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FDA is currently working with government, industry, and academic
groups to ensure the proper follow-up to these industry-funded research
findings. Collaboration with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry
Association (CTIA) in particular is expected to lead to FDA providing
research recommendations and scientific oversight of new CTIA-funded
research based on such recommendations.
Two other studies of interest have been reported recently in the literature:
1. Two groups of 18 people were exposed to simulated mobile phone signals under laboratory conditions while they
performed cognitive function tests. There were no changes in the subjects' ability to recall words, numbers, or
pictures, or in their spatial memory, but they were able to make choices more quickly in one visual test when they
were exposed to simulated mobile phone signals. This was the only change noted among more than 20 variables
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compared.
2. In a study of 209 brain tumor cases and 425 matched controls, there was no increased risk of brain tumors
associated with mobile phone use. When tumors did exist in certain locations, however, they were more likely to
be on the side of the head where the mobile phone was used. Because this occurred in only a small number of
cases, the increased likelihood was too small to be statistically significant.
In summary, we do not have enough information at this point to assure
the public that there are, or are not, any low incident health problems
associated with use of mobile phones. FDA continues to work with all
parties, including other federal agencies and industry, to assure that
research is undertaken to provide the necessary answers to the
outstanding questions about the safety of mobile phones.
What is known about cases of human cancer that have
been reported in users of hand-held mobile phones?
Some people who have used mobile phones have been diagnosed with brain
cancer. But it is important to understand that this type of cancer also occurs
among people who have not used mobile phones. In fact, brain cancer occurs
in the U.S. population at a rate of about 6 new cases per 100,000 people each
year. At that rate, assuming 80 million users of mobile phones (a number
increasing at a rate of about 1 million per month), about 4800 cases of brain
cancer would be expected each year among those 80 million people, whether
or not they used their phones. Thus it is not possible to tell whether any
individual's cancer arose because of the phone, or whether it would have
happened anyway.
A key question is whether the risk of getting a particular form of cancer is
greater among people who use mobile phones than among the rest of the
population. One way to answer that question is to compare the usage of
mobile phones among people with brain cancer with the use of mobile
phones among appropriately matched people without brain cancer. This is
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