British experts on Tuesday urged mobile phone users to use their handsets with caution and keep them out of the hands of young children, in a report warning that mobile technology was racing ahead of studies of its potential health hazards. The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) said there was no hard evidence of a real threat to health, but stressed the need for a "precautionary approach" to the use of mobile phones technologies.
The widespread use of mobile phones world-wide has "not been accompanied by associated, clearly established increases in adverse health effects", it said in the report.
But the rapid development of new technologies is coming "at a pace which is outstripping analyses of any potential impact on health", it added.
Citing studies in Sweden and Germany, it said that exposure to radiation levels that are lower than current guidelines may be sufficient to cause biological harm.
It backed earlier recommendations from a similar report released in 2000 calling for limited use of mobile phones by minors.
NRPB chairman Sir William Stewart said children under eight should not be given their own handsets.
"I don't think we can put our hands on our hearts and say mobile phones are safe," Stewart told a press conference in London.
"When you come to giving mobile phones to a three- to eight-year-old, that can't possibly be right," he told BBC radio earlier on Tuesday.
Children face potentially greater risks to their health from radiation because their nervous system is still developing, the tissues of the head absorb more energy than those of adults and because they face a lifetime of radiation exposure, the NRPB report said.
"If there are risks - and we think that maybe there are - then the people who are going to be most affected are children, and the younger the children, the greater the danger," Stewart said.
He said teenagers could be given mobile phones so they can keep in touch with nervous parents, but should be encouraged to send text messages instead of making phone calls, since the phone was in use for a shorter period.
Stewart also said that, based on evidence, he recommended that mobile phone masts not be placed near schools, even though their "emissions... are a small percentage of the emissions that one gets from a mobile phone".
On Tuesday, British company Commun8, which launched the country's first mobile phone specifically designed for children, announced it was suspending sales because of the concerns raised by the NRPB.
Launched five months ago, the MyMo phone was targeted at four- to eight-year-olds, with pre-set phone numbers that could be easily dialled in an emergency.
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