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Children And Mobile Phones - The Facts
Mobile Phone Usage
Mobile phones have become part of every day life and usage amongst children is on the increase.
No Of Children With Mobile Phones
- The UK has the 6th largest market in the world for mobile phone usage
between - 5-24 years of age
- More than a million children in the UK under 10 - one in four - already have a
mobile phone
- By 2007 the average age of a mobile phone owner will be eight in Europe compared to 12 in North America
(Research from Wireless World Forum - Youth Report 2005)
Mobile Phones Safety Usage
- 78% of children admitted that they felt safer with a mobile phone
- 73% of children used their mobile phone to contact friends and family in an emergency
- 43% used a mobile to ask directions when lost and
- 16% have reported a crime or dangerous situation using their mobile phone.
(Research from Nestle 2004)
Mobile Phone Safety Research & Guidance
Concerns about the safety of mobile phones have been raised since the mid 1990s and a number of studies have been carried out looking at the effects of mobile phones on health with conflicting results.
In 1999 the government commissioned a group of independent scientists to look into the evidence and any health threat from mobile phones. The findings were published in 2000 and are known as The Stewart Report. These are:
- There is no evidence of adverse health effects caused by radio wave radiation within current national safety limits. However mobile phones cannot yet be classed as 'safe' because of gaps in current knowledge.
- Children should be careful about mobile phone use because their brain cells are still developing and their skulls are thinner and will therefore absorb more radiation than adults. The advice was to limit children's use to short, essential calls.
- Mobile phone manufacturers must publish the amount of radio wave energy that each mobile phone transmits to the human body. This is known as the SAR value.
At the start of 2005 the Stewart report reiterated its stance regarding children's usage of mobile phones saying: "If there are currently unrecognised adverse health effects from the use of mobile phones, children may be more vulnerable because of their developing nervous system, the greater absorption of energy in the tissues of the head (paragraph 4.37), and a longer lifetime of exposure. In line with our precautionary approach, at this time, we believe that the widespread use of mobile phones by children for non-essential calls should be discouraged."
The World Health Organisation has a fact sheet on mobile phone usage which states: "Present scientific evidence does not indicate the need for any special precautions for the use of mobile phones. If individuals are concerned, they might choose to limit their own or their children's RF exposure by limiting the length of calls, or by using "hands-free" devices to keep mobile phones away from the head and body."
The Science
Mobile phones emit and receive low-level microwave radiation, which comply with UK exposure limits. However, you are also exposed to this radiation or electromagnetic energy when you switch on a light, turn on the television or use a microwave, so it is pretty much all around us.
It is known that electromagnetic energy has a heating effect, as this is how microwaves cook food and guidelines for human exposure to radio signals are deliberately set sufficiently low enough not to cause heating.
How we actually absorb this radiation is also important. A mobile phone's SAR value or Specification Absorption Rate reflects the rate at which radiation from handsets is absorbed by the body. An average phone has a SAR value of 1.6 w/kg though some are as high as the maximum recommended output 2.0. The Teddyfone is a safety phone designed for children and so has a SAR value of just 0.2 w/kg - the lowest SAR value on the market.
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