Five-year-olds given mobiles

Mobile phone

Hundreds of thousands of young children are being given mobile phones by their parents - against official health advice.

Research by marketing consultancy reveals that one in nine five to nine-year-olds has a mobile.

It predicts that this will rise to one in five by 2006, making this the fastest expanding group of mobile phone users.

A major report on mobile phone safety says that while there is no evidence that they are harmful, children should minimise their use of mobiles as a "precaution".

This is because their brains are still developing and their skulls are thinner, making it easier for mobile phone radiowaves to penetrate them.

I don't think that the industry is actively marketing mobile phones at young children. It would be unethical Josh Dhaliwal, mobileYouth

Mobile phone companies say they do not target under-16s, although some accessories such as fascias and ringtones are designed to appeal to younger children.

Many of the phones are paid for as a safety measure so that the child always has a means of contacting a parent in an emergency.

In the year 2000, according to the mobileYouth researchers, fewer than 80,000 five to nine-year-olds owned a mobile.

This year, that had risen to 400,000.

'No marketing'

Josh Dhaliwal, an executive partner at mobileYouth, told BBC News Online: "I don't think that the industry is actively marketing mobile phones at young children. It would be unethical.

We have to be particularly cautious about children - if there are any effects they would be more exaggerated in young children than in adults Professor Colin Blakemore, University of Oxford

"This has become the fastest growing sector of the mobile phone market without any help from advertising.

"Pester power is starting to increase in that age group as children see that their friends have a mobile phone."

Cautious

Professor Colin Blakemore, from the University of Oxford, who studies the effects of mobile phone radiation, said that parents should be very cautious about letting very young children use mobile phones.

He told the BBC: "There is no proven heath risk from the use of mobile phones at present.

They can be a fashion accessory to children

"In general we take a precautionary approach because it's new technology and the science is still developing.

"We have to be particularly cautious about children - if there are any effects they would be more exaggerated in young children than in adults."

He said that children should keep use to a minimum, and if possible use text messages rather than spoken conversations, as this would reduce the amount of exposure to radiowaves considerably.