THE TIMES 04/04/00

HANDS-FREE mobile phone kits are tripling levels of radiation to the brain, research has found. Thousands of people have bought the kits believing that they reduce the risk of cancerous brain tumours.

The findings are being studied as part of the Health Department investigation into mobile phone safety, chaired by sir William Stewart, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government.

The results emerged in tests on two hands-free devices conducted for the consumers' magazine Which? The kits tested were on two popular mobile phones: an accessory designed for the Philips Savvy mobile phone sold at BT Cellnet and an earpiece for the Eriksson A101-8S sold at Carphone Warehouse.

The tests found that the hands-free sets acted as aerials, channelling three times as much radiation from the phones to the brain as did ordinary mobile phones, and did not offer health protection.

Graeme Jacobs, editor of Which?, warned mobile phone users last night not to rely on the devices to reduce radiation levels. "The two models we tested triple the radiation to your brain, though we still don's know for certain whether that radiation is harmful," he said.