Is there a Cell Phone-Cancer Link?

IITRI Initiates Research Program to Get Reliable Answers

Does using a cell phone increase your risk of cancer? IITRI is preparing to initiate the largest study of its kind to determine whether a link exists between cancer incidence and prior exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields generated by cell phones.

	"With a study of this size, we'll have substantial statistical power, which will give us increased ability to identify a small effect." David L. McCormick, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. Senior Vice-President and Director of IITRI

Research conducted over the past decade to investigate the possible health hazards of exposure to cell phone RF radiation has been inconclusive. Epidemiology has failed to identify a consistent pattern of increased cancer risk in cell phone users, and the limited number of experimental studies that have been conducted were generally either too small or too limited in duration to provide meaningful results.

IITRI Answers the Call to Action

In a program sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Toxicology Program (NIEHS/NTP), IITRI will perform a series of studies designed to characterize the toxicity and potential carcinogenicity of long-term exposure to the RF radiation emitted by cell phones.

The capstone study will use more than 3,000 rodents, with RF exposures beginning in utero and continuing throughout the lifetime of the animals. "With a study of this size, we'll have substantial statistical power, which will give us increased ability to identify a small effect," said David L. McCormick, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., senior vice-president and director of IITRI. "There are several other cell phone programs going around the world right now, but this is by far the largest."

The program, "Studies to Evaluate the Toxic and Carcinogenic Potential of Cell Phone Radio Frequency Radiation," will have a total value of slightly more than $22 million, upon exercise of all contract options. Following construction of a specialized exposure facility, experimental work will begin in early 2007, and will continue into 2011.

Program Phase Schedule in Place

First in the series will be a thermal pilot study to identify RF field strengths that will not induce thermal effects in test animals. RF radiation can raise body temperatures and may cause tissue damage through thermal mechanisms. However, the field intensities of RF radiation emitted by cell phones do not cause thermal effects in humans. The objective of this study, essentially a dose range-finder, is to determine levels of exposure to RF fields that are most suitable to predict the effects of cell phone use in humans. These exposure levels will be used in the pre-chronic and chronic studies to follow.

The second study in the series will be a pre-chronic study; this study is designed to determine the effects of short-term RF exposures on toxicology endpoints, interference with the blood-brain barrier, and cellular migration patterns in the brain. The third and final phase will be a carcinogenicity study, in which cancer incidences will be compared in control animals and in groups of animals exposed to RF fields for two years.

"No, we are not designing individual cell phones for each mouse to wear during the study," Dr. McCormick quipped. Animals will be housed in large modules in which they will be exposed (whole body exposure) to RF radiation at the determined levels for cycles of 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off, five days a week, from the in-utero phase throughout the life of the animals. Exposures at varying levels of intensity will be used, and effects at each level will be compared to determine the presence or lack of an exposure-related response.

Exposure Modules and Lab in Development

IITRI will collaborate with the IT'IS Foundation (Zurich, Switzerland) to design, construct, and install RF exposure modules in a laboratory which is being renovated specifically for this program. The module development and laboratory rehab are expected to be completed in 2007, at which point experimental work will begin.

The laboratory previously housed research funded by the NIEHS/NTP to measure the biological effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF), such as those emitted by appliances and power lines. This program, which IITRI scientists conducted from 1992 through 1998, found no link between exposure to 60 Hz EMF and any toxicologic endpoint, including cancer.

IITRI's experience with this program laid the groundwork for the current series of studies. "What we bring to the table is a combination of experience in electromagnetic engineering and biology -- more specifically, toxicology and lab animal medicine," Dr. McCormick said. "Although this combination of disciplines is somewhat unusual, we have demonstrated that we can integrate these two groups effectively."