Mobile Phones and Children

Children should limit their usage of mobile phones!

Let us see why is this a cause of concern:

Talking on mobile phones for long hours can result in Headache, Sleep Disturbance, skin problems, Concentration and Memory issues. Prolonged exposure can also result in hearing loss, tinnitus, neurological disorders and even cancer in the brain, salivary gland (mouth) or acoustic neuroma (ear).

Children are more vulnerable as their:

• Skulls are thinner and still developing due which there is deeper radiation penetration.Children’s cells reproduce more quickly than adults hence they are more susceptible to genetic damage.
• There immune system is not as well developed as adults hence are less effective against fighting cancer growth
• Children have longer life time exposure.

The radiation penetrates the skull of an adult (25%), 10 year old (50%) and a 5 year old (75%).

The younger the child, the deeper is the penetration due to the fact that their skulls are thinner and still developing. For these reasons it is critical that children under the age of 16 use cell phones only for short essential calls as they have much bigger danger of developing health problems and getting a brain tumor.

Even Mobile phone user manuals carry warnings saying -

• Reduce the amount of time spent on calls
• Maintain at least 15 mm to 25mm separation between phone and the body.Keep device away for abdomen of pregnant woman and lower abdomen of teenagers

The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection says that use of the phones by both pregnant women and children should be "limited". It concludes that children who talk on the handsets are likely to suffer from "disruption of memory, decline of attention, diminishing learning and cognitive abilities, increased irritability" in the short term, and that long-term hazards include "depressive syndrome" and "degeneration of the nervous structures of the brain".

Warning from Blackberry and iPhone can be seen at:

http://neha-wilcom.blogspot.in/2011/06/in-cell-phone-manufacturers-own-words.html