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Scientists have launched the world’s biggest investigation into the effects of mobile phones on the developing brains of children.
The Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (Scamp) will focus on mental functions such as memory and attention which continue to develop into the teenage years.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ranked forward-looking studies of the effects of mobile phones on children and adolescents as a “highest priority research need”.
Current health guidelines say that children under 16 should be encouraged only to use mobile phones for essential calls, and where possible to use a hands-free kit or to send text messages. When they do have to make calls, they are advised to keep them short.
About 2,500 school children will be tested at age 11 and 12 and undergo a further assessment two years later. Most children start to own a mobile phone at around 11 or 12.
More than 160 secondary schools in the outer London area were today receiving invitations to enrol pupils into the study.
Professor Patrick Haggard, deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and chairman of the Scamp steering committee, said: “I am delighted that the UK is contributing to this high priority research with the launch of Scamp, the largest follow-up study of its kind in adolescents worldwide.
“This study has two particularly valuable aspects: it attempts to estimate the children’s exposure to radio frequency fields as precisely as possible, and it uses a carefully-designed suite of tests to measure many of the key cognitive functions that are developing during adolescence.”
An estimated 70% of 11 to 12-year-olds in the UK now own a mobile phone, rising to 90% by age 14.
While there is no convincing evidence that mobile phones effect adult health, experts believe children may be more vulnerable due to their developing nervous systems and thinner skulls, which absorb higher levels of radio energy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ranked forward-looking studies of the effects of mobile phones on children and adolescents as a “highest priority research need”.
Current UK health guidelines say that children under 16 should be encouraged only to use mobile phones for essential calls, and where possible to use a hands-free kit or to send text messages. When they do have to make calls, they are advised to keep them short.
Scamp’s principal investigator Dr Mireille Toledano, from Imperial College London, said: “This advice to parents is based on the precautionary principle, given in the absence of available evidence and not because we have evidence of any harmful effects.
Agencies/Canadajournal
