Subject:  Research in Australia (Benson).
Date:     Wed, 29 Nov 2000 050337 -0600
From:     Roy Beavers 
To:       guru 
--------------------------------------------------

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

Nothing serves industry's interest at this time in the EMF saga ... so much
as to avoid more research.......  Actually, the researcher below may have
stumbled on to something of considerable importance!?!?.....  That, of 
course, makes the government's decision (below) all the more "comforting" 
to the telecom industry......guru......


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Research in Australia
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000 17:35:49 +1100
From: "Benson, Sarah (Sen L. Allison)" 
To: "'roy@emfguru.com'" 

Sydney Morning Herald - 29/11/00

NO FUNDS FOR STUDY ON MOBILES CANCER LINK

Julle Robothom
Medical Writer

The Federal Government has pulled the plug on a scientific investigation
into links between mobile phones and genetic changes that may lead to
cancer.
This is despite the research identifying significant alterations to the DNA
of mice exposed to radiation.
Previously, changes in DNA have been associated with cancer.
The research, conducted by Dr Pamela Sykes at Adelaide's Flinders University
was one of the first projects announced two years ago under a $4 million
fund to study the effects of mobile phones on health.
At the time the Federal Health Minister, Dr Wooldridge, commended its
"scientific excellence".
But a spokesman for the National Health and Medical Research Council, which
administers the scheme, said Dr Sykes application for further funding had
been rejected because "the original hypothesis was not supported by data
from the experiments."
Dr Sykes' research looked at the changes in DNA, known as inversions, of 10
specially bred mice exposed to half an hour a day of 900 megahertz of
radiation, the same frequency as mobile phones.
Dr Sykes hypothesised that radiation exposure might lead to an increase in
these inversions, which were "known to be common events in cancer".  In
fact, her team found a decrease.
However, Dr Sykes said this finding was potentially just as important
because any change from the normal rate of naturally occurring inversions
might be significant.
"Everything in life is a balance.  High blood pressure can be bad, but so is
low blood pressure," she said.
Dr Sykes said she had no alternative funding to continue her research.  She
wanted to repat the experiment with 50 mice, and to examine how soon the DNA
changes took effect.
Without the opportunity to repeat and refine them, the original results had
little weight.
"Doing something once just isn't science," she said.
Dr Sykes will present the findings to the Clinical Oncological Society of
Australia conference in Adelaide today.  She will tell the meeting that
changes in the rate of DNA inversions are likely to affect the repair of
genetic material, "and hence may play a role in tumour formation."
The head of the cancer control program at the South Eastern Sydney Area
Health Service, Professor Bernard Stewart, said that without more positive
evidence that mobiles were harmful, scientists would have to compete for
funding with other research areas.
It was revealed yesterday that all mobile phones in Britain will carry
health warnings about the dangers of excessive use, particularly for
children.


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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com