FMK - Maier: Largest mobile telecommunication research programme now on the home stretch
Interphone France - no increased risk of brain tumours from mobile telecommunication systems
The "Interphone" project, coordinated by IARC (International Agency for Research of Cancer) and supported by the EU, is supposed to clarify whether or not the regular use of mobile phones increases the risk of developing a brain tumour. 13 countries are involved in what is the largest research project worldwide up to now on this subject. Within the framework of the whole research project, France has published its results: They do not indicate a connection between the use of a mobile phone and an increased risk of developing a brain tumour. The Interphone project is expected to be concluded in 2008.
The French research contribution carried out for the Interphone project finds no significantly increased risk of developing brain tumours (glioma, meningioma, neuroma) from users of mobile phones. The authors of the research studies do however point out that the statistical significance of the study is limited due to the case numbers. Taking this aspect into account, individual results are also reviewed in the evaluation of frequent mobile phone users and people who telephone for long periods of time. Individual results that indicate the possibility of an increased risk for this group of users, need to be verified due to the low case numbers and the insignificance of the statistics in the international Interphone analyses.
What has Interphone discovered so far?
The Interphone project concentrates its research on very specific tumours of the cranial system: specific brain tumours (glioma and meningioma), tumours of the parotid gland (parotid gland tumours) and of the acoustic nerve (neurinoma) as well as disturbances of the lymphoid tissue (lymphomas).
"Some partial results have already been published by various teams. They all come to the conclusion that there are no effects, with the following exception: the results from a Swedish team with regard to neurinoma of the acoustic nerve," said Dr. Elisabeth Cardis, Director of IARC, a suborganisation of the World Health Organisation (WHO), headquartered in Lyon, and coordinator of the project.
Overall results anticipated in 2008
"The results from Interphone will only become really significant once they have been analysed and validated completely," said Dr. Cardis about the scientific research. As well as five northern European countries, scientists from Germany, France, Italy, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada are also involved. The overall results from the Interphone project are anticipated in 2008.
