Text
Message Warning
BBC
May 24, 2001
Doctors are
calling for research into the effects of text messaging, particularly on
children.
A report from
the British Medical Association (BMA) says more work is needed to investigate
the possible health risks of text messaging because the mobile phone is held
in a different position, near waist level.
The BMA says
more needs to be known about whether mobile phone radiation affects different
parts of the body in different ways.
In January
2001 alone, over 900m text messages were sent in the UK.
A BMA
spokesman told BBC News Online: "There needs to be more research into the
harmful effects on the internal organs around torso level - such as the
reproductive organs and kidneys.
"Those
harmful effects could apply to adults, but children are more likely to text
message, and more likely to do it for longer periods."
Signals
But
Dr Michael Clark, scientific spokesman for the National Radiological
Protection Board, said: "If you want to be really precautionary about
children and mobile phones, they should be encouraged to text message rather
than call."
"When
you use a mobile phone for text messaging, radio waves are only emitted when
you press the 'send' instruction.
"So your
exposure to radio waves is likely to be very much less than you would receive
while using a mobile phone for a normal call."
Roger Coghill,
a UK biologist who has studied the effects of mobile phones, said: "With
a text message, you write it, then send it, which doesn't constitute much of a
hazard - but it does need looking in to."
A spokeswoman
for the Federation of the Electronics Industry said current guidelines on heat
emissions from mobiles covered every part of the body.
She said:
"The phone is not working in a different way but its sending text data
rather than voice data, though the voice signal lasts longer."
She said
mobile phone radiation emissions were also within current guidelines.
'Hands-6.00'
warning
The
BMA is also calling for the Highway Code to be changed to advise people never
to use any mobile phone while driving.
Its report
says hands-6.00 phones are equally as dangerous as hand-held phones because
they still distract the driver from concentrating on the road.
The Highway
Code currently tells drivers never to use hand-held phones or microphones,
though it does say using hands-6.00 equipment is "likely to distract
attention from driving".
Safety
organisations backed the BMA. A spokesman for the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) told BBC News Online: "We know there have
been at least 16 deaths over the last few years where mobile phones have been
involved on British roads."
He said RoSPA
wanted to see a special offence brought in of using a mobile phone while
driving, and said drivers should switch off their mobiles when they get into
the car.
A spokesman
for the Department of Health said current advice already said mobile phones
should not be used while driving because they could be "distracting and
dangerous".
Concerns
Dr
Clark said the BMA's advice echoed the recommendations of last year's Stewart
Report which looked into phone safety.
Dr Vivienne
Nathanson, head of science and health policy at the BMA, said there were
obvious "large gaps" in research into possible adverse effects of
radio frequency radiation that needed to be addressed.
There are
around 40 million mobile phone users in the UK.
The
Department of Health has promised £7m for research into the health effects of
mobile phone use.
The BMA also
advises users to switch off phones when they are not being used and to limit
the length of calls.
