By Angela Long

There is no health risk to either children or adults from proximity to mobile phone base stations, according to a report done for the government.

The mobile phone masts have been controversial, especially the decision to place many of them on the roofs of garda stations around the country.

But the report by an expert group commissioned in 2005 says there is no evidence of any adverse health effects from these masts.

The report, Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields, also says that mobile phones themselves are not a health hazard. There is no data to suggest that the radio frequencies emitted by phones can harm child health.

The report notes that the only time at which children could be at risk to Radiofrequency Fields (RF) exposure to their heads is very early, up to the age of two.

Power lines are another potential electromagnetic risk which have been cleared by the expert group. Studies of the exposure to electricity at Extremely Low Frequency (ELF), such as comes from power lines, have not shown any harmful effects, the report says. It says current evidence does not allow for a conclusive judgement, but there are no identified harmful effects.

It recommends, among other measures, that local authorities should avoid arbitrary policies regarding the siting of phone masts and similar structures.

The report concludes that the risk from cancer or related conditions has been ruled out, but that other effects from mobile phone use such as cognitive function and sleep quality need more research.

The report says the chance of any harm from the electromagnetic sources is, on present knowledge, very tiny. It contrasts this with a set of known risks, such as death by heart attack (one in four), death from a fall (one in 380), death from the flu (one in 5,000) and death as the result "of a plane falling on you" (one in 25 million).

It notes that the public fear of radiation from mobile phone masts is much greater than that from mobile phones themselves, yet this is not rational. The report also notes that there are hundreds of emissions from the broadcasts of radio and television in the air, of which people are unaware, and are unaffected.

The expert group was led by Professor Michael Repacholi, former co-ordinator of the Radiation and Environmental Health Unit at the World Health Organisation. Its report was presented to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.