Wireless phones ARE dangerous, says report

Prolonged use of mobile and home cordless phones does increase the risk of cancer, according to a new report which casts doubt on recent more reassuring research..

The report, published in the journal Occupational Health Medicine, says the dangers have been downplayed because much research has involved people who have been using mobile phones for less than ten years.

Most cancers take at least ten years to develop, and the new report says relatively few people have been using wireless phones intensively for that long.

It drew together the results of eleven studies involving people among that small group and concluded that they showed a "consistent pattern of increased risk" of a tumour - particularly on the side of the head where they usually hold a handset.

However the authors admit that most of the study groups involved very small numbers of people, and that tumours of this kind account for only two percent on those found in Britain.

Co-author Professor Kjell Hansson Mild, of Sweden's Orebro University, told the Independent on Sunday that he found it strange that so many official presentations claimed there was no risk. "There are strong indications that something happens after ten years."

A report last month the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, funded by the British government and the industry, said no health risks had been established though it said there might be long-term effects.

Comment: Now it's healthy, now it ain't