Cancer expert issues mobile warning

Mobile phone users should take precautions to protect themselves from cancer risks and should not wait for a definitive study to be published, the head of a US cancer research institute has announced.

Dr Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said his warning to thousands of members of staff was based on early, unpublished data, about the possible risk of brain cancer.

Children should only use mobiles in emergencies and adults should try to keep the phone away from their head, he said in an internal memo.

"We shouldn't wait for a definitive study to come out, but err on the side of being safe rather than sorry later," he said.

"I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use."

He added that there was a "growing body of literature" which linked long-term mobile phone use with adverse health effects, including cancer.

But no major academic study has found any evidence that exposure to mobile phone signals affects brain function and the US Food and Drug Administration has said that, if there is a risk, it is probably very small.

Last September, UK experts found mobile phones do not cause health problems if used for up to 10 years but a long-term cancer risk could not be ruled out.

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