Indiscriminate use of mobile phones

It is evident that not everybody takes good advice when this is given free. Following numerous warnings regarding the indiscriminate use of mobile phones, one would expect to see less people making use of these phones which have come to be regarded as necessities by some. The truth is that adults are totally ignoring the health warnings, as are the numerous minors with these accessories stuck perennially to their ear-drums.

In Malta and Gozo, the mobile telephony industry has reported sky high sales with a staggering 190,000 local persons owning a mobile phone. This was announced during the news conference held by the Ministry for Transport and Communications, last week.

One would easily be able to say that a good chunk of this amount is found amongst the younger generation, namely teenagers who could be as young as 13 or 14 years old. This is not a wild guess, since many youngsters still in their school uniforms are repeatedly seen happily sending SMS’s to their friends and talking through their personal mobile phone for hours on end.

Although in other parts of Europe, for instance in Sweden, it has been found that young people tend to own as many as two mobile phones each, this is not a habit which should be cultivated. Especially since it has been openly announced that handsets being sold in the UK are to carry a health warning in the package.

Unfortunately, our youngsters are perceiving their mobile set as a fashion accessory or an effective gadget which, unlike many others, could claim to have a useful function. That of keeping people in touch. But the crucial issue in relation to the exposure of people using mobile phones, is the emission of radiofrequency radiation and the specific energy absorption rate (SAR). This determines the amount of energy absorbed in the body of the user. In most circumstances of use the part of the body mostly at risk will be the head. The SAR depends upon the power output of the phone and its design.

The currently unrecognised adverse health effects from the use of such phones should make one extra wary of exposing children since these may be more vulnerable due of their developing nervous system and due to the greater absorption of energy in the tissues of the head.

Unfortunately we might only know the stark facts when the situation gets out of hand.