British Mobile Phone Report Nothing To Worry About According To Finnish Researchers, But Danes More Cautious
Hufvudstadsbladet
May 12, 2000
British experts have reported findings that support a limitation of the time children should use mobile phones, but Finnish researchers are doubtful.
There is no reason to be too concerned over the British report, according to professor Jukka Juutalainen at Kuopio University, Finland. The British researchers recommended in their report that children should not have unlimited use of mobile phones until the health effects are thoroughly researched, but admit that there is currently no evidence to support that mobile phones would be a health risk or cause any serious diseases.
Juutalainen takes the view that unnecessary alarm and hysteria may cause as many problems as a real health risk from mobile phones, according to Hufvudstadsbladet.
Looking at the reactions from the industry, the information director of Nokia Mobile Phones, Tapio Hedman, thinks that the British report is mainly positive for the mobile phone users — there is no scientific evidence of mobile phones being a health risk and many reports from around the globe have reached the same conclusions, Hedman said.
On the other hand, Danish cancer researchers have said that the country should consider recommending that children should not use mobile phones more than they have to. The recommendation would be based on the fact that although there are no direct evidence of a connection between mobile phones and health problems, electromagnetic radiation like that emitted by mobile phones, can cause damage in organic tissues — including the human brain.
The researchers would also like to see mobile phones labelled so that the users can see how much radiation the brain receives.
It may also be worth mentioning a Swedish report that was released on 5 May, in which Swedish researchers claim to have found that mobile telephones ‘leak’ toxins.
According to recent results from three Swedish environmental chemists in Malmo, mobile telephones contain chemicals that have a melting temperature close to 37 degrees Celsius, which is the temperature of the human body. Due to this, the body heat will increase the amounts of chemicals released when the telephone is used, among these phenol and cresol as well as biphenyl, trichlorphenol and dibenzofuran. The moisture of the body also increases the release of the chemicals. The chemicals can then enter the body with the air to the lungs or they may be absorbed through the skin.
Symptoms caused by the chemicals include tiredness, headaches, blushing and dizziness as well as allergies and cancer in a longer perspective. The symptoms have been reported by mobile telephone users for some time and have previously been thought to be caused by radiation. It is not yet known exactly how large the amounts of chemicals are and if they come from the interior or the exterior of the telephones or if they are remnants of the manufacturing procedure.