Commenting on an article by Tessa Thomas in the Daily Mail on November 3rd, Dr George Carlo of the Science and Public Policy Institute in Washington DC and an acknowledged expert on cellphone telephony (he headed the $28.5 million research program funded by the cell phone industry from 1993 to 1999 before founding the Science and Public Policy Research Institute) said:

As far as children and cell phones, here is where I am:

As you know, my first warning on children using cell phones came in 1999 and was echoed loud and clear in my Invisible Hazards book in 2001. This is not new. We were concerned then about children being more susceptible to radiation damage than adults because of their active brain development, exposed DNA and deeper penetration of electro-magnetic radiation into their smaller heads. A decade later, we have data confirming those fears: the most recent Hardell study showing the highest risk of brain tumors in people who began using cell phones as teenagers; observations in young people and controlled experiments of cell phone related behavioral anomalies, learning difficulties, and stunted social development; and we know that the cell phone infrastructure is playing a role in the current Autism epidemic.

But, while those observations are being debated amongst scientists and policy makers, a more serious problem is growing under the radar. Most alarming is that we understand clearly the mechanism of harm for cell phone related damage, including epigenetically induced maladaptation. In effect, the mechanistic data portend that cell phone radiation exposure in this most vulnerable population of young people is adversely altering the genome of an entire future generation. With the pervasive penetration of cell phone use in teenagers globally, an unprecedented and insidious genetic experiment has reached global dimensions -- and no one can predict with any degree of certainty, where it might lead.

Controlling cell phone use in young people is not a choice. It is an urgent necessity.

More articles on mobile phones and masts

First Published in November 2009

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