According to a new study published by the Journal of The National Cancer Institute, mobile phone-using children aged seven to 19 run no greater risk of developing brain tumors than their counterparts who do not use the devices.
To establish the risk, Martin Röösli, Ph.D, of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, Switzerland looked at medical records and conducted interviews with 352 brain cancer patients and 646 control subjects between the ages of seven and 19.
No increased risk of brain tumors was observed in brain areas receiving the highest amount of exposure in either the children who used mobile phones or in those who refrained.
The researchers wrote, "Because we did not find a clear exposure-response relationship in most of these analyses, the available evidence does not support a causal association between the use of mobile phones and brain tumors."
In a companion editorial, doctors of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Maryland and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee write that this study has "filled an important gap in knowledge by showing no increased risk of brain tumors among children and adolescents who are regular cell phone users."
Nevertheless, researchers say they will continue their studies on mobile phone usage in children since the trend will only continue to rise.
It is suggested that parents concerned with risks associated with the use of mobile phones coach kids to use an ear piece or the phone’s speaker.
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