A recent study conducted on the safety of wireless phones may be used as evidence in an on-going lawsuit against Motorola that alleges the company's wireless products caused a former physician's brain cancer. Last month, an article published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention indicated that users of a type of first-generation mobile phone, known as Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) analogue units, are at greater risk of developing brain tumors than those who have never used the models.
As part of a study on the safety of early-version cellular phones, researchers led by Swedish oncologist Dr. Lennart Hardell examined 1,617 patients diagnosed with tumors from 1997 to 2000, determining that the NMT units played a factor in the patients' development of cancer. Attorneys representing Christopher Newman, a former doctor whose brain tumor, now removed, led to blindness in one eye, slowed speech and memory loss, are hoping that a Federal judge will allow Hardell's study into evidence if Newman's case goes to trial.
According to the suit, Newman used analog phones from 1992 to 1998, which led to the development of a brain tumor behind his right ear. Plaintiff attorneys say the $800 million lawsuit may open the door to similar litigation against the wireless phone industry if the judge decides it should go to trial.