Siemens Mobile User Manual

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U.S. FDA

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of CF62 Leopard TMO SUG us, A31008-H6050-A40-1-4A19 (02.06.2004, 16:08)

How much evidence is there that hand-

held mobile phones might be harmful?
Briefly, there is not enough evidence

to know for sure, either way; how-

ever, research efforts are on-going.

The existing scientific evidence is

conflicting and many of the studies

that have been done to date have

suffered from flaws in their research

methods. Animal experiments inves-

tigating the effects of RF exposures

characteristic of mobile phones have

yielded conflicting results. A few ani-

mal studies, however, have sug-

gested that low levels of RF could

accelerate the development of can-

cer in laboratory animals. In one

study, mice genetically altered to be

predisposed to developing one type

of cancer developed more than

twice as many such cancers when

they were exposed to RF energy

compared to controls. There is much

uncertainty among scientists about

whether results obtained from ani-

mal studies apply to the use of

mobile phones. First, it is uncertain

how to apply the results obtained in

rats and mice to humans. Second,

many of the studies showed

increased tumor development used

animals that had already been

treated with cancer-causing chemi-

cals, and other studies exposed the

animals to the RF virtually continu-

ously – up to 22 hours per day.
For the past five years in the United

States, the mobile phone industry

has supported research into the

safety of mobile phones. This

research has resulted in two findings

in particular that merit additional

study:
1. In a hospital-based, case-control

study, researchers looked for an

association between mobile phone

use and either glioma (a type of

brain cancer) or acoustic neuroma

(a benign tumor of the nerve

sheath). No statistically significant

association was found between

mobile phone use and acoustic neu-

roma. There was also no association

between mobile phone use and glio-

mas when all types of gliomas were

considered together. It should be

noted that the average length of

mobile phone exposure in this study

was less than three years.
When 20 types of glioma were con-

sidered separately, however, an

association was found between

mobile phone use and one rare type

of glioma, neuroepithelliomatous

tumors. It is possible with multiple

comparisons of the same sample

that this association occurred by

chance. Moreover, the risk did not

increase with how often the mobile

phone was used, or the length of the

calls. In fact, the risk actually

decreased with cumulative hours of

mobile phone use. Most cancer caus-

ing agents increase risk with

increased exposure. An ongoing

study of brain cancers by the