'Still No Evidence' Mobile Phones Affect Health

There is still no evidence mobile phones harm human health, a major safety review for the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said.

Scientists reviewed hundreds of studies of mobile exposure and found no conclusive links to cancer risk, brain function or infertility.

However, they said monitoring should continue because little was known about long-term effects.

The HPA did say children should still avoid excessive use of mobiles.

There are now an estimated 80 million mobiles in the UK, and because of TV and radio broadcasting, Wi-Fi, and other technological developments, the study said exposure to low-level radio frequency fields was almost universal and continuous.

In the biggest ever review of the evidence surrounding the safety of mobile phones a group of experts, working for the HPA, looked at all significant research into the effects of low-level radio frequency.

They concluded that people who were not exposed above UK guideline levels did not experience any detectable symptoms.

That included people who reported being sensitive to radio frequency.

They also said there was no evidence that exposure caused brain tumours, other types of cancer, or harm to fertility or cardiovascular health.

But they said very little was known about risks beyond five years, because most people did not use mobile phones until the late 1990s.

"Even though it's relatively reassuring, I also think it's important that we keep an eye on the rates of brain tumours and other cancers," said Prof Anthony Swerdlow, who chaired the review group.

"One can't know what the long-term consequences are of something that has been around for only a short period."

(H)