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JUNE – JULY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com NEXUS • 49CHILDREN AND MOBILE PHONE USE: Is there a Health Risk? by Don Maisch © 2002 The paper, "Mobile Phone Use: it's time to take precautions", publishedin the April 2001 issue of the Journal of the Australasian College ofNutritional & Environmental Medicine , examines what is currently known aboutthe possible hazards of mobile phone use. At first, this subject may not seem rele- vant to children's lives until it is realisedthat, today, the fastest growing group ofmobile phone users are children and youngpeople. This growth is activelyencouraged by professional advertis-ing campaigns from the mobile phoneindustry, extolling how indispensablethe phones are to their lifestyles. Concerns about this were even voiced by the managing director of theAustralian Telecommunications UsersGroup (ATUG), Allan Horsley, whoexpressed concerns about mobilephone companies deliberately target-ing youth. "They have really gone outafter the young people with prepaycards and coloured handsets," he said. With this advertising blitz, produced by the same transnational public relationscorporations that previously gave us suchdelightful cartoon characters as "JoeCamel" for the tobacco industry, no wordsof warning are heard. However, within thescientific community, there is a growingchorus of expert voices that are urging cau-tion because, if there are adverse healtheffects from mobile phone use, it will bethe children who will be in the front lineand who may pay the highest price. Forthe sake of the future of our children'shealth, we need to heed these voices seri-ously and limit children's unnecessary useof mobile phones. The voices of reason 1)In 1999, as a result of public concerns about possible health hazards from mobilephone technology, the UK Governmentformed the Independent Expert Group onMobile Phones (IEGMP) to examine possi- ble effects of mobile phones and transmit-ter base stations. This group was headedby Sir William Stewart, the famous Britishbiochemist and President of the BritishAssociation for the Advancement ofScience. What made the Stewart Inquiry unique was that it was made up almost entirely ofbiomedical specialists who were were ableto focus many man-years of acquired spe-cialist knowledge on the problem. Theirreport, "Mobile Phones and Health", wasreleased in April 2000. In regard to the useof mobile phones by children, the IEGMPstated: "If there are currently unrecognised adverse health effects from the use ofmobile phones, children may be morevulnerable because of their developingnervous system, the greater absorption ofenergy in the tissues of the head and alonger lifetime of exposure. In line withour precautionary approach, we believethat the widespread use of mobile phonesby children for non-essential calls shouldbe discouraged. We also recommend thatthe mobile phone industry should refrainfrom promoting the use of mobile phonesby children." Sir William said at a science conference at Glasgow University in September 2001that mobile phone makers often presenttheir products in adverts as essential "backto school" items for children. Such advertsare irresponsible, said Sir William. Headded: "They are irresponsible because chil- dren's skulls are not fully developed. Theywill be using mobile phones for longer, andtheir effects won't be known for some timeto come. Mobile phone technology hasbeen led by the physical sciences. My ownview is we ought to be doing more work onthe potential biological effects." Sir William also said he would not allow his grandchildren to use mobile phones. 2)On December 8, 2000, the German Academy of Pediatrics issued a statementadvising parents to restrict their children'suse of mobile phones. They advised thatall mobile phone users should keep conver- sations as brief as possible, but that addi- tional precautions are appropriate forchildren in view of "special healthrisks" associated with their growingbodies. 3)On July 31, 2001, Wolfram Koenig, the new head of theBundesamt für Strahlenschutz, whichis the federal authority for radiationprotection in Germany, stated in aninterview in the Berliner Morgenpost that "Parents should take their childrenaway from that technology [mobilephones]". Mr Koenig, also a member of Germany's Greens party, said that"Some people are very sensitive to radia-tion" and urged companies not to targetchildren in their advertising campaigns. 4)In a statement delivered at an Australian Senate Inquiry meeting in 2001,CSIRO Telecommunications and IndustrialPhysics chief Gerry Haddad warned thatthe new telecommunications exposurestandards do not require a high enoughlevel of protection, particularly in relationto children. Mr Haddad advised: "Restrictuse of mobile phones to children foressential purposes." 5)Olle Johansson, Associate Professor at the Experimental Dermatology Unit inthe Department of Neuroscience atKarolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden,made this statement in an email to this SCIENCENEWSNEWS For the sake of the future of our children's health, we need to heed these voices seriously and limit children's unnecessary use of mobile phones.