It Is too soon for a verdict on the health risks from cellular telephones,
especially in view of changing technology. From the Interphone project and
some other large studies in progress, beater information may emerge. Based
on the epidemiological evidence available now, the main public-health conce
rn is clearly motor vehicle collisions, a behavioural effect rather than an
effect of radiofrequency exposure as such. Neither the several studies of
occupational exposure to radiofrequencies nor the few of cellular telephone
users offer any clear evidence of an association with brain tumours or oth
er malignancies. Even If the studies In progress were to find large relativ
e effects for brain cancer, the absolute increase in risk would probably be
much smaller than the risk stemming from motor vehicle collisions. Cellula
r telephones affect the quality of our lives in myriad ways, for good and i
ll; the health risk is just one part of a picture that is slowly coming int
o focus.