BioInitiative’s Hardell Finds Evidence Linking Gliomas and Heavy Cell Phone Use

Orebro- Sweden / May 22, 2008 / Dr. Lennart Hardell, MD, oncologist at the University Hospital, Orebro, Sweden, and an expert on cell phone use and brain tumors, believes there is strong evidence pointing to glioma brain tumors in people who are heavy users of cell phones over a period of years. Heavy cell phone use is defined as more than 2000 lifetime hours. Hardell’s review of studies of cell phone use and brain tumor incidence is found at: http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/docs/section_10.pdf

Hardell says:
Long-term use of cell and cordless phones is associated with increased risk for glioma, a type of malignant brain tumor. For those who have used a cell phone predominantly on one side of the head (ipsilateral use) over a period of ten years or more, there is a consistently elevated risk of glioma.

Microwave News has tracked the results of the studies that make up the 13-country Interphone Project. Several have found an increased risk of glioma, like the type diagnosed in Senator Ted Kennedy, in people who used cell phones for 10 years or more. See: http://www.microwavenews.com/docs/SetInterphonefree.pdf The French Interphone Study pointed to increased risk at only 260-467 hours of total lifetime use.

It is not the first time the disclosure that a prominent public figure fighting this deadly diagnosis has raised the question of whether long-term use of cell phones is linked to brain tumors. The death of attorney Johnnie L. Cochran prompted his neurosurgeon, Dr. Keith Black, MD of Cedars Sinai Hospital, to make the connection. Black said he believes there was a relationship between Cochran's heavy cell phone use and his death from a glioma in 2005.