Japanese study finds no link between cancer and mobile phone use

Japanese scientists find no evidence to support the relationship between cerebral cancer risk and the use of mobile phones.

In a study published on Tuesday in the British Journal of Cancer, researchers led by Naohito Yamaguchi compared the history of mobile phone use in 322 brain cancer patients with 683 healthy people living in Tokyo.

"We studied the radiation emitted from various types of mobile phones and placed them into one of four categories relating to radiation strength," said Yamaguchi.

"We then analyzed how they would affect different areas of the brain, taking into account the organ's complex structure."

Yamaguchi adds that using their newly developed and more accurate techniques, there was found no association between mobile phone use and cancer, contending earlier studies that suggest boosted brain cancer risk with regular cell phone use.

Previous studies into mobile phone use have thrown up conflicting findings. The biggest investigation, which covered 420,000 people and spanned (in some cases) more than a decade of phone use, failed to find a cancer connection.

Yamaguchi's team, from the Tokyo Women's Medical University, examined patients with three types of brain cancer -- glioma, meningioma and pituitary adenoma (cases that comprise approximately 85 percent of all brain tumors.)

Several countries have guidelines such as advising the public to make shorter calls on mobile phones, use hands-free sets and let children only make essential calls in order to limit exposure to electromagnetic energy.