Mobile phones don't up brain cancer risk

London: Mobile phone use doesn't seem to increase the risk of developing brain cancers by any significant amount.

Researchers from the University of Manchester used publicly available data from the UK Office of National Statistics to look at trends in the rates of newly diagnosed brain cancers in England between 1998 and 2007.

The study, published in the journal Bioelectromagnetics, reported no statistically significant change in the incidence of brain cancers in men or women during the nine-year period under observation.

"Cell phone use in the United Kingdom and other countries has risen steeply since the early 1990s when the first digital cell phones were introduced," said lead researcher Frank de Vocht, an expert in occupational and environmental health at Manchester.

"There is an ongoing controversy about whether radio frequency exposure from cell phones increases the risk of brain cancer," according to a Manchester University statement.

"Our findings indicate that a causal link between cell phone use and cancer is unlikely because there is no evidence of any significant increase in the disease since their introduction and rapid proliferation."