Cell Phone For 4-Year Olds: A Bad Idea

Cell phones aimed at children as young as four years old are soon to be launched in the UK. This despite the official Government advice to parents that they should avoid giving mobiles to under-16s as a safety precaution against the potential health risks.

The new phone, called the FireFly, looks like a toy and has just five buttons, including two that call mom and dad directly. The Ireland-based company that markets the phone has already sold over 7,000 of them in Ireland and plans to launch it in the UK before the end of the year.

This issue is of great concern because studies have shown that the radiation penetration rates among children are much higher than adults. Dr. Om Gandhi, a respected University of Utah scientist, compared in his 1996 study the specific absorption rates (measured in milliwatts per kilogram, or mW/kg) of cell phone radiation inside the brain among three age groups: 5-year olds, 10-year olds, and adults. This is what he found:

- 7.84 in an adult
- 19.7 in a ten-year old child
- 33.12 in a five-year old child

Radiation Penetration in head of adult

Radiation Penetration in head of 10 year old child

Radiation Penetration in head of 5 year old child

These differences in exposure are quite substantial, and show potentially serious health risks to children from the radiofrequency waves. And government officials are taking notice. Professor Lawrie Challis, who led the UK Government's research on the safety of cell phone use, said that primary school pupils should not have phones at all.

But other countries are going beyond just issuing warnings and advice. France, for example, is pushing through laws banning sales of cell phones to children under six and prohibiting advertising them to children under 12.

Cell Phone Use May Contribute to Memory Loss

Researchers from Israel's Ben Gurion University found that cell phone radiation may adversely affect the cognitive functions of phone users. The experiment tested the subjects' ability to quickly remember images while exposed to the cell phone radiation. Cell phones were attached to both ears of 48 participants. One third of the subjects had the cell phone working on the right side of the head, one third with the phone functioning on the left side, and the remaining third had no working phone at all. The delay in reaction time appeared to be most significant among subjects who had the working phone closest to the brain's left hemisphere. You can read more details of this report here: Cell Phone Usage Damages Memory.

This study appears to be consistent with the findings of a separate study from Sweden performed on rats. The Lund University research team found that rats exposed to cell phone radiation for two hours a week for more than a year did poorly on a memory test compared to rats that had not been exposed. They believed this has to do with the cell phone's microwave radiation causing a leakage through the blood-brain barrier. More details of the Swedish study can be found here: Mobile Phones Affect Memory In Laboratory Animals

Yet another reason to be take necessary precautions when using cell phones. Using the speaker phone, an air tube hands-free headset, or a scientifically tested cell phone radiation shield are some viable options.

Video: 60 Minutes Australia Report on Cell Phone Health Risk

Recently 60 Minutes featured a report on the widespread use of cell phones and its possible connection with brain tumor. An international team of doctors, including two of Australia's finest surgeons, released their latest, comprehensive research. Dr. Vini Khurana, a Canberra neurosurgeon, talks about studies that showed a doubling of risk of brain tumor for long-term use of mobile phones over 10 years, and expressed his opinion that it may be a conservative estimate. Another prominent neurosurgeon who worked on the report, Dr. Charlie Teo, is convinced that the increased number of brain tumor cases he sees in his patients is related to their use of the mobile phone. The segment includes footage of Dr. Teo performing surgery on one such case.