Coates, Sam, Nigel Hawkes and Alexandra Blair, “Mobile Phones Tumour Risk to Young Children,” The (London) Times, 12 January 2005, p. 1,4.

OVERVIEW

Since the British government issued a report in 2000 which allayed fears of radiological damage, the number of mobiles in Britain doubled to 50 million. The increase in use by 5-9-year-olds during that period was five-fold. It now appears the risks were underestimated by scientists at that time.

Sir Walter Stewart, professor and chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), issued a report, Mobile Phones and Health in the second week of January, 2005. It was based on four studies:
            • a 10-year Swedish study suggests that heavy mobile users are more prone to
              develop non-malignant tumours in the ear and brain,
            • a Dutch study suggests that heavy usage may change cognitive functions,
            • a German study hints at increased risk in cancer around base stations, and
            • an EU project shows evidence of cell damage from fields typical of those
              of mobile phones.

Sir William is cautious in interpretation. “All of these studies have not been replicated and are of varying quality but we can’t dismiss them out of hand… I can’t believe that for three to eight year-olds (cell phones) can be readily justified. For children 8-14, years of age, the professor suggested that parents had to use their own judgment. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Headmasters, called for a ban on mobiles in school.

Mobile phone companies reacted furiously, saying the report fanned public concern without presenting new research…. The youth market is highly lucrative because teenagers are more likely to use video downloads and other services.

The report and Sir William emphasize the lack of hard data about damage to health from cell phones. But “just because there are 50 million of them out there doesn’t mean they are absolutely safe.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working on an international report that will draw on hundreds of studies conducted over a decade. There is hope that this report will give a further definitive opinion on the safety of mobile phones.

David Riden, vice principal of Tollbar Business and Enterprise College in New Waltham, describe his school’s policy on cell phones: “Outside college hours it is up to parents, but in our care if mobiles are found on children they are confiscated and returned to the parents.”

One group that appears to target young users is Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile, which derives much of its revenue from the 16-35s market. It denies targeting under 16s, but has cornered a large slice of the youth market with cheap voice and text messages…. One British manufacturer immediately (upon the report’s appearance) suspended a model aimed at four to eight-year-olds.

Here are the best figures as to the use of mobile phones among British children:

   • 80% of 11-14 year-olds own a mobile phone, ranging from two thirds of boys 11-12
     to 9 out of 10 girls 13-14.
   • Texting is more common among 11-14-year-olds than making calls. Some 37% send 
     more than ten texts a week compared with 15% who make more than ten calls.
   • In 2003, girls aged 13-14 made an average of 7.4 calls and sent an average of 12.8
     texts per week.
   • 25 percent of 11-14-year-olds pay for all their mobile phone bills.
   • Children aged 7-10 are more likely to use their phones to call their parents rather than
     to text them, but they are as likely to text as to call their friends.
   • For this age group, 65% of parents pay for all their child’s phone calls.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1.   How important do you judge the 2005 report to be? Does it change your attitudes toward cell phones in any ways?

2.   To what extent do you see the need for further research?

3.   What policy regarding mobile phones would you suggest for parents?  For school administrators?

4.   How do you see mobile phones changing society in general and children in particular?

IMPLICATIONS

1.   The electronic revolution began in the latter 1970s with the walkman, the proliferation of home TV sets, added TV channels, the creation of the MTV network in 1981. Then video games became big. The 1990s saw the coming of the Internet, then the downloading of music, the iPod and other varieties of pocket music libraries. This decade is seeing the explosion of mobile phones and the drive toward “unimedia,” pocket electronics that will play games, get email, take and transmit pictures, and text or call friends.

2.   The implications of this electronic revolution in communications and entertainment are enormous and of interest in all those concerned with the health of children and holistic growth of youth. 

Dean Borgman  c. CYS