A new study has revealed that cases of a malignant type of tumour in mobile phone users have doubled in the last two decades, suggesting that handsets cause cancer, even as a recent Nigerian study that examined the potential adverse health effects of mobile phones and wireless base stations in the country revealed inherent dangers.
The study published in the Journal of Public Health and Environment linked sharp rise in the rates of brain cancer (gliomas) to mobile phone use. Mobile phones work by transmitting and receiving radio frequency microwave radiation.
The researchers set out to investigate the rise in cases of an aggressive and often fatal type of brain tumour known as Glioblastoma Multiforme, GBM. They analysed 79,241 malignant brain tumours over 21 years, finding that cases of GBM in England have increased from around 1,250 a year in 1995 to just less than 3,000.
The study is the first recent effort of its kind to analyse in detail the incidence of different types of malignant tumours.
The scientists at the Physicians’ Health Initiative for Radiation and Environment, PHIRE, say the increase of GBM has till now been masked by the overall fall in incidence of other types of brain tumour.
This means that no fewer than 140 million mobile phone subscribers in Nigeria are at risk of developing brain cancer.
In a similar development, a recent Nigerian study that examined the potential adverse health effects of mobile phones and wireless base stations in the country revealed the inherent dangers.
An analysis of the study published in American Journal of Engineering Research, AJER 2017 showed: “… people living close to the based stations over a long period of time with or without cell phone, and also the heavy phone users with close proximity to the base stations are liable to have some potential health hazards, such as fatigue, sleep disturbances, headaches, feeling of discomfort, difficulty in concentrating, depression, memory loss, visual disruptions, irritability, hearing disruptions, skin problems, cardiovascular disorders, and dizziness.”
The researchers from the Department of Computer Engineering and Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, include Yekini N.A, Babalola I.T, Koledoye T.O and Uhunmwangho E. E.
They concluded: “The level of the symptoms depends on length of period individuals have stayed or live near the base station; length of time individual spent on receiving or making calls with his/her mobile phone.
“Consequently, we recommend that people living or staying over a long time near mobile base station should ascertain the level of radiation and make efforts to screen the radiation if they perceive danger.
Also, individuals should reduce their level of making or receiving call with their mobile to avoid some of the potential hazard mentioned. Conversation with text messages could be a better option. In general, it is better to keep mobile phones as far as possible from our body during our daily lives.”
“Another study shows that a cell phone device has some effects on the human body such as headache, fatigue, burning sensation on the facial skin, low sperm count and Alzheimer’s disease. The finding was published in International Journal of Innovative Environmental Studies Research.
The researchers from the Department of Physics, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike-Umuahia, Abia State and the Department of Physics/Geology/Geophysics, Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State include G.U. Chukwu; N.N. Eluwa; and G.I. Kanu.
They concluded: “The effect of these problems can be long-term or short-term. At present the mobile phone technology is being increasingly used with almost no effective precautionary measure or advice to the public and urgent guidance is needed in order to alert the public to the inherent dangers of exposure to electromagnetic radiation.”
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