Should children use mobile phones?

Abstract

Should children be allowed to use mobile phones? Parents have been receiving mixed messages from health authorities, some of whom recommend that children limit their use of mobile phones on precautionary health grounds. Other health agencies make no such recommendation. Given the enormous popularity of mobile phones with children—indeed, in the United Kindom, more than half of all seven to 16 year-olds own a mobile phone—parents may be understandably confused and worried by such conflicting advice. Disciplines Electrical and Computer Engineering Comments Copyright 2005 IEEE. Reprinted from IEEE Microwave Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 4, December 2005, pages 18-30. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of the University of Pennsylvania's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to pubs-permissions@ieee.org. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/be_papers/68 Should Children Use Mobile Phones? ■ Tung Tommy Chau and Kenneth R. Foster 18 December 2005 Should children be allowed to use mobile phones? Parents have been receiving mixed messages from health authorities, some of whom recommend that children limit their use of mobile phones on precautionary health grounds. Other health agencies make no such recommendation. Given the enormous popularity of mobile phones with children—indeed, in the United Kindom, more than half of all seven to 16 year-olds own a mobile phone—parents may be understandably confused and worried by such conflicting advice. We review statements made by expert groups and health agencies related to the use of mobile telephones by children, and their scientific basis for such advice. We limit our discussion to agency recommendations that are based on expert reviews of the health effects literature. Our focus is on the relation between the conclusions of the health agencies (which uniformly fail to find persuasive evidence of a hazard from use of mobile phones) and their recommendations concerning the uses of mobile phones by children. We conclude that, based on current evaluations of the science by health agencies, that no recommendations are warranted with respect to use of mobile telephones by children. The public should be provided with information concerning ways in which individuals could reduce exposure to cell phone emissions if they are concerned about possible health risks, but health agencies should not recommend such measures on health grounds in the absence of any identified health hazard. We do not consider health concerns related to the siting of mobile base stations near schools or nonhealth concerns such as the safety of children who engage in unsupervised communication with strangers (which is difficult for parents to monitor when their children use mobile phones) and privacy issues that might arise when children take and send photographs using mobile handsets. The possible hazards of radio-frequency (RF) energy have been debated for many years, and exposure limits for RF energy have been in place in the United States since the 1960s, and most other countries have adopted similar limits. The two most influential limits are those of the IEEE and a broadly similar set of limits of the International Commission on Nonionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). These limits, which are revised periodically by panels of experts, are designed to exclude all identified hazards, most of which are related to excessive heating of tissue. Virtually all mobile phone handsets comply with these limits. The issue, however, is controversial. There has been much public debate about possible health effects of exposures to RF energy from microwave ovens, broadcast transmitters, military radar, and other sources—even as health agencies continue to fail to find persuasive evidence for health hazards from low-level exposures. The scientific literature is also inconsistent. Thousands of Tung Tommy Chau and Kenneth R. Foster (kfoster@seas.upenn.edu) are with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. © EYEWIRE