Federal Wi-Fi panel criticized for undisclosed conflict

The above editorial claims that the McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment at the University of Ottawa was established with the help of a million dollar grant from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). The McLaughlin Centre was established in the year 2000 with $10 million grant from the R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation, which had been providing funding on a competitive basis to medical schools in Ontario. CWTA funding was subsequently received in 2001 through peer-reviewed competitive university-industry partnerships programs administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. The CIHR award was specifically to support Canadian participation in INTERPHONE, a 13 country study of cellular telephone use and brain cancer risk led by the World Health Organization. The industry had no direct involvement in this epidemiological study, and was not permitted to see the results until they were published in the scientific literature.

The results of INTERPHONE, reported in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2010 (Vol. 39, 675-694), were instrumental in the International Agency for Research on Cancer's classification of radiofrequency fields as a possible human carcinogen in 2011, as noted in your editorial. In order to address the current lack of epidemiological data on possible brain cancer risks associated with children's use of cellular telephones, Canadian investigators from the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and the British Columbia Cancer Agency are currently participating in a 15 country study of childhood brain cancer and cellular telephone use known as MOBI-KIDS ( www.mbkds.net ). These results will provide critical scientific evidence regarding possible cancer risks associated with children's use of cellular telephones.

Conflict of Interest:

This letter to the Editor of CMAJ documents funding received at the University of Ottawa under CIHR and NSERC university-industry partnerships programs for research on the potential cancer risks associated with use of cellular telephones, which has supported participation of Canadian investigators in INTERPHONE and MOBI-KIDS ( www.mbkds.net ). I have also participated in projects funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (systematic review of epidemiological data on health effects of radiofrequency fields and identification of research needs in this area), Health Canada (coordination of Canadian participation in international epidemiological research on potential cancer risks of cellular telephones) and Industry Canada (translating scientific information on health effects of radiofrequency fields into terms that can be understood by a general audience). I was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on Identification of Research Needs Relating to Potential Biological or Adverse Health Effects of Wireless Communications Devices (2007-2008) and Committees on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR VII, 2000-2006; BEIR VI, 1994-1999) and previously served on the Academies' Board on Nuclear and Radiation Studies (2005-2008) and Board on Radiation Effects Research (2002-2004). In 1998-1999, I served as Chair, Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on the Potential Health Risks of Radiofrequency Fields from Wireless Telecommunications Devices.