Mobile phones and children

There has been plenty of media coverage about the over use of mobile phones, particularly in adults, and the potential health hazards. It is the radiation emissions from the phones that could place users at risk of brain conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, and they have also been linked to cellular DNA damage, and children and teenagers are particularly vulnerable. Nor does the phone have to be switched on to cause a problem: even on standby mobile phones (and cordless phones) create a magnetic field.

It was in 2005 that research by the Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA) first claimed to have found the first proof of health problems caused by mobile phones. They estimated that up to five per cent of the population could be suffering headaches, mood swings and hearing problems caused by radiation from handsets. At that time too, experts advising the Government warned that children under eight should not be given mobile phones because of the potential health risks. Now news is in from Canada where the Toronto department of public health has announced that children under the age of eight should not use a mobile, or cell, phone only in an emergency and young teenagers should restrict their use to just 10 minutes a day. Loren Vanderlinden, a health department supervisor and author of the report, has said that new studies are starting to suggest that long-term mobile phone usage may increase the risk of brain tumours, and this goes much further than the more tentative position of the UK health officials a few years ago when they also warned parents not to let children use a mobile.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

It may be hard, if not impossible to wean a teenager from their mobile phone or to restrict the time they are on it. However, there are some options for reducing the radiation that can help anyone who has prolonged use of a mobile. First it might be helpful to know what are the symptoms of over use:

** “Hot ear” effect / feel your brain is heated up
** Headache Fatigue / tiredness
** Nausea
** General discomfort
** Blurred vision

One of the ways to counteract the radiation is to have a device attached to the phone to affect how cells “receive / react” to wave radiations and usually this is done through some form of magnet. There is a website that offers Biophone and Bioguard – a unique technology that they claim is scientifically proven and works with a number of phones including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, and others – so if you want to know more visit them at www.biofona.co.uk and browse through the site.