LONDON, June 23 (UPI) -- British researchers say living near a cellphone base station does increase a woman's likelihood of having a child with cancer.
Researchers at the Imperial College London analyzed radio frequency exposure from nearby mobile phone base stations during the nine months of pregnancy for mothers of 1,397 children who developed leukemia or nervous system brain cancer in their first four years of life.
Exposures were also calculated for the mothers of controls -- four children for each cancer child who share gender and birth date.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded children developing cancer were no more likely to have a birth address near a cellphone base station than those in the control group.
"People are worried that living near a mobile phone mast might affect their children's health," study corresponding author Paul Elliott says in a statement. "We found no pattern to suggest that the children of mums living near a base station during pregnancy had a greater risk of developing cancer than those who lived elsewhere."
Elliott and colleagues analyzed total power output and power density for base stations near the birth address of almost 7,000 children.
