An Italian court has ruled that prolonged use of mobile phones can cause head tumours, despite scientists overwhelmingly agreeing there is no evidence to back this up. According to a report in The Guardian, the Turin Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling issued by a lower court in 2017 in relation to a man with neurinoma of the acoustic nerve, a benign but disabling tumour.
The decision was based on studies provided by two court-appointed doctors that showed an increased risk of head tumours among those who talked on their phones for 30 minutes a day over a 10-year period. Judges concluded that there was a link between the frequent use of a mobile phone by Roberto Romeo, who worked for Telecom Italia, and his condition. Romeo is said to have used his phone for four to five hours a day.
Inail, a workplace accident insurance agency, has been ordered to compensate Romeo, although it could take the case to the Supreme Court. When the lower court in Ivrea, a town in Piedmont, made its decision in 2017, it became the first in the world to conclude there was a link between mobile phones and tumours.
The report says the latest ruling drew criticism from Walter Ricciardi, a former president of the Higher Health Institute, which together with other agencies said in a report last year that there was no evidence to prove that prolonged use of mobile phones increased the risk of malignant or benign tumours.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza said that while he respected court sentences, he supported the opinion of the World Health Organisation and the Higher Health Institute that there was no proof of a link between mobile phones and cancer.
[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/15/mobile-phones-cause-tumours-italian-court-rules-defiance-evidence"]Full report in The Guardian[/link]