Turin’s Appeals Court Upholds Ruing that Wireless Phones Can Cause Tumors
Turin, Italy January 14, 2020
Yes. The prolonged use of mobile telephones can cause tumours in the head, according to a recent ruling by Turin’s Appeals Court on Tuesday upholding a 2017 decision by a lower court in the town of Ivrea regarding the case of a Telecom Italia employee hit by an acoustic-nerve neuroma.
“There are solid elements to affirm a causal role between the exposure of the person to radio frequencies from mobile phones and the disease that arose,” the judges said in their ruling.
“We hope that the ruling will lead to an awareness campaign, which is not yet in Italy – says lawyer Stefano Bertone -. As a study we have opened the neurinomi.info website , where users can also find advice on the correct use of the mobile phone ». “I don’t want to demonize the use of the mobile phone, but I think it is necessary to make conscious use of it,” explained Romeo to Torino Corriere.
Roberto Romeo, 59, a telephone company engineer, suffered whistling in his right ear before needing surgery in 2011 to remove a 2cm neuroma on his acoustic nerve which left him deaf in one ear and with slight facial paralysis.
This comes on the heels of a US agency informing the American public that their scientists reduce cell phone radiation exposure. In the United States the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Toxicology Program (NTP) webpage on the 30 million dollar animal study on cell phone radiation was updated to state that NIH/NTP scientists who studied cell phone radiation reduced their cell phone radiation exposure.
New text on the US National Toxicology Program Website reads:
“Q: Have NTP scientists changed their cell phone use or what they recommend to their families?
A: NTP scientists have become more aware of their usage and follow the FDA’s tips for reducing exposure to cell phone RFR:
- Reduce the amount of time spent using your cell phone, and
- Use the speaker mode or a headset to place more distance between your head and the cell phone.”
Tourin Court of Appeal Judgment Romeo VS Inail
- Court of Turin in appeal section work: Pres. Rita Mancuso, Rel. Silvia Casarino.
- Court consultants: Carolina Marino, Angelo D’Errico.
- Lawyers Mr. Romeo: Studio Ambrosio & Commodo, Stefano Bertone, Renato Ambrosio, Chiara Ghibaudo.
- Consultants Mr. Romeo: Prof. Angelo Levis, Dr. Mariella Papi
- Association creator and supporter of the lawsuite: A.P.P.L.E., Padua
Website setup by the Law Firm http://www.neurinomi.info/in-tribunale.html
News stories about the Italian court ruling.
- “Prolonged use of mobile phones can cause cancer”: the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Turin, Torino Corrierre
- “There is a link between cell phone use and cancer.” Confirmation by the Court of Appeal, La Stampa
- Italian court links brain tumour to use of mobile phone, The Times
- Cell phone and tumors, Turin Court of Appeal confirms: “Link between use and ear cancer. Often scholars are in conflict of interest “,Il Fatto Quotidiano
- Google translation: Cell phone and tumors, Turin Court of Appeal confirms: “Link between use and ear cancer. Often scholars are in conflict of interest “,Il Fatto Quotidiano
- The 36 pages represent a historical verdict, because for the first time a worker has obtained two favorable judgments of merit in similar cases: Roberto Romeo, a former Telecom employee, spent at least 4 hours a day on his cell phone.
- As happened in the first instance, new consultants reiterated that there is a “etiological link between the prolonged and substantial working exposure to radio frequency emitted by mobile phone and the reported disease.”
- Andrea Tundo, il Fatto Quotidiano, Jan 14, 2020 (Google translation from Italian)
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The tumor in the auditory nerve of the right ear that hit Roberto Romeo was caused by the use
of the phone. The Turin Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence of Judge Luca Fadda,
who in April 2017 had sentenced the Inail to pay the former Telecom technician a
professional sickness pension for the “abnormal” use of the mobile phone,
due to his work, in the period 1995-2010 .“Scientific literature in conflict of interest”
And in the grounds of the sentence, issued on 3 December, the college also reiterates the suspicions on the impartiality of some ‘reassuring’ studies: “A good part of the scientific literature that excludes the carcinogenicity of the exposure radio frequency (…) is in a position of conflict of interest, which is not always declared, “write the judges of the Labor Section Rita Mancuso , Caterina Baisi and Silvia Casarino , based on the conclusions of the consultants Carolina Marino and Angelo D’Errico , appointed to reanalyze the evidence already weighed by the ctu of the judge of Ivrea, Maurizio Crosignani .“Solid elements” on the causal role of use
The 36 pages represent a historical verdict, because for the first time a worker has obtained two favorable judgments in similar cases and the request for compensation by Romeo – defended by lawyers Stefano Bertone, Renato Ambrosio and Chiara Gribaudo of the Ambrosio & Commodo studio – during 2019 it was also accepted by the Court of Monza. The Turin Court of Appeal has no doubts about Romeo’s case after having the new experts reanalyze all the scientific material: Marino and D’Errico, the sentence reads, have provided “solid elements for affirming a causal role between the exposure of the person appealed to radio frequencies from a mobile phone and the disease that arose”.“High probability of the etiological link”
According to the judges, in fact, “there is a scientific covering law that supports the assertion of the causal link according to probabilistic criteria ‘more likely than not'”. And in the “specific case under examination” it is “believed that” with “criterion of high logical probability ” it is possible to “admit an etiological link between the prolonged and substantial working exposure to radio frequency emitted by mobile phone and the disease reported” by Romeo all ‘Inail.The “major guarantees” of independent studies
But the consultants and the sentence go further. In fact, on the quality of the scientific literature on the relationship between tumors and radio frequencies, the consultants write: “A large part of the scientific literature that excludes carcinogenicity (…) is in a position of conflict of interest, which is not always declared,” they write. In that case, they specify, “it is believed that less weight should be givento studies”. A setting that is shared by the Court of Appeal “since it is clear that the investigation, and the conclusions, of independent authors give greater guarantees of reliability than those commissioned , managedor financed at least in part, by subjects interested in the outcome of the studies “.The story of Roberto Romeo
Romeo, at the time of the events, was a Telecom technician and spent between 2 and 7 hours a day on his cell phone for work: in essence, calculating an average of 4 hours a day, he spent 840 hours per year using the mobile phone for an “estimated total time (…) in the 15-year interval between 1995 and 2010 equal to 12,600 hours” . And at the time, notes the Court, “there were no tools that would allow you to avoid direct contact of the cell phone with your face, such as headphones or earphones”. In the following years he then developed a neurinoma in the right ear, the side where the cellphone was used.The lawyer: “Confirmation on denial studies”
“What interested us most from the legal point of view – explains the lawyer Stefano Bertone – was the confirmation that the ‘denial studies’ financed by the industry could not go to found, influencing him , the reasoning of court consultants in cases involving mobile telephony ”. The Court of Appeal, adds the lawyer, “gives us reason with a concept as simple as it is decisive: since the industry has an interest in the outcome of studies, those who work for you or with your money express less reliable opinions than those who do research without profit “.Criticisms also for the Higher Institute of Health
The consultants of the Court of Appeal also criticize the study published last August by the Higher Institute of Health, for which the prolonged use of mobile phones “is not associated” with the increased risk of tumors . In their opinion, the study “ inappropriately uses data on the trend of the incidence of brain tumors” and “does not take into account recent experimental studies on animals” nor “has issuedvmore stringent recommendations on the limits of exposure to radio frequencies, in especially for children and teenagers, “although he says he is uncertain about the effects associated with intense use at that age . - For three decades, cases have been filed related to brain tumors and cell phones use. Read about them on EHTs webpage on brain tumor/cell phone litigation.
