Mobile driven health problems

Most children use their computers at home, making internet surveillance easier, but a mobile phone is a personal device by design and a jealously guarded symbol of independence for many.

Fully fledged mobile internet access still eludes network operators, but they are already expanding their services and have a declared goal of replicating the computer internet experience on mobile phones.

Explicit content is already available over mobile phones, but many operators require that customers be able to prove their age.

A senior analyst says worries about inappropriate content for mobiles should not be exaggerated. But he believes the prospect of more sophisticated phones and improved internet access does raise new questions.

In Brussels, leading European mobile operators recently pledged to draw up a voluntary code to protect children from adult material and illegal content.

About 70 per cent of Europeans aged 12-13 own mobile phones 23 per cent of eight- to nine-year-olds, according to European Union data from 2005.

Europe is leading the way. The percentage of children aged five to nine with a mobile phone is the highest in the world,” What happens in Europe will determine what happens in the rest of the world.”

Another source says that cell phones may affect male fertility.

Heavy cell phone use can harm a man’s sperm count and quality, says a study by researchers in the United States and India.

They tracked 364 men being evaluated for infertility. The men were divided into three groups, based on their sperm count, Bloomberg news reported.

Among men whose sperm counts were within the normal range, those who used a cell phone for more than four hours a day produced an average of 66 million sperm a day, 23 percent less than men in the same group who never used cell phones.

The study also found that the proportion of sperm that possessed “normal forms” was 21 percent among the heavy cell phone users, compared to 40 percent among the men who didn’t use cell phones, Bloomberg reported.

The findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.