London - Fears that mobile phones can cause brain cancer appear to be unfounded, according to new findings reported yesterday.
A study of 891 regular mobile-phone users showed no statistical link between time spent on calls and the likelihood of developing a brain tumour. But the researchers said more work was needed before it could be assumed that mobiles were safe in the long term. The scientists interviewed 469 men and women diagnosed with primary brain cancer and 422 without brain cancer between 1994 and 1998.
The results were reported yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Preliminary data from a group of Swedish investigators had produced similar findings, said the scientists. Taken together, the results indicated that mobile phones did not present a cancer risk.