• Court ruling confirmed: REFLEX study is not fake
• Study shows changes in human DNA caused by mobile phone radiation
• Scientifically systematically discredited over many years

The verdict on one of the biggest scientific falsification scandals is a milestone for many researchers. Since the 1990s, independent studies have repeatedly come to the conclusion: Mobile phone radiation can cause cancer. One of the most important studies on this is the REFLEX study from 2004, funded by the EU. In 2008, claims suddenly appeared that the study was fake. Now a final court ruling confirms: The study results were not falsified. But what does that mean? Can a mobile phone cause cancer?

Early studies pointed to cancer risk from mobile phone radiation

The research on scientific studies regarding mobile radio radiation reads like the script for a political thriller. It's about intrigue, a powerful lobby and – as always – a lot of money. Motorola launched the first mass-market mobile phone in the 1990s and thus initiated the incredibly rapid development of a completely new branch of industry: the mobile communications industry. In some countries there are now more mobile phone contracts than residents.

However as the mobile phone became a mass product, the first studies on the health effects of mobile phone radiation were published. For example, back in 1995 Professor Henry Lai of the University of Washington presented disturbing results. On the basis of animal experiments, he was able to prove that high-frequency radiation causes DNA strand breaks - i.e. changes in genetic material. Such genetic changes can cause cancer.

These results set a stone rolling. But not, as one might expect, a – at least temporary – production stop of mobile phones and a large-scale investigation into the long-term consequences of high-frequency radiation such as mobile phone radiation. The industry was already far too well-advanced for that. So instead of providing clarity, the study results were downplayed and the scientists involved were discredited.

Still: The mobile industry was alarmed and reacted strategically: The interest group for the mobile communications industry in the USA, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), commissioned its own study and entrusted the scientist George Carlo, who was considered industry-related, with the management of the so-called WTR study.

What the clients probably did not expect: After it became clear from the study results that mobile phone radiation actually increases the risk of tumours, Carlo urged that these results should be published. As a result, he was discredited – as was Professor Lai before – and, according to Carlo, the study results were falsified afterwards. The result: The study no longer showed any connection between mobile phone radiation and an increased tumour risk.

Europe's largest research project on mobile phone radiation a fake?

A few years later, the largest research project was launched in Europe, which was supposed to study the relationship between mobile phone radiation and cancer. The so-called REFLEX study was funded by the EU. Twelve research groups from seven countries were involved. In 2004 the scientists, led by the German Professor of Medicine Franz Adlkofer, published the results: Under the influence of mobile phone radiation, a significant increase in DNA strand breaks in human connective tissue cells and, as a result, a change in the genetic material can be observed.

But what happened after this explosive publication? Both Adlkofer and other members of the research group, above all the laboratory head Professor Hugo Rüdiger, were discredited as scientists and the REFLEX study was portrayed in media reports as manipulated and falsified. The head of the follow-up project, Professor Wilhelm Mosgöller from the Institute of Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna, confirmed the results of the REFLEX study.

A systematic falsification scandal

The accusations of falsification came from Alexander Lerchl. Lerchl is a biology professor at the Jacobs University Bremen. He worked as a consultant for the German Information Centre for Mobile Communications (IZMF), an organisation founded by the mobile network operators in Germany to implement the joint interests of the German mobile communications industry. In addition, Lerchl was a member of the German Radiation Protection Commission from 2008 to 2011 and chairman of the Non-ionising Radiation Committee. Since then, he has been conducting a study on the effects of 5G radiation on human cells on behalf of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS).

In 2008, the same year that he became a member of the German Radiation Protection Commission, Lerchl published the book “Fälscher im Labor und ihre Helfer” ("Fakers in the laboratory and their helpers”). In it, Lerchl writes about the results of the REFLEX study: "The results of Diem et al. were indeed worrying. If they are confirmed, this would not just be an alarm signal, but the beginning of the end of mobile communications, since DNA damage is the first stage in the development of cancer.“

And the results were actually confirmed indirectly by numerous subsequent international studies, including long-term studies such as the American NTP study of 2016, the Ramazzini study of the University of Bologna (also from 2016) or also by the Austrian AUVA studies. They all come to the conclusion: Mobile phone radiation can cause cancer. More than 80 studies have now demonstrated DNA strand breaks (genetic alterations) caused by electromagnetic radiation.

In 2011, seven years after the publication of the REFLEX study and three years after the first allegations of falsification by Lerchl, the WHO decided to classify mobile phone radiation as "possibly carcinogenic". This is still true today, although more and more scientists are now calling for mobile phone radiation to be classified as “definitely carcinogenic".

By the way: Shortly before the WHO decision, it had decided not to admit Lerchl to a commission of the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) to assess the risk of the carcinogenic potential of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation. The WHO saw a clear conflict of interest due to Lerchl's consulting work for the mobile phone organisation IZMF.

The verdict – a milestone for scientists and consumers

For twelve years Adlkofer defended himself against the accusations of falsification. Now, in December 2020, the final court verdict fell: Alexander Lerchl must no longer accuse the REFLEX study of falsification. A revision of the judgment is excluded.

The verdict is of enormous importance for all people who have been dealing with the health effects of mobile phone radiation for many years: on the one hand, scientists now have the opportunity to conduct further research on the basis of the REFLEX study. On the other hand, it is now a matter of promoting information about the harmful effect of mobile phone radiation on the body.

This is what memon does. And even more: memon technology was developed to protect people from the effects of electromagnetic radiation. If you want to learn more: