British researchers are looking for the impacts
More than 160 secondary schools in the London boroughs will receive invitations in the coming days to enrol their students to participate in the study, the Health Ministry announced.
This is a «highly significant study, the largest ever conducted to date» on children regarding the effects of mobile phone use, said today Professor Patrick Haggard, who is responsible for the research.
From September and for three years, 2,500 children aged 11 to 12 will be monitored by the heads of the Study of cognition, adolescents and mobile phones (Study of cognition, adolescents and mobile phones, SCAMP) as well as by researchers from Imperial College London.
This age group is particularly important because it corresponds to the entry of children into secondary education. The proportion of them who own a mobile phone at this age reaches 70%. This proportion rises to 90% at the age of 14.
While the relationship between brain cancer and mobile phone use remains under discussion worldwide, various studies have examined the effects of mobile phones on adults.
According to researchers, the consequences of these new technologies on children «are very little known».
British scientists will try to determine whether the «children's brain is more sensitive to waves, as it is still developing», explained Professor Patrick Haggard.
Researchers will focus their work on the cognitive functions of the brain, such as memory or even concentration.
They will also pose questions to parents and children about how they use mobile phones and other wireless electronic devices, such as tablets, and will analyze the data of mobile phone companies.
«The scientific evidence available so far is reassuring and does not show any link between exposure to radiofrequency waves from mobile phone use and brain cancer in minors in the short term– that is, with use of less than 10 years», says Paul Elliott, director of the Centre for the Environment and Health at Imperial College London, who is also responsible for the research.
«However, the data that is available regarding long-term intensive use and use by children is limited and less clear», adds.
The British National Health Service (NHS) advises children under 16 not to use a mobile phone except in cases of genuine need and to have a kit «chance free».
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), research in this field is «high priority».
