Mobile Phones: They may damage your child’s health, say Canadians

Children and teenagers are being advised to limit their use of mobile phones as the technology may pose a health hazard, Canada’s health officials have warned.

Children under the age of eight should use a mobile, or cell, phone only in an emergency, and young teenagers should restrict their use to just 10 minutes a day, Toronto’s department of public health has announced.

This is the first time Canada’s health officials have made such a clear statement, and follows the more tentative one made by UK health officials a few years ago when they also warned parents not to let children use a mobile.

Studies are starting to suggest that long-term mobile phone usage may increase the risk of brain tumours, Loren Vanderlinden, a health department supervisor and author of the report, has said.