By Tessa Thomas - 03rd November 2009

Since the Nineties, mobile phone use became more widespread and there has been nagging doubts about their safety.

According to a decade-long study, people who used mobiles for a decade or more had a ’significantly increased risk’ of developing some types of brain tumours. The study, which concluded prolonged usage of mobile phones can increase the risk of tumours, failed to include children.

The Interphone study, partly funded by the mobile phone industry, found an increased risk of glioma - the most common brain tumour. This follows the results of an American-Korean study  which showed that mobile use increases brain tumour risk by around 25 per cent. And a similar report from Australian scientists in July showed double the risk after ten years’ use. However, none of these reports included children - and they are the group experts are most worried about. 

‘I am seeing more patients than ever and at younger ages,’ says Kevin O’Neill, consultant neurosurgeon at Charing Cross Hospital in London. ‘The big fear among brain specialists is that the most likely culprit and certainly the one that gets closest to the brain is radiation from mobile handsets.’ 

It is important not to be alarmist, and mobile phone companies continue to insist their products are safe. Many scientists agree with them, but others have growing concerns. 

Half of Britain’s primary school children use mobile phones and many have digital cordless phones at home, which emit microwave radiation in the same way. Many experts believe young people, in particular, are more susceptible to the microwave radiation produced by mobiles - and therefore increased risk of brain tumours and other cancers of the head and neck. 

It is thought that radiation emitted by phones is absorbed by the body, damaging the cells. ‘Mobiles were originally designed to be used for short, urgent calls,’ says Professor Shakeel Saeed, an ear and brain specialist at University College London. ‘But young people use them like any other phone, often for long periods.’ 

One of the few studies on children was carried out this year by cancer specialist Professor Lennart Hardell, showed regular use - more than about an hour a day - of any mobile or cordless phone before the age of 20 raises the risk of brain cancer fivefold. That is more than double the risk reported in the most recent adult studies. 

Brain tumours

In the UK, cases among children are increasing by almost three per cent a year, with most childhood brain tumours occurring in one to two-year-olds. But how could brain cancer in children too young to own phones be connected to them? 

Epidemiologists from McGill University revealed that women who worked in low-frequency magnetic environments when pregnant, such as machinists, hairdressers, nurses and dry-cleaners, were twice as likely to have babies that developed brain tumours. 

‘Low-frequency magnetic fields can suppress production of melatonin, which in pregnant women will deprive the foetal brain of the protective hormone,’ says Professor Henshaw, patron of the charity Children with Cancer. 

‘Cordless baby alarms, toys and phones expose children to daily radiation. Although the intensity is less than a mobile, children are more susceptible to the effects. A lot of young children have Wi-Fi at school, so their exposure is continual.’

Professor Lennart Hardell says: ‘Why wait for conclusive evidence? Children deserve to be protected and we have enough data to justify warnings and restrictions for them.’ 

Some countries agree. The Russian Health Protection Agency has advised the government to ban mobile use for under-18s. France is introducing legislation to ban advertising of mobiles to under-14s and their use in nurseries and primary schools. In Salzburg, Wi-Fi is banned in schools. 

Here, the Department of Health circulated leaflets in 2000 advising that children limit use to ’short, essential calls’, but the leaflets were distributed only through health clinics, chemists and libraries. 

Caution

So, in the absence of a clear Government message or consensus about risks, what should parents do? 

‘The jury may still technically be out on the link with brain cancer but, in the meantime, most authorities are saying be careful. ‘I routinely ask my patients about their mobile phone use and, like many clinicians, strongly urge caution over use. Use landlines where possible, text rather than call and switch off your phone when not in use. ‘The cost of failing to do this could be significant.’          

How to protect your family:

·         Use corded phones and computers. If you must use a wireless phone, use a low-radiation one such as the Orchid LR, which emits only when in use. Turn off the power supply for Wi-Fi routers or cordless phone base stations at night.

·         Text rather than call.

·         Use a headset or hold it at least 20cm from your head with the speakerphone on.

·         Keep calls short: use a corded landline for long calls.

·         Switch off your mobile when not in use Better still, use it like an answer-phone and just pick up messages.

·         Avoid using a mobile in a moving vehicle – its radiation output will increase as it searches for a signal.

·         Don’t allow children to keep a mobile by their bed.

·         Don’t use mobiles at home: making lots of calls will create a demand for a mast in the area.

·         Switch to a lower radiation phone (www.sarvalues.com).