'Mobile phone radiation damages DNA'

'There is no doubt that mobile phone radiation causes DNA damage under certain conditions.' That is the key, and little-reported conclusion of Franz Adlkofer, the leader of the recent four-year Europe-wide study into the health effects of mobile phone radiation.

The conditions under which radiation damage occurred in the so-called REFLEX study were laboratory ones. That is to say, they were not based on normal use of a normal phone by the typical user. However, in the study, individual strands of DNA in a variety of human cells were damaged when they were exposed to electromagnetic radiation of intensities between 0.3 and 2 watts per kilogram. This type of damage is linked with cancer. The level of radiation of the typical mobile phone is around 0.2 to 1 watt per kilogram. Worrying.

The findings, published on 21 December, certainly ought to have attracted more press interest but they got lost in the Christmas holidays and, understandably, in the subsequent tsunami coverage. By the time mobile phones were back on the news agenda, it was the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) advice published on 11 January and the withdrawal of a phone targeted at children from the market that was making the running.

The advice of Sir William Stewart, the chair of the NRPB was: 'as yet there is no hard evidence of adverse health effects on the general public, but because of the current uncertainties we recommend a continued precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technologies. This approach should be adopted by all involved in this area — including government, the mobile phone industry and all who choose to purchase a mobile phone for themselves, or their family, or their children.'

The laboratory conditions of the REFLEX study may not provide definitive proof but they are surely worthy of note. The study was, after all, a substantial endeavour - a four-year European Union-funded project performed by twelve research groups in seven European countries. 'We have found a mechanism that could cause chronic disease,' concluded Franz Adlkofer.

According to nature.com, the researchers also saw hints, but not conclusive evidence, of other cell changes, including damage to chromosomes, alterations in the activity of certain genes and a boosted rate of cell division.

Adlkofer acknowledges that the work, like previous studies showing harm from mobile phone radiation, is likely to be criticized. But he said: 'I've seen experiments done 100 times in several labs. To me there is no doubt that it causes DNA damage under certain conditions.'

Based on these data, Aldkofer says there is a need for more extensive studies to test whether mobile phone radiation damages DNA in people, and whether this is linked to disease. 'I urge industry and government to go forward in this as fast as possible,' he said.

We'd do well to heed his advice. With over 50 million mobile phones in the UK, there is already the risk that the mobile phone has joined the car among those consumer items that we are so reliant on that we find it difficult to accept any science that suggests they might be dangerous.

Perhaps the REFLEX findings will attract more attention when they appear in a peer-reviewed journal rather than just online.