LONDON - CHILDREN should not be given cellphones as using them for more than 10 years increases the risk of brain cancer, says a leading scientist.
People who have used their cellphones for a decade are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a tumour on a nerve connecting the ear to the brain and children's skulls are thinner, making them more vulnerable, he adds.
The findings, reported in yesterday's Daily Telegraph newspaper, are based on the work of a group of scientists who surveyed the results of 11 different studies.
Professor Kjell Mild of Orbero University, Sweden, who is a government adviser and led the research, said that children should not be allowed to use cellphones because their thinner skulls and developing nervous systems make them particularly vulnerable.
His study comes a month after a separate piece of research, jointly funded by the British government and the cellphone industry, found only a 'very faint hint' of a link between long-term use of such phones and brain tumours.
But the six-year, £8.8 million (S$26 million) Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme has come under fire for failing to investigate more thoroughly those who have used their cellphones for more than a decade.
Most scientists have had difficulty researching this area as cellphone usage did not become widespread until the late 1990s.
Prof Mild also said the health danger may be even greater than his study suggests because 10 years is the minimum period needed by cancers to develop.
