CNS Neurosurgery    |    Breaking News – Cell Phones and Brain Tumors – Leaked Insight from the U.S. National Toxicology Program?

Breaking News – Cell Phones and Brain Tumors – Leaked Insight from the U.S. National Toxicology Program?

In early 2008, I self-published a review paper on-line, clearly expressing my concerns regarding mobile phones and brain tumors (Reference 1, below). That paper caused an international stir after Geoffrey Lean from The Independent UK added his provocative headline (Reference 2, below) and I and others eventually discussed our thoughts on this topic on Larry King Live, as communicated by Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times (Reference 3, below).

Dr Lennart Hardell, however, was one of the pioneers of this field, and I was fortunate enough to have published a peer-reviewed meta-analysis and literature review with him in 2009 (Reference 7, below). Essentially, our paper reported that 10 or more years of cell phone use was associated with a statistically significant increase in ipsilateral (same side of head) GLIOMAs and SCHWANNOMAs (acoustic neuromas) in those long-term cell phone users.

I continued to work on the area for the next few years (References 4-11, below), and in December 2013, I testified in the Superior Court of Washington D.C. as an expert medical witness in a weighty court case that is still being litigated in that honorable forum.

And now this:

Louis Slesin PhD, the well respected, dedicated and longstanding Editor of Microwave News, published the following on 25 May 2016:

Cell Phone Radiation Boosts Cancer Rates in Animals: $25 Million NTP Study Finds Brain Tumors – U.S. Government Expected To Advise Public of Health Risk.”

Briefly, the United States National Toxicology Program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health/NIH) carried out a comprehensive study of standard cell-phone radiation exposed versus unexposed rats, with the continuous near-field exposure being over a 2 year time period and designed so as not to cause an increase in the rats’ body temperature over 1 degree C.

It appears the study’s data have recently completed an internal peer-review process at the NTP (but not as yet been formally published). The results have been reported by Dr Slesin to show a statistically significant and “dose-response” pattern of increased GLIOMA and SCHWANNOMA rates in the “exposed” cohort of rats.

Notably, these two types of tumors are the same tumor types that were reported to be associated with prolonged cell phone exposures in humans based on international epidemiological studies by INTERPHONE and Lennart Hardell et al. (see References and PDFs below).

Health agencies of The United States Government are currently liaising about when and how to make a Public announcement regarding the NTP study and its Public health implications.

Read the full length article from Dr Slesin here:

http://microwavenews.com/news-center/ntp-cancer-results

If Dr Slesin and his sources are correct, as I expect, then he is also right in stating that “the cell phone cancer controversy will never be the same again.”

Addendum: Scientific American has just published its summary of the NTP study’s findings and implications (PDF at Reference 12, below).

REFERENCES:

  1. Khurana VG. Mobile phones and brain tumours – A Public health concern. Self-published at www.brain-surgery.us on 7 February, 2008. [Click here for PDF]
  2. Lean G. Mobile phones ‘more dangerous than smoking or asbestos’. The Independent, 30 March, 2008. [Click here for PDF]
  3. Parker-Pope T. Experts revive debate over cellphones and cancer. New York Times, 3 June, 2008. [Click here for PDF]
  4. Khurana VG. Cell phone and DNA story overlooked studies. Science 322: 1325, 2008. [Click here for PDF]
  5. Khurana VG, Moulder JE, Orton CG. Point/counterpoint. There is currently enough evidence and technology available to warrant taking immediate steps to reduce exposure of consumers to cell-phone-related electromagnetic radiation. Medical Physics 35: 5203-5206, 2008. [Click here for PDF]
  6. Khurana VG, Teo C, Bittar RG. Health risks of cell phone technology. Surgical Neurology 72: 436-437, 2009. [Click here for PDF]
  7. Khurana VG, Teo C, Kundi M, Hardell L, Carlberg M. Cell phones and brain tumors: A review including the long-term epidemiologic data. Surgical Neurology 72: 205-214, 2009. [Click here for PDF]
  8. Khurana VG, Hardell L, Everaert J, Bortkiewicz A, Carlberg M, Ahonen M. Epidemiological evidence for a health risk from mobile phone base stations. International Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health 16: 263-267, 2010. [Click here for PDF]
  9. Dobes M, Shadbolt B, Khurana VG (corresponding author), Jain S, Smith SF, Smee R, Dexter M, Cook R. A multicenter study of primary brain tumor incidence in Australia (2000-2008). Neuro-Oncology 13: 783-790, 2011. [Click here for PDF]
  10. Khurana VG. Danish cohort study: Questions regarding selection, exposure, and tumour incidence. British Medical Journal 343: d7893, 2011. [Click here for PDF]
  11. Dobes M, Khurana VG (corresponding author), Shadbolt B, Jain S, Smith SF, Smee R, Dexter M, Cook R. Increasing incidence of glioblastoma multiforme and meningioma, and decreasing incidence of Schwannoma (2000-2008): Findings of a multicentre Australian study. Surgical Neurology International 2: 176, 2011. [Click here for PDF]
  12. Maron DF. Public Health: Major cell phone radiation study reignites cancer questions. Exposure to radio-frequency radiation linked to tumor formation in rats. Scientific American, 27 May, 2016 [Click here for PDF]
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