The Court of Appeal in Turin, Italy, ordered Telecom Italia to pay compensation to one of its employers. The latter, suffering from a brain tumor, worked for 15 years with his mobile phone.
Some people have a habit of turning off their cell phone or putting it away at night. Often, to avoid being too exposed to the waves. The smartphone is suspected of causing cancer, affecting memory, not to mention addiction to screens which can damage vision. Italian justice has recognized a link between cell phones and cancer. Indeed, the Turin Court of Appeal condemned, this Tuesday, January 14, the company Telecom Italia to pay compensation to one of its employees, suffering from a brain tumor. For fifteen years, this man worked four or five hours a day with his phone glued to his ear. Telecom Italia had already been convicted at first instance.
The impartiality of some researchers called into question
The Turin Court of Appeal considers that the plaintiff has provided “solid elements to establish a causal link between his exposure to radio frequencies from the cell phone and his illness”, reports the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. To reach this decision, the Italian judges preferred to rely on “the conclusions of independent authors”, implicating certain researchers who deny the increased risk of cancer associated with the frequent use of the mobile phone. The independent authors presented “greater guarantees of reliability than those commissioned, managed or financed at least in part by entities whose interests are linked to the result”, can we read in the court judgment. This decision is contrary to a report published in August 2019 by the Italian Superior Institute of Health. He felt that the data available to date did not make it possible to associate the use of mobile phones with an increased risk of tumor.
The waves “possibly carcinogenic”, according to the WHO
However, this is not the first time that justice has established this link. In 2006, in the United States, judges had recognized that the brain tumor of an employee was caused by the intensive use of the mobile phone. Since 2011, the World Health Organization has considered the waves to be “possibly carcinogenic”. However, this global institute is awaiting new studies to confirm or invalidate these hypotheses. On the side of France, the French public health agency has created an Internet site which brings together all the information available on the waves emitted by mobile phones. Among the advice given, favor calls made with a headset, favor SMS.
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