How do the ways we evaluate and synthesize environmental epidemiological evidence affect health risk assessments?

Description

Guiding question: How do the ways we evaluate and synthesize environmental epidemiological evidence affect health risk assessments? Given the pervasiveness of mobile phones, researchers have been interested in whether exposure to radiofrequency radiation from mobile phones is associated with brain cancer. There are many methodological challenges related to evaluating this type of question in a single epidemiological study, and synthesizing evidence produced from the body of related studies. You are tasked with writing a commentary for the journal in response to Cancer epidemiology update, following the 2011 IARC evaluation of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (Monograph 102). In your commentary, include: • A brief description of the research question and context/motivation of the article • A discussion of three major methodological challenges in addressing the research question within individual environmental epidemiology studies that result in methodologic differences across studies • An assessment of the benefits and challenges related to each of these differences in study design across environmental epidemiological studies when synthesizing evidence for a health risk assessment • A discussion about how at least two ethical issues affect (or should affect) the process of evaluating and synthesizing the relevant body of evidence • Your opinion, with a clearly justified rationale, about what is needed next to address the question in terms of research and/or policy actions