NZ Herald: On hold – cellphone tumour rumour

A feature by Herald writer Chris Barton on the soon to be released Interphone study looking at a possible link between cell phone use and brain cancer.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“The report that many are hoping will clarify the picture is the final results paper of the Interphone study – a 20 million (NZ$45.5 million), decade-long international collaboration overseen by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“It’s due out soon, but no one is saying when.

“It will be the largest study ever taken on the cause of brain cancer and the largest study taken of the link, if there is one, with cellphone use,” says Professor Alistair Woodward, who oversees the New Zealand arm of the Interphone investigation.

“About half the 13 countries participating have already published their results. The New Zealand study involved 156 cases of cellphone users in the 30-59 age group who had brain tumours, and 172 matched controls. Like most of the results from other countries published to date, its finding did not support an association between the use of cellphones and brain tumours.

“‘The finding is, overall, there is no association,’ says Woodward, who is head of the School of Population Health at Auckland University. “But then when you look closely there are these wrinkles.”