British researchers have found no link between incidences of cancer among children and living near cellphone base station during pregnancy.
Confusion about possible health effects of cellphones, including brain and other cancers, especially after prolonged use, has still not been cleared by scientists.
There have been no conclusive studies that can rule out the possibility that prolonged cellphone use could cause cancer. Europe has this year started a two-three decade long study to investigate link between the use of cellphones and long-term health problems.
The study, published on bmj.com on Tuesday, found no association between women living near to a cellphone base station during pregnancy while being exposed to radio frequency and the risk of that child developing cancer before reaching the age of five.
Researchers from Imperial College London examined almost 7,000 children and compared data on how close the children’s birth addresses were to a cellphone base station. However, they found that the children with cancer are no more likely to have a birth address near a base station than those who do not have cancer.
“The estimated radio frequency exposures to mobile phone base stations were similar for the mothers of children with cancer and the children acting as controls,” the study said. “People are worried that living near a mobile phone mast might affect their children’s health. We looked at this question with respect to risk of cancers in young children. We found no pattern to suggest that the children of mums living near a base station during pregnancy had a greater risk of developing cancer than those who lived elsewhere,” Professor Paul Elliott of Imperial College London, the corresponding author said. The researchers said their study could not investigate a number of aspects of childhood cancer and exposure to cellphone base stations. They pointed out the need for an investigation into children’s own exposure to cellphone base stations and their risk of developing cancer.