between it and tumors of the
brain and central nervous system, there is no definitive link between the two,
the institute says on its Web site.
"By all means, if a person feels compelled that they should take precautions
in reducing the amount of electromagnetic radio waves through their bodies, by
all means they should do so," said Dan Catena, a spokesman for the American
Cancer Society. "But at the same time, we have to remember there's no conclusive
evidence that links cell phones to cancer, whether it's brain tumors or other
forms of cancer."
Joe Farren, a spokesman for the CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group
for the wireless industry, said the group believes there is a risk of
misinforming the public if science isn't used as the ultimate guide on the
issue.
"When you look at the overwhelming majority of studies that have been peer
reviewed and published in scientific journals around the world, you'll find no
relationship between wireless usage and adverse health affects," Farren said.
Frank Barnes, who chaired a recent National Research Council report looking
into what studies are needed to assess the health effects of wireless
communications, said Wednesday that "the jury is out" on how hazardous long-term
cell phone use might be.
Speaking from his cell phone, the professor of electrical and computer
engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder said he takes no special
precautions with his own cell phone. And he offered no clear advice to people
worried about the matter.
It's up to each individual to decide what if anything to do. If people use a
cell phone instead of having a land line, "that may very well be reasonable for
them," he said.
Susan Juffe, a 58-year-old Pittsburgh special education teacher, heard about
Herberman's cell phone advice on the radio earlier in the day.
"Now, I'm worried. It's scary," she said.
She says she'll think twice about allowing her 10-year-old daughter Jayne to
use the cell phone.
"I don't want to get it (brain cancer) and I certainly don't want you to get
it," she explained to her daughter.
Sara Loughran, a 24-year-old doctoral student at the University of
Pittsburgh, sat in a bus stop Wednesday chatting on her cell phone with her
mother. She also had heard the news earlier in the day, but was not as
concerned.
"I think if they gave me specific numbers and specific information and it
was scary enough, I would be concerned," Loughran said, planning to call her
mother again in a matter of minutes. "Without specific numbers, it's too vague
to get me worked up."
Jennifer Yates reported from Pittsburgh. Science Writer Seth Borenstein
reported from Washington. Reporter Ramit Plushnick-Masti contributed from
Pittsburgh and Science Writer Malcolm Ritter contributed from New York.
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