An editorial in the November issue of the journal Surgical Neurology has called for major immediate major research initiatives to assess the possibility that using cell phones leads to an increased risk of brain tumors. Dr. Ron Pawl, a neurosurgeon at Lake Forest Hospital in Lake Forest, IL calls for collaborative research initiatives to determine whether the risk between cell phones and brain cancer. Research thus far has produced mixed results. Earlier this year an epidemiological study carried out in Sweden found a positive statistical correlation between cell phone use and brain tumors. An Australian researcher opined that cell phone use is more hazardous than smoking. A key issue is incidence of brain tumors. If there is a causative relation between tumors and cell phone use, the number of brain tumor diagnoses should have risen over the past two decades. Some studies indicate that they have while other sources point out that those apparent increases may simply reflect more effect diagnostic techniques such as computed tomography and MRI. Dr. Pawl points out that no study to date has shown a clear relationship between ELFs and brain tumors. He calls on scientific societies to play a leading role in designing and conducting studies that will definitively determine the risks of brain cancer associated with ELF exposure, particularly from cell phones. He writes, “It seems that a cooperative effort by both the scientific community and state governing bodies will be needed. Some spearhead is now necessary in view of the magnitude and seriousness of the situation.”Read Dr. Pawl’s editorial online
Editorial in Medical Journal Calls for More Research on EMFs/Cell Phone/Brain Cancer Correlation
