Press Release 9th June 2008 - MTHR Programme - “The Mañana Project”– No Action on Tumours Today

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Parent Category: Media

The Government, Mobile Operators and the HPA seem determined to delay taking any action for as long as they can. We don't need another long term study from the MTHR^[11]. The time for action is now!

The long term studies that have already been carried out are consistent. Heavy users of Mobile Phones are much more likely to get Brain Tumours of one sort or another, as the latest study by Hardell et al confirms this. ^[1].

It appears to be that the Government is more concerned with keeping the taxes from Mobile Phones rolling in, than protecting the public from harm. If this sounds familiar, it is exactly what Harold MacMillan as Chancellor did back in 1957 over the tax revenue from cigarettes^[2] - unbelievable but true, as many suspected for years. Is it the same situation now for Mobile Phones and their Masts?

The Mobile Phone Industry must be aware of the dangers and health risks themselves - one example being how, in 2000, The ECOLOG Report^[3] (containing damning evidence of harm from Mobile Phones) - but paid for by T-Mobile in Germany - was not widely published at the time - it re-surfaced quietly into the public domain several years later.

It is already untenable for the UK Government and the Health Protection Agency [HPA] to ignore the growing amount of evidence of the harm that Mobile Phones are causing. It was for this reason that a Mast Sanity delegation led by Trustee Yasmin Skelt delivered a copy of the BioInitaitive Report^[4] to Downing Street in December 2007^[5] and why she led another delegation to Downing Street on Thursday with a Letter^[6] demanding immediate action from Gordon Brown.

Trustee Yasmin Skelt said "Brain tumours now kill more British children than leukaemia and now brain cancer is killing more British adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer."

"Across the World Governments, Media and Decision Makers are standing up and taking note after massive media coverage, such as Larry King Live with 3 Neurosurgeons^[7], and ever increasing evidence of how Mobile Phones are contributing to at least two types of brain tumour, with world class scientists and doctors discussing the latest research. How many people, famous^[8[9[10] or otherwise will it take before the UK Government wakes up to what is happening and takes action?"

Mast Sanity is the largest group in the country campaigning for the safe siting of masts and has links with related groups globally. We request and would welcome a meeting with the Prime Minister or his Ministers to discuss maximising safety from mobile telephony for the general population.

Again, Mast Sanity ask the Prime Minister to instruct the Chief Medical Officer and the Health Protection Agency [HPA] to issue warnings to the British public and ensure that Public exposure limits are greatly reduced immediately. Those responsible in Government will be held to account for their continuing lack of action on this issue, continuing to fail to protect its citizens from the health hazards of Electro-Magnetic Fields [EMFs].

END

[1] Methodological Aspects of Epidemiological Studies on the Use of Mobile Phones and their Association with Brain Tumors [Lennart Hardell, Michael Carlberg, Kjell Hansson Mild] - http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/b_viewarticIe.php

 

Abstract:

Our case-control studies were the first to report an association between the use of mobile or cordless phones and brain tumors; glioma and acoustic neuroma. Criticism of these results has been based partly on results from the Interphone studies conducted under the auspice of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Here, we compare study design and epidemiological methods used in our studies and the Interphone studies. We conclude that while our results appear sound and reliable, several of the Interphone findings display differential misclassification of exposure due to observational and recall bias, for example, following low participation rates in both cases and controls and bed-side computer guided interviews of cases rather than blinded interviews of cases and controls. However, as we have presented elsewhere, there seems to be a consistent pattern of an association between mobile phone use and ipsilateral glioma and acoustic neuroma using ≥ 10 years latency period.

[2] Macmillan Ignored Smoking Warning - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7427001.stm

 

...Then health minister Robert Turton advised the 1956 Cabinet to "constantly inform the public of the facts" of the link between smoking and lung cancer. But Mr Macmillan, who was prime minister from 1957 to 1963, said tax revenue from smoking was too valuable.

The shorthand notes were released from the National Archives in Kew, London. Mr Turton told ministers there was not yet "scientific 'proof"' of the hazards, but admitted the "statistical picture is clear".

Then prime minister Anthony Eden responded by saying the "time is arrived when we should decide whether we have a line".

But Mr Macmillan, who became prime minister after Mr Eden resigned following the Suez crisis, said: "Expectation of life 73 for smoker and 74 for non-smoker." "Treasury think revenue interest outweighs this. Negligible compared with risk of crossing a street," he added.

[3] The 2000 ECOLOG Report - http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/ecologsum.php

 

[4] The BioInitiative Report 2007 - http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/news.php?id=bioinitiative

 

[5] The BioInitiative Report at 10 Downing Street December 2007 "The Bio Has Landed" - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=190&Itemid=90

 

[6] Back at Downing Street this week - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=90

 

Rt Honourable Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister

10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

5th June 2008

Dear Prime Minister,

Mobile and Phone Mast Safety

I was disappointed in the reply from the Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State Department of Health, to Mast Sanity letter of the 12th December to you which enclosed a copy of the BioInitiative Report and the book "Cellphone: Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age" book by Dr George Carlo and Martin Schram. The BioInitiative Report has created a paradigm shift in the way that the issue is now viewed. The reliance by the Health Protection Agency on ICNIRP guidelines to protect public health is now outdated. The ICNIRP guidelines were written up in 1998 based on 6 studies and there are now many studies that suggest the limits should be reduced, as explained in the BioInitiative Report.

Since our letter of the 12th December, there has been a steady stream of reports regarding the health risks posed by mobile phone and wireless technology, some of which are included in the Appendix to this letter. There are also now more warnings from overseas Government's and Government Agencies - for example, the French Health Ministry, the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection and The Food and Drug Administration in the USA.

Brain tumours now kill more British children than leukaemia and now brain cancer is killing more British adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Recent research and debate is now focussing on cell phone's being a contributory factor in two types of brain tumour. In recent weeks there has been excellent television coverage of this debate with world class scientists and doctors discussing the latest research - the links are included in the appendix.

Again, we ask you to instruct the Chief Medical Officer and the Health Protection Agency to issue warnings to the British public and ensure that public exposure limits are reduced immediately. Those responsible in Government will be held to account for their continuing lack of action on this issue, continuing to fail to protect its citizens from the health hazards of electro magnetic fields.

Mast Sanity is the largest group in the country campaigning for the safe siting of masts and has links with related groups globally. We request and would welcome a meeting with yourself or your Ministers to discuss maximising safety from mobile telephony for the general population.

Yours sincerely,

Mast Sanity

 

[7] Larry King on CNN Live "Is There a Link Between Cell Phones and Cancer?" - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=214&Itemid=90

Larry King: "We know that brain tumors are the number one cancer killer among children in the United States and the second most common form of cancer in kids"

Dr. Khurana, Canberra, Australia: "First... we don't even know how we think. We don't know how we think and how processing in the brain results in appropriate speech, based on different functionalities at different locations of the brain. So we don't know how we speak yet or think. Yet we know that we do."

"And so just because we don't know the mechanism or the link between -- at a molecular level, between how cell phones may generate the milieu at a molecular level that results in a brain tumor does not mean that there is no mechanism. There's no known mechanism, but not necessarily no mechanism."

"Sedesky (ph) from Israel, the Israel arm of Interphone, this is what she says: "a positive dose response trend was found. Our results suggest an association between cellular phone use and prodded gland tumors."

"Lacola (ph) from Finland, Interphone group, "for more than 10 years, of mobile phone use reported on the side of the head where the tumor was located, an increased odds ratio of borderline statistical significance was found."

"And others have said the same thing. It's the long-term data we should be looking at."

Neurosurgeon Dr. Black: "in the developing brain, you have a lot more dividing nerve cells and supportive cells in the brain. So it's in a very dynamic state. And those cells are more vulnerable to developing cancer from an injury or other types of problems. We know from laboratory animals, for example, that, you know, the most effective way of inducing a tumor is to induce it in a young developing embryo, in a young developing animal. So those brains are much more susceptible."

[8] Ted Kennedy has Surgery for Brain Tumour - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/washington/02cnd-kennedy.html?em&ex=

1212552000&en=a86fb2bf86f29838&ei=5087%0A

 

[9] Yves Saint-Laurent dies of a brain tumour - http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSL0117929620080602?sp=true

 

[10] Anthony Minghella dies after op for Tonsil Cancer - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/movies/18cnd-minghella.html?hp

 

[11] MTHR Press Release - New Mobile Phone Research Announced - http://www.mthr.org.uk/press/documents/MTHRP9.pdf

 

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) Programme has today announced that work has started on a new study to investigate whether the use of mobile phones is linked to long-term health effects such as brain cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The study will involve monitoring the health of 200,000 mobile phone users over a number of years and will be carried out by a team from Imperial College working in collaboration with researchers in other European countries.

The study, which follows on from a successful pilot study carried out during the first phase of the MTHR Programme, will cost £3.1 million for the UK component. Funding is being provided jointly by the government and the mobile phone industry through an established firewall arrangement to ensure the independence of the research.

Commenting on the new study, the Chairman of the MTHR Programme Management Committee, Professor David Coggon said

"This study should add importantly to our understanding of whether there are significant long-term health risks from use of mobile phones. The parallel collection of similar data in several European countries will give added value."

Although the totality of evidence from earlier studies does not indicate a risk of cancers of the brain and nervous system in the short- to medium-term, the widespread use of mobile phones is relatively recent and there is continuing uncertainty about the possibility of longer term risks. This is a gap in knowledge that the new study will seek to address. In addition, the study design lends itself to investigating whether there are risks for various other disorders including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases, which have not previously been examined in relation to mobile phone use.

The cohort study of mobile phone users is the third study to be funded under the second phase of the MTHR Programme (MTHR2). The other studies are:

§ A double-blind provocation study at King's College London to investigate whether the TETRA radios used by the emergency services cause unpleasant symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and tingling;

§ A double-blind provocation study at the University of Essex to investigate whether similar symptoms can be caused by exposure to emissions from TETRA base stations.