Cancer center chief advises staff: Limit cell phones

PITTSBURGH - The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff yesterday: Limit cell-phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.

The warning from Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that do not find a link between increased tumors and cell-phone use, and a public lack of worry by the Food and Drug Administration.

Herberman is basing his alarm on early, unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now - especially for their children.

"Really at the heart of my concern is that we shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later," Herberman said.

Herberman's advice is sure to raise concern among many cell-phone users and parents.

In the memo he sent to about 3,000 faculty and staff yesterday, he says children should use cell phones only for emergencies, because their brains are developing.

Adults should keep the phone away from the head and use the speakerphone or a wireless headset, he says. He warns against using cell phones in public places like a bus because it exposes others to electromagnetic fields.

The issue that concerns some scientists - though nowhere near a consensus - is electromagnetic radiation.

A 2008 University of Utah analysis looked at nine studies - including some Herberman cites - with thousands of brain-tumor patients and concludes: "We found no overall increased risk of brain tumors among cellular phone users. The potential elevated risk of brain tumors after long-term cellular phone use awaits confirmation by future studies."

Studies last year in France and Norway concluded the same thing.

"If there is a risk from these products, and at this point we do not know that there is, it is probably very small," the FDA says on its Web site.

Herberman cites a "growing body of literature linking long-term cell-phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer."

A driving force behind the memo was Devra Lee Davis, the director of the university's center for environmental oncology.

"The question is do you want to play Russian roulette with your brain," she said in an interview from her cell phone while using the hands-free speaker phone as recommended. "I don't know that cell phones are dangerous. But I don't know that they are safe."

She said 20 groups have endorsed the advice the Pittsburgh cancer institute gave, and authorities in England, France and India have cautioned children's use of cell phones.

Herberman and Davis point to a huge ongoing research project known as Interphone, involving scientists in 13 nations, mostly in Europe. Results already published in peer-reviewed journals from this project are not so alarming, but Herberman is citing work not yet published.

"If a person feels compelled that they should take precautions . . . they should do so," said Dan Catena, a spokesman for the American Cancer Society. "But at the same time, we have to remember there's no conclusive evidence that links cell phones to cancer, whether it's brain tumors or other forms."