Exposure to mobile phones before and after birth linked to kids' behavioral problems: study

[Celebration]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-exposure-mobile-birth-linked-kids.html

Pregnant mums who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have kids with behavioural problems, particularly if those children start using mobile phones early themselves, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

................

The researchers base their findings on more than 28,000 seven year olds and their mothers who were part of the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) study.

This study enrolled nearly 100,000 pregnant women between 1996 and 2002, with the intention of tracking their kids' long term health.

Those exposed to mobile phones before birth only were 40% more likely to have behavioural problems, while those with no prenatal exposure but with access to them by the age of 7 were 20% more likely to exhibit abnormal behaviours.

[pnwmom]

1. That is scary. n/t

[Anakin Skywalker]

2. What?! I Can't Hear You?!

[evirus]

3. I don't know...

The methods of data gathering sounds a lot like self reporting by proxy. Phone interviews regarding health and child behavior, not a lot of controls, just a glorified survey.

[Celebration]

4. but, at least it's a large survey

Seriously, it would be difficult to do a prospective study on this.

[laconicsax]

6. Who needs controls when you can have...

A BOOGEYMAN

:scared::scared::scared:

[uppityperson]

5. I wonder if the age and/or economics of the mother or parents is a factor.

Interesting studies, would like to know more

[HuckleB]

7. Cell Phones and Behavior (A Review Of This Study)

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=2567

"...

The results of this study are interesting, but the usual caveats apply. The absolute effect size is small, and the outcomes based upon subjective reporting. This is an observational study, not an experimental study, so no conclusions can be drawn regarding cause and effect. The study authors did not even speculate about a possible mechanism, and would not suggest that cell phone use causes the observed behavior problems.

...

So inattention partially explained the results – perhaps other behavioral or personality attributes also correlate with both cell phone use and behavior problems. Given that the absolute effect size is small (about 1%) there can be many such factors that can exert such an effect, and it is unlikely that the authors thought of all of them.

The plausibility of a direct effect of cell phone use is quite low. Physicists have pointed out that cell phones generate only small amounts of energy, the primary effect of which is to heat up surrounding tissue. But the non-ionizing radiation from cell phones, by definition, is of too low energy to break chemical bonds or cause any cellular damage. Concerns over cell phone use have largely surrounded the risk of brain cancer, and epidemiological studies have not shown increase in brain cancer overall or an increased risk correlating with cell phone use. The data does not entirely clear cell phones either, but so far the evidence does not support a link.

Given the low biological plausibility and generally negative epidemiological data, it is unlikely that cell phones directly cause any biological harm. This also applies to behavioral problems, as investigated in this study.

..."

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More details found at the link. This sounds like another preliminary study that the press loves to tout to scare the crap out of people without good reason.