Mobile Phone Use Linked To Alzheimer’s
Daily Telegraph
June 3, 1996
A WARNING on a possible link between using mobile phones and diseases such as asthma, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer is given today by scientists from America, Australia and Sweden.
The scientists, who have been examining the effects of radiation similar to that produced by mobile phones, explain their fears on BBC’s Watchdog HealthCheck programme tonight.
Two of them say that they have completely stopped using mobile phones, while the other four say they use them “only when essential” because of the possible risks.
Dr Henry Lai and Dr N P Singh from the University of Washington in Seattle report on the damage caused to DNA in the brain cells of rats exposed to microwaves.
Their work suggests that “hot-spots” may develop inside the brain, causing damage which could lead to Alzheimer’s or cancer.
Dr Peter French, an immunologist from New Zealand, tells the programme: “I have a mobile phone . . . but now I use it only when absolutely essential. I switch sides if the call goes on longer than a minute or two.”
In recent experiments exposing cells derived from human tissue to mobile phone radiation he records changes in cell structure and growth rate which were likely to promote asthma.
Dr Bruce Hocking, a former medical director of the Australian state-owned telephone company Telstra, says he logged more than 40 cases of mobile phone users who complained of severe headaches and muscle pain in the neck and upper arm.
