MOBILE USE WHEN PREGNANT CAN AFFECT BABY’S PERSONALITY
Women who use mobile phones while pregnant are more likely to
give birth to children with behavioral problems.
A giant study, which surveyed more than 13000 children, found that
using the handsets just two or three times a day is enough to raise
the risk of the babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with
conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reach school
age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children
themselves used the phones before the age of seven.
The results of this study, the first of its kind, have taken the top
scientists who conducted it by surprise. This risk of mobile phone is
not much lower than the risk to children’s health from tobacco and
alcohol.
The scientists questioned the mothers of 13170 children born in
Denmark in the late 190’s about their use of phones in pregnancy,
and their children’s use of them and behavior up to the age of seven.
As they gave birth before mobiles became universal, about half of the
mothers had used them infrequently or not at all, enabling
comparisons to be made.
They found that the mothers who did use the mobile phones were
55% more likely to have children with behavioral problems and that
the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the
radiation. And when the children also later used the phones, they
80% more likely to suffer from difficulties with behavior.
They were 25% more at risk from emotional problems, 35% more
likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 34% more likely
to be hyperactive, and 48% more prone to problems with conduct.
The scientists say that the results were ‘unexpected’ and they knew
of no biological mechanisms that could cause them. But when they
tried to explain them by accounting for other possible causes – such
as smoking during pregnancy, family psychiatric history or socio-
economic status – they found that, far from disappearing, the
association with mobile phone use got even stronger.
They add that there might be other possible explanations that they
did not examine – such as that mothers who used the phones
frequently might pay less attention to their children – and stress that
the results should be interpreted with caution and checked by further
studies. But they conclude that if they are real they would have major
public health implications.
Pregnant mothers and children use minimize the use of handsets. It
concludes that children who talk on the handsets are likely to suffer
from disruption of memory, decline of attention, diminishing learning
and cognitive abilities, increased irritability in the short term and that
longer term hazards include depressive syndrome and degeneration
of the nervous structures of the brain.
-DR. NAVRAJ SINGH SANDHU