The telecommunications industry in Britain yesterday denied there was conclusive evidence linking the use of mobile phones with brain tumours, amid increasing fears about the possible health risks of mobile phone use revealed in recent studies in Sweden and the US.
Research linking phone use and brain cancers was revealed on the BBC's Panorama programme last night, with scientists urging mobile phone manufacturers to provide health warnings with their products.
However, Britain's largest provider of telephones in the home and in the office, British Telecom, which also produces mobile phones, said it was aware of the concerns expressed about their use, but "do not believe the research is conclusive one way or the other".
The company funded large-scale, independent research into the use of mobile phones and possible health risks "to see if we can come up with an answer to this question," a spokeswoman confirmed.
The company provides hands-free kits to its engineers but says this is simply to give its employees a choice rather than making any comment on health risks. It also advises employees to use hands-free kits, for convenience, when driving, but does not sell the hands-free kits.
After reports from the two new studies warning mobile phone users to consider hands-free or low-emission phones because of a link between phone use and brain tumours, the Federation of the Electronic Industry (FEI) - which represents mobile phone network operators - insisted there was "no cause for concern". Its director, Mr Tom Wills-Sandford, told The Irish Times most research pointed in the opposite direction: "If you look at the totality of evidence for any link between mobile phones and any human health effects, there is no cause for concern."
Highlighting a recent study by the Royal Society of Canada which found no evidence of risk related to mobile phone use, Mr Wills-Sandford said he did not believe it was time to issue health risks with mobile phones: "We support funding research into health issues concerned with mobile phone use. We do take this issue very seriously and we are concerned if our customers are concerned and yes, we could probably do more to inform the public. "But we say that you don't need to use hands-free kits for health reasons because mobile phones in the UK and in Ireland comply with the guidelines on safe emissions. The hands-free kits are very useful but are not needed for health reasons."
Asked if he agreed that mobile phones would continue to emit microwaves even while using a hands-free kit, Mr Wills-Sandford declared: "Sure, but that's a decision for yourself."
The largest mobile phone retailer in Britain, The Carphone Warehouse, launched an information service for customers last year to keep customers up to date about mobile phone use and health issues.
In the light of increasing fears about possible health risks, it provides regularly updated fact sheets and a telephone information line. As well as hands-free kits, The Carphone Warehouse also sells a product called a Microshield that claims to eliminate 90 per cent of microwave emissions from mobile phones, but the company insists: "By selling them we are providing a choice rather than acknowledging risks."
It also considers that there is "no conclusive scientific evidence that mobile phones are harmful to health."