All the hype about serious health risks from the usage of mobile phones has been dismissed by a long investigation’s results that were published yesterday. The UK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme, established in 2001, concluded after six years of research that mobile phones did not impair health, but recommended further research on the subject.
28 teams were involved in the research that cost £8.8 million, funded jointly by the government and the industry.
According to the researchers, no health problems could be related to the usage of mobile phones in short term but there was a ‘slight hint’ of a cancer risk for long-term users. At this stage, however, scientists said it was not possible to rule out that ill effects including cancers could emerge in long-term (more than 10 years) users.
The fears could not be entirely laid to rest, said Professor Lawrie Challis, chairman of the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, which oversaw the study. This was because the mobile phones had not been in use for long enough to study the possibility of cancer which has a long latency period.
"It all sounds pretty reassuring and that is good. But we cannot rule out the possibility that cancer could appear in a few years. The epidemiological evidence is not good enough and most cancers take longer than 10 years to develop," said professor Challis.
This inquiry in now their priority in further research which would also inclue studying the effects of mobile phones on children's health.
Professor Challis said there was ‘no reason to suppose’ mobile phones had any adverse effects on children but they could be more vulnerable to mobile phone signals as they are to other agents such as cigarette smoke, lead and radiation.
Fears about the effects of mobile phones on the brain and on biological processes, indicated in some previous studies, had been tested and found to be baseless, said Professor Challis
But the remaining doubt made him announce a further research programme to observe the long-term hazards of mobile phone use and the risks to children. The cost of the next research would be £6m.
It would observe some 200,000 mobile phone users from across Europe, whose health will be recorded for several years to find if mobile phones are connected to various diseases.
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