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ID=449881 19/10/09 17:47

French health agencies recommend

cutting exposure to mobile phones
From AFP

Thursday 15 October 2009

Some research finds cell damage, reduced fertility,

lack of blood flow to brain.

French health agencies, in a precautionary move, recommended on Thursday reducing

exposure to mobile phones and other portable wireless devices that emit radio-
frequency electromagnetic waves.

The guidelines are an interim step pending the outcome of wider research into any
impacts from health from radio frequency fields.

"The time for inaction has passed," Martin Guespereau, director of the French Health
and Security Agency (Afsset), said at a press conference.

"Let's not wait until the indications become pathologies before moving forward with
limiting exposure," he said.

More than 1,000 studies were examined and most of them did not show any negative
impacts from mobile phones, Wifi emitters, microwave ovens, cordless home phones
and other gadgets emitting electromagnetic radiation, Guespereau said.

Some research, however, did point to possible health problems, including cell damage,
reduced male fertility and a lower blood flow to the brain.

Emphasizing caution, Guespereau also pointed out that cell phones have been widely
used for barely a decade, not long enough to study long-term impacts from constant
exposure.

Given this level of uncertainty, the French health authority said further research was
needed to determine potential health consequences.

In the meantime, the general public is advised to exercise caution in the use of
wireless mobile devices, it said.

"If an environmental exposure can be reduced, it should be," the agency said in a

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http://www.totaltele.com/printablearticle.aspx?ID=449881 19/10/09 17:47

statement," invoking the principle of "ALARA"-"as low as reasonably achievable".

Exposure to children should in particular be limited, the recommendations said.

An interim European Union study released earlier this year concluded that cell phone
use is unlikely to cause cancer, but said that the effects of long term use and on
children are still unknown.

A comprehensive review of the potential health consequences of cell phone use -

known as the Interphone Study - overseen by the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC) is set to be released before the end of the year, a spokeperson said
Thursday.

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