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Monday, 4 July 2011
Page: 7540

Mr SIMPKINS (Cowan) (20:01): For a long time we have had suspicions that mobile telephones are a source of health problems for users. With around 4.5 billion users around the world, the results of all studies into the effects of mobile telephones is of ever increasing interest.

On 31 May 2011 the International Agency for Research on Cancer provided the World Health Organisation with a cancer research report. As stated in the motion, the electromagnetic fields created by mobile telephones:

… are 'possibly carcinogenic to humans' and asserts that heavy usage could lead to a possible increased risk of glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer

When you read the results of the report, it is certainly by no means categorical in the links. What it does say is that there is a limited link between mobile telephone users and glioma and acoustic neuroma and an inadequate link between the use of mobile phones and other types of cancer. Limited evidence of carcinogenicity is defined as the observation of:

… a positive association … between exposure … and cancer for which a causal interpretation is considered credible, but chance, bias or confounding cannot be ruled out with reasonable confidence.

The inadequate link with other types of cancer is defined as:

… available studies are of insufficient quality, consistency or statistical power to permit a conclusion regarding the presence or absence of a causal association—

between exposure and the cancer—

or no data on cancer in humans are available.

Although it is right to say that the report falls well short of being conclusive, it should ring alarm bells for all of us who hold our phones to our ears, but even more so when we think of all the children and young people, who are still developing mentally and physically, with an increasing reliance on mobile telephones. Any research of the internet will reveal the widespread concerns that exist around the world, and it is right that parents in particular should take heed of what this cancer report shows, as well as the practical advice to reduce the risk as put forward by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.

Members would be aware that there are an increasing number of Australian households that have elected to not even have a landline, instead relying completely on their mobile telephones. They should also take heed of the risk mitigation advice, in particular the limiting of call time; the use of landlines where possible; using the speaker or hands-free option to get that handset away from your head; the use of texting, which at least seems to be an option well supported by many young people, even if that is borne out of financial necessity rather than a fear of radiation; and using phones in the strongest signal areas so that the power output from the phone itself is lower. I certainly advocate such precautions, and it is something that all Australians should take into consideration right now.

I also want to raise briefly the interesting subtext of this issue. We are used to health concerns about mobile telephone relay towers in our suburbs, and there is strong opposition to many of their locations. But what is particularly interesting is the viewpoint that, in putting up more towers, there are better signals and therefore the mobile telephones that we carry around do not have to use as strong a power. Therefore, it would seem that more towers equals reduced electromagnetic radiation from our personal mobile telephones and therefore less radiation and a reduction in potential harm to the individual user. This is an interesting point given the conventional wisdom that these towers are bad, and perhaps that is a very good focus for future research.

As sobering as the International Agency for Research on Cancer's report is, despite its lack of conclusive links, since then there has been another review of scientific studies in the same area. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection's committee on epidemiology wrote in the monthly journal of the US National Institute of Environmental Sciences that studies from several countries have failed to show an increase in brain tumours as many as 20 years after mobile phones were introduced and 10 years after the technology became widespread.

David Spiegelhalter, the University of Cambridge's Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, said:

This is a really difficult issue to research. Even given the limitations of the evidence, this report is clear that any risk appears to be so small that it is very hard to detect, even in the masses of people now using mobile phones.

Leader of the review and an overseer of a team in the largest epidemiological study to date, known as Interphone, Anthony Swerdlow, a professor of epidemiology, said they had failed to find a definitive link between mobile phone use and certain types of brain tumours.

The reality is therefore that the link between mobile telephone use and cancer is still not definitive. However, over time that evidence may become stronger and there are only benefits to paying attention to risk reduction advice such as that provided by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. It is in all our best interests to pay heed to that and to comply with it.