Researchers in London to Study Effect of Mobiles on Children’s Brain

To understand the effect of mobile phones and other wireless technologies on the brains of children and youngsters, researchers in London are planning to conduct a study involving 160 secondary schools in the capital. The study, led by researchers from Imperial College London, will try to understand the safety of mobile phone use.

Professor Patrick Haggard, deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and chairman of the Scamp steering committee, said, “This study has two particularly valuable aspects: it attempts to estimate the children's exposure to radio frequency fields as precisely as possible, and it uses a carefully-designed suite of tests to measure many of the key cognitive functions that are developing during adolescence.”

Some researches have said that developing brain and nervous system may be more vulnerable to radio frequency exposures.

Professor Paul Elliott, director of Imperial’s Centre for Environment and Health, said it was important to understand better the evidence base on mobile phone safety to give better advice to parents and children.

"Scientific evidence available to date is reassuring and shows no association between exposure to radio frequency waves from mobile phone use and brain cancer in adults in the short term. But the evidence available regarding long-term heavy use and children’s use is limited and less clear,” he said.

It has been found that 70 per cent of 11-12 year olds in the UK possess a mobile phone and the number goes up to 90 per cent by the age of 14.

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The investigation is being conducted under the Research Initiative on Health and Mobile Telecommunications and funded by the mobile phone companies and the Department of Health.

Source-Medindia