Current Position
Despite denials by the cellular industry that their product is unsafe, mobile phones have been associated with a range of health effects amongst users and also with slow onset long term diseases such as cancer. Coverage of this issue in the media has intensified over the past twelve months. In the USA Dr George Carlo, the scientist responsible for conducting a six year cellular industry sponsored research programme, has published his research findings including human studies showing chromosome damage and an increased risk of cancers and brain tumours. His current public position is that he considers it no longer appropriate for the cellular industry to continue to claim that their product is absolutely safe.
May 2000 saw the much anticipated release of the report by the Government's Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP) chaired by Sir William Stewart and has resulted in the UK being the first country in the world to adopt the Precautionary principle relating to the use of mobile phones. The group findings were summarised as follows:
"We conclude that it is not possible at present to say that exposure to RF radiation, even at levels below national guidelines, is totally without potential adverse health effects and that gaps in knowledge are sufficient to justify a precautionary approach be adopted to the use of mobile phone technology."
The Expert Group which included scientists from some of the UK's top establishments and also the World Health Organisation's leading expert on mobile phones, also confirmed
"There is now scientific evidence available that biological effects may be occurring even at levels below current UK NRPB and European ICNIRP safety guidelines."
In addition to advocating the adoption of the precautionary principle, the Expert Group's other recommendations included:
Additionally, the Group has called for a substantial research programme to be set up independent from any cellular industry involvement, but paid for jointly by them and public funds.
The group's findings reinforces those in last year's UK House of Commons Science & Technology Committee report on Mobile Phone Health Effects which recommended that " The Cellular Industry and the NRPB (National Radiological Protection Board) explore ways in which mobile design might limit personal exposure to radiation". The cellular industry has already admitted that it is likely to take at least three to four years before anything will happen. The Committee also announced plans for a 500% reduction in the current UK safety guidelines.
Many submissions to the Committee also called for the introduction of the Precautionary Principle to minimise exposure with The British Medical Association (BMA) warning that "While scientific evidence remains inconclusive, we should take precautionary measures to minimise exposure".
This was repeated in America by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who urged the cellular industry "to design mobile phones in a way that minimises any RF exposure to the user that is not necessary for device to function". More recently it has been decided that all manufacturers will have to publish emission levels on cellular phone packaging by the end of the year. The same is to come into force in the UK next year.
The British Stroke Association has also recently stated that "Until research is complete, we believe it would be sensible to minimise the risk" This followed research published in The Lancet linking mobiles with increased blood pressure in users.
In Japan the authorities have now started to impose statutory emission levels rather than voluntary ones, whilst in China authorities are now starting to receive reports of users experiencing health symptoms identical to those being reported in the West and Australia.
These calls for protection follow results from a recent MORI poll in the UK which showed that 62% of all mobile users were concerned enough about their health to consider buying a shielding device.
The BMA in their aforementioned submission to the Parliamentary Committee, included a recommendation that "consumers should be provided with information on radiation shields when purchasing mobile phones" They also called into question the real level of protection given by hands free kits, expressing concern that not only was the radiation simply being redirected to other parts of the body, but also that exposure into the ear canal may actually be intensified.
Many mobile owners have taken to using hands free kits hoping to reduce exposure, but tests by the UK's National Physical Laboratory confirmed that even when using these devices, up to 50% of the phone's radiation was still coming out of the earpiece. More recent studies this year by the UK Consumer Association's Which? magazine suggests these devices may actually increase radiation exposure into the brain through the ear canal, by more than 300%.
The fact is whatever the leakage amount is, the remaining radiation still coming from the handset itself is simply being transferred to other potentially more vulnerable organs of the body e.g. those around the waist area, where users have a tendency to keep their phone when using these kits.
With uncertainty created over the effectiveness of hands free kits together with confirmation in tests that other shielding devices simply do not work as advertised, the door is now wide open for Microshield radiation protection case is now the sole remaining shielding device available to users wishing to reduce exposure levels.
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