Subject:  New German Study -- abstract provided (Slesin).
Date:     Mon, 29 Jan 2001 103252 -0600
From:     Roy Beavers 
To:       guru@emfguru.com
--------------------------------------------------

.......From EMF-L......

An earlier news report appeared on EMF-L about this study, but did
not provide the detail contained below.......guru......

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: New German Study
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 12:47:09 0800
From: mwn@pobox.com (Louis Slesin / Microwave News)
To: roy@emfguru.com, 

Roy:

A recent German study on eye cancer and mobile phones and walkie 
talkies was published in the January issue of EPIDEMIOLGY 
(12, pp.7-12,2001).

Here is the abstract:

The possible role of radiofrequency radiation in the development of 
uveal melanoma.
Stang A, Anastassiou G, Ahrens W, Bromen K, Bornfeld N, Jockel KH
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Medical
Faculty, University of Essen, Germany.

There are few epidemiologic studies dealing with electromagnetic 
radiation and uveal melanoma.  The majority of these studies are 
exploratory and are based on job and industry titles only. We
conducted a hospital-based and population-based case-control study 
of uveal melanoma and occupational exposures to different sources of
electromagnetic radiation, including radiofrequency radiation. We 
then pooled these results. We interviewed a total of 118 female and 
male cases with uveal melanoma and 475 controls matching on sex, age, 
and study regions.

Exposure to radiofrequency-transmitting devices was rated as (a) no
radiofrequency radiation exposure, (b) possible exposure to mobile 
phones, or (c) probable/certain exposure to mobile phones. Exposures
were rated independently by two of the authors who did not know case 
or control status. We used conditional logistic regression to 
calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). 

We found an elevated risk for exposure to radiofrequency-transmitting
devices (exposure to radio sets, OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.4-6.3; 
probable/certain exposure to mobile phones, OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 
1.2-14.5). Other sources of electromagnetic radiation such as
high-voltage lines, electrical machines, complex electrical 
environments, visual display terminals, or radar units were
not associated with uveal melanoma. 

This is the first study describing an association between
radiofrequency radiation exposure and uveal melanoma. Several 
methodologic limitations prevent our results from providing clear 
evidence on the hypothesized association.

-----------------

We will have complete coverage of this study as well as the other 
recent cell phone/cancer studies in the Jan/Feb issue of 
Microwave News.

Best,
Louis


______________________________________
Louis Slesin, PhD
Editor, Microwave News
A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation
Phone: 212-517-2800;   Fax: 212-734-0316
E-mail: ,  Internet: 
Mail:  PO Box 1799, Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163, U.S.A.


Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com