New study claims no link between cellphones, tumors

A new, large-scale study found that people who used a cellphone for over 10 years do not have an increased risk of a non-cancerous brain tumor. According to a Thursday report, the study looked at 2.8 million Danish adults who have used a cellphone for between 11 and 15 years. The study concluded that the group was no more likely to develop acoustic neuroma than newer or non-users.

The slow-growing tumors are also called vestibular schwannomas and form on the main nerve running from the inner ear to the brain. They have the potential to cause ringing in the ears, balance problems and dizziness. In some rare cases, they can be large enough to press against the brain and become life-threatening.

Acoustic neuromas grow in the area of the brain where greater energy emitted from the cellphones is absorbed said Dr. Joachim Schuz, a member of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), who headed up the new study.

The argument is that those with acoustic neuromas may have them as a result of cellphone use, especially if it's on the same side as where they frequently hold their cellphones. Schuz's team found that this wasn't the case, however, and wrote so in their American Journal of Epidemiology report.

Long-term users also didn't exhibit larger-than-expected tumors, nor did they have tumors on the right side of their head, despite usually holding the phone on that side.

But Shuz admits that even the long-term cellphone users in this study didn't use their devices for that long. Acoustic neuromas grow so slowly that often many years can pass between the first symptoms and a diagnosis.

By Electronista Staff

View the original article here

Samsung claims proof its chip plants don't cause cancer

Samsung has disclosed that a study it commissioned by a US environmental and health care consultancy found no relationship between exposure to carcinogenic chemicals used in its semiconductor factories and the incidence of cancer in its workers. The findings reflect the results of two previous studies conducted by the Korean government. Despite claiming no link between the two, the company is considering offering financial help to some of its former employees who have been stricken with disease.

Samsung talked to a third party, ENVIRON, to investigate the situation. Because the facilities in question have been converted from actually making chips to testing chips and producing LEDs, the consulting company could not measure actual exposures. Instead, it looked at analog exposures in other exposed groups. ENVIRON studied six employees who had been exposed to formaldehyde, ionizing radiation and trichloroethylene, chemicals used in chip production and known to be cause cancer. It found that, although carcinogenic, there were not enough of theses chemicals present to have caused an increased risk of leukemia or lymphoma.

Samsung has more than 30,000 employees in its Gihung, Korea semiconductor factories. The company disclosed that 26 of its workers there had been diagnosed with either of these diseases, and that ten of them had died.

Samsung itself is not the defendant in the legal dispute. The case, on behalf of nine Samsung workers is actually being brought against the Korea Workers Compensation and Welfare Service, a government agency.

The company's chips are used in many products beyond its own. Apple and other major third parties often contract Samsung for assembly or use its chips directly, whether for processors or flash memory. [via Reuters]

By Electronista Staff

View the original article here