No evidence that mobile phones are bad for health: EU

Brussels: The European Commission said on Thursday it had no evidence yet

that mobile telephone use was bad for health and that further studies it was

funding on the issue would not produce results before the end of 2001.

"There is no scientific evidence at the moment to say that mobile phones

are dangerous," Beate Gminder, spokeswoman for health commissioner David

Byrne told the EU executive's daily news conference.

British scientists on Thursday published a study which recommended a curb on

use of mobile phones by children and tougher rules on the location of

transmitters as a precaution against possible health risks.

"There is some preliminary evidence that exposures to radiation may

cause subtle effects on biological functions, including those of the

brain," said the report.

The Commission had funded two studies on electromagnetic radiation and

health, completed in 1992 and 1998, which found no evidence it could cause

cancer.

In September and October 1999 last year it began five new international

studies, some looking specifically at the possible impact of mobile phone use.

Institutes involved include Britain's National Radiological Protection Board

and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as institutes in

Germany, France, Austria, Finland, Belgium and other countries.

Andrea Dahmen, Commission spokeswoman on research affairs, said the studies

are not due to produce results for two years.

"So far no study that we have conducted has come up with any conclusion

that it really affects human health or the environment," Dahmen said.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.