Politics and Medicine - REUTERS: Cell phone signals excite brain, study finds

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REUTERS: Cell phone signals excite brain, study finds

BreastImplantAwareness.org

2006-06-26, 4:28 pm

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...&src=rss&rpc=22

Cell phone signals excite brain, study finds
Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:30 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cell phone emissions excite the part of the
brain cortex nearest to the phone, but it is not clear if these
effects are harmful, Italian researchers reported on Monday.

Their study, published in the Annals of Neurology, adds to a growing
body of research about mobile phones, their possible effects on the
brain, and whether there is any link to cancer.

About 730 million cell phones are expected to be sold this year,
according to industry estimates, and nearly 2 billion people around
the world already use them.

Of these, more than 500 million use a type that emits electromagnetic
fields known as Global System for Mobile communications or GSM radio
phones. Their possible effects on the brain are controversial and not
well understood.

Dr. Paolo Rossini of Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan and colleagues
used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation or TMS to check brain function
while people used these phones.

They had 15 young male volunteers use a GSM 900 cell phone for 45
minutes. In 12 of the 15, the cells in the motor cortex adjacent to
the cell phone showed excitability during phone use but returned to
normal within an hour.

The cortex is the outside layer of the brain and the motor cortex is
known as the "excitable area" because magnetic stimulation has been
shown to cause a muscle twitch.

The researchers stressed that they had not shown that using a cell
phone is bad for the brain in any way, but people with conditions such
as epilepsy, linked with brain cell excitability, could potentially be
affected.

"It should be argued that long-lasting and repeated exposure to EMFs
(electromagnetic frequencies) linked with intense use of cellular
phones in daily life might be harmful or beneficial in brain-diseased
subjects," they wrote.

"Further studies are needed to better circumstantiate these conditions
and to provide safe rules for the use of this increasingly more
widespread device."

Medical studies on cell phone use have provided mixed results. Swedish
researchers found last year that using cell phones over time can raise
the risk of brain tumors. But a study by Japan's four mobile telephone
operators found no evidence that radio waves from the phones harmed
cells or DNA.

The Dutch Health Council analyzed several studies and found no
evidence that radiation from mobile phones was harmful.

BreastImplantAwareness.org

2006-06-27, 9:25 pm

I don't share the Coward "Skeptics" opinion about cell phones.

Note from Ilena: For years, I have been watching this issue ... not
believing all the 'good news' put out by junkscience.com or their
sister Disinformation Center, acsh.org and their sub front groups,
various quackery propagandists.

It seems these Propaganda Centers were hired to cover up the dangers
of cell phones ... just as they have done with breast implants,
aspartame, etc.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The use of mobile phones over a long period of
time can raise the risk for brain tumors, a new Swedish study said on
Friday, contradicting the conclusions of other researchers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060331/sc_nm/phones_dc_3

The Dutch Health Council, in an overview of research from around the
world, last year found no evidence radiation from mobile phones and TV
towers was harmful. A four-year British survey released in January
showed no link between regular, long-term use of cell phones and the
most common type of tumor.

However, researchers at the Swedish National Institute for Working
Life said they looked at the mobile phone use of 905 people between
the age of 20 and 80 who had been diagnosed with a malignant brain
tumor and found a link.

"A total 85 of these 905 cases were so-called high users of mobile
phones, that is they began early to use mobile and, or wireless
telephones and used them a lot," the study said.

"The study also shows that the rise in risk is noticeable for tumors
on the side of the head where the phone was said to be used," it
added.

Kjell Mild, who led the study, said the figures meant that heavy users
of mobile phones, for instance of who make mobile phone calls for
2,000 hours or more in their life, had a 240 percent increased risk
for a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used.

"The way to get the risk down is to use handsfree," he told Reuters.

He said his study was the biggest yet to look at long-term users of
the wireless phone, which has been around in Sweden in a portable form
since 1984, longer than in many other countries.

Skeptic

2006-06-27, 9:25 pm

"BreastImplantAwareness.org" <BIA@mundo.com> wrote in message
news:oaj3a2p6homscbpjotili9rp1msc4f5rpq@4ax.com...
>I don't share the Coward "Skeptics" opinion about cell phones.
>
> Note from Ilena: For years, I have been watching this issue ... not
> believing all the 'good news' put out by junkscience.com or their
> sister Disinformation Center, acsh.org and their sub front groups,
> various quackery propagandists.

So you remained doubtful about the beneficial effects but unquestionably
accept the harmful ones as dogma.

At least my skepticism is evenly distributed to both sides of the argument.