We investigate the relationship between cell phones and brain cancer using brain cancer death rates for 88 countries between 1990 and 2015 from the World Health Organization and country‐level mobile phone subscription rates from the World Bank. We estimate difference‐in‐difference models including country and year fixed effects and time‐varying country covariates. We find that mobile phone subscription rates are positively and statistically significantly associated with death rates from brain cancer 15–20 years later. In falsification tests, we find few positive associations between mobile phone subscription rates and deaths from rectal, pancreatic, stomach, breast or lung cancer or ischemic heart disease. Finally, differential effects models suggest that mobile phone subscription rates are associated with brain cancer deaths 15–19 years later relative to deaths from other causes. (JEL I15, O33)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/coep.12456

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Slide credit: Darius Leszczynski

Leszczynski: presentation at the Iona College

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In July 2019 (updated in September 2019), the French Public Health Agency “Santé Publique France“, together with the Francim cancer registries, the Hospices Civils de Lyon and the Institut National du Cancer, published national estimates of cancer incidence and mortality in metropolitan France between 1990 and 2018. These are based on the modeling of observed incidence data (new cases) until 2015 by cancer registries, supplemented by projections until 2018.

Volume 1 of the report is devoted to solid tumors (27 tumors and 22 subtypes). Between 1990 and 2018, the overall incidence rate of solid tumors remained relatively stable in men and continued to increase in women. At the same time, the annual number of new cases of glioblastoma with histological confirmation (one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer) has increased fourfold and more for both sexes.

In 20 years, the number of glioblastomas multiplied by 4, affecting all ages

Santé Publique France estimates that there will be 3,481 new cases of these glioblastomas in metropolitan France in 2018, 58% of them in men. There were only 823 in 1990.

Age trends show an increase in incidence regardless of age and gender between 1990 and 2018.

According to Santé Publique France, similar observations are observed in the United States where an increase in the incidence of glioblastoma was also observed in the years 1980-1990 in connection with diagnostic progress. In addition, an Australian study reports an increasing incidence of histological confirmed glioblastoma over the period 2000-2008.

Exposure to “waves’  is one of the possible factors

In conclusion of its analysis, Santé Publique France considers that the extrinsic factors that may play a role in increasing the incidence of glioblastoma could be:

“brain radiation therapy and possibly intense and prolonged exposure to pesticides (farmers)[14]. The latest epidemiological studies and animal experiments would support the carcinogenic role of exposure to electromagnetic fields[15]”

Absolute duty to protect children and young people

Dr Annie Sasco, cancer epidemiologist, former Director of Research Unit at IARC-WHO:

“The evolution of incidence and mortality rates of central nervous system tumors as a whole and especially glioblastoma over the past 30 years is of particular concern. Of course, diagnostic behaviours have evolved and play a role, especially for older people. Nevertheless, there is a real increase, even among the youngest, for whom it is likely that diagnostic modalities have changed less than among the elderly and which may therefore be linked to environmental factors and primarily to the use of mobile or wireless phones. Informing the public should make it possible not to continue on this upward trajectory, especially among young people, with an absolute duty to protect children by not allowing them to use a cellular phone and in general by protecting them from exposure to electromagnetic fields“.

Urgency for public authorities to act in the face of tens of thousands of deaths

Dr. Marc Arazi, President of Phonegate Alert:

“Over the last 2 decades, nearly 50,000 people have been affected in France by this extremely aggressive brain tumor, which has a very high mortality rate. It was also during this period that mobile telephony exploded and industrialists knowingly overexposed us to the waves of our mobile phones. This industrial and health scandal has a name, the “Phonegate”! Public authorities can no longer deny the evidence and must urgently protect the health of tens of millions of users.

All the information are available in French from page 316 to 322 

https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/maladies-et-traumatismes/cancers/cancer-du-sein/documents/rapport-synthese/estimations-nationales-de-l-incidence-et-de-la-mortalite-par-cancer-en-france-metropolitaine-entre-1990-et-2018-volume-1-tumeurs-solides-etud

14] Almairac F, Paquis P. L’encyclopédie neurochirurgicale. Glioblastomes. Janv 2015.

[15] Anthony B. Miller, L. Lloyd Morgan, Iris Udasin, Devra Lee Davis. Cancer epidemiology update, following the 2011 IARC evaluation of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (Monograph 102) Environmental Research. 2018. 167:673-683.

Source: https://www.phonegatealert.org/en/press-release-brain-cancers-4-times-more-new-cases-of-glioblastoma-in-2018-according-to-public-health-france?fbclid=IwAR3xpz-ZR0V3l_6DMtcig_qQVzis-APse5qjRJqRqe4MT_Mq164QvPVeYII

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Carpenter DO¹.

The post Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and cancer: How source of funding affects results. appeared first on EMFSA.

Source: https://pandora-foundation.eu/2019/03/19/glioblastomas-have-doubled-in-number-in-england-since-mobile-phones-were-introduced-in-1995/

On October 28, 2018, Microwave News published a report on two research teams from UK, in which each had observed a rise in glioblastoma in England between 1995 and 2014. Glioblastomas are the most malignant brain tumours leading to death in nearly 100% of the cases shortly after detection (1).

While incidence and location of the brain tumours were comparable in both studies, the conclusions about the pathogenesis of the tumours were different. Philips et al. (2) see the cause for the rise in glioblastoma in the increasing use of mobile phones, while de Vocht (3) is of the opinion that such an  assumption can be excluded with a high probability. This dispute is in some way evocative of the controversy between the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP). In the $ 30-million study, the NTP detected malignant schwannoma in the heart and glioblastoma in the brain of male rats after exposure to mobile phone radiation for a period of two years. ICNIRP, a non-governmental organization under the undisclosed control of the telecommunication industry, which is responsible for the establishment of safety limits for non-ionizing radiation in Europe and beyond, tried to play down the significance of the NTP findings by casting doubts on their reliability. While ICNIRP has totally ignored any progress of research since the turn of the century (4), de Vocht based his findings on what he calls “synthetic counterfactuals”, which sounds – rightly or wrongly – more like “alternative facts”.

The full report can be downloaded from https://pandora-foundation.eu/2019/03/19/glioblastomas-have-doubled-in-number-in-england-since-mobile-phones-were-introduced-in-1995/

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Neil Whitfield, 60, says he developed an acoustic neuroma tumour due to heavy phone use for his job in the late 1990s.

For more about Italy:

Cell Phone Court Cases, Tumours, Acoustic Neuroma, Italy

Articles from a law firm:

Mobile Phones and Cancer – the Next Asbestos?

Mobile Phones and Cancer http://www.kottgunn.com.au/news/mobile-phones-cancer-part-two/

Motorola versus Murray:

In total, 29 cases on the subject matter were brought before the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

The court did acknowledge isolated strands of scientific data that suggest a possible causal connection between cellphone use and brain cancer. But the court ultimately ruled that based on the research to date, there was inadequate data for any scientist to opine on a causal connection between cellphone use and cancer to any degree of scientific certainty.

In spite of this, the plaintiffs offered their own expert testimony to the contrary, arguing that the jury should determine the validity of the testimony.

The importance of expert testimony

The AMA, with an interest in deterring abusive lawsuits, voiced agreement with the defendants through an amicus brief that was submitted by the Litigation Center, through the AMA and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia. In its brief, the AMA cited a prior court ruling—Girardot v. United States—that maintained that “in the past three decades, the use of expert witnesses has skyrocketed” causing “some commentators [to] claim that the American judicial hearing is becoming trial by expert.”

The brief adds that “purported expert testimony often is the necessary linchpin for tort claims seeking sizable monetary damages.”

The Superior Court for the District of Columbia had been operating under a precedent set in Frye v. United States, a case tried in 1923. Under the Frye standard, testimony would be admissible if the expert employed a method that would be deemed acceptable in the relevant scientific community and the expert would not unduly prejudice the jury.

The defendants objected, stating that the testimony was invalid under more modern court standards adopted elsewhere.

The standards the defendants cited were Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. Under the latter decision, the court is to allow reasonably reliable expert testimony. The petitioners contended the plaintiffs’ expert testimony should be excluded due to a lack of necessary scientific data.

The D.C. appeals court agreed, citing that there should be predictable guidance as to what kind of expert testimony could be admitted, in a ruling in late 2016. With that, the appellate court remanded the case to apply the stricter expert standard to the specific witnesses and facts of this case. Since the decision was handed down in October, the plaintiffs have been compiling new expert reports that will be scrutinized by the court and the defense under the newly adopted evidentiary standard. https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/procedural-ruling-sets-higher-bar-expert-witness-testimony

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With a relatively short survival rate, glioblastoma is the most common primary brain tumor. As it is unlikely that a single biomarker can effectively detect glioblastoma, scientists have tried to use a novel combination of multiple biomarkers (Popescu et al., 2014). Experiments performed for better understanding of cellular and molecular events involved in glioblastoma pathogenesis, show that the PI3K pathway can be a prime target for treatment of glioblastoma (Cruceru et al., 2013). Despite its strengths, this paper has at least one major shortcoming. Over the past decade, my colleagues and I have studied the health effects of cellular phones and their base stations. We have also shown that some of the papers claiming no link between mobile phone use and cancer have methodological errors and/or shortcomings (Mortazavi et al., 2017a,b, 2018; Mortazavi, 2018). For example, in one of the papers reviewed by our research group, a 400% difference in brain tumors was masked by poor statistical analysis! (Mortazavi, 2018).

The major shortcoming of the paper authored by Xu et al. comes from this point that the authors have not considered substantial evidence that shows a significant association between mobile phone use and brain cancer “Other potential risk factors like cell phone use, smoking, and environmental exposures have been studied, however, the conclusions were not definitive (Gomes et al., 2011).” For example, a significant association between mobile and cordless phone use and malignant brain tumors was reported in a case-control study on brain tumors performed by Hardell et al. The authors claimed that the results of their study were in line with this hypothesis that exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) generated by wireless phones can play a significant role in the initiation and promotion of cancer (Hardell et al., 2013). Hardell and Carlberg in their recent report regarding Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) of CNS cancers stated “In summary this register based study showed increasing rates of tumors of unknown type in CNS (D43) with higher rate during 2007–2015. AAPS increased especially in the age group 20–39 years at diagnosis. This may be explained by higher risk for brain tumor in subjects with first use of a wireless phone before the age of 20 years taking a reasonable latency period” (Hardell and Carlberg, 2017). Moreover, a meta-analysis of 24 studies (26,846 cases, 50,013 controls) also supported this hypothesis that long-term use of mobile phones can be associated with increased risk of intracranial tumors (Bortkiewicz et al., 2017). The findings of this study revealed that mobile phone use > 10 years was linked to higher risk of all types of intracranial tumors. Wang and Guo also in their recent meta-analysis reported a significant association between mobile phone use for more than 5 years and the risk of glioma (Wang and Guo, 2016).

Moreover, the findings of a recent large-scale study conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) revealed statistically significant increases in cancer in rodents that had been exposed to GSM or CDMA signals for 2-years. NTP study showed that when the intensity of the radiation increased, the incidence of cancer among the rats also increased (Wyde et al., in review). This 25,000,000 USD study that is the most complex study completed by the NTP, showed that the occurrence of malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart, can be linked to exposure to mobile phone radiofrequency radiation (RFR) “The occurrences of two tumor types in male Harlan Sprague Dawley rats exposed to RFR, malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart, were considered of particular interest, and are the subject of this report.”

It should be noted that recently Momoli et al. (2017) have performed a re-analysis of the Canadian data from the 13-country INTERPHONE case-control study and when they applied a probabilistic multiple-bias model to address possible biases simultaneously, the odds ratio (OR) for glioma comparing highest quartile of use (>558 cumulative lifetime hours of use) to non-regular users was 2.0 (95% confidence interval: 1.2, 3.4). When adjusted for selection and recall biases, the OR was 2.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.3, 4.1).

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A new update from the the BioInitiative Working Group 2017 shows the evidence has strengthened for brain cancers related to wireless phone use. The Group has released an update analyzing scientific results of case-control studies published between 2010 and 2017 on cancers of the brain.

For glioma, a malignant brain cancer with a very poor survival rate especially for high-grade
glioma, there is nearly a doubling of the risk overall if the cell phone is used for 1,640 hours or
more. If the cell phone is used primarily on the same side of the head however, the odds of
getting a tumor on that side of the head increase to more than two and a half times compared to
those with no wireless phone exposure.
Survival time after brain tumor diagnosis is also shorter with wireless phone use in patients with
glioblastoma multiforme, compared to patients with no use.

“There is a consistent pattern of increased risk for glioma (a malignant brain tumor) and
acoustic neuroma with use of mobile and cordless phones” says Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD,
Orebro University, Sweden, according to publications through mid-2017. “Epidemiological
evidence shows that radiofrequency should be classified as a Group 1 (Known) Human
Carcinogen. The evidence for risks to health from brain tumors has substantially increased since
2010. The existing FCC/IEEE and ICNIRP public safety limits are not adequate to protect public
health.”
An increased risk in acoustic neuroma (a non-malignant tumor of the auditory nerve) is also
reported. Cell phone users with 1,640 hours or more of use are nearly two and three-quarters
more likely than non-users to develop an acoustic neuroma when the phone is used primarily on
the side of the head where the tumor occurs.
Both cell phones and cordless phones pose a risk of brain tumors.

Link to the Bioinitiative Press Announcement below:

  http://www.bioinitiative.org/bioinitiative-report-medical-concerns-intensify-over-deadly-brain-tumors-from-cell-phone-use-orebro-university-hospital-sweden-november-17-2017/

BioInitiative Report Supplement 11, 2017, Hardell and Carlberg) Hardell-2017-Sec11-Update-Use_of_Wireless_Phones

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In response to the CDPH’s obvious suppression, Dr. Moskowitz filed a petition seeking public release of the document.  On March 13, 2017, a California court ruled in favor of Dr. Moskowitz and directed the Department to release the public guidance document.  CDPH released the document marked with “Draft and Not for Public Release” and Dr. Moskowitz’s case cite in spite of the judge’s ruling that the document was not a draft and was to be publically released. Dr. Moskowitz is awaiting an unmarked version in compliance with the ruling to be released.

According to the cell phone radiation guidance document, several studies have linked the use of cell phones to brain cancer found on the same side of the head where the phone is held. Other studies have linked cell phone exposure to fertility problems. The CDPH recommends reducing exposure to cell phone EMFs by increasing the distance between your body and the phone, the places you use your cell phone and reducing actual use of the phone in general. Such examples include more use of the cell phone by texting instead of calling, using the speaker phone for calls and not sleeping with your cell phone near you.  Additionally, EMF submissions are higher when used in a car, bus or train as the cell phone switches from tower to tower. The CDPH also warns EMFs pass deeper through a child’s brain than an adult’s.  As a result, the guidance document also suggests parents limit their children’s cell phone use.  The full guidance document can be found here.[1] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14R6QNkmaXuRmJlZDRWME5lN2M/view

Link to the article – see below:

State of California Investigation Links Cell Phone Use to Cancer

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The Epidemiology & Public Health Section of RSM in partnership with Brunel University London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Imperial College London organized a workshop “Association or Causation in Miasmas and Mixtures: Current Reflections on Bradford Hill’s 1965 Contribution to Public Health“ to address the critical issues for public and environmental health raised in the Bradford Hill lecture and subsequent landmark paper and in light of today’s knowledge about multi-causality and complexity, to critically re-assess his approach and the use, misuse and current utility of his “viewpoints” in avoiding or minimising harm to public health and environments.”

Professor Lennart Hardell: Using the Bradford Hill viewpoints to evaluate the evidence on RF radiations from mobile phones to head tumours Professor Lennart Hardell discusses the risks of brain tumours in relation to wireless and mobile phones. Professor Hardell also describes how Bradford Hill’s 1965 presidential address on association or causation provided a helpful framework for the evaluation of the brain tumour risk from electromagnetic fields

The Royal Society of Medicine Lecture on Cell Phones and Health Risk Lennart Hardell

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