Kids advised to limit cell phone use

TORONTO, July 12 (UPI) -- Canadians are being advised by Toronto Public Health officials to limit the time youths spend talking on cell phones because of health concerns.

A report from Toronto's medical officer of health advises "children, especially pre-adolescent children, (to) use land lines whenever possible, keeping the use of cell phones for essential purposes only, limiting the length of cell phone calls and using headsets or hands-free options, whenever possible."

The agency suggested youths should be protected from potentially harmful cell phone radio frequencies, the Toronto Star reported.

"While scientists were pretty dismissive of any risk years ago, with the accumulation of studies, it appears people who have been using their phones for a long period of time are at greater risk of certain kinds of brain tumors," said Loren Vanderlinden, a Toronto Public Health supervisor who wrote the report.

Industry professionals say cell phones are safe, the newspaper said.

"The state of the science is that there are no health effects," said Marc Choma, a spokesman for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.