New research conducted by Dr. Leeka Kheifets of the UCLA School of Public Health suggests that mothers who used cell phones frequently during pregnancy are more likely to have children with behavioral problems Reuters reports.
Kheifets has been keen to stress that the study “certainly shouldn’t be over interpreted, but nevertheless points in a direction where further research is needed,”
Spoken like a true scientist. Even so, the current study appears to be pretty comprehensive and hence damning in its own right. There were 13,159 children and mothers included in the study and even after factors that could influence the results, such as a mother’s psychiatric problems and socioeconomic factors were adjusted for, children with both prenatal and postnatal cell phone exposure were 80 percent more likely to have behavioural problems.
Though the study suggests that prenatal exposure is the most significant danger, Kheifets and her team have also proposed that postnatally, mothers who use mobiles frequently may not be giving their children the attention they need which could then lead to behavioural problems.
Certainly something to think about, though as Kheifets has already pointed out, it’s probably a bit too early to be running headlong into full on panic mode.
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