FWD: How cell phones can cause cancer

[brian carroll <human@electronetwork.org>]

      Study: How cell phones can cause cancer
      By Rupert Goodwins, ZDNet (UK)
      June 25, 2001 8:21 AM PT
      URL: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn

      Researchers in Australia have reported one of the first scientific
      hypotheses that normal mobile phone use can lead to cancer. The
      research group, lead by radiation expert Dr Peter French,
      principal scientific officer at the Centre for Immunology Research
      at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, said that mobile phone
      frequencies well below current safety levels could stress cells in
      a way that has been shown to increased susceptibility to cancer.

      The paper, published in the June issue of the science journal
      Differentiation, says that repeated exposure to mobile phone
      radiation acts as a repetitive stress, leading to continuous
      manufacture of heat shock proteins within cells.

      Heat shock proteins are always present in cells at a low level,
      but are manufactured in larger amounts when the cell is stressed
      by heat or other environmental factors. They repair other proteins
      that are adversely affected by the conditions, and are part of the
      cell's normal reaction to stress. However, if they are produced
      too often or for too long, they are known to initiate cancer and
      increase resistance to anti-cancer drugs.

      No link shown
      Dr. French emphasised that no link has yet been shown between the
      specific biological effects of mobile phone radiation and cancer,
      but that there was now a theoretical framework for such an effect
      that could be investigated. His previous work has included showing
      that the production of histamine, a chemical involved in asthma,
      can be nearly doubled after exposure to cellular frequencies.

      To date, most safety levels have been set on the assumption that
      damage is caused by heating effects of radio waves in human
      tissue, much higher than the levels at which Dr French claims heat
      shock proteins are triggered.

      His co-authors include Professor Ron Penny, the director of the
      Centre and one of Australia's leading experts in the cellular
      effects of HIV, and Professor David McKenzie, head of applied
      physics at Sydney University.

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