Do Cell Phones Harm Unborn Babies?

Do Cell Phones Harm Unborn Babies?


Researcher Says Media Misinterpreted Study on Cell Phones, Behavior Problems
By DAN CHILDS
ABC News Medical Unit
May 20, 2008

7 comments
FONT SIZE
EMAIL
PRINT
RSS
DIGG
SHARE

Medical experts say media reports of a study that suggests a pregnant woman's cell phone use could cause later behavioral problems in her baby raise unnecessary alarm.
A new study finds that heavy cell phone use may accelerate hearing loss.

In the study, slated for publication in the July issue of the journal Epidemiology, researchers at the Universities of California, Los Angeles, and Aarhus, Denmark, issued a survey to mothers of 13,159 children in Denmark. The survey asked the mothers questions about their use of cell phones during their pregnancy as well as their child's behavior and their current cell phone use.

The researchers found that the mothers who said they used cell phones during their pregnancy also reported a higher level of behavioral problems in their children.

But while the results suggested an increased risk of hyperactivity, impulsivity and difficulty concentrating in children whose mothers used cell phones during pregnancy, epidemiological experts -- including one of the paper's authors -- said it would be a mistake to assume that the findings were conclusive.
Related
The Pain of Staying Connected

In fact, Dr. Jorn Olsen, professor and chair of epidemiology at UCLA and a co-author of the paper, said media coverage of the research thus far has been off target.

Olsen specifically referred to a report in the British press with the headline "Warning: Using a Mobile Phone While Pregnant Can Seriously Damage Your Baby."

"That's clearly not what we wanted to suggest, and we think that there is no reason that pregnant women should be very alarmed at the findings we have," Olsen said.

He added that he and his colleagues had not expected the paper to be released until next month.

"I think that a number of journalists broke the story on this and that they did not take all of the assumptions into consideration [when reporting it]," he said.

Confounding Factors

Charles Poole, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that a number of factors could have been at play in this preliminary study that would have thrown the results off one way or the other.

Continue reading...

More cases of swine flu reported; WHO warns of 'health emergency'

More cases of swine flu reported; WHO warns of 'health emergency'

Twenty-two students and three teachers in New Zealand, who returned from a three-week-long language trip to Mexico, may have been infected with the swine flu virus, officials said Sunday.
Women wearing masks wait at a health clinic Saturday in Mexico City.

Women wearing masks wait at a health clinic Saturday in Mexico City.
Click to view previous image
1 of 3
Click to view next image

The suspected infections in New Zealand follow reports that a deadly new strain of the virus cropped up in more places in the United States and Mexico on Saturday.

The World Health Organization is calling the virus "a public health emergency of international concern."

The 25 students and teachers at Auckland's Rangitoto College returned to New Zealand via Los Angeles on Saturday.

Fourteen of them have shown flu-like symptoms, with four "more unwell than others," said Dr. Julia Peters, clinical director of Auckland Regional Public Health Service.

The New Zealand health ministry informed the students and their families of provisional results of tests it conducted on the group. However, the World Health Organization will make the final determination after testing the specimens, Peters said.

She would not say what the provisional results indicated. The WHO results are expected back by midweek. The group remains quarantined at home.

"We're basically treating them as possible, probable cases," Peters added.
Don't Miss

* Family quarantined after son contracts swine flu
* CDC: Swine flu viruses in U.S., Mexico match
* CDC confirms 7 cases of swine flu in humans

According to the most recent reports, the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States stands at 11.

They include nine confirmed cases at or near the Mexican border in Texas and California, and an apparent outbreak at a private school in New York City.

All the patients have recovered or are expected to.

In Mexico, health officials said 81 deaths there were "likely linked" to the swine flu. Video Watch efforts in Mexico to prevent spread of the virus »

U.S. health officials said Friday that some cases of the virus matched samples of the deadly Mexican virus.

Gregory Hartl, of the World Health Organization, said the strain of the virus seen in Mexico is worrisome because it has mutated from older strains. Video Watch how public health officials grade phases of pandemic alerts »

"Any time that there is a virus which changes ... it means perhaps the immunities the human body has built up to dealing with influenza might not be adjusted well enough to dealing with this new virus," Hartl said.

He said that, in Mexico, otherwise young, healthy people have been hit by the virus -- "one of the pieces of the puzzle that is worrying us," he said.

Mexico City has closed all of its schools and universities until further notice because of the virus.

More than 1,300 people with flu-like symptoms have been admitted to hospitals in Mexico, and officials are trying to determine how many of them have swine flu, said Jose Cordova Villalobos, the country's health minister.
Health Library

* MayoClinic.com: Influenza (flu)

The H1N1 strain of swine flu is usually associated with pigs. When the flu spreads person-to-person, instead of from animals to humans, it can continue to mutate, making it a tougher strain that is harder to treat or fight off.

The United States had not issued any travel warnings or quarantines.

But US Airways said Saturday night it would allow passengers to change plans if they wanted to because of the outbreak.

Airline spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said it was not asking people not to travel to Mexico, but wanted to "give them that flexibility" if "they don't feel comfortable."

The Canadian Public Health Agency had issued a travel health notice, saying, "The Public Health Agency of Canada is tracking clusters of severe respiratory illness with deaths in Mexico." Video Watch CBC report on Canadian microbiologists' concerns »

Symptoms of swine flu include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, the CDC said. Learn more about swine flu and how to treat it »
advertisement

U.S. President Barack Obama, who visited Mexico last week en route to the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, is not sick.

"The president's trip to Mexico has not put his health in any danger," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.