The study found that children who used cellphones, and whose mothers used cellphones during pregnancy were 80 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems such as emotional symptoms, inattention, hyperactivity and problems with peers compared with children who had no cellphone exposure as foetuses or in early childhood.

Children whose mothers used cellphones during pregnancy but who had no other cellphone exposure were 54 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems. The study, which will be published this month in Epidemiology, is the first to find a behavioural effect and so must be interpreted with caution. But Kheifets says: “In general, children are more susceptible to environmental hazards. We have little information on cellphones, and children are using cell phones at younger ages.”

Research on children and long-term studies should provide more clarification on any health risks, says Dr Siegal Sadetzki, an epidemiologist at Gertner Institute, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, in Israel. Sadetzki’s research has found heavy cellphone users were at 50 per cent higher risk for a parotid tumor, which arises in the salivary gland near the ear and jaw, typically where cellphones are held. Parotid tumors can be cancerous or benign. The study was significant because it tracked heavy users for more than 10 years and found a relationship between the side of the head the phone was typically placed against and where the tumor formed.

She says she doesn’t think her study, which was published in February in the American Journal of Epidemiology, contradicts previous studies that showed no cause for alarm. The research was conducted in Israel, which has a population of heavy users who were among the first to adopt cellphone technology.

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