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– Ericsson Inc.
Guidelines for Safe and Efficient Use 9
existing scientific evidence is conflicting and many of
the studies that have been done to date have suffered
from flaws in their research methods. Animal experi-
ments investigating the effects of RF exposures charac-
teristic of mobile phones have yielded conflicting results.
A few animal studies, however, have suggested that low
levels of RF could accelerate the development of cancer
in laboratory animals. In one study, mice genetically
altered to be predisposed to developing one type of can-
cer developed more than twice as many such cancers
when they were exposed to RF energy compared to con-
trols. There is much uncertainty among scientists about
whether results obtained from animal studies apply to
the use of mobile phones. First, it is uncertain how to
apply the results obtained in rats and mice to humans.
Second, many of the studies that showed increased
tumor development used animals that had already been
treated with cancer-causing chemicals, and other studies
exposed the animals to the RF virtually continuously
– up to 22 hours per day.
For the past five years in the United States, the mobile
phone industry has supported research into the safety of
mobile phones. This research has resulted in two find-
ings in particular that merit additional study:
In a hospital-based, case-control study, researchers
looked for an association between mobile phone use
and either glioma (a type of brain cancer) or acous-
tic neuroma (a benign tumor of the nerve sheath).
No statistically significant association was found
between mobile phone use and acoustic neuroma.
There was also no association between mobile
phone use and gliomas when all types of types of
gliomas were considered together. It should be
noted that the average length of mobile phone expo-
sure in this study was less than three years.
When 20 types of glioma were considered sepa-
rately, however, an association was found between
mobile phone use and one rare type of glioma, neu-
roepithelliomatous tumors. It is possible with multi-
ple comparisons of the same sample that this
association occurred by chance. Moreover, the risk
did not increase with how often the mobile phone
was used, or the length of the calls. In fact, the risk
actually decreased with cumulative hours of mobile
phone use. Most cancer causing agents increase risk
with increased exposure. An ongoing study of brain
cancers by the National Cancer Institute is expected
to bear on the accuracy and repeatability of these
results.
1
Researchers conducted a large battery of laboratory
tests to assess the effects of exposure to mobile
phone RF on genetic material. These included tests
for several kinds of abnormalities, including muta-
tions, chromosomal aberrations, DNA strand
breaks, and structural changes in the genetic mate-
rial of blood cells called lymphocytes. None of the
tests showed any effect of the RF except for the
micronucleus assay, which detects structural effects
on the genetic material. The cells in this assay
showed changes after exposure to simulated cell
phone radiation, but only after 24 hours of expo-
sure. It is possible that exposing the test cells to radi-
Ditto Lornetta.book Page 9 Thursday, July 13, 2000 3:55 PM