Wireless Phones and Brain Tumours
Following are a series of questions Eileen O’Connor put to Lloyd Morgan, Director of the Central Brain Tumour Registry of the United States following his recent presentation on Wireless Phones and Brain Tumours .
Lloyd’s answers are in italics.
Dear Eileen,
I would like to answer some of your questions. First, let me direct you to the website of the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) where you will find in-depth information concerning brain tumors here in the US. The website is
Please see my answers to your questions within your text below.
Regards,
Lloyd Morgan
1) Is there a pack of information available?
The pack of information can be found at the CBTRUS website.
2) I would like to know if we are seeing a rise in brain tumours and if so what percentage and is it having an effect on children yet?
Here are a few excerpts from the CBTRUS statistical report regarding incidence increases in the Average Annual Percentage Change (AAPC) of childhood brain tumors: pilocytic astrocytomas, the most brain tumor in children, AAPC=13.8%; ependyomomas, another common childhood brain tumor, AAPC=6.9%
3) What sort of brain tumours are we seeing?
See the CBTRUS data
4) How long does it take for a brain tumour to develop?
Using data from A-Bomb survivors and various therapeutic X-ray treatments to the head (now banned), the time from exposure to diagnosis (latency time) is several decades. Childhood brain tumors are the obvious exception and I see children as the classic canary in the coal mine. That is, childhood tumors are a warning of impeding problems for the society as a whole.
5) What advice would he give to mobile phone users?
1) Use a headset with a cellphone. Keep them off, except when you wish to make a call or to find out who has called (a pager can be used for those that feel they must be reachable at all times).
2) Parents should deny use of cellphones to all children less than 18 years of age.
6) What area of brain tumour research should we concentrate on?
Personally, I believe epidemiology (research on the cause) is the most cost effective research (compared to treatment and/or cure) because with epidemiology we can learn the cause and likely will know how to prevent brain tumors from ever happening.
END