Finnish cancer experts: Dangers of mobile phones exaggerated

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The health risks associated with the use of mobile telephones have been exaggerated, says Harri Vertio, Secretary-General of the Finnish Cancer Associations.
      “Those cancer researchers who are involved in extensive international evaluations have not made warnings about cancer risks of mobile telephones”, says Vertio, commenting on a news item published on Wednesday by Helsingin Sanomat.
      According to the report, a group of international experts felt that the hazards of mobile telephones were too great to be ignored. The group said that children and young people whose organs are still in the development stages are most at risk, and advised parents not to let children under the age of 12 use mobile phones.
     
At the Finnish Cancer Institute , research professor Anssi Auvinen says that there are no studies that would have established a correlation between mobile telephones, electromagnetic fields, and brain tumours.
      “The way of thinking of the researchers who drafted the appeal is that if children are more sensitive to radiation, and a mobile phone is a source of it, then there is a possibility of damage to health, and therefore, radiation should be avoided”, Auvinen says.
      The Helsingin Sanomat story noted that while there is no solid proof of risks, it has been established in scientific studies that electromagnetic waves penetrate the human body.
     
Auvinen points out that the appeal by the international group of researchers is not based on any new research.
      There is currently little evidence of a correlation between electromagnetic fields and brain tumours; about 20 international studies have taken place on the matter.
      “Because of the broad range of the matter, there is reason to study the health hazards, and extensive studies are now going on”, Vertio says.
      Statistics kept by the Cancer Registry reveal that numbers of brain tumours have remained stable among those aged 0-19, as well as in the 20-34 age group from the 1990s, when mobile telephones became commonplace in Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cancer experts see real risk in use of mobile phones (18.6.2008)

Links:
  Finnish cancer organisations

Helsingin Sanomat