The dangers to an unborn child are even greater if a pregnant women is stressed, possibly by financial and/or relationship problems, and regularly uses the mobile phone. Another recent study from the University of California, Los Angeles – the first of its kind, covering more than 13,000 women – has shown that using handsets, even as little as two or three times a day, is enough to raise the risk of having children with hyperactivity and emotional problems. Letting children use mobiles before the age of seven also puts them at risk, researchers warn. The study was published in the medical journal Epidemiology last year.

Researchers found that women who used phones when pregnant were 54 per cent more likely to report behavioural problems in their children, including hyperactivity and emotional difficulties. Problems were even greater in children whose mothers had used mobiles when they were pregnant and then were allowed to use phones before the age of seven. In fact, they were 80 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems than youngsters who had not been exposed to mobile phone use at all.

 

The risks increased with the amount of phone use and potential radiation, suggesting a clear link between mobile phone exposure and behavioural problems; although the researchers warned that there were other possible explanations for behavioural problems that need to be taken into account, such as poor diet and maternal neglect.

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