MTHR - Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research

Press Release

New mobile phone research programe: Human volunteer studies underway

Research projects funded under the programme

There are 40 million mobile phones in circulation in the UK population of 55 million people. Across much of the world mobile phones are becoming a normal and increasingly frequent means of communication.

One of the key recommendations of the Stewart Report on Mobile Phones and Health was for a programme of new research supported equally by Government and Industry. This recommendation was accepted with an initial £7.4 million being allocated for the programme. An international committee of experts, chaired by Sir William Stewart, was set in place to allocate and manage the programme.

The committee has today announced the first 15 projects to receive funding at a cost of around £4.5 million.

Two studies will examine possible effects on blood pressure, and hearing in volunteers.
Four studies will investigate whether the use of mobile phones can affect the risk of developing brain cancer or leukaemia by studying mobile phone users.
Two studies will investigate the effects of mobile phone signals on brain function, and the behaviour of exposed people.
One study will investigate ways in which mobile phones affect the performance of drivers.
Two studies will try to identify how mobile phone signals could produce biological effects by looking for evidence of changes in exposed cells.
Four studies will examine the interaction of radio signals with the body in order to characterise how much energy is deposited and where.

A second call for research proposals was announced in December 2001 and they will be evaluated shortly.

Sir William Stewart, Chairman of the Management Committee, comments:

We are pleased that the Government and industry readily accepted the recommendations of the Stewart Report for further research. A lot of research carried out to date has focussed on possible indirect effects of mobile phones. We now need to focus more on the direct impacts, if any, on human health. This requires well-planned studies on people including volunteers, using the best possible methods. This is what our programme seeks to do. The programme management committee will work closely with researchers to help wherever possible.

Notes for editors

At the request of the Minister for Public Health an independent committee, under the chairmanship of Sir William Stewart, was set up to report on Mobile Phones and Health. The report, published in May 2000 (available at www.iegmp.org.uk), was the most comprehensive in the world and concluded that:

The balance of evidence to date suggests that exposures to emissions of radiation from mobile phones, at levels below NRPB and ICNIRP guidelines do not cause adverse health effects to the general population.
There is now scientific evidence however which suggests that there may be biological effects occurring at exposures below these guidelines.
A precautionary approach to the use of mobile phone technologies should be adopted until much more detailed and scientifically robust information on any health effects becomes available.

The Stewart Report also proposed that more research was needed on:

effects on brain function.
impact, if any, of pulsed signals.
improvements in dosimetry.
the possible impact on health of sub-cellular and cellular changes induced by RF radiation.
psychological and sociological studies related to the use of mobile phones.
epidemiological and human volunteer studies.

Details of the projects to be funded are being published on this website. Reports on the progress of the Programme and findings from the studies will also be published on the web site as they become available.

Note: Two additional projects, which were submitted to the MTHR programme management committee, have been funded by the DTI. They have been included in the press pack for information.

MTHR P1
25 January 2002