This Austrian article examines criticisms of cell phones by the Vienna Medical Association and other European groups.

Walter Dorner, president of the Vienna Medical Association, has long demanded that cell phones be labeled with their SAR value (SAR is specific absorption rate, or how much of the emitted radiation is absorbed by the user’s head). Thanks in part to his efforts, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has recently warned about the health risks associated with mobile phones, based on what seems to be clear evidence of increased brain tumor risk.

The EEA, however, has also found that mobile phones are being used longer and more frequently by children and adolescents. “Children under the age of 16 should never use a mobile phone,” says Erik Huber, environment advisor of the Vienna Medical Association. For children the health effects are far more serious. because their skull bones are much thinner. Says Huber, “When an 8-year-old child starts using a mobile phone, by the age of 30 or 40 his or her head will be exposed to an unprecedented level of RF radiation stress.”

Huber has argued that a ban on advertising targeted at children and adolescents, low-emission mobile phones, and SAR labeling for mobile phones is called for. “Scientists do not argue anymore whether mobile phones are harmful, but how harmful they are,” adds Huber.

The article also offers the following practical tips for keeping yourself safe:

• If you take a mobile phone with you, do not put it in the pockets of your pants but in a briefcase or bag you carry with you.
• Make longer phone calls from a corded phone.
• During sleep, turn mobile phone off and preferably avoid storing it next to your head.
• Phone calls from a car: When using an external antenna, the risk decreases towards zero.
• A Bluetooth hands-free system represents a second source of radiation.
• If possible, avoid surfing the wireless Internet; the card will radiate for two to three hours.
• No playing games with the mobile phone (except off-line)
• Headsets do not reduce exposure; Bluetooth even increases it.