UK: Hoogleraar ''Wij zijn als slaapwandelaars op weg naar een kankercatastrofe''.

Bron: The Mirror 5 dec 2009

Mobiles: The hidden danger to children

Auteur: Adrian Butler

Professor claims we are sleep walking to a cancer disaster

Britain is sleep-walking into a ­mobile phone health scandal as the Government ignores a link to cancer, a leading expert has warned.

Mobile phone emissions have been shown to increase the risk of THREE types of cancer in some studies – yet ministers are doing nothing to change weak official guidelines on how much they should be used.

Radiation specialist Professor Denis Henshaw said ignoring the risks of mobile phone emissions could prove as serious as playing down the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1960s.

Thousands of parents are ­expected to buy mobile phones for their children as Christmas presents – unaware they could be the most dangerous gifts they ever receive.

Radiation from mobiles has more of an effect on children because it’s claimed their thinner skulls let more rays penetrate the brain.But the only official ­Government advice is a few ­confusing ­sentences on a leaflet and the internet, which have not been updated for THREE YEARS – and which most parents do not know exists.

It states, “the current ­balance of evidence does not show health problems caused by mobile phones” but children should stick to short, essential calls as a ­“precaution”.

Ignoring the advice

Prof Henshaw, head of the ­Human Radiation Effect Group at the University of Bristol, said: “The Government is being very poorly advised on the whole issue. They should be taking it ­seriously. They have backtracked from their own scientific advice. It is like the warnings over smoking all over again.”

He warned: “We are not doing enough compared with other ­countries. The Government should force the mobile phone industry to publish the power levels of phones and draw attention to the latest studies.”

Prof Henshaw said although different research into the effects of mobiles had given different results, politicians must take the findings more seriously.

He said: “If you have got ­millions of people putting a microwave transmitter to their ear, then why should it come as a surprise that it leads to an increase in brain tumour risk?”

Voor het originele artikel zie:
www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/12/05/mobiles-the-hidden-danger-to-children-115875-21875891/ .



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