Mobiles, laptops put kids' brains at risk

 

EXPERTS have called for internet-connected mobile phones and wireless laptop computers to be banned in schools.

A major new study has found cancer-causing electromagnetic radiation generated by wireless gadgets - including baby monitors and cordless phones - may be harmful for children's developing brains.
The influential Council of Europe examined evidence that wireless technologies had "potentially harmful" effects on humans and found that immediate action was required to protect children.
The respected body's findings contrast sharply with advice from the World Health Organisation that exposure to electromagnetic fields posed little or no risk to human health.
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Glen Iris mother of three Donna Latter Jones said the news was a concern given our wireless world.

Home-based Ms Latter Jones sells devices such as children's aeroplane safety harnesses through kids travel essentials website www.littlegulliver.com.au.
She said a combination of cordless phone, iPhone, desktop computer and laptop running all day meant her young children - Hayden, 4, Carly, 3 and Matthew, 2 - had grown up running freely through a field of potentially harmful magnetic radiation.
"Both my husband and I have definitely had concerns for a while over mobile phones and radiation, and try not to keep them close to our body," she said.
She said the risks of internet-connected devices such as laptops to children was a cause for concern.
"I wouldn't go as far as to support them being banned from classrooms, but if it turns out there are significant problems, then it should definitely be looked at," she said.
"Parents should be able to make up their own minds based on what is important to their own families, but we are bombarded with so much information these days, it's hard to know what to believe."
After decades of often inconclusive research, the jury is still out on a link between mobile phones and cancer.
Sydney University professor Bruce Armstrong was among an international panel of researchers who participated in a decade-long investigation into the health effects of mobile phones.
Carried out by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, on behalf of the World Health Organisation, the Interphone Project found no clear evidence of mobile phones causing ill-health.
Experts did, however, establish a possible link with brain tumours.