Health Concerns about Mobile Phones

What are the health concerns about mobile phones?

In the last ten years, mobile phone use among the UK public has increased from virtually nothing to 58 per cent - 35 million people - at the end of 2001.

Mobile telephony uses a radio wave network. Mobile phones are small radio transmitters and receivers, typically with a range of a few miles. To send or receive calls, a handset must be within range of a transmitter mast. When a call is made within range of a mast, the mast relays the call to a switching centre, either by underground cable or by microwave, which routes it to the correct destination. If the destination is a mobile phone, it too must be in range of a mast.

There are concerns that the radiofrequency (RF) emissions from mobile phone handsets and masts (which also frequently emit microwaves) are damaging to human health, particularly to children.


Background

With widespread mobile phone use less than 20 years old, scientific knowledge about the health effects is limited.

Mobile phone handsets are low-powered RF transmitters, emitting maximum powers in the range of 0.2 to 0.6 watts. It is known that RF radiation of this intensity, at frequencies of between 800 and 1800 MHz, can penetrate human tissue to a depth of around one cm, producing a heating effect.

The intensity of the waves produced by handsets is too low to produce a dangerous level of heating, as determined by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB). Also, studies have shown that the intensity of RF radiation emitted by handsets falls off dramatically outside the immediate proximity of the phone.

However, the NRPB's safety guidelines only relate to the known biological consequences of excess heating and some believe that there may be other effects. It has been suggested that mobile phones can interfere with the bodies' natural electrical fields and even be linked to brain cancer.

Current scientific evidence does not support the cancer hypothesis, although a 1997 study on genetically-engineered mice found that RF fields similar to those produced by mobile phones increased the incidence of lymphoma in animals within 0.65 m of the transmitting antenna. A large number of studies, under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, are underway to determine whether there is any cancer risk for humans.

Some scientists and users have reported other effects of using mobile phones, including changes in brain activity, reaction times, and sleep patterns. Electromagnetic fields produced by handsets are also said to have the potential to interfere with the functioning of some medical devices, including pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, and certain hearing aids.

In March 1999, Tessa Jowell, then Minister for Public Health, commissioned an Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, chaired by Sir William Stewart, to assess the current state of research into the possible health risks from mobile phones and to make suggestions for future action.


Controversies

The Stewart Report concluded that mobile phone use does not threaten public health, but in view of a lack of definitive evidence, it recommended adherence to the precautionary principle.

However, the Report also said that RF may have "subtle effects" on the brain, reinforcing the suspicions of those who maintain that mobile phones have athermal effects. The WHO also says that there are gaps in existing knowledge, particularly in relation to long-term effects. However, neither Stewart nor the WHO called for any specific corrective measures.

Sir William, moreover, caused controversy in September 2001 when he called for children's use of mobile phones to be restricted, because of their thinner skulls. Research from the University of Utah later suggested that children absorbed up to 50 per cent more RF from handsets than adults.

Following public health scandals such as BSE, the public hasbeen cautious about Government and scientific reassurances. The Stewart Report said that while there may be no evidence of health effects, the anxiety about mobile phone masts was actually generating health problems in some people who lived near them.


Statistics

It is predicted that by 2004-2005 there will be 45 million mobile phone subscriptions in the UK
Statistic: (Source: Stewart Report, 2000)


Quotes

"The balance of evidence does not suggest that mobile phone technologies put the health of the general population of the UK at risk. There is some preliminary evidence that outputs from mobile phone technologies may cause, in some cases, subtle biological effects although, importantly, these do not necessarily mean that health is affected."

Sir William Stewart, Foreword to Stewart Report, 2000

"Up to 50% more radiation is absorbed in children as compared to the adults. More radiation can go through since the child's ear is thinner, the telephone is closer to the head and this thinner ear doesn't absorb so much power. Therefore more is able to go past the ear into the head. All it takes is two millimetres difference."

Professor Om Ghandi, University of Utah, quoted in the Express newspaper, November 2001