Cell Phones and Children
The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) is investigating cell phone use and cancer risk in children and adolescents through the MobiKids program, funded by the European Union. Initiated in 2010, CREAL is a l6-centered collaboration to investigate the risk of brain cancer from exposure to RF fields in childhood and adolescence l0 to 24 years of age. Over a period of two-and-a-half to three years, nearly 200 young people with brain tumors will be invited to participate in this study. The study will use a detailed questionnaire covering demographic factors, residential history, and risk factors in the environment, in cluding the use of cell phones (CREAL, 2010). Also underway is a 5 million dollar study sponsored by the U.S. National Toxicology Program to assess the risk to 3,000 rats and mice exposed to RF for l0 hours daily from birth to old age (Thun, 2010). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested this study because a) there is widespread human usage of cell phones, b) current exposure guidelines are based on protection from acute injury from thermal effects (not long-term), c) little is known about the potential for health effects of long-term exposure, and d) sufficient data from human studies to definitively answer these questions may not be available for many years.
Rats and mice will be exposed to radio frequency radiation from the technologies that are currently used in the United States. Cell phone radiation will be administered at various intervals during the day (Bucher & the Committee on Appropriations, 2010). Further, GAO (2012) requests that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should formally reassess and if appropriate change the current RF energy exposure limit, as well as mobile phone testing requirements, particularly when cell phones are held against the body.
Research Continues on Brain Cancer in Children and Cell Phone Use
The Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) is investigating cell phone use and cancer risk in children and adolescents through the MobiKids program, funded by the European Union. Initiated in 2010, CREAL is a l6-centered collaboration to investigate the risk of brain cancer from exposure to RF fields in childhood and adolescence l0 to 24 years of age. Over a period of two-and-a-half to three years, nearly 200 young people with brain tumors will be invited to participate in this study. The study will use a detailed questionnaire covering demographic factors, residential history, and risk factors in the environment, in cluding the use of cell phones (CREAL, 2010). Also underway is a 5 million dollar study sponsored by the U.S. National Toxicology Program to assess the risk to 3,000 rats and mice exposed to RF for l0 hours daily from birth to old age (Thun, 2010). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested this study because a) there is widespread human usage of cell phones, b) current exposure guidelines are based on protection from acute injury from thermal effects (not long-term), c) little is known about the potential for health effects of long-term exposure, and d) sufficient data from human studies to definitively answer these questions may not be available for many years.
Rats and mice will be exposed to radio frequency radiation from the technologies that are currently used in the United States. Cell phone radiation will be administered at various intervals during the day (Bucher & the Committee on Appropriations, 2010). Further, GAO (2012) requests that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should formally reassess and if appropriate change the current RF energy exposure limit, as well as mobile phone testing requirements, particularly when cell phones are held against the body.
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