Experts urge more study of cellphone radiation, especially on kids

More research is needed to determine whether cellphone radiation is harmful to humans, especially children, a panel of scientists and cancer researchers told a Senate appropriations subcommittee on Monday. Scientists to date have not been able to establish a hard link between cellphone radiation and cancer. But that doesn't mean that wireless devices aren't harmful, Dariusz Leszczynski, a radiation expert at the University of Helsinki, told the subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services. To say that cellphones are "safe is premature," he said. Recent studies have suggested that people who use cellphones for 10 years or more are most at risk, Siegal Sadetzki, director of the cancer and radiation epidemiology unit of the Gertner Institute in Israel, told the committee. Cellphones have become commonplace only in the past decade or so. One thing most panelists agreed on: Children, because of their thinner skulls, are far more susceptible to radiation than adults. Radiation is emitted each time a cellphone call is made. Sen Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) promised to probe deeply into any potential links between cellphone use and cancer. Sen Harkin -- the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- said he was concerned no one has been able to prove cellphones do not cause cancer.