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Baby monitors, bought by parents to keep their children safe, may
instead be harming them, some scientists fear. They warn that the devices are bathing the infants in
radiation at an age when they are most vulnerable to it.
The radiation, similar to that given off by modern cordless phones,
is part of the increasing electronic smog to which mobile phones, their masts and Wi-Fi systems also
contribute. The monitors use the same digitally enhanced cordless telecommunication (Dect) technology as
cordless phones.
Over recent weeks The Independent on Sunday has exclusively
reported growing concern that the smog may be damaging human health. The paper reported that Sir William
Stewart, chairman of the Health Protection Agency, has been privately pressing an investigation into the effects
on children of installing Wi-Fi networks in schools.
Baby monitors are typically placed close to infants, who are
particularly at risk from radiation. An inquiry by Sir William into mobile phones seven years ago reported
that a one-year-old child could absorb about twice as much per kilogram of body weight as an adult.
Babies are especially vulnerable because their bodies and nervous
systems are still developing and because they will have more time to accumulate exposure to the radiation and
for any delayed effects to develop.
Professor Denis Henshaw of the University of Bristol said the
monitors are "being marketed without any checks and balances or even studies into their effects".
Professor Olle Johansson of Sweden's Karolinska Institute said that
the cells of a growing baby are "very susceptible". Powerwatch, an information service on
radiation, says: "A DECT monitor placed in your baby's bedroom will expose them to more pulsing microwave
radiation than living near to a mobile phone mast would do. We have had a number of reports from parents
that their babies did not sleep well and cried a lot when they used DECT monitors." It added that
older wired and analogue monitors do not raise the same concerns.
Dr Roger Coghill, who runs a laboratory specialising in the
radiation, suggested that the DECT monitors should be placed at least 10 feet from infants. He said,
"You want to hear what a baby is up to, but you don't want to harm him or her."
A spokesman for one company which sells the monitors said it did not
believe that there was any danger from the monitors, which more than meet international safety standards. |
