July 1, 2011

expert reaction to a new review of evidence of the possible link between mobile phone use and brain tumours, as published in Environmental Health Perspectives

The review sought to update current understanding in a long-running and controversial area of research.

Prof David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, said:

“This is a really difficult issue to research. But even given the limitations of the evidence, this report is clear that any risk appears to be so small that it is very hard to detect – even in the masses of people now using mobile phones.”

Prof David Coggon, Professor of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Southampton, said:

“This is a carefully considered review, and the conclusions are justified. Mobile phones appear not to cause brain cancer in the first 10-15 years after people start using them. Continued research is needed in case there are harmful effects in the longer term, but the news so far is good.”

Mobile Phones, Brain Tumours and the Interphone Study: Where Are We Now? by Anthony J. Swerdlow et al., published online in Environmental Health Perspectives on July 2 2011.