Government Agencies disagree over
cancer danger from mobile phone use
In the United States the National Toxicology Programme has stated that its research has caused it to have concerns in relation to a possible link to heart and brain cancer from a study of male rats that was published within the last number of months.
However, another major US Government Agency provided a different interpretation of the study on mobile phone radiation. The Food and Drug Administration which has responsibility for safety of mobile phones disagreed with the findings of the National Toxicology Programme and said that the findings of the National Toxicology Programme should not be applied to mobile phone usage by humans. The Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society said that there has been no change in the incidence of brain tumours in human beings for the past 40 years which is obviously the period covering the commencement of the use of mobile phones and the representative of the American Cancer Society said that that is a scientific fact.
However, the National Toxicology Programme was adamant that their study did demonstrate a link between radio frequency radiation and tumours in male rats and this finding they say was supported by an outside Agency who they retained to analise their findings, independently. All the parties were keen to emphasise that the studies related to high levels of radiation imposed on rodents and that the risks to rats do not directly apply to humans. However the National Toxicology Programme says that their findings raise safety questions relating to the use of mobile phones which must be addressed.
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a strong rebuttal of this and has asserted that decades of research and hundreds of studies convince it that the current safety limits for mobile phone radiation protect public health. The Food and Drug Administration went on to criticise various contradictions which it says are contained in the study.
However, a former Senior Scientist in the Environmental Protection Agency, Professor George Gray said that the disagreement was because two different questions were being asked. He said that the National Toxicology Programme examined how the radiation from mobile phones effected animals but by looking at what it means for humans, the Food and Drug Administration introduces more sources of information and data than just the recent tests in rodents carried out by the National Toxicology Programme.
Whilst it is significant that the Food and Drug Administration firmly dismisses the study as representing any cancer risk to mobile phone users, nonetheless findings of the study carried out by the National Toxicology Programme will do nothing to quell suspicions that many people might have with regard to excessive use of mobile phones and may serve as encouragement to them to use earphones or speakers when speaking on their mobile phone.
If you require any further detail or advice, please contact John Reid in O’Rourke Reid
Dial: +353 1 240 1200
Email: jreid@orourkereid.com
This document is for information purposes only and does not purport to represent legal advice.
© O’Rourke Reid 2018