Written by People have always claimed that mobile phones could cause health problems, and while this has never been proved, a new study is set to set the record straight (or possibly not) by tracking the health of 250,000 mobile phone users all across Europe, including the UK.
The mobile phone study will cover a period of more than 20 years and network operators in the UK have agreed to take part in the study by inviting a random selection of people to take part in the study. O2 and Vodafone have already signed up to take part.
Health conditions that will be looked at will include cancer, dementia, sleep disorders and rates of depression, and will look at a selection of mobile phone customers aged 18 to 69.
The cohort study on mobile communications (Cosmos) is the latest research to be commissioned by the government that looks at the effects of mobile phones. The last inquiry set up by the government’s mobile telecommunications health research programme (MTHR) was the Stewart inquiry which concluded that there was no evidence to show that mobile phones were dangerous, but that more research was needed into the long term effects…
As a precautionary measure, mobile phone usage amongst children was not advised unless it was essential. Somehow with 75% of American teenagers owning a mobile phone, and sending more than 100 texts a day, we think that this advice may well have been ignored.
This study is unique in the fact that it is long-term and that it is documenting the risk across a broad range of health problems including brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, Alzheimer’s, heart disease as well as psychological conditions.
Paul Elliott from the Imperial College London, which will be home to the British arm of the study, said: “Cosmos aims to fill in important gaps in our knowledge of mobile phones and health. By looking at large numbers of people across Europe over a long period of time, we should be able to build up a valuable picture of whether or not there is any link between mobile phone usage and health problems over the long term,”
It’ll be a while before we know any results folks, but let’s hope that there are no long term consequences because I certainly can’t imagine my life without a mobile phone!
