More dangerous than smoking 'Mobile phones'

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

The National Radiological Protection Board is a statutory body advising the Government on radiological issues relating to health. The report advises parents to limit the amount of time children spend on mobile phones until they are proved to be safe. This echoes the findings of a report five years ago, which urged a “precautionary” approach – particularly among children. Sir William Stewart, the Government’s chief adviser on mobile phone safety says, “Parents have a serious responsibility to their children in this field and they have a lot to answer for. They can’t just throw a child out with a mobile and think that they are safe.”

The risks

Around 25 per cent of primary school children and 90 per cent of pupils aged 11 to 16 are now thought to own a mobile phone. But there are concerns that mobile users are at increased risk of headaches, memory loss and sleep disorders, and also that handsets emit radiation which could cause brain damage and tumours – particularly in young people whose skulls have not yet fully matured.
Professor Hyland of Warwick University says, “Pre-adolescent children can be expected to be particularly at risk because the absorption of microwaves of the frequency used in mobile telephony is greatest in an object about the size of a child’s head. The immune system, whose efficiency is degraded by radiation of the kind used in mobile telephony, is less robust in a child, making it less able to cope with any adverse health effect that might be provoked by chronic exposure to such radiation.”

Take action

While the report found there is no “hard evidence” of adverse health effects caused by mobile phones, NHS advice is to adopt a cautionary approach. So encourage your children to:

• Only use their phones when necessary
• Keep calls short
• Only use their phone when the reception is strong – this is often indicated by bars of energy on the phone’s screen. Weak reception causes the phone to use more energy to communicate with the base station.
• Carry their phones away from their body when it is on standby.
• Go for a phone with more “talk time”. It is more efficient with less powerful emissions.

Before buying a phone find out the SAR (specific absorption rate) online at www.mmfai.org. The lower the better. You can also minimise risks by encouraging children to text rather than chat and by choosing a plan with the fewest inclusive minutes so the phone is used only where there is no other option. Or encourage the use of a hands-free kit or wireless Bluetooth handset. There are also devices that attach to phone to combat potentially harmful low-level radiation.