Over the past week, 31 scientists from 14 countries have been meeting at the French headquarters of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to assess whether exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields can cause cancer.
Yeterday they issued this statement, generating widespread media coverage that mobile phone use may cause cancer.
The statement’s release raised some eyebrows as it was ahead of the formal publication of the science behind the announcement.
Here are some relevant extracts from the statement:
The WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.
(What Group 2B means: The agent is possibly carcinogenic to humans. This category is used for agents for which there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. It may also be used when there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans but there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals. In some instances, an agent for which there is inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and less than sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals together with supporting evidence from mechanistic and other relevant data may be placed in this group. An agent may be classified in this category solely on the basis of strong evidence from mechanistic and other relevant data.)
Dr Jonathan Samet (University of Southern California, USA), overall Chairman of the Working Group, indicated that “the evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a conclusion and the 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cell phones and cancer risk.”
“Given the potential consequences for public health of this classification and findings,” said IARC Director Christopher Wild, “it is important that additional research be conducted into the long‐ term, heavy use of mobile phones. Pending the availability of such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands‐free devices or texting.”
The Working Group considered hundreds of scientific articles; the complete list will be published in the Monograph. It is noteworthy to mention that several recent in‐press scientific articles resulting from the Interphone study were made available to the working group shortly before it was due to convene, reflecting their acceptance for publication at that time, and were included in the evaluation.
A concise report summarizing the main conclusions of the IARC Working Group and the evaluations of the carcinogenic hazard from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (including the use of mobile telephones) will be published in The Lancet Oncology in its July 1 issue, and in a few days online.
The IARC, according to a document that can be downloaded here, has classified 266 agents as group 2B.
These include bracken fern, coffee (for its association with urinary and bladder cancer although it may be associated with reduced risk of bowel cancer), marine diesel fuel, occupational exposure to dry cleaning, lead, perineal use of talc-based body powder, welding fumes, and quite a number of medications.
Some of the related commentary that is worth reading:
A blog by Dr J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the national office of the American Cancer Society, which says that he went back to a blog he previously wrote in 2008 to see whether today’s news would change his advice. It didn’t – what he wrote them remains relevant, he says:
I will try to keep an open mind until the paper is released, but the combination of the lack of any plausible physical way for a phone to cause cancer and the research they used (the strong negatives and the fact the dubious positives are all papers by the same group of researchers in Sweden) really suggests it will strain credulity that they managed a 2B classification here.
Even at a basic level, considering all radiation follows the unquestioned physical property of the inverse square law (energy falls off rapidly as distance increases) the fact that no study anywhere has ever demonstrated lateralisation is a pretty big hurdle. Why don’t right handed folks get right sided brain tumours?
I will be very surprised if there is a good rationalisation for going above a 1 or 2a classification.
It has been a good lesson in media reporting though … for example I have yet to see a news story include coffee in the description of the 2b classification. DDT, lead etc are repeated over and over, but not coffee or talc?
Thanks for the article. I particularly liked the paper on ‘samaritanism’ at the end.