A new study has found that using a cell phone 2 or 3 times a day while pregnant is potentially harmful to future child development. The risk level is on par with that of alchohol and tobacco.
Scientists found that mothers who did use the handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation
Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems, according to authoritative research.
A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven.
The results of the study, the first of its kind, have taken the top scientists who conducted it by surprise. But they follow warnings against both pregnant women and children using mobiles by the official Russian radiation watchdog body, which believes that the peril they pose “is not much lower than the risk to children’s health from tobacco or alcohol”.
The research – at the universities of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Aarhus, Denmark – is to be published in the July issue of the journal Epidemiology and will carry particular weight because one of its authors has been sceptical that mobile phones pose a risk to health.
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While this is certainly a huge deal if indeed cell phone radiation is harmful, It is worth highlighting that the scientists…
“…add that there might be other possible explanations that they did not examine – such as that mothers who used the phones frequently might pay less attention to their children – and stress that the results “should be interpreted with caution” and checked by further studies.”
I’m not buying this one. I do have two children with developmental issues, and with one I NEVER used a cell (didn’t even own one) and with the other it was rare. This is the same freakout that occurred over microwave ovens. I’m more concerned about the power lines all over my yard that the kids are exposed to constantly than my cell.
Hmmm…so if it can affect the behavioral patterns of a growing foetus just by calling your loved ones and friends ONLY 3 TIMES a day…and being at least half a meter away from the offending device, what about the behavioural problems mobile phones cause to children, adolescents and adults who have their ears ( and just behind their ears their brains ) glued to the damn thing morning, noon and night ? That would seem to be equally important, potentially more damaging and definitely worth warning everyone too !!! I Guess unborn babies don’t pay phone bills…so that makes it OK to publish this stuff…!!!