The Concerned Parent

My daughter has just started secondary school. A number of children in her class have mobile pones and now my daughter wants one. I just don't know what to do. I realise the benefits that having a mobile phone wold give her, but what if the arguments about the links to cancer aretrue? Am I risking her health in later years to satisfy her present needs?

THe Research Scientist

I study the radiation effects of mobile phones. My colleagues in Sweden looked at 200 people with brain tumours. They found no link between using a mobile phone and increased chance of having a tumour. However the mobile phone users who did have tumours were over twice as likely to have a tumour near their phone ear than in other parts of the brain.

Scientists in the US studied 450 people with brain tumours. Again they found no evidence that using a mobile phone increases the chance of having a tumour. But there were more than twice as many mobile phone users who had a particular type of tumour (called a neurocytoma) compared with people who did not use mobile phones.

The Consultant Doctor

We must be careful. Even a tiny increase in the risk of brain cancer could cause many more deaths across the world. As brain tumours can take many years to develop we need to monitor the effects carefully over a number of years.

The government advisor

We commissioned the Stewart Report in 1999 - a group of independent scientists found no evidence of adverse health effects caused by radio wave radiation at current national safety limits. But gaps in current knowledge mean mobile phones cannot be classed as safe yet. Children should be especially careful about mobile phones use. Their skulls are still growing, so it is easier for radio waves from a mobile phone to enter their heads. Their cells are also developing and tend to absorb more radiation compared to adults.

The mobile phone manufacturer

I appreciate scientists do not fully understand how microwaves could cause cancer. Some other types of radiation with higher energy cause cancer. They do this by changing the DNA molecules in cells. I believe microwave radiation has too little energy to do this. Microwaves do heat up cells. This is how microwave ovens work. If you heat cells in the body enough you damage them. Microwaves from mobile phones are far too weak to do this. Even mild exercise will heat up your brain cells more.

The Journalist

Mobile phone masts give out more microwaves than phones. Scientists say the amount of radiation you receive from a mast is very small. This is because radiation strength drops very quickly the further away you get from the mast. But SEVEN clusters of cancer and other serious illnesses have been discovered around mobile phone masts. One of the studies, in Warwickshire, showed a cluster of 31 cancers around a single street. Now all I need is a good headline ... Do you live on CANCER ST??