Moms-to-be who use cell phones during their pregnancies may seriously damage their babies, says new research from a scientist who previously believed that cell phones had no adverse effect on unborn children.
A study by UCLA Professor Leeka Kheifets found that pregnant moms who regularly used cell phones were much more likely to have a child who had emotional problems and hyperactivity by the time they reached school age. Previously, Kheifets had been skeptical of links between cell phones and behavior disorders and had written there was no proof of “any adverse health effect.”
Researchers at UCLA, along with Danish colleagues at the university in Aarhus, studied the moms of over 13,000 children born in Denmark in the late 1990s, including their use of cell phones during pregnancy and their children’s cell phone use. Children whose moms used cell phones as few as two or three times a day were 54 percent more likely to develop behavioral problems. And children who used mobile phones themselves before the age of seven increased their risk by 80 percent.
The study follows close on the heels of a Russian study which found that using cell phones while pregnant is “not much lower than the risk to children’s health from tobacco or alcohol.”
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