Interphone Points to Long-Term Brain Tumor Risks for "Cellphones"!

Everyone anticipated that Interphone wouldn't offer any definitive findings, and they were right. "An increased risk of brain cancer [has not been] established," said Christopher Wild, the director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, which coordinated the study.

But, there are "suggestions of an increased risk" at "the highest exposure levels," according to the abstract of the paper published by the International Journal of Epidemiology.

How should those "suggestions" be interpreted?

At the very least, the risks are greater than many believed only a few years ago. In a series of interviews, a number of the members of the Interphone project told Microwave News that they now see the risk among long-term users as being larger than when the study began. Some think the risk warrants serious attention.

"To me, there's certainly smoke there," said Elisabeth Cardis, who leads the Interphone project. "Overall, my opinion is that the results show a real effect." Cardis is with the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL) in Barcelona. She moved there two years ago after working on Interphone at IARC for close to a decade.

"There is evidence that there may be a risk; Interphone has made that a little stronger," said Bruce Armstrong of the University of Sydney, another member of Interphone. "It shows some indication of an increased risk of gliomas, but I cannot say this with certainty." (A glioma is a type of brain tumor.)

Siegal Sadetzki, the Israeli member of Interphone, goes further. She pointed out that while the risks are inconclusive, a number of the results show some consistency. These include increased risks among the heaviest users, the fact that the risks were highest on the side of the head the phone was usually used and that the tumors were in the temporal lobe of the brain, which is closest to the ear. Sadetzki is with the Gertner Institute outside Tel-Aviv. "The data are not strong enough for a causal interpretation, but they are sufficient to support precautionary policies," she said.

One strong dissenting voice is that of Interphone's Maria Feychting of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. "The use of mobile phones for over ten years shows no increased risk of brain tumors," stated a press release issued by the Karolinska. Feychting declined to be interviewed for this article.

The Interphone study included 2,708 cases of glioma and 2,409 of meningioma, another type of brain tumor, with a total of over 5,634 controls —from 13 countries. Eligible cases were patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2004. (Meningioma was not linked to cell phone use.) It is the largest study of cell phone and tumors ever done. The total budget of the study, which got underway in 2000, was €19.2 million (~US$25 million). Funding came from the European Commission (€3.74 million) and the cell phone industry (€5.5 million), as well as other sources.

(CONTINUE'S)
Here's the link:
http://www.microwavenews.com/Interphone.Main.html

British Scientist Becomes First Human 'Infected' With Computer Virus

BEIJING, May 27 (Bernama) -- A young British scientist stakes a claim to being the first human infected with a computer virus after he contaminated an electronic RFID chip implanted in his hand, reported China's Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading, truly is the first human carrying a computer virus inside his body.

However he, the human carrier, might no actually be "infected" -- the chip he has embedded in his hand surely is.

Dr. Gasson implanted a chip into his hand that gives him access to lab facilities without needing a key or magnetic card, and allows him to be the only person who can access his mobile phone while it is locked to all others.

But he went so far as to infect that chip with a virus, wanting to test whether or not it will be possible to infect other chips in the system with a proverbial slight of hand.

The results shows he succeeded to infect his PC, that the virus in the chip in his hand was able to migrate to the desktop computer.

On why someone would want to do that, Dr Gasson's reasons is the awareness that more and more people have chip-based electronic parts in their bodies - a pacemaker for example - and that we will have to learn all we can about how such vital instruments may be impacted by other electronic devices.

"This type of technology has been commercialised in the United States as a type of medical alert bracelet, so that if you're found unconscious you can be scanned and your medical history brought up."

Also, he thinks that implanted chips, like we now use them for dogs and cats, will most likely find their way into the human body in one way or another.

However, concerns raised by Dr Gasson worries Professor Rafael Capurro of the Steinbeis-Transfer-Institute of Information Ethics in Germany, who said: "If someone can get online access to your implant, it could be serious."

Supporting his claim, Professor Capurro contributed to a 2005 ethical study for the European Commission that looked at the development of digital implants and possible abuse of them.

"From an ethical point of view, the surveillance of implants can be both positive and negative. Surveillance can be part of medical care, but if someone wants to do harm to you, it could be a problem."

In the future, Dr Gasson scientist said there is the distinct possibility that in a security obssessed world, chip implants may make passports and credit cards obsolete in the future.

-- BERNAMA


Here's the link:
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=501469