cellphones and the risk of cancer: new insights

Young mother speaking at her mobile phone, downtown
Hell Ville, Nosy Be Island, Madagascar

There is an increasing concern in the media in USA about the fact that long-term exposure to microwaves from cellular phones may lead to an increased risk of brain tumors, as well breast cancer and sperm reduction. Most of us have no idea that cell phones are small microwave radios that should not be kept directly on the body. Many researchers have demonstrated that the current standard of exposure to microwave during mobile phone use (cellular or cordless phones) is not safe for long-term exposure and needs to be revised.  Although some studies have found no association, others suggest   that the more hours of cellular phone use over time, the higher the risk of developing brain tumors. Risk also increases along with the level of power from the wireless device, years since first use, total exposure, and younger age when starting wireless phone use. Cell phone’s microwave radiation seeps directly into soft fatty tissue of the breast and there already are some cases reported of breast cancer developed in close proximity to the site in the bra where cell phones are tucked and used for hours a day with a hands-free headset. For many young women today, tucking cell phones in the bra has become a cool, hip way to have simple access to these essential devices. 

As a way to get their newborn infant son to sleep through the night, some moms use iPhone for the often-difficult task of pacifying them. They download several applications, including “BabySoothe” and “Lullabies”, and set them running throughout the night in close proximity to her baby’s head. Children’s brain (which double in size during the first year of life) is especially vulnerable to the emission of these two-way microwave radios, with their pulsed digital signals. Brains are not the only part of our anatomy that we need to be concerned about. According to several different studies, sperm count is 50% lower in men who use cell phones four hours a day—which is the case for a growing number of teenagers and young men.  Cells in human sperm exposed to cell phone radiation have been shown to die three times faster and become much sicker than those left alone.   One may say that Africa is still free of this risk because of its poor economy and different lifestyle of inhabitant people. This is not completely true. I am not wrong if I believe that in most African countries, even the poorest, there is a widespread coverage by wireless communications facilities. These people may have no access to safe drinking water, or efficient health system, but, meanwhile, have no problem to use a cellphone. The young mother in the above shown photograph speaking at her mobile phone depicts this phenomenon: she lives in a country where prevention or early diagnosis of breast cancer or cervical cancer is not available but cellphones are widespread among local people. Is the cellular phone lacking technologies to reduce exposure do microwave emissions an additional danger the developed countries are exporting to the low-income developing world ?.

Evita and the pap smear

 

Evita Duarte Peron, the wife of Juan Peron, the famous argentinian politician and statesman in the late 1940ies died from aggressive, widespread cervical cancer at the age of 33, in 1952. At the time of her death, because of her genuine interest in the poor, she was greatly loved and respected by large numbers of the working class. When authorities announced her demise, the entire country went into mourning. After her death, thousands of people stood in line to view her body. The tumor must have been extremely aggressive, judging by the early age of onset and the rapid clinical course. It was first interpreted as an appendiceal carcinoma but  one year later she underwent a second operation when, probably, the tumor was not operable anymore.

Evita Perón had several risk factors that led to the eventual development of cervical cancer. Sexual activity presumably began at an early age. She married a man who had had multiple sexual partners. Even more important, Juan Perón's first wife, died from cervical cancer when she was only 28 years old. In addition, there was another possible risk factor; Evita's mother died of cervical cancer at age 77. We now know that infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease, is the main cause of cervical cancer. Did Peron carry a particularly aggressive strain of HPV, the virus that we now know causes cervical cancer, and unknowingly transmit the infection to both his wives? What we do know today is that Evita’s death due to cervical cancer would likely never have happened if she had had a Pap smear.

The Pap smear was invented by George Papanicolaou in about 1920 and a regular screening based on pap smear examination was first started in 1939 at the New York Hospital. This diagnostic procedure was still unpracticed in Argentina yet in the late 1940ies otherwise Evita could have ben saved!

Dr. G. Papanicolaou

How many women are currently, i.e. 70 years later, in the same situation as Evita's in most of the countries of the developing world where women do not have access to cervical cancer screening programmes?

In other posts I have been talking about the differences in rankings between developed and developing countries in both incidence and mortality for cancer.. The patterns vary by geography and economic status, which correlate roughly with the causes of cancer in the “environment” in its broadest sense. The majority of cancers in more developed countries are those associated with more affluent lifestyles—cancers of the lung, colon and rectum, breast, and prostate. In contrast, cancers of the liver, stomach, esophagus, and cervix—all related directly or indirectly to infectious agents—are relatively more common in developing countries. Where treatment is largely unavailable, all cancers have a poor prognosis, but in this group, all but cervical cancer have poor outcomes everywhere. The mix of common cancers varies  as seen in the following table (source: Cancer Control Opportunities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, see website link in the list).

 

In developed countries the incidence of tumors of the breast, colon, lung and corpus uteri is higher than in developing countries, with a ratio, respectively, of 1.23/1; 1.95/1; 1.02/1; and 2.19/1. The mortality of these tumors, however, is lower than in developing countries: breast 29.8% vs 42.8%; colon 49,3% vs. 60.0%; lung 82.5% vs. 86.5%, and corpus uteri 21.32% vs. 33.8%. . The higher mortality of these tumors in the developing world is caused by a delay in the diagnosis of the disease, i.e. the tumor is disclosed in a more advanced stage of progression when therapy is less effective or useless. Due to these factors at least for breast cancer and lung cancer the number of people dying of these tumors in developing countries is likely to be higher than in the developed world

 

In developing countries the incidence of tumors of the cervix uteri, stomach, liver, and esophagus is much higher than in developed countries with ratios, respectively, of 6,49/1; 1,86/1; 4,08/1, and 8,12/1. The higher incidence of these tumors is broadly explicable by differences in exposure to certain infectious agents (HPV, HBV, HIV, etc) or carcinogens (stomach and esophagus) but it is also strongly related to the lack of primary prevention (vaccination against HPV and HBV), to an ineffective secondary prevention (i.e., screening of carcinoma of cervix uteri), and to the lack of health facilities for early diagnosis and treatment. In fact, it is very frustrating to realize that in developing countries most of the people dying for cancer were suffering from preventable or somewhat curable malignancies. It is for this reason that all efforts should be made by the global cancer community to take immediate steps to slow and ultimately reverse the phenomenon.

Patterns of cancer in developed and developing countries

In other posts I have been talking about the differences in rankings between developed and developing countries in both incidence and mortality for cancer. The patterns vary by geography and economic status, which correlate roughly with the causes of cancer in the “environment” in its broadest sense. The majority of cancers in more developed countries are those associated with more affluent lifestyles—cancers of the lung, colon and rectum, breast, and prostate. In contrast, cancers of the liver, stomach, esophagus, and cervix—all related directly or indirectly to infectious agents—are relatively more common in developing countries. Where treatment is largely unavailable, all cancers have a poor prognosis, but in this group, all but cervical cancer have poor outcomes everywhere. The mix of common cancers varies  as seen in the following table (source: Cancer Control Opportunities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, see website link in the list). Click to enlarge. 

 

 

In developed countries the incidence of tumors of the breast, colon, lung and corpus uteri is higher than in developing countries, with a ratio, respectively, of 1.23/1; 1.95/1; 1.02/1; and 2.19/1. The mortality of these tumors, however, is lower than in developing countries: breast 29.8% vs 42.8%; colon 49,3% vs. 60.0%; lung 82.5% vs. 86.5%, and corpus uteri 21.32% vs. 33.8%. . The higher mortality of these tumors in the developing world is caused by a delay in the diagnosis of the disease, i.e. the tumor is disclosed in a more advanced stage of progression when therapy is less effective or useless. Due to these factors at least for breast cancer and lung cancer the number of people dying of these tumors in developing countries is likely to be higher than in the developed world.

 In developing or low-income countries the incidence of tumors of the cervix uteri, stomach, liver, and esophagus is much higher than in developed countries with ratios, respectively, of 6,49/1; 1,86/1; 4,08/1, and 8,12/1. The higher incidence of these tumors is broadly explicable by differences in exposure to certain infectious agents (HPV, HBV, HIV, etc) or carcinogens (stomach and esophagus) but it is also strongly related to the lack of primary prevention (vaccination against HPV and HBV), to an ineffective secondary prevention (i.e., screening of carcinoma of cervix uteri), and to the lack of health facilities for early diagnosis and treatment. In fact, it is very frustrating to realize that in developing countries most of the people dying for cancer were suffering from preventable or somewhat curable malignancies!. It is for this reason that all efforts should be made by the global cancer community to take immediate steps to slow and ultimately reverse the phenomenon.

malagasy children

This post is inspired by what we recall of the malagasy people we happened to see and meet while traveling by car on the roads of Nosy Be island or walking through the village in the island of Sakatia, Madagascar.




We were expecting to meet sad people, badly nourished and suffering, victims of a destiny which gave birth to them in one of the poorest countries of the world; and yet we will never be able to forget the hands tended for a contact, the smiles, the hearty welcome of most of them. At first glance one may easily perceive these villages as a community overrun by children. Children looked enthusiastic, curious, kind, joyful, inclined to interaction with us, always very decent.



Their mood was strikingly positive and it was a great pleasure to meet them. Adult men are practically missing, may be because they are working far from the villages or even fishing on the sea or trading their goods. Women are actually present but still very few in number. They work hard and you often see them while carrying on their head incredibly large baskets.

These children and their families live in houses built out of ground, made up by only one or to the maximum two parts, where sleep sometimes eight, ten people. During a few days we shared their humble life by holding hands and laughing together without understanding each other but feeling the same emotions. These children and their parents need our help. Not only toys or our disused garments, but the chance of constructing theirselves their own life, and with the dignity they deserve.

This post is dedicated to what we recall of malagasy people we happened to see and meet while traveling by car in the roads of Nosy be or the sand pathways in the isle of Sakatia, Madagascar. We were expecting to meet sad people, badly nourished and suffering, victims of a destiny which gave birth to them in one of the poorest countries of the world; and yet we will never be able to forget the hands tended for a contact, the smiles, the hearty welcome of most of them. At first glance one may easily perceive these villages as a community overrun by children. Children looked enthusiastic, curious, kind, joyful, inclined to interaction with us, always very decent. Their mood was strikingly positive and it was a great pleasure to meet them. Adult men are practically missing, may be because they are working far from the villages or even fishing on the sea or trading their goods. Women are actually present but still very few. They work hard and you often see them while carrying on their head incredibly large baskets. These children and their families live in houses built out of ground, made up by only one or to the maximum two parts, where sleep sometimes eight, ten people. During a few days we shared their humble life by holding hands and laughing together without understanding each other but feeling the same emotions. These children and their parents need our help. Not only toys or our disused garments, but the chance of constructing theirselves their own life, and with the dignity they deserve.