Mobiles may cause five-fold rise in brain cancer risk

LONDON: People who begin using mobile phones as teenagers and continue to do so for over a decade may be at a five-fold risk of developing a common type of brain cancer, Swedish scientists have claimed, citing new evidence. 

The study, published in the International Journal of Oncology, found large increased incidence of astrocytoma, the most common form of a malignant brain tumour type called glioma, in those who had been using mobiles for over 10 years. 

The new research comes weeks after theInternational Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organisation, stated that radiation from handsets was "possibly carcinogenic", though it stopped short of declaring there was a clear link. 

Campaigners, meanwhile, said the study was further evidence of the need to educate children of the potential dangers of mobile phone usage, the Daily Telegraph reported. 

For the study, a team of researchers examined the mobile and cordless phone use of more than 1,200 Swedes, who were diagnosed with malignant brain cancer between 1997 and 2003. 

Of those, the 905 who were still alive were interviewed about their phone usage. For the remaining 346, who had died, researchers asked their relatives about their loved-ones' telephone habits. 

They then compared this to phone use information on almost 2,500 "controls" who were either living and had no brain cancer, or had died of other causes. The team found that people who started using mobiles as teens, and have done so for at least 10 years, were 4.9 times more likely to develop astrocytoma.