noticias extranjeras

INTERPHONE Study
Results update – 8 October 2008
The INTERPHONE Study, a series of multinational case–control studies set-up to determine
whether mobile telephone use increases the risk of cancer and, specifically, whether the radiofrequency
radiation emitted by mobile telephones is carcinogenic, is nearing completion.
Separate studies have being carried out for acoustic neurinoma, glioma, meningioma and tumours
of the parotid gland. The studies used a common core protocol and were carried out in Australia,
Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden
and the UK. Details of the study protocol and procedures have been published (Cardis, Richardson
et al, 2007 – Springer Open Access http://www.springerlink.com/content/x88uu6q103076p53/).
The study includes approximately 2600 gliomas, 2300 meningiomas, 1100 acoustic neurinomas,
400 parotid gland tumours and their respective controls. This is by far the largest epidemiological
study of these tumours to date (Cardis, Richardson et al, 2007).
Results of national analyses of the relation between mobile phone use and risk of specific tumour
types in some of the participating countries have been published (Christensen et al 2004, 2005;
Hepworth et al, 2006; Hours et al, 2007; Klaeboe et al, 2007; Lahkola et al, 2007; Lonn et al,
2004, 2005, 2006; Sadetzki et al, 2007; Schlehofer et al, 2007; Schoemaker et al, 2006; Schuz et
al, 2006; Takebayashi et al, 2006, 2008) and are summarised in Table 1. In most studies, the OR
related to ever having been a regular mobile phone user was below 1, in some instances
statistically significantly so, possibly reflecting participation bias or other methodological
limitations.
For glioma, although results by time since start of use and amount of phone use vary, the number
of long-term users is small in individual countries and results are therefore compatible. Pooling of
data from Nordic countries and part of the UK yielded a significantly increased risk of glioma
related to use of mobile phones for a period of 10 years or more on the side of the head where
the tumour developed (Lahkola et al, 2007). This finding could either be causal or artifactual,
related to differential recall between cases and controls.
In the Japanese study (Takebayashi et al, 2008), efforts were made to evaluate the maximum
amount of RF energy absorbed at the location of the tumour; such analyses, gave an OR of 1.55
(95% CI 0.57, 4.19) related to the highest quartile of cumulative phone time weighted by
maxSAR, based on 15 exposed cases; the OR was 5.84 (95% CI 0.96, 35.60) for subjects with
cumulative maxSAR-hours of 10 or more W kg-1 – hour; this result, based on few subjects (7 cases
and 4 controls) needs to be investigated further.
For meningioma and acoustic neurinoma, most national studies provided little evidence of an
increased risk. The numbers of long-term and heavy users in individual studies were even smaller
than for glioma, however, and prevent any definitive conclusion about a possible association
between mobile telephone use and the risk of these tumours. Pooled analyses of data from Nordic
countries and the UK found no increased risk of meningioma in relation to long term or heavy use
(Lahkola et al, 2008), but a a significantly increased risk of acoustic neurinoma related to durations
of use of 10 years or more on the side of tumour (Schoemaker et al, 2006). Again, this finding
could either be causal or artifactual, related to differential recall between cases and controls.
For parotid gland tumours, no increased risk was observed overall for any measure of exposure
investigated. In a combined analysis of data from Sweden and Denmark (Lonn et al, 2006), a nonsignificantly
increased risk of benign tumours was observed for ipsilateral use 10 years or more

while a decreased risk was seen for contralateral use, possibly reflecting differential recall between
cases and controls. In the Israeli study, where study subjects tended to report substantially
heavier use of mobile phones, results suggest a possible relation between heavy mobile phone use
and risk of parotid gland tumours. Additional investigations of this association, with longer latency
periods and large numbers of heavy users, are needed to confirm these findings.
A number of methodological papers have been published or are in preparation (Vrijheid, Deltour et
al, 2006; Vrijheid, Cardis et al, 2006; Cardis, Richardson et al, 2007; Berg et al, 2005; Hepworth et
al, 2006; Parslow et al, 2003; Samkange-Zeeb et al, 2004; Lakhola et al, 2005; Cardis et al, 2008;
Vrijheid et al 2008; Tokola et al, 2008; Vrijheid et al, accepted), addressing issues of study design,
participation bias, recall error and exposure assessment that are essential in the interpretation of
results from the study:
• Validation studies were conducted to evaluate potential error in the recall of phone, indicating
that of phone use was subject to moderate systematic and substantial random error (Vrijheid,
Cardis et al., 2006, Vrijheid et al 2008). Errors appeared to be larger for duration of calls than
for number of calls, and phone use was under-estimated by light users and over-estimated by
heavy users. Comparison of a sample of cases and controls in three countries showed little
evidence for differential recall errors overall or in recent time periods, but apparent
overestimation by cases in more distant time periods (Vrijheid et al 2008).
• The possible effects of recall errors were evaluated using Monte–Carlo computer simulations.
Results suggest that random recall errors can lead to a large underestimation in the risk of
brain cancer associated with mobile phone use. The large random errors seen in the validation
study were found to have larger impact than plausible systematic errors. Differential errors in
recall had very little additional impact in the presence of large random errors (Vrijheid et al,
2006). However, the apparent overestimation by cases in more distant time periods could
cause positive bias in estimates of disease risk associated with mobile phone use (Vrijheid et
al, 2008).
• Potential for selection bias was also evaluated, using information from non-response
questionnaires completed by a sub-set of non-participants. This study suggests that refusal to
participate is related to less prevalent use of mobile phones, and that this could result in a
downward bias in odds ratios for regular mobile phone use (Vrijheid et al, accepted).
• Because exposure to RF from phones is localized, if a risk exists it is likely to be greatest for
tumours in regions with greatest energy absorption. The spatial distribution of RF energy in
the brain was characterised, using results of measurements made on over 100 phones used in
different countries. Most (97–99% depending on frequency) appears to be absorbed in the
brain hemisphere on the side where the phone is used, mainly in the temporal lobe. The
average relative SAR is highest in the temporal lobe and the cerebellum and decreases very
rapidly with increasing depth, particularly at higher frequencies. Analyses of risk by location of
tumour are therefore essential for the interpretation of results studies of brain tumours in
relation to mobile phone use (Cardis et al, 2008).
Manuscripts presenting results of the international analyses, based on larger numbers of long-term
and heavy users and taking into account the results of these methodological sub-studies are in
preparation. More detailed analyses are also underway, focusing on more precise localization of
tumors using 3-dimensional radiological images, and on the analysis of the effect of RF exposure
at the location of the tumor, using a gradient of RF emitted by mobile phones.
Results of national analyses of the relation between other risk factors and the tumours of interest
have also been published or are in press (Berg et al, 2006; Bethke et al, in press; Blettner et al,
2006; Edwards et al, 2006; Malmer et al, 2007; Sadetzki et al, in press; Schlehofer et al, 2007;
Schoemaker et al, 2006, 2007a, 2007b; Schuz et al, 2006; Schwartzbaum et al, 2005, 2007;
Wigertz et al, 2006, 2007, 2008). These include smoking, allergies, environmental and
occupational risk factors, medical radiation, reproductive factors and genes.

Work is underway to further exploit the information on occupational exposures collected within
INTERPHONE study with the aims of: 1) evaluating the possible association between
occupational exposure to EMF (both ELF and RF/MW) and glioma and meningioma; 2)
evaluating the possible association between selected occupational chemical exposures and these
tumours and 3) investigating the possibility of synergism and/or confounding between chemical
and EMF exposures on the risk of brain cancers. This work involves assessing occupational
exposure to EMF and selected chemicals using validated job-exposure matrices, which will be
developed within the project and refining this assessment by consolidating information obtained
from the JEM with data on exposure variations related to the specific industry in which a subject
worked, to the tasks he or she performed and to the actual sources of exposure, available from
the INTERPHONE questionnaire.

4
Table 1 – Summary of published results from national INTERPHONE analyses of mobile phone use
Country Age
range
Diagnosis
years
Number of
cases and
controls
OR and 95% CI
Ever regular use
# cases
OR and 95% CI
Start of use 10 years or
more in the past
# cases
OR and 95% CI
Ipsilateral use, start of
use 10+ years in past
# cases
OR and 95% CI
Contralateral use, start of
use 10+ years in past
# cases
Glioma
Denmark
(Christensen et al, 2005)
20-69 2000-2002
Low-grade
81 155
High-grade
171 330
Low-grade
1.08 (0.58, 2.00) 47
High-grade
0.58 (0.37, 0.90) 59
Low-grade
1.64 (0.44, 6.12) 6
High-grade
0.48 (0.19, 1.26) 8 NA NA
France
(Hours et al, 2007) 30-59 2001-2003 96 96 1.15 (0.65, 2.05) 59
46 months+
1.96 (0.74, 5.20) 21 NA NA
Germany
(Schuz et al, 2006) 30-69 2000-2003 366 1,494 0.98 (0.74, 1.29) 138 2.20 (0.94, 5.11) 12 NA NA
Japan
(Takebayashi et al, 2008) 30-69 2000-2004 83 163 1.22 (0.63, 2.37) 56
6.5 years +
0.60 (0.20, 1.78) 7
NA NA
Norway
(Klaeboe et al 2007) 19-69 2001-2002 289 358 0.6 (0.4, 0.9) 161
6+ years
0.8 (0.5, 1.2) 70
6+ years
1.3 (0.8, 2.1) 39
6+ years
0.8 (0.5, 1.4) 32
Sweden
(Lonn et al, 2005) 20-69 2000-2002 371 674 0.8 (0.6, 1.0) 214 0.9 (0.5, 1.5) 25 1.6 (0.8, 3.4) 15 0.7 (0.3, 1.5) 11
UK
(Hepworth et al, 2006) 18-69 2000-2004 966 1,716 0.94 (0.78,1.13) 508 0.90 (0.63,1.28) 66 NA NA
Nordic combined
(Lahkola et al, 2007) 2000-2004 1,522 3,301 0.78 (0.68, 0.91) 867 0.95 (0.74, 1.23) 143 1.39 (1.01, 1.92) 77 0.98 (0.71, 1.37) 67
Meningioma
Denmark
(Christensen et al, 2005) 20-69 2000-2002 175 316 0.83 (0.54, 1.28) 67 1.02 (0.32, 3.24) 6 NA NA
France
(Hours et al, 2007) 30-59 2001-2003 145 145 0.74 (0.43, 1.28) 71
46 months+
0.73 (0.28, 1.91) 15 NA NA
Germany
(Schuz et al, 2006) 30-69 2000-2003 381 762 0.84 (0.62, 1.13) 104 1.09 (0.35, 3.37) 5 NA NA
Japan
(Takebayashi et al, 2008) 30-69 2000-2004 128 229 0.70 (0.42, 1.16) 55
5.2 years +
1.05 (0.52, 2.11) 30
NA NA
Norway
(Klaeboe et al 2007) 19-69 2001-2002 207 358 0.8 (0.5, 1.1) 98
6+ years
1.0 (0.6, 1.8) 36
6+ years
1.1 (0.6, 2.3) 17
6+ years
1.2 (0.6, 2.3) 18
Sweden
(Lonn et al, 2005) 20-69 2000-2002 273 674 0.7 (0.5, 0.9) 118 0.9 (0.4, 1.9) 8 1.3 (0.5, 3.9) 5 0.5 (0.1, 1.7) 3
Nordic combined
(Lahkola et al, 2008) 2000-2004 1,209 3,299 0.76, (0.65, 0.89) 573 0.91 (0.67, 1.25) 73 1.05 (0.67, 1.65) 33 0.62 (0.38, 1.03) 24
Acoustic neurinoma
Denmark
(Christensen et al, 2004) 20-69 2000-2002 106 212 0.90 (0.51, 1.57) 45 0.22 (0.04, 1.11) 2 NA NA
France
(Hours et al, 2007) 30-59 2001-2003 109 214 0.92 (0.53, 1.59) 58 46 months+ NA NA

www.next-up.org Translation RT Origin www.enviro2b.com/environnement-actualite-developpement-durable/5092/article.html ACTU » HEALTH & PREVENTION
September 28, 2007
To phone can be harmful to health !
After Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Great Britain, France corroborates to cancer risk for big mobile phone users. A general tendency impossible to conceal. Officially, sanitary authorities don’t stop repeating : ‘mobile phone use doesn’t lead to an increased risk of developing a brain or acoustic tumour. Some partial results from Interphone study diverge however from this reassuring viewpoint, emphasizing the increased risk of acoustic neurinome or glioma after 10 years of use and/or by big users of mobile phone. The French study to be published in September 2007 in Epidemiologic and Public Health Journal, confirms this between two.
Increased risk for big users
“Although these results are not statistically significant there is a general tendency to an increased risk of glioma for the biggest users : long term users, big consumers, those with study authors. Among them, Elisabeth Cardis from OMS International Research Cancer Center (CIRC) and Marine Hours INRET epidemiologist and chairwoman of Scientific Committee of Radiofrequency Health Foundation.
In concrete terms, those who have and/or use more than one mobile have twice more risk to develop a glioma The same for those who have a subscription for more than 4 years. Those who spend more time with more than 260 hours or whom talks extended for a long time (more than 5 minutes) have also a glioma risk increased by 80 %. Those who have had the biggest number of calls (over 5 000) also show an increased risk of 50 %. Whatever the criteria The ig users have always the highest risk.
bHeavy tendency or short tendency ? The 800 people study led between Lyon and Paris with 350 males or females aged between 30 and 59 years old when one have discovered their brain tumour between February 2001 and August 2003 gives an other indication. More to worry about ... According to these figures brain tumours linked to mobile phone usage could develop much more quickly than expected. The combined data from 5 countries : Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain among the 13 concerned by Interphone study have shown a latent time of 10 years before glioma or acoustic neurinome appear. Even if some works are suggesting a shorter time period.
The French study, with a tendency of increased risk for more than 4 years of mobile phone use and only 4 users with more than 10 years of age among 350 patients, corroborates this ‘short time’ hypothesis. The Interphone France authors being cautious conclude : “Our results suggesting a possible increased risk for the biggest users must still be verified in the International Interphone Study analysis”.
Results expected since 2003.

www.next-up.org Origin
Cloud of worry gathers over wireless health risks By Doreen Carvajal September 23, 2007
PARIS: While major cities around the world rush to blanket neighborhoods with free wireless Internet access, critics are questioning the health risks that might be created by a wired London or a Paris transformed from the City of Light to City of Hot Spots.
The nagging fear is that electromagnetic waves emitted by wireless technology could become the tobacco smoke of the 21st century. Some environmentalists are already demanding restrictions, and government officials in some countries are issuing warnings to limit use and seeking reviews of the long-term health impact of exposure to wireless networks and mobile telephones. While studies to date have been less than definitive, critics say that the increases in electronic magnetic "pollution" have been coupled with an insufficient knowledge of the health risks over the long term. (Frank Polich/Bloomberg)
"The exposure to electromagnetic fields is rising, and it's widespread," said Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the European Environmental Agency, a European Union institution. "So, come what may, we should be anticipating that even with a low dose, but with wide exposure, this will require much more inspection."
The agency, which last week issued a statement urging caution, is paying close attention to the results of an ongoing World Health Organization study called Interphone that is evaluating cellphone use by almost 7,000 brain tumor patients in 13 countries, among them Japan, Canada, Germany and France.
For the most part, national studies have detected no consequences from the use of mobile phones for a period of up to 10 years. But last spring, Interphone published the results of studies of 1,500 brain cancer patients in the south of England and Nordic countries
"They found a significantly increased risk of brain cancer for use of a period of more than 10 years on the same side of the head where the tumor developed," said Elisabeth Cardis, Interphone coordinator and director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. She said that larger numbers of long-term users needed to be studied to give the findings greater validity.
Wireless-network technology developed too recently to be included in existing major studies of the health impact from exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones, say scientists, who note it is likely to be less harmful because it emits less electromagnetic energy than mobile phones placed directly on the ear.
But school officials are looking for reassurance. Teacher associations in Britain are demanding further analysis before schools introduce wireless computer networks, and the city of Frankfurt is being even more cautious - school officials there decided last year not to install wireless systems until there was more health research.
This month, the French Health Ministry ordered the country's Agency for Environmental and Occupational Health Safety to prepare a review of available scientific information about the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields from cellphones and Wi-Fi.
Members of the Green Party in the German Parliament have also pressed the government with similar questions this summer. In response, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection advised limiting use of mobile phones and wireless networks as a precaution until more is known.
"Our main concern is to keep the total exposure of electric magnetic fields as low as possible, especially in schools and kindergartens," said Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, a member of the German Bundestag and spokesman for the Green Party on the issue. "We will force the government to take their own warnings seriously and to favor cable-based technology."
Scientists are pressing for more information about the impact of heavy usage and also on the effect on children, concerned that developing brains may react differently to exposure.
This month, Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research, an £8.8 million, or $17.8 million, study funded by the British government and the telecommunications industry, ruled out short-term adverse effects of mobile phone use on the brain and cell functions of adults who were the subjects of the study.
But these researchers also cautioned that further study was needed of children and people who have been exposed for more than 15 years, a critical period because brain cancer symptoms typically take that long to emerge.
The group is helping to start a long-term surveillance study called Cosmos, looking at 200,000 cellphone users, beginning this year. It will track light and heavy users of mobile phones in Britain, Denmark, Sweden and Finland over the next 25 years.
Its earlier study, which was paid for by the British government and the mobile phone industry, was coordinated by an independent group so as not to be influenced by its backers.
Scientists note that mobile phones have not been around long enough to find a sufficient number of consumers who have been exposed for more than 15 years, a hurdle that is even greater when it comes to Wi-Fi networks.
"You're restricted by reality," said Joachim Schuz, a German researcher with the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen who is participating in the Cosmos study. "So the reason that there are no studies on long-term users is because at the moment the long-term users are just becoming a bigger group."
Schuz, who also participated in the Interphone study in Germany, said that researchers in the Cosmos study would have access to telephone records, health records and questionnaires filled out by telephone users. With that information, researchers will be looking for associations between phone use and a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, Parkinson's disease, migraine headaches, depression, sleep disturbances and tinnitus, the clinical name for ringing in the ears.
The Interphone study, which is expected to be released next year, focuses in particular on people with brain and neck tumors. Nearly half of the electromagnetic energy is absorbed by the tissues on the side of the head closest to the handheld phone, scientists say.
While cancer researchers look for answers, others are growing impatient. In August an international group of cancer researchers and public health experts issued a review of available studies on electromagnetic fields called BioInitiative that urged precautions.
The European Environmental Agency contributed a chapter about historical lessons learned from asbestos that showed that exposure could be harmful even before there is convincing evidence of harm.
"We don't want to wait until you have definitive proof before you start taking actions," said David Carpenter, who helped write the report and a physician and professor of environmental health and toxicology at State University of New York at Albany, where the report was issued.
Thus far, Carpenter noted, most of the discussion and research on the issue is taking place in Europe and not in the United States.
"Our concern is that the health risks are rarely part of the debate" in the United States, he said. "If there's a downside, that needs to be put on the table."
The French environmental group Priartém decided not to wait. This month, it successfully pressed two French supermarket chains, Carrefour and Auchan, to shun a special telephone, Kiditel, with GPS tracking technology, that is marketed for young children.
"We were concerned that these are telephones that have to be illuminated all the time," said Jeanine Le Calvez, president of Priartém.
But industry groups like CTIA, an international association for wireless telecommunications based in Washington, steadfastly maintain that the "overwhelming majority of research studies that have been published in scientific journals around the globe show that wireless phones do not pose a health risk."
Le Calvez, though, remains wary. This month, her group met with French Health Ministry officials to push for a ban on telephones marketed for children. She also takes a dim view of the free wireless hot spots in Paris, which number at least 400.
"A catastrophe," she declared. "The new system increases electronic magnetic pollution and we have such insufficient knowledge of the health risks."