Projects

Project description:

The objective of the study is to determine whether mobile telephone use increases the risk of cancer and, specifically, whether the radio frequency (RF) radiations emitted by mobile telephones are carcinogenic.

Scientific approach:

Multicentric population based case-control studies will be conducted, focusing on the tumours which, if RF are carcinogenic, are most likely to be related to mobile telephone use: tumours of the acoustic nerve, the parotid gland and parts of the brain (gliomas and meningiomas). The project will be conducted using a common core protocol in 14 countries including 7 from the EU (Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK), 2 Associated States (Israel and Norway) and 5 other countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the USA). The inclusion of centres in 14 counties is to maximise statistical power to detect any health effect. Although mobile phone use is now very prevalent, it was much rarer five to ten years ago.

In most countries, the study population will be all persons aged 30-59 in the major urban areas in where mobile telephone networks were first set-up. Cases and controls will be recruited over a period of 2 to 3 years. Cases will be confirmed by histology or imaging and the exact location of the tumours determined. Controls will be matched on age, sex and study region. Information on the history of mobile telephone use and on other risk factors will be obtained primarily from a detailed questionnaire administered during an in-person, computer assisted, interview. Indexes of RF exposure to the target organs (and associated uncertainties) will be derived from information on phone use, network characteristics and on re-analyses of existing dosimetric experiments. The accuracy of the proposed indexes will be investigated through validation studies. Joint analyses of the data will be carried out centrally to test for an association between mobile telephone use and RF exposure and each different tumour type.

In view of the increasingly widespread use of mobile telephones in the EU and elsewhere, and of the limited information available on the health effects of low level RF exposure, the proposed study will provide important information to determine whether RF from cellular telephones may produce harmful health effects.

Project coordinator:

Dr Elisabeth Cardis
Programme on Radiation and Cancer
International Agency for Research on Cancer
150 Cours Albert-Thomas 150, 69372, Lyon, FRANCE Email: cardis@iarc.fr

Participants:

*C = Co-ordinator; M = Member

Sources: European Commission