A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

Peter Inskip: Microwave News Article Archive (2004 - )

June 30, 2014

EMF Cancer Promotion: An Old Idea Makes a Strong Comeback

Power-frequency magnetic fields can promote brain tumors, according to the largest epidemiological study of its kind ever undertaken. The study promises to breathe new life into the idea that extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs are more likely to be cancer promoters than causes of cancer. This hypothesis gained support a generation ago but has lost currency in recent years.

The new results, published online earlier this month by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, come from INTEROCC, an international project with seven participating countries designed to investigate occupational health risks from chemicals and EMFs. The project is directed by Elisabeth Cardis at CREAL in Barcelona with $1.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (though none of the tumor cases are from the U.S.).

The INTEROCC team found that those who were exposed to elevated EMF exposures at work during the five years prior to diagnosis had significantly higher rates of glioma compared to those who were least exposed during that time on the job. The greater the exposure, the greater the tumor risk.

June 30, 2014

Freaky or What?

INTEROCC and INTERPHONE have a lot in common —more than their first five letters. So much in common that it’s a bit freaky. Or, maybe it just shows, once again, how small, insulated and polarized the EMF community is.

The most obvious parallels are that Elisabeth Cardis is the principal investigator of both the...

April 19, 2013

IARC Publishes Rationale for RF as Possible Human Carcinogen

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has released its detailed evaluation of the cancer risks associated with RF radiation, which serves as the rationale for designating RF as a possible human carcinogen.

The IARC monograph comes close to two years after an invited panel of experts from 14 countries reached this conclusion following an eight-day meeting at IARC headquarters in Lyon, France (see our...

March 9, 2012

NCI on Cell Phones: U.S. Brain Tumor Rates Consistent with Interphone, But Not with Hardell

A new analysis from the U.S. National Cancer Institute has found that the rates of brain tumors (glioma) in the United States are inconsistent with the results of Lennart Hardell’s group in Sweden. The NCI team, led by Mark Little, does allow that “the U.S. data could be consistent with the modest excess risks in the Interphone study.’’

July 19, 2011

NCI as a Pacifier

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) features a two-page piece on the IARC decision in its August 3 issue. Many of the usual cast of characters (Feychting, Hardell, Moskowitz, Samet, Swerdlow, Tarone) are quoted except, surprisingly, anyone from NCI. Not a word from either...

June 29, 2011

NCI’s Martha Linet Agrees with IARC: “2B” Designation Was the Right Call

If Martha Linet had represented NCI at the IARC RF meeting instead of Peter Inskip, she probably would not have walked out before the final vote. Linet would have likely been part of the near unanimous bloc designating cell phone radiation as a possible cause of cancer —...

June 3, 2011

IARC: Cell Phone Radiation Is a Possible Human Carcinogen

It's not easy to reach unanimous agreement on anything to do with cell phone radiation. And when it comes to cell phones and cancer, forget about it. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) nearly pulled it off. On Tuesday, May 31, more than two dozen scientists and doctors from 14 countries —a group IARC Director Christopher Wild called “the world’s leading experts”— issued a joint statement that cell phone and other types of radiofrequency (RF) and microwave radiation might cause cancer.

January 16, 2009

No Risk of Eye Cancer

Cell phones do not increase the risk of developing eye cancer, at least for the first ten years of use, according to a group of German researchers led by Andreas Stang at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg in Halle. This marks a reversal. Eight years ago, Stang reported a possible association in a smaller and less detailed study (see MWN, J/F01, p.9).

September 23, 2008

NCI Sees Little Cancer Risk from Cell Phones

The latest issue of the NCI Cancer Bulletin, released today, presents the National Cancer Institute's outlook on the cancer risks associated with cell phones. It is based largely on the views of NCI's Peter Inskip.

September 22, 2008

NCI's Inskip To Testify in Congress

Peter Inskip, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, has been added to the witness list for Thursday's Congressional hearing on "Tumors and Cell Phone Use: What the Science Says." He was invited by the Republican members of Rep. Denis Kucinich's (D-OH) subcommittee.

In a paper published in 2001, Inskip reported finding no increased risk of brain tumors or acoustic neuromas among cell phone users. Because the NCI study began in 1993 when phones were relatively new, it could not shed much light on possible long-term risks. Inskip is a member of the advisory panel for the Interphone study.

December 4, 2006

Cardis Previews Interphone Results

IARC's Elisabeth Cardis, who is running the Interphone study, gave an overview of the 13-country effort together with the results to date at an EC seminar in Brussels on November 20. Her PowerPoint presentation is well worth a look.

Cardis places special emphasis on long-term (ten or more ten years) risks of brain tumors and acoustic neuroma. She also contrasts the findings of the various national studies that have already been published with those of Sweden's Lennart Hardell and U.S.’s Peter Inskip (though Inskip’s participants had many fewer years of exposure). The final Interphone results are expected next year.