The Sunday Express,22 April 2012

IF you are a parent of the one in three under-10s who now owns a phone, you’ll be aware of the current Department of Health advice: “Children should only use mobile phones for essential purposes and keep all calls short.” If you have not read this advice, possibly because it is tucked away on an obscure website, you might now be wondering how long your child can safely use their phone before their brain turns to mushy peas.

The Government’s view is that parents should take responsibility for whether or not their children have phones in the first place.

Despite the warning about restricting child usage a Department of Health (DoH) spokesman says there is no evidence that mobiles cause tumours but then adds that the scientific evidence is always under review. So what is the scientific evidence?

Next week the charity Children With Cancer is holding a conference in London and one of the subjects it will debate is “brain tumours, mobile phones and childhood cancer”, chaired by Geoffrey Pilkington.

A professor of cellular and molecular neuro-oncology for four decades, he believes that parents should adopt precautions: “If there is any possibility that mobiles can cause tumours, it would suggest children are more vulnerable because their brain cells are still dividing. Anyone who has children wants them to be exposed to risk as little as possible. Therefore until we know more about all possible risks, not only from radiation, parents might want to think carefully about giving children a phone.”

Read more