More pseudo “independent” research in Australia? Read the dismissive claims.
Now we have Rodney Croft leading a research effort to determine the effects of mobile phone radiation on the brains of sleeping children. Of course this is important and much needed research but Croft is still running true to form with dismissive and incorrect statements sure to please the mobile phone industry and Telstra who will have a hidden hand in the research.
Croft claims that “there’s a pretty strong consensus that there’s not a problem in adults”…”We’ve got no reason to believe that there’ll be a greater effect in children than in adults.”
WRONG Rodney, look at the research that clearly shows children’s brains absorb significantly more radiation than adults. This should be sufficient reason alone to believe there may be a greater effect in children than in adults. Why deny the facts?
And what about his claim that there’s a consensus that there’s not a problem in adults? Who’s playlist is Croft following?
It is unfortunate that with the amount of industry control over cellphone research in Australia, and the governments’ acquiescence to industry, the only way one can get research funding is to dance to the tune of the piper – and have a proven track record in doing so.
I have been calling for the importance of sleep research (in relation to smart meter emissions) but also have stressed the vital importance of the researcher’s independence from possible industry influence. Unfortunately, this seems too hard an ask in Australia as it poses a risk to Telstra’s interests. Better to have a tight reign on the research in case anything untoward comes up…
I see that the industry body the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA)is all in favour of the research. AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, has welcomed the funding and said the industry supports well conducted independent research that is published in peer reviewed journals. This is hardly what I would call independent research.
I will be following Croft’s ‘independent’research effort with great interest, and so will Telstra………
Don Maisch
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From the Illawarra Mercury, Saturday September 28, 2013:
A sleep laboratory is being developed at the University of Wollongong to test the effects of mobile phone exposure on the brains of slumbering children.
Researchers are recruiting 108 children for tests to start next year.
The study will expose children to a mobile phone, or the equivalent electromagnetic energy, and look for changes in the electrical activity in the brain during a normal night’s sleep.
Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute psychologist Rodney Croft, who is leading the research, said phones had become ubiquitous but evidence of their harmlessness to children was lacking.
“There’s a pretty strong consensus that there’s not a problem in adults, but people have only started doing research on children in the last five years and very little has come out of it,” he said.
“We’ve got no reason to believe that there’ll be a greater effect in children than in adults.
“But we just don’t understand well enough the maturational phases that children go through, so it’s possible there’s greater sensitivity.”
The Wollongong study will be part of a wider research project being administered by Monash University in Melbourne.
The federal government recently announced funding of $2.5 million for the broader project, with $700,000 devoted to the Wollongong arm of research.
The funding will allow the institute to employ two post-doctoral researchers for five years.
Researchers want to recruit 36 children in each of three age groups: 10-12, 13-15 and 16-18.
It is the second significant research grant in as many years to Professor Croft, who in August 2012 became the first University of Wollongong researcher to lead a Centre for Research Excellence examining possible health concerns associated with mobile phone use in adults.
That particular research, which is a five-year project, is ongoing.
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