"We should consider what age we should give our children a mobile phone. We should also learn how to use phones correctly, in other words, hold it away from the body when talking and use earphones, Gertner Institute Cancer and Radiation Epidemiology Unit director Prof. Siegal Sadetzki told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) today. She said we should consider limiting mobile phone use by children, because they are especially vulnerable to radiation.
"In addition, we, as a society, should consider whether we want this device as a television or as music player. Everything is a matter of dosage and method of use," she added.
Sadetzki, Senior Lecturer, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, Tel Aviv University, said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has not changed its position regarding the public health hazard of mobile phones, as it never before issued a report on the subject. "The WHO felt that the time had come to sort things out, and collate all the research in the field," she said, adding that brain tumors take 40 years to develop so it is not yet possible to know the effect of mobile telephones. Distancing a mobile phone from the body by using an amplifier or earphone minimizes exposure to radiation.
The WHO-International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) study, Radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans "classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer1, associated with wireless phone use."
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association noted in response that the IARC study in the past gave the same score to pickled vegetables and coffee.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 1, 2011
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