Awaited for several years, the INTERPHONE study, which pools data from 13 countries and is coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), was finally published in May 2010. It is the largest study of the risk of brain tumours in relation to mobile phone use conducted to date. It involved case-control studies that compared the mobile phone use of a group of people with head tumours to that of a similar group who did not have such tumours and it included substantial numbers of subjects who had used mobile phones for more than 10 years

Overall, no increase in risk of either glioma (a type of brain cancer that begins in the cells that surround and support nerve cells) or meningioma (a brain tumour that is typically benign and that develops very slowly in the brain linings) was observed in association with use of mobile phones. There were suggestions of an increased risk of glioma at the highest exposure levels, but biases and error limit the strength of the conclusions that can be drawn from these analyses and prevent a causal interpretation.

The researchers stress that possible effects of long-term heavy use of mobile phones require further investigation.

Read the full INTERPHONE article Brain tumour risk in relation to mobile telephone use: results of the INTERPHONE international case–control study(2010)

Read the GreenFacts summary on Mobile Phones and Electromagnetic fields by the the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR 2009) and in particular the answer to the question Can mobile phones cause cancer?

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, inviting the world to take action to safeguard the variety of life on earth.

What is the current pace of biodiversity loss? Has progress been made? How is biodiversity linked to agriculture and climate change? These and many more questions are answered by GreenFacts’ clear and faithful summaries of International Scientific Assessments (CBD Global Outlook, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, IPCC, IAASTD etc.).

This is a crucial year as the 2010 Biodiversity Target expires and world governments will take stock of the progress made for biodiversity conservation. Later this year a new target will be adopted to continue fostering action for biodiversity.

Events around the world – including the UNESCO Biodiversity Science-Policy Conference in Paris (25-29 January 2010) – will contribute by raising awareness and catalyzing action.

Several related digests are available through our Biodiversity Theme page.

Today (7 December 2009), the biggest climate meeting in history begins in Copenhagen with 15000 participants from 192 nations seeking to agree on curbs  greenhouse gas emissions and to raise billions for the poor in aid and clean technology. Indeed, at the the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference, world leaders will hammer out a new framework agreement on climate change mitigation that will take force in 2012, following the end of the Kyoto protocol.

The primary scientific basis for upcoming policy decisions is the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in 2007.

To view the underlying scientific facts read our summary of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report – also available in Dutch, French and Spanish

Several related digests are available through our Climate change Theme page
addressing for instance arctic climate change, energy technologies, biofuels and CO2 capture and storage.

Today, bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics and there is scientific evidence that the use and misuse of biocides such as disinfectants, antiseptics, or preservatives can contribute to antibiotic resistance. If and how this might occur has been explored in the recent opinion on “Antibiotic Resistance Effects of Biocides” by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) of the European Commission.

Biocides are added to many consumer goods such as cosmetics and detergents to kill bacteria or inhibit their growth. They are widely used in animal husbandry, food production and health care.

According to the SCENIHR report, biocide use could pose a direct threat to human health if it leads to the survival of some harmful bacteria which are resistant to antimicrobial products. Even the emergence of harmless resistant bacteria could pose
Can indirect threat, since their genes that confer resistance might be transferred to harmful bacteria.
To safeguard our ability to treat infections with antibiotics, a good hygiene to prevent infection and the appropriate use of biocides are crucial.

Different biocides act in different ways and some are more likely to lead to the emergence of resistant bacteria than others.
The risk of spreading resistant genes depends on the type of bacteria involved. Bacteria that grow as a biofilm attached to a surface are particularly able to survive hostile conditions and pose a high risk of resistance to both antibiotics and biocides.

For further details read the full GreenFacts summary on the Effects of Biocides on Antibiotic Resistance

Serious questions are being raised about the environmental impacts of producing liquid biofuels for transport, the costs of policies to promote them and their possible unintended consequences.

Even though production of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel is growing rapidly, their contribution to total transport fuel consumption in the coming decades will remain limited. In contrast, the effects of increased biofuel production on global agricultural markets, the environment and on food security are already significant and are stirring controversy.

What could be the future role of biofuels for agriculture, food security and climate change?

Insights are provided by the GreenFacts summary of 2008-State of Food and Agriculture report of the FAO.

Read the GreenFacts summary on Liquid Biofuels for Transport – Prospects, risks and opportunities

According to a recent announcement by the WHO, the H1N1 influenza virus is now the dominant influenza strain in most parts of the world and in the northern hemisphere to prepare for a second wave of pandemic spread.

To date, there are no signs that the virus has mutated to a more virulent or lethal form.

The overwhelming majority of patients continue to experience mild illness. Although the virus can cause very severe and fatal illness, also in young and healthy people, the number of such cases remains small.

How is H1N1 different from seasonlal influenza?

To date, most severe cases and deaths have occurred in adults under the age of 50 years, with deaths in the elderly comparatively rare. This age distribution is in stark contrast with seasonal influenza, where around 90% of severe and fatal cases occur in people 65 years of age or older.

Perhaps most significantly, a very severe form of disease is also observed in young and otherwise healthy people, which is rarely seen during seasonal influenza infections. In these patients, the virus directly infects the lung, causing severe respiratory failure. Saving these lives depends on highly specialized and demanding care in intensive care units, usually with long and costly stays.

The WHO provides information on how to best prepare for and respond to the pandemic: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/

See also the GreenFacts summary on Global Public Health Threats

From mobile phones and computer screens to vacuum cleaners and power lines, electromagnetic fields are an inescapable part of daily life. But there is concern that everyday exposure to some of these fields of force might be harmful to health, especially to children. Are current safety limits adequate in the light of recent scientific evidence?

In 2009, based on the very latest scientific data available, the European Commission Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) answers this question in a report which has been summarised by GreenFacts.

Read the GreenFacts summary on Electromagnetic fields.

Montreal is currently welcoming  hundreds of scientists studying the atmosphere, the oceans and the ice for MOCA 2009, which is the joint assembly of the the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS), the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) and the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS).

Climate in general and polar regions in particular are high on the agenda. With the International Polar Year just behind us, new results of concerted research efforts are emerging, and they seem to confirm that polar regions are both affected by larger changes in temperatures and more vulnerable to those changes than lower latitudes, as previously laid out in the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment in 2005.

GreenFacts published a summary of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

Every year, more than 100 000 monkeys and apes are used for biomedical research around the world for biomedical research and for testing the safety of new drugs. Are there alternatives to the use of primates in research and testing? Would it be feasible to stop using them altogether? GreenFacts faithfully summarized the recent assessment by the European Commission Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER).

Read the GreenFacts summary on the use of non-human primates in research and safety testing

In this issue, we look into whether kids can safely chew on erasers, if energy-saving lamps might backlash on our health, and how to prevent and treat malaria.

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