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21 January 2017

The NTP Cell Phone RF Radiation Health Effects Project

The NTP Cell Phone RF Radiation Health Effects Project [Health Matters]
James C. Lin, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Published in: IEEE Microwave Magazine
( Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Jan.-Feb. 2017 )

Abstract:
On 26 May 2016, a U.S.-government-led project reported occurrences of two types of rare cancers in laboratory rats exposed to RF radiation used for wireless cell phone operations. This five-year project has been ongoing for more than ten years, with a currently estimated price tag of US$25 million or more of taxpayers' money (two to three times its original budget). That's huge! It is the largest health effects study ever undertaken by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Full text available.

On 26 May 2016, a U.S.-government-led project reported occurrences of two types of rare cancers in laboratory rats exposed to RF radiation used for wireless cell phone operations [1].

This five-year project has been ongoing for more than ten years, with a currently estimated price tag of US$25 million or more of taxpayers' money (two to three times its original budget). That's huge! It is the largest health effects study ever undertaken by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

The Findings and their Implications

Observation of malignant gliomas in the brain and schwannomas of the heart from two-year (or lifelong, in most cases) RF-exposed rats represented partial findings from the project. Results reportedly were reviewed by expert peer reviewers selected by the NTP and the National Institutes of Health.

The NTP's announcement of animal results from their large RF health effects study is major; in 2011, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified exposure to cell phone RF radiation as a possible carcinogen for humans. The classification was based on epidemiological studies reporting increased cancer risks among heavy or long-term users of cell phones.

The IARC had assessed available scientific papers and concluded that—while evidence was incomplete and limited, especially with regard to results from animal experiments—epidemiological studies reporting increased risks for gliomas (a type of malignant brain cancer) and acoustic neuromas (a nonmalignant tumor of Schwann-cells-sheathed auditory nerves) among heavy or long-term users of cell phones are sufficiently strong to support a Group 2B classification of possibly carcinogenic to humans for exposure to RF radiation.

This classification is third among the IARC's groupings of carcinogenic risk for humans. The highest category, Group 1, is reserved for agents that are “carcinogenic to humans,” followed by Group 2A (“probably carcinogenic to humans”) and Group 2B (“possibly carcinogenic to humans”), then Group 3 (“not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans”), and, lastly, Group 4 (“probably not carcinogenic to humans”).

Inevitable Controversy

Reactions have been swift, startling, and disconcerting. Some mainstream media opined that use of cell phones does not lead to cancer. The NTP report is just hype, pure and simple. In contrast, the American Cancer Society, among others, consider the NTP report as signifying a paradigm shift in the understanding of RF radiation and cancer, reversing its previous position.

Continue reading:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7779288/

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