Hinsdale doctor questions cell phone, cancer link

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The medical director of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital’s Opler Cancer Center isn’t ready to stop using his cell phone, or recommend that approach to others, following an announcement May 31 that an international panel of experts said such use may cause cancer.

That statement was issued by the International Agency for Research on Cancer following a meeting of experts, who reviewed possible links between cancer and the type of electromagnetic radiation found in cell phones, microwave ovens and radar.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer is affiliated with the World Health Organization, the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system.

Oncologist Donald Sweet, the medical director of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital’s Opler Cancer Center, said he doesn’t believe the information reviewed by the agency provides enough evidence for the conclusion that was made.

“There’s a weak correlation; it needs more refinement,” Sweet said. “I’ve had dozens of phone calls from patients about this. It’s an old issue. I reviewed two studies, from 1999 and 2007, that showed little connection. Cell phone use has increased, but I still don’t think the correlation can necessarily be made.”

Sweet said he has issues with the recent studies that led to the announcement.

“This was based on using a cell phone without a hands-free device for at least 30 minutes, consecutively, every day,” he said. “It also is about glimoa, which is a not particularly common brain tumor. And they asked patients who had brain tumors if they had used cell phones. Because people who had brain tumors used cell phones doesn’t necessarily mean you can make that correlation.”

Sweet also said statistics used in studies need to be reviewed carefully before conclusions can be made.

“If 1 in 1,000 is usual for glimoa and the rate goes up 40 percent, that means it’s 1.4 in 1,000. It’s low-intensity data,” he said. “So far, there’s been no tsunami of brain tumors.”

For those who are worried about the link between cell phone use and cancer, Sweet suggested regularly using a hands-free device with the phone as an alternative to no longer using a cell phone.