Brain Tumors and Acoustic Neuromas Dr. Hardell Dr. Mild Dr. Kundi

SECTION 10 – Part 1EVIDENCE FOR BRAIN TUMORS AND ACOUSTIC NEUROMAS

Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD, ProfessorDepartment of Oncology, Örebro University Hospital, SwedenKjell Hansson Mild, PhD, ProfessorDepartment of Radiation Physics, Umeå University, SwedenMichael Kundi, Ph.D., med.habil, ProfessorInstitute of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health,Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Prepared for the BioInitiative Working GroupJuly 2007

Brain Tumors and Acoustic Neuromas Dr. Hardell Dr. Mild Dr. Kundi

Table of ContentsI. IntroductionII. Materials and MethodsIII. ResultsA.

The first Swedish studiesB. Studies from the USAC. Danish cohort studyD. Finnish studyE. The Interphone studies1. Acoustic neuroma2. Glioma, meningiomaF. Meta-analysis

IV. DiscussionV. ConclusionsVI. ReferencesTable 1 Summary of 20 studies on the use of cellulartelephones and brain tumor/acoustic neuroma risk

Brain Tumors and Acoustic Neuromas Dr. Hardell Dr. Mild Dr. Kundi

I. Introduction

During the recent decade potential health risks from microwave exposure during use of wirelessphones has been discussed both in scientific settings but also by the layman. Especially the useof mobile phones has been of concern, to less extent use of cordless desktop phones (digitalenhanced cordless telephone; DECT). The Nordic countries were among the first in the world towidely adopt use of such devices, probably due to the mobile phone companies like Ericsson inSweden and Nokia in Finland.These countries may be taken as models for the introduction of this new technology on themarket. Thus, the analogue mobile phone system (Nordic Mobile Telephony, NMT) using 450MHz started to operate in Sweden in 1981. First, it was used in cars with external antenna butfrom 1984 mobile (portable!) phones existed. This system is still used in Sweden but only to aminor extent. The 900 MHz NMT system operated in Sweden between 1986-2000. The GSMphone (Global System for Mobile communication) started in 1991 and is the most used phonetype today, although the 3G phone (third generation mobile phone, UMTS) is increasingly usednow.The risk of brain tumors has been of special concern since the brain is the organ mainly exposedduring such phone calls. Most studies on this topic have been of the case-control design and noresults exist from prospective cohort studies. However, the results have been hampered by tooshort tumor-induction period in most studies or with limited number of long-term users, i.e. >10 years latency time. As to carcinogenesis short latency period is of limited value to predictlong-term health risks. Usually a latency period of at least 10 years is needed for more firmconclusions. It should noted that for several carcinogens longer latency periods are often