Are cell phones safe? Questions remain.(Up front: news / trends / advice)

Because cell phones transmit and receive radio waves, they have long been suspected as a health hazard. None of the research has shown a clear danger, but scientists haven't been willing to conclude that the phones are harmless.

The latest round of research continues the uncertainty. In January, a British government advisory panel reported that research hasn't proved any health hazards, but it cautioned that the possibility of harm remains. The report is one of more than 50 scientific papers published over the past year on cell-phone safety. None proved human health risks.

HARM FOR TEENAGERS?

A study released last June did raise concerns. Investigators from Lund University in Sweden reported that laboratory animals exposed to various levels of cell-phone radiation for 2 hours, under conditions simulating normal human use, showed evidence of nerve-cell damage.

The investigators say the age of the experimental rats make them comparable with human teenagers, whose brains may be "particularly vulnerable" to cell-phone radiation. The researchers concluded: "We cannot exclude that after some decades of often daily use, a whole generation of users may suffer negative effects, perhaps as early as in middle age."

"This study grabbed everyone's attention," said Louis Slesin, Ph.D., editor of Microwave News, a newsletter that covers health issues related to electromagnetic radiation. "Industry would have you believe that cell-phone radiation is totally benign. But this and other research over the past 10 years suggests that we're not transparent to the radiation."

MORE STUDIES UNDER WAY