Thursday Thoughts : Mobile Phones and Brain Tumours

Mike Emerson discusses a recent Italian Court decision linking mobile phone usage to brain tumours.

Some of you may have read of the landmark decision of an Italian Court which ruled that excessive work-related use of a mobile phone caused an executive to develop a benign brain tumour.

The Court in the northern town of Ivrea awarded the plaintiff a state funded pension, which Italy’s national insurance provider normally only gives to persons suffering serious harm in the workplace.

Roberto Romeo, gave evidence that his employment duties with the national network Telecom Italia required him to use his mobile for three to four hours of each working day for 15 years.

The decision was apparently the first time ever that a court has recognised a causal link between excessive use of a mobile phone and a brain tumour. 

Although there has been speculation regarding possible damage from excessive use of mobile phone’s over a long period, the legal ruling linking Roberto’s tumour to his mobile phone usage is unprecedented and will undoubtedly give rise to much controversy.

 

Mike Emerson, June 2017

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