Wireless Communications Risks evaluated by UK Department of Health

"Mobile phones and wireless communications technologies at home and at work" by the UK Department of Health is a report, only available electronically that compares the risk issues with using wireless comms.

'There are around 61 million mobile phones already in use in the UK today. A number of other wireless-based technologies are being introduced to the home and workplace and it is clear that such devices will increase in number and diversity,' starts the report. It goes on to summarise the main technologies and provides a perspective on the risks associated with their use, by comparing them with mobile phones.

The featured technologies are: wireless computer networking; digital cordless phones; Bluetooth: Ultra-wideband; and Radiofrequency identification (RFID) devices. Only the last two are not dismissed by the report as likely to be safer than mobile phones in terms of the radiation they emit and in both cases it is because there is insufficient data to judge.

The report is published closely following a recent report by the Institute of Cancer Research (part funded by the Department of Health) describing results from the largest ever investigation into mobile phone use and brain tumours. It found no relation between the risk of acoustic neuroma and the number of years for which mobile phones had been used, the time since first use, the total hours of use or the total number of calls, nor were there any relations separately for analogue or digital phone use. It concluded that there is no substantial risk of developing a tumour in the first 10 years of mobile phone use. An increased risk after longer term use, however, could not be ruled out as mobile phones have only been used widely over the past decade.

Associated Link: Mobile phones and wireless communications technologies at home and at work

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