Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will investigate further a recent study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, outlining greater risks to rural dwellers from mobile phone usage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17942/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The study is reported in a research paper published in the BMJ Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on 17 May 2005 titled Use of Cellular telephones and brain tumour risk in urban and rural areas by L. Hardell, M. Carlberg and K. Hansson Mild. The paper aimed to investigate the association between the use of cellular or cordless telephones and the risk for brain tumours in urban and rural areas. It considered patients in Sweden aged 20-80 years and based the results on 1,429 cases with 1,470 controls and claims that users in rural areas were 1.4 to 3.2 times more at risk from digital cellular telephones while their counterparts in urban areas were less at risk by a factor of 0.9. It claims the effect was most obvious for malignant brain tumours. The paper concluded that, in future studies, place of residence should be considered in assessment of exposure to microwaves from cellular telephones, although it admitted that the results in the study must be interpreted with caution due to the low numbers in some of the calculations. The paper is being examined by my Department. When I have considered its contents, I will be happy to comment further on the matter.