Scientists undecided on safety of mobile phones

The scientific jury is out on the issue of the safety of mobile phones, but expert opinion is currently heavily weighted in favour of the view that there is no evidence of health damage to users, a conference in Dublin Castle was told.

With telecommunications masts, including mobile phone base stations, MMDS and television transmitters, the risk was more clear-cut, with considerably less likelihood of damage from their radio frequency/microwave emissions, according to some of the world's leading authorities on electromagnetic radiation who attended.

Even an Australian study, which found an increased incidence of lymphoma cancers in mice exposed to mobile phone frequencies, could not be applied to humans, its author, Dr Michael Repacholi, said at an event staged jointly by the Departments of Public Enterprise, Health and the Environment.

Dr Repacholi said the mice were genetically predisposed to cancer. The results needed to be replicated in other animals.

The study's significance might be in its design, which could be applied to other research, but it raised the possibility of "some radio frequency effect we don't know about".

That, he admitted, might not reassure those concerned about masts and mobile phones, but science took time. A World Health Organisation study of electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which he is managing, was trying to clarify the science and ensure better risk assessment.

Studies were needed to test the "reproducibility" of reported changes in hormone levels; effects on the eye and inner ear, memory loss and in neurodegenerative diseases. These should involve exposure frequencies in the 900 to 3,000 megahertz range for up to six hours a day. The world's 100 million mobile phone owners use theirs for an hour a day on average.

Dr Alistair McKinlay, who chaired the European Commission's expert group on mobile phones and is vice-chairman of the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, said there was no convincing evidence of long-term hazards from mobile phones. But further research was necessary, including long-term cancer studies and evaluation of possible effects on sleeping patterns, immune systems and people who may be EMF-sensitive.

Dr Bernard Veyret, of the University of Bordeaux, said people's concern about masts was unfounded. "If they want something to worry about, they should worry about the main source of power, the mobile phone."

A Swedish neurosurgeon, Dr Lief Salford of Lund University, said his study of rats showed no significant differences in tumour growth between exposed animals and those which were not.

He uses a mobile phone but tries to reduce the duration of his calls, he said. When he was using it a lot, he had experienced unpleasant effects on his temporal muscle but was not unduly worried by that.