How safe are mobile phones?

Mobile phones send and receive radio waves, which they then convert into sound. Above a certain level, radio waves will heat human tissues, but all mobile phones sold in the UK should meet international guidelines set to make sure this does not happen.

However, the health effects of mobile phones have remained the source of some controversy.

According to the Department of Health: “The balance of current research evidence suggests that exposures to radio waves below levels set out in international guidelines do not cause health problems for the general population. However, there is some evidence that changes in brain activity can occur below these guidelines, but it isn't clear why. There are significant gaps in our scientific knowledge.”

As a result, a group of independent experts - commissioned by the Government and headed by Sir William Stewart - recommend “a precautionary approach” to the use of mobile phones until more research findings become available.  Their advice is to:

• keep your calls short;
• consider relative Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values when buying a new phone. SAR is a measure of how much radio wave energy your body receives from any particular model of mobile phone. All phones sold in the UK have to be tested to ensure they produce SAR values below 2 watts per kilogram. You can compare the SAR values of mobile phones on the UK market before you buy at www.mmfai.org/public

Research published since the Stewart Report has now been reviewed by the National Radiological Protection Board, but the advice remains the same.