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Why children and Teens Should Stay away from Cell Phones  

Toronto’s department of public health has advised teenagers and young children to limit their use of cell phones, in order to avoid possible health risks. The advisory is the first of the kind in Canada.

Officials have warned that because of possible side affects from radio frequency radiation, children under eight should only use a cell phone in emergencies, and teenagers should limit calls to less than 10 minutes.

For many years, most government health agencies were dismissive of any risk. But with more studies, a pattern is emerging that suggests people who have used their cell phones for a long period of time are at a greater risk of certain kinds of brain tumors.

In addition to the Toronto department of health advisory, the U.K., Belgium, German, France and Russian have already introduced precautionary policies regarding cell phone usage due to potential health risks.

For example, one Swedish review of 11 studies found that using your cell phone for 10 years or longer will double your risk of getting a tumor on a nerve connecting your ear to your brain (acoustic neuroma). And because children have thinner skulls than adults, and their nervous systems are still developing, children are particularly vulnerable to this type of tumor and should not use cell phones at all.

Professor Mild, lead researcher of that particular study, also cautioned that the danger may even be greater than what they found because cancers need a minimum of 10 years to develop. Since children today are using cell phones at an earlier age than any previous generation, their exposure will be far greater over their lifetimes.

• Health zone
• CBS News