Italian court rules man’s brain tumour ‘was caused by using his mobile phone for work’
The benign tumour – which means it was not cancerous – was the outcome of too much work-related phone use, the judge ruled
EXCESSIVE use of a mobile phone caused a man to develop a brain tumour, an Italian Court has ruled.
The benign tumour – which means it was not cancerous – was the outcome of too much work-related phone use, the judge ruled.
The ruling, handed down on April 11, was made public yesterday.
The northern Italian town of Ivrea awarded the plaintiff a state-funded pension as part of the ruling.
The verdict is subject to a possible appeal.
Roberto Romeo, 57, had testified that his work duties obliged him to use his mobile for three to four hours of each working day for 15 years.
His lawyers Stefano Bertone and Renato Ambrosio said in a statement: “For the first time in the world, a court has recognised a causal link between inappropriate use of a mobile phone and a brain tumour.”
“I had no choice but to use my mobile to talk to colleagues and organise work. For 15 years I was calling all the time, from home, in the car.
“I started to have the feeling of my right ear being blocked all the time and the tumour was diagnosed in 2010.
“Happily, it was benign but I can no longer hear anything because they had to remove my acoustic nerve.”
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A medical expert estimated the damaged caused to Romeo accounted for 23 per cent of his bodily function.
The judge also made a compensation award of 500 euros per month to be paid by INAIL, a national insurance scheme covering workplace accidents.
It is not the first time an Italian court has ruled mobile phone use caused a brain tumour.
Scientific studies of the potential health risks of mobile phones have mostly found they pose no risk to human health.
Some studies have concluded that heavy mobile phone use may pose some risk but experts say it is too early to say there is a link given the technology is relatively new.
The worry is around the non-ionising radiation used in a range of communication, electronic and other devices like mobile phones, radio and TV, according to Cancer Research UK.
Most non-ionising radiation has less energy than ionising radiation, which means it doesn’t have enough energy to change our cells in the same way as ionising radiation, the charity explains on its website.
In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified mobile phones for the first time in their 'gold-standard' rating system.
While they said the devices could "possibly" cause cancer in humans they decided that there wasn't enough evidence to come to a clear conclusion.
It was mainly based on the results of two sets of studies, research conducted by the Swedish Hardell group and a large international study called InterPhone.
The Hardell study suggested a link between heavy use of mobile phones and a few specific types of brain tumours but the InterPhone study, which included more than 6,000 people from 13 different countries, found no link.
The largest study so far on possible links between mobile phones and brain tumours is part of the Million Women Study and looked at nearly 800,000 women.
It found no link between mobile phone and brain tumours and also concluded there was no increased risk of 18 other types of cancer.
A Danish study also looked at 420,000 people and found no link between mobile phones and cancer.
The use of mobile phones has skyrocketed over recent decades yet there has been no spike in brain tumour rates in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK statistics.
Fiona Osgun, Cancer Research UK’s senior health information officer, said: "There is no convincing evidence to show that mobile phones can increase the risk of brain tumours, or any other type of cancer.
"But because mobiles are a fairly new technology, research is continuing to check for any effects over longer periods of time."
Dr David Jenkinson, chief scientific officer for The Brain Tumour Charity, said: "It is absolutely understandable that when someone is diagnosed with a brain tumour of any kind, they look for an explanation – an answer to the question: ‘Why me?’
"We know that many people are concerned about a possible connection between mobile phone use and the development of brain tumours.
"However, the global research projects that have been conducted so far, involving hundreds of thousands of people, have found insufficient evidence that using a mobile phone increases the risk of developing a brain tumour.
"The decision of the judge in Mr Romeo’s case does not alter that fact."
But he added that is is "right that researchers continue to explore whether any such link exists".
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