Septiembre 2003

No evidence of cell phone risk in facial nerve tumours

A recent paper found no evidence that people with a rare tumour of the facial nerve used cell phones more frequently than controls. The authors decided to examine this question because the path of the nerve is close to the area of maximum radiation when a hands-held cell phone is used. For more, see "Research - Epidemiology".

Reference: Warren HG, Prevatt AA, Daly KA, Antonelli PJ (2003): Cellular telephone use and risk of intratemporal facial nerve tumour. Laryngoscope113:663-667.

Children and cell phones

James Lin reviews the ongoing controversy about children using cell phones in the latest edition of the Radio Science Bulletin. Two research groups, in Utah and in Zurich, have come to different conclusions about the amount of microwave radiation that could be deposited in the heads of children when they use a hand-held cell phone. Both groups have used computational models in their calculations. Lin discusses possible reasons for the different findings of the two groups.

The Bulletin can be found at www.ursi.org/RSB.htm


The effect of mobile phones on attention tests

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong report that exposure to the electromagnetic field of a GMS cell phone altered the reaction time in an attention test, but only after the test was repeated, with the phone switched off. There were no other significant differences in the results. In particular, there were no differences between the experimental group and the controls in the number of correct responses. For more, see "Research - Clinical - Cognitive function".

Reference: Lee TMC, Lam P-K, Lee LTS, Chan CCH (2003): The effect of the duration of exposure to the electromagnetic field emitted by mobile phones on human attention. NeuroReport 14:1361-1364.