THE TIMES
24 May 1999

Mobile phone research adds to safety fears

By Valerie Elliott, consumer editor

MOBILE phone users will be told today to make fewer calls and to keep them short after new research has increased concern about the danger of brain damage.

Scientists who fear that there is a link between the phones and the incidence of tumors say that people should opt for brands that emit only low radiation, and for remote earpieces that avoid the need to hold the handset against the head.

John Stather, of the National Radiological Protection Board, is calling for urgent talks between the manufacturers and the Government and says that the public should be fully informed about any risk.

The findings of the research are to be screened tonight on BBCl’s Panorama but Dr. Stather says that this is not enough. "The risk of potential exposure should be given to the public," he said.

His views are shared by Alan Preece of Bristol University, who is conducting the only British study so far on the effects of mobile phones on the brain. He is shocked by the findings of the Panorama survey, which shows the disparities of radiation levels emitted from different phones.

The National Physical Laboratory studied different levels of emission absorbed by the brain from different makes of phones, which differed by a factor of more than 20.

Panorama‘s survey showed that using a hands-free attachment could cut exposure to radiation by 90 per cent, and that using a microshield to protect the head could cut exposure by 80 per cent. Dr. Preece tells the programme: "I was somewhat startled to see such a large gap between the highest levels and the lowest. It seems to me if you want to reduce the exposure ... then it looks as if the design is in the manufacturers’ hands."

Concerns have been increased by the disclosure that US manufacturers were summoned last week to a secret meeting with safety officials. George Carlo, head of the US research body funded by the industry says it is no longer a responsible position to say that there is no problem.

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