Mobile phone safety 

There is a staggering appetite for mobile phone use in the UK. The UK public owns more than 76 million mobile phones, and calls from UK mobiles in 2008 amounted to 111 billion minutes.

Mobile phones are more than just a business tool. They are now a popular means of communication, a safety aid and an essential part of many people's lives.

There are around 53,000 mobile phone base stations in the UK. Base stations are transmitters (sometimes called masts) that use radio waves to communicate with mobile phone handsets.

Radio waves are low-energy radiation waves that transmit through the antenna on a mobile phone. The radio waves transmit to the base station and back again. Base stations are surrounded by electromagnetic fields, an energy force that is created when electricity is generated.

Safety concerns

The use of radio waves and magnetic fields in relation to mobile phones and base stations has become a safety concern for some people.

In 1999, the government commissioned a group of independent scientists, called the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones (IEGMP), to explore the possible health implications of mobile phone and base station use. The group, led by Sir William Stewart, reported back in May 2000. The results were as follows:

• There is no general risk to the health of people living near base stations because radiation exposure is a fraction of current guidelines.
• Radio waves at their current guideline levels can cause a change in brain activity, although it is not known why.
• A limited use of mobile phones is recommended. This is due to the lack of scientific knowledge currently available about the subject.

IEGMP also recommended that base stations be continually checked at random. Ofcom, the independent regulatory body for UK telecoms, has now set up a national measurement programme, which makes sure that emissions from mobile phone base stations do not exceed established international levels.

In 2001, the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHR) was set up. In September 2007 it released a progress report (see box, top left).

Mobile phone safety has also been brought to public attention by the former Department of Transport, Local Government and Regions (DTLR). The DTLR highlighted the safety implications of driving while using a mobile phone. It is now against the law to use a handheld mobile phone while driving.