EXPERT REACTION: Mobile phone exposure linked to cancer in rats
The National Institute of Health (NIH) in the US has released the results of a study which found a 'low incidence' of two types of tumours in the brains and hearts of male rats exposed to mobile phone radiation. The study found around 2-3% of males rats had brain tumors called gliomas while the control group had none. However the authors note that historically the incidence of this type of tumour in control animals is around 2%. No effect was seen in the brain or heart of female rats. Survival rates were also higher in the male rats exposed to the mobile phone radiation than in the un-exposed rats. The authors say the tumour types they found are similar to those observed in some epidemiology studies of mobile phone use and that these findings appear to support the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification of mobile phones as possibly carcinogenic. The publication represents the partial findings from the NIH National Toxicology Program of research into the impact of mobile phone exposure on rats and mice. The full report is not expected until 2017.
Organisation/s: Australian Science Media Centre
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Expert Reaction
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