Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Tumors await cell phone users

Regular use of mobile telephones increases the risk of developing tumors, according to the findings of Israeli scientists published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. Among other scary results of their study is their conclusion that the risk of developing a parotid gland tumor is nearly 50 percent higher for frequent mobile phone users than for other users ("frequent" meaning those who talk on cell phones more than 22 hours a month). The risk was still higher if users clamped the phone to the same ear, did not use hands-free devices, or were in "rural areas." The study included 402 benign and 58 malignant incident cases of parotid gland tumors diagnosed in Israelis age 18 years or more. The research was led by Dr Siegal Sadetzki, a cancer and radiation expert at the Chaim Sheba Medical Centre in Israel, as part of a World Health Organization project.

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