Wien (OTS) - The Vienna Doctor's Chamber (Wiener Arztekammer) warns expressly against excessive mobile phone use especially by children. The reason for this is the recently presented "Reflex Study" (Reflex-Studie) in which a definite genotoxic effect of mobile phone radiation was proven.

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20050815_reflex.asp

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Austrian doctor’s group warns of excessive mobile phone use by children
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/895483/

Vienna Medical Association Issues Strict Warnings Against Cell Phone Dangers
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/4089113/

DAVID BALE
Norwich Evening News 24
13 August 2005 11:27

Families who claim their street has higher than average rates of cancer because of a mobile phone mast looming over their homes today renewed calls for proper research into health risks from the technology.

Three years ago the Evening News reported how at least six people living in the shadow of a mobile phone mast had developed cancer.

The victims' homes in Furze Road, Thorpe St Andrew were several hundred metres away from the 120ft mast in St Williams Way, and they had all developed tumours in the previous six years.

Out of the six people featured in our story two have died from the disease and the others called for more research to be carried out into a possible link between their illnesses and radiation emissions from the antenna.

Three years down the line and families are once again urging more work to be done.

In 2002 Norwich North MP Ian Gibson added his voice to the calls for more research, but today he said that without any more cases, any further research into the links would be unlikely.

He said: “There has been no new research done but there have been no new cases that we know of.

“As the people concerned were all suffering from different types of cancer, it would make it hard to link them all to living near to the mast.”

Ivan Bond, 77, of nearby Churchfield Green, was one of the people who called for research three years ago.

He has lived only feet away from the 120ft structure since 1987. When his wife Olive died shortly after the Evening News investigation three years ago, there were concerns that her death could have been linked to the mast, but they were never investigated.

“More research definitely needs to be done,” he said today.

“I know Mr Gibson said it needs more new cases, but these masts are going up all the over the country. I think research should be done anyway, and it's very frustrating that it hasn't.”

The Evening News's Keep Masts On Hold campaign has called for no more masts to be put up near homes or schools until proper research into the health risks is completed.

In 2001 Norwich families quizzed one of the world's leading experts on the risks of mobile phone masts Sir William Stewart after he was invited to the city.

The Stewart report published in May 2000 recommended planners take into account the possibility of risks to health when allowing new masts to go up.

The mast is owned by Arqiva, formerly NTL, and leased to mobile phone companies. Arqiva did not wish to comment yesterday (fri).

Three of the four surviving victims were Betty Chaplin and Vera and Leonard Lamb. The fourth did not want to be identified but is still alive.

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED13%20Aug%202005%2011%3A28%3A05%3A510

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/14/nkidmob14.xml

Link to article on MYMO in Sunday Telegraph today.

Sian

Mobiles aimed at under-8s set for return to high street

By Nina Goswami
(Filed: 14/08/2005)

A mobile telephone aimed at primary schoolchildren but withdrawn by the main distributor eight months ago because of health fears continues to be sold in Britain.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/16/nmob16.xml

Health campaigners say they are disgusted that the telephone is still on the market, describing its sale to children as "a disgrace".

The telephone, previously also known as MyMo, is marketed by Eazytrack, a Worcestershire-based company, under the brand name the Owl. It is aimed at four- to eight-year-olds as an "SOS pay-as-you-go mobile telephone", which allows parents to know the location of their child to within 500 yards. The Owl can call only five numbers, as chosen by a parent for use in emergencies.

The telephone, which costs £99, is available online but from next month a new model will be sold in shops.

In January, Communic8, the distributors of MyMo, removed it from the market after the Government's chief adviser on radiation safety warned that under-nines should not have them.

Prof Sir William Stewart, the chairman of the Radiation Protection Division of the Health Protection Agency, said: "I don't think we can put our hands on our hearts and say mobile phones are safe. If there are risks - and we think there may be risks - the people who are going to be most affected are children, and the younger the child, the greater the danger."

Sir William, who has banned his grandchildren from using mobiles, added: "If mobile phones are available to three- to eight-year-olds, I can't believe for a moment that can be justified."

At the time, Communic8 said: "It would be foolish, ignorant even, if we were to simply ignore these findings … Even the remotest possibility of our product becoming a health risk to any child is unacceptable."

The distributor of the Owl, which is identical to the MyMo except for its packaging, has taken a different stance.

Nicholas Seller, 44, a manager for Eazytrack, said the Owl had the lowest emission levels of any mobile, with a rating less than half that recommended by the Government's safety guidelines, and had been approved for sale in Australia. "We totally agree with the Stewart report, that mobiles for children should be for emergencies," he said. "Our phone doesn't have features that encourage heavy use - no texts, downloads of music or ringtones. It's a fine line: parents don't want health worries about their children, but at the same time they want peace of mind. It's their choice at the end of the day." Karen Barratt, a spokesman for the campaign group Mast Sanity, which is concerned about the effect of mobile telephones on children, said she was disgusted that the Owl was being sold in Britain.

"Quite rightly, after the Stewart report, MyMo was withdrawn from the market - but we knew that another company would put them on the shelves as soon as the publicity had died down," she said. "It's a disgrace. Parents are being told by companies that mobiles will keep their children safe - yet half of street crime involves theft of a mobile phone."

Mrs Baratt added: "These companies targeting children have a cleverly worked-out strategy - not only are they expanding their market now but they're securing their market for the future."

The Owl is part of a multi-million-pound industry targeting children in Britain. According to MobileYouth Report 2005, the most authoritative industry research, more than a million children aged five to nine have mobile telephones.

That figure is predicted to rise to 1.5 million by 2007. The report forecasts that this year the number of under-16s with a mobile will rise by 500,000 to 5.5 million.

Eric Huber, a radiologist at Vienna's Doctors' Research Chamber, which has conducted its own research, last week warned against children using mobiles. "If medications delivered the same test results as mobile phone radiation, one would immediately have to remove them from the market," he said.

"We must assume that children are more sensitive to high-frequency radiation than adults. Their skull bones are thinner and their cells show an increased rate of division, making them more sensitive to genotoxic effects."

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From Karen Barratt

Having spent a long time in conversation with Nina Goswami I was pleased with her report and also glad to see that a reworked version appeared in Monday's Daily Expess. Interestingly it also featured in the latter's editorial where the stance taken was very much in line with ours.