The latest Interphone findings pointing to a link between brain tumors and long-term use of a mobile phone (see January 22) should not be dismissed, according to members of the European research team that published the new results. "This is something you have to take seriously," Maria Feychting of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm told the Expressen, a Swedish national tabloid. Feychting advises those who are concerned to use a hands-free set to reduce radiation exposures.
Anssi Auvinen of STUK, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Helsinki, another coauthor of the new study, told the U.K. Telegraph that the location and timing of the tumors makes the finding plausible. "It seems credible as it was after long-term exposure —which makes sense in terms of the length of time it takes for tumors to develop— and it is localized to the side of the head where the handset is held," he said.
Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is taking a wait-and-see approach. Howard Cyr, CDRH's point man on cell phones and health, told Sun-Sentinel is so far the only U.S. newspaper to cover the new brain tumor study.
