Text messaging may damage your health
Text messaging may damage
your health, according to an
interim report published by the
BMA's board of science and
education. The report, which
calls for more research into the
effects on health from mobile
phones, notes that there is a
possibility that pelvic and
abdominal organs may be
affected by mobile phone radiation,
as most text messages are
sent from waist level.
Over 900 million text messages
were sent in the United
Kingdom in January 2001, and
their popularity has risen exponentially
in recent months.
According to the report, children
are particularly likely to
use mobile phones for text messaging,
a statement that is
backed up by the current playground
craze of using mobile
phones to send text messages to
friends.
JERONE MARTIN/AFP
The report also draws attention
to the increase of 28% in
muggings, a rise which may be
attributable to the theft of
mobile phones. Over 20% of
victims are aged 14 or 15, and
the peak suspect age is 16, compared
with 20 for other street
crimes. It also highlights the use
of text messaging in bullying,
and recommends that protocols
should be devised for controlling
the use of mobile phones
in schools.
Siān Knight, Nottingham
studentBMJ 2001;09:217-260 July ISSN 0966-6494
