the controversy has been raging ever since cellular telephones invaded our lives. These gadgets heat up your brain, meddle with your pacemakers and perhaps, cause cancer. And ever since these words of doom were uttered, scientists have been looking at the connection of these adverse health effects with the increasing use of cellular phones by people worldwide, often for several hours a day. Till now, scientific evidence has been rather scanty and unconvincing.

Late 1997, scientists from 10 countries that have witnessed a phenomenal rise of these gadgets, met in Vienna to review all available data on adverse effects of these gadgets. Though they agreed that there is indeed a cause for alarm, they did not find enough evidence to support the fears. However, the group did agree for a need to intensify research into radio frequency electromagnetic fields ( emf ) which these mobile phones emit. According to Michael Rapacholi, an Australian who headed this International emf Project of the World Health Organisation ( who ), the matter is serious enough to reexamine whether electromagnetic fields do cause cancer in humans.

The emf project is a five-year effort with a budget of us $3.3 million and has a rather broad-based agenda of investigating whether mobile phones and other sources of emf are cancer-causing. The group was aware that under certain circumstances, emf can be potentially dangerous and the risk to a person's health depends upon the extent of exposure. According to Repacholi, chief scientist from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, this effort has been largely adhoc and till date, totally uncoordinated at the international level.

It now appears that they may have hard work cut out for them. A sharp rise in the incidence of brain tumours could well be due to use of cellular phones, says a study, published from Australia. J Andrew Davidson, a cancer specialist from Fremantle Hospital in Western Australia reports that an analysis of the nation's Cancer Registry has revealed a significant rise in the incidence of disease in both men and women during the last decade. The incidence of brain tumours has also been alarmingly high ( Medical Journal of Australia , Vol 168, No1).

Davidson says that the steep increase rise in the number of analogue mobile phones since the 80s and the rise to brain tumours cases could well be more than just a coincidence. Unfortunately, his efforts to correlate the growth and use of cellular phones to the brain cancer patients have not been fruitful yet. The Telstra Telecommunication Network refused to respond to Davidson's query on the details about the use of mobile phones by Australians.

The effects of emf sources on human health has long been suspected. In some developed countries public concern about the risks has even delayed the construction of base stations for mobile phones and forced electricity companies to divert high voltage power away from populated areas. Not surprisingly, cellular phone industry is supporting a lot of studies which conclude that these devices are quite safe. If the telephone companies claim that there is nothing to worry about, there is no way of contradicting them, especially when solid data is absent.

A Finnish study funded by the telecommunication industry looked at whether the cell phones transmit heat to the brain. Keeping any metal object close to the head warms up the brain. However, if you have got radio frequency fields which, when absorbed in the head generate heat, it is a different story altogether. Which is why standards have been laid down to limit the temperature rise to less than one degree. Released last May, this study showed that radio frequencies used by mobile phones do affect the brain. There is enough evidence to show that human brains convert radio waves from mobile phones into heat, but these levels were not considered hazardous by the scientists.

At about the same time, another study from Rapacholi's group in Australia reported that cancer rates almost doubled in mice after prolonged exposure to radio frequency similar to the types used in mobile phones. To dispel fears, the Australians government explained that the mice used in the study were genetically prone to develop cancer and hence more research is needed to make any valid interpretation on the adverse impact of the cellular phones on human health.

Our body tissues function because of electrical activity. Scientists are trying to see if just by pushing the radiation in certain ways you can change the chemical reactions in the body and if such a change could lead to adverse health effects like cancer. Therefore, there are enough grounds to have another critical look at cell phones and their uncanny association with brain cancer.