Dr. Chris Moertel, a brain tumor expert at the University of Minnesota, has eased my mind about this firestorm over the alleged connected between cell phones and brain tumors. (For those of you who saw yesterday’s post on this, sorry, I accidentally deleted it.) Moertel did the smart thing – he honed in right away on the memo posted by the University of Pittsburgh cancer expert that started the whole thing earlier this week.

“It’s almost like a Saturday Night Live skit,” said Moertel, who is clinical director of the brain tumor program at the university’s Masonic Cancer Center.

Among other things the memo, written by Dr. Ronald Herberman to staff and faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, says:

Do not allow children to use a cell phone except for emergency. When communicating try to keep the cell phone away from the body. Avoid carrying cell phone at all times. Do not keep it near you at night – particularly if you are pregnant. Carry it key pad in to avoid the most dense radiation. Only use cell phones to establish contact: The biological effects are directly related to length of the conversation.

And this is Moertel’s favorite part: Before putting the cell phone to the ear, wait for your correspondent to pick up. “Well, how can you tell if you are not listening? Hello? Hello? Shout if there’s anyone there,” he said.

Seriously folks.

There have been some studies that show a remote association between cell phone use and various rare forms of brain cancer. Herberman’s point was that especially for children, who theoretically could be at greater risk, it’s better to be safe than sorry. The evidence of a link could take years to develop, and by then it might be too late.

Moertel describes the logic in that thinking this way: People are listening to cell phones, which emit low levels of non-ionizing radiation. There are brain tumors out there. Therefore cell phones cause brain tumors.

“There has got to be a higher standard,” he said. “Worldwide, cell phone use has boomed. Why haven’t brain cancers boomed?” There was a slight increase in the number of detected brain tumors when imaging technology like MRI’s got better because suddenly small tumors could be seen. But that’s leveled off.

It’s absurd to treat cell phones the same way we treat second hand smoke or sun exposure, he said. There is incontrovertible evidence that both cause cancer. There is no such evidence on energy waves from cell phones. Moreover, our houses are filled with devices that emit similar waves: lights, ovens, and let’s not forget microwaves and MRI’s, which are based on electromagnetic waves, he said.

“We incorporate risk into everything we do,” he said. The risk of driving a car is far greater than the chances of getting brain cancer by talking on a cell phone in a car.

It doesn’t hurt to learn more, he said. But in the end, what people need is good evidence on which to make sound and prudent judgments. With brain cancer and cell phones “we’re just not there,” he said.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.