A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

cell phones: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

November 14, 2013

“Experimental and Numerical Assessment of Low-Frequency Current Distributions from UMTS and GSM Mobile Phones,” Physics in Medicine and Biology, December 7, 2013, from Niels Kuster's group in Zurich.

“The LF fields [<20 kHz] generated by mobile phone battery currents are, thus, not compliant with the ICNIRP reference levels for normal use, i.e., at the head.”

September 19, 2013

“Multifocal Breast Cancer in Young Women with Prolonged Contact Between Their Breasts and Their Cellular Phones,” Case Reports in Medicine, 2013.

Based on four cases among women, aged 21 to 39. “[U]nlike the brain which is protected by the skull as well as a spatial distance from the cellular device, each patient here had direct contact between their device and their breast.” Open access paper from a team of California physicians. For a local TV news report featuring two of the authors of these case reports, click here [no longer available]. And here is the American Cancer Society’s outlook, posted in May 2014 [also no longer available]—about a decade ago, ACS’s Ted Gansler, who wrote this opinion, promoted the idea that any link between cell phones and cancer is a “myth” (see MWN, M/J03, p.3).

August 19, 2013

“Mobile Phone Radiation [MPR] Induces Mode-Dependent DNA Damage in a Mouse Spermatocyte-Derived Cell Line: a Protective Role of Melatonin,” International Journal of Radiation Biology, posted online August 19, 2013, from Chongqing, China.

“[H]ands-free devices might reduce the MPR exposure intensity to the human head. However … the male reproductive system may be put into risks. Thus, it is important and urgent to establish feasible and effective strategies to prevent reproductive impairment following daily exposure to MPR. Significantly increased levels of DNA damage in the “dialing” and “dialed” modes were found in the present study…”

May 10, 2013

A new study from the U.K. is adding support to the still controversial proposition that long-term use of a cell phone increases the risk of developing acoustic neuroma, a tumor of the auditory nerve. No higher risk of glioma or meningioma, two types of brain cancer, was observed.

Women who used a mobile phone for more than ten years were two-and-half-times more likely to have an acoustic neuroma than those who never used a phone. The finding is statistically significant. This is the fourth epidemiological study that shows an association between long-term use of a cell phone and acoustic neuroma.

April 15, 2013

“GSM 900 MHz Cellular Phone Radiation Can Either Stimulate or Depress Early Embryogenesis in Japanese Quails Depending on the Duration of Exposure,” International Journal of Radiation Biology, posted online April 10, 2013, from a group in the Ukraine.

“Taken together, this suggests that the low intensity radiation emitted by a commercial GSM 900 MHz cell phone can result in either decrease of DNA strand breaks; or otherwise induce substantial DNA damage in cells of the developing bird embryo depending on the duration of the exposure. See also the group's earlier paper in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine.

January 15, 2013

“Cancer Risks Related to Low-Level RF/MW Exposures, Including Cell Phones,”

by Poland's Stan Szmigielski, posted online by Electromagnetic Medicine and Biology, on January 15, 2013: "[S]o far, the published studies do not show that mobile phones can increase considerably the risk of cancer. This conclusion is backed up by the lack of a solid biological mechanism, and the fact that brain cancer rates are not going up significantly. However, all of the studies so far have weaknesses, which make it impossible to entirely rule out a risk."

October 26, 2012

“Impact of One’s Own Mobile Phone in Stand-By Mode on Personal RF EMF Exposure,”

Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, posted online October 24, 2012.  “This study demonstrates that personal RF-EMF exposure is affected by one’s own mobile phone in stand-by mode because of its regular location update.” From the University of Basel, Switzerland.

September 20, 2012

“Use of Wireless Phones and Serum β-Trace Protein in Randomly Recruited Persons Aged 18–65 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study,”

Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, early online, posted September 18, 2012. The lead author is Fredrik Söderqvist, a member of Lennart Hardell's group at Sweden's Örebro University Hospital.

August 15, 2012

New Mobile Radiation Norms from Sept 1

Times of India, August 15, 2012. The new limits will be 1/10th the current ones. Also, India will adopt an SAR standard for cell phones like that of the U.S. FCC —1.6 W/Kg, averaged over 1 g.

August 7, 2012

In its much-anticipated report, released today, the GAO told the FCC to take a fresh look at its cell phone exposure standard and the way the phones are tested for compliance with that limit. The 46-page report is available here.

Julius Knapp, the chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology, responded that he...

November 3, 2011

The latest update of the Danish cell phone-cancer study is being touted as the biggest and best ever. It shows “no link between mobile phone use and [brain] tumors,” according to the press release.

Don’t believe a word of it.

On October 20, the British Medical Journal released the third installment of the Danish Cancer Society’s cohort study, which has been tracking some 400,000 mobile phones subscribers since the 1980s. The whole enterprise has been dogged by controversy and political suspicions since the first results were published ten years ago.

August 25, 2011

The Interphone results on acoustic neuroma (AN) are —finally— out. As in the Interphone analysis of brain tumors, there does appear to be a higher risk among the heaviest users of cell phones. Yet, as before, the results are uncertain and open to alternative explanations.

August 18, 2011

At the end of last month, the French National Cancer Institute updated its advisory on "Mobile Phones and Cancer Risks." The istitute's Web site on "Electromagnetic Waves" has links to numerous government reports and other documents.

July 27, 2011

Here's the golden rule for all cell phone cancer studies: Nothing comes easy.

The first study to look at brain tumors among children and teenagers who have used cell phones came out today and it shows no increased risk. Well, actually, the study, known as CEFALO, does indicate a higher risk —the problem is that it found a higher risk for all the kids who used a phone more than once a week for six months, regardless of how much time they spent on the phone. Because the risk does not go up with more use, the CEFALO team argues that the results argue against a true association.

July 6, 2011

The battle over Interphone continues. This time it's in full public view as key players publish papers detailing where they stand on cell phone tumor risks. There haven't been any big surprises since their opinions have long been known. Yet, the diametrically opposing views have led to conflicting stories in the media as each new study is released.

May 19, 2011

A hard-hitting documentary aired on French television last night alleges that René de Sèze, a well-known member of the French RF community, worked to delay, if not bury, a study that would be detrimental to the mobile phone industry. The 90-minute show reports that de Sèze coordinated a study on behalf of Bouygues Telecom, a leading cell phone operator, and when the results supported a radiation health risk, he did everything he could to discredit it. De Sèze works for French National Institute for the Industrial Environment and Hazards (INERIS).

April 18, 2011

Chinese researchers in Beijing are seeing some of the highest rates of cancer ever reported in any cell phone study. They have found that long-term, heavy users have rates of malignant parotid gland tumors that are seven to 13 times higher than might otherwise be expected.

March 8, 2011

"Cell Phones Affect Brain Activity." That headline has appeared all over the world since Nora Volkow published a PET scan of a brain lit up by a cell phone last month. Her colorful graphics, published in the high impact Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), guaranteed Volkow a large and attentive audience. But all the hoopla shouldn't obscure the fact that for more than a decade many others, notably Peter Achermann's group at the University of Zurich, have shown similar types of radiation-induced changes in the brain as well as much more.

March 3, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, the University of Manchester in England issued a press release on a new paper on brain cancer trends in the U.K., under the headline, "Mobile Phone Use Not Related to Increased Brain Cancer Risk." Clear and catchy — but wrong. Frank de Vocht and two collaborators actually saw a...

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