Hi all,

The problem, as I understand it, is that the mobile phone antennas
emit concentrated amounts of electromagnetic waves (radio frequency
spectrum) and despite its low wattage (power) its density is enough to
penetrate human tissues, of most concern is into the brain tissue. I
think scientific literature are still undecided as to the long term
effects of prolonged and continually intermittent exposure. There have
been literature citing concerns with associations with increased
incidence of brain tumours. There have also been concerns regarding
its effects on young and adolescent's brains (they have little enough
of it as it is ;) .) The use of handsfree units do not seem to bypass
this problem as the wire for the mic and phone also acts as an antenna
(I know this happens for walkmans but I can't vouch for this
particular piece of info for mobile phones so don't quote me!!).
Shields for mobile phones are apparently available but not widely
sold. There seems to be a political slant to the whole debate as the
mobile phone industry does not want to admit any form of health
concerns. I haven't really investigated the whole matter extensively
but I hope it doesn't become the new tobacco industry!!!

I think RNSH is one of the first to warn against mobile phones for
this reason. Most hospitals ban mobile phones because of fear of
interfereing with medical sensors.

Here are a few links you may find interesting or usefull:
1) the UK Stewart inquiry was released in 2000, looking into health
risks associated with mobile phones
http://www.electric-words.com/inquiries/uk-stewart/stewart1a.html

2) try doing a search "mobile phone safety" at these tech sites
http://apcmag.com
http://zdnet.com
http://cnet.com

3) try a search "mobile phone" AND "safety" at
http://www.google.com
http://yahoo.com
http://excite.com

4) try the British Medical Journal which have all their journal
articles on-line (fantastic resource!!!) and do a search
http://www.bmj.com


5) or lastly a Medline search
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi


I find the whole debate quite confusing. Hope this helps.

Geoff Hall