Phone masts 'do not cause illness'

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Phone masts 'do not cause illness'

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By Editorial Team (Thursday, 26th July 2007)

There is no evidence to support claims that mobile telephone masts are causing people to feel unwell, a study has claimed.

According to researchers at Essex University, the results of a three-year study have found that people who claim to be "radiosensitive" are deluding themselves and are not experiencing symptoms caused by signals from nearby phone masts.

Having been exposed to radio waves of a similar kind to those emitted by mobile phone devices, only two of the 44 sensitive individuals taking part were able to tell when the waves were being switched on or off, the Times reports.

"This is consistent with earlier research in suggesting that symptoms of electrosensitivity are psychological in origin," commented David Coggon of the University of Southampton.

"Belief is very powerful. There are real, clinical effects," added Professor Elaine Fox, one of the chief researchers at Essex University.

However, consumer lobby group Powerwatch challenged the findings, claiming that the tests were "inadequate" and that the results do not "tell us very much", the Telegraph reports.

Funding for the study was provided by both the government and the mobile phone industry under the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme.