London: Moms-to-be, please note - regular use of cell phones during pregnancy could cause behavioural problems in your offspring, says a new study.
Researchers at the University of California and the University of Southern California have found that the risk is even higher if the offspring start using mobiles themselves by the time they are seven.
However, experts say that they are "sceptical" of the findings published in the latest edition of the 'Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health'.
In the latest study, involving 29,000 youngsters, the researchers found that those children who were exposed to mobile phones in the womb and then in early childhood were 50 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems aged seven than youngsters exposed to neither.
Only being exposed to mobile phones while in the womb was linked to a 30 per cent increase, while youngsters who're exposed to phones in childhood but not in the womb were 20 per cent more likely to display abnormal behaviour, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
The study is the second such research by the same team to find such an association. The first had involved a separate group of almost 13,000 children. The studies relied on mothers scoring their own child's behaviour and recalling their own mobile phone use.
When the results from both studies were combined, more than 10 per cent of children exposed to mobile phones in pregnancy had mothers who spoke on them at least four times a day, while half women had their phone turned on at all times.
The study's authors concluded: "The findings of the previous publication were replicated in this separate group of participants demonstrating that cell phone use was associated with behavioural problems at age seven years in children, and this association was not limited to early users of technology.
"Although it is premature to interpret these results as causal, we are concerned that early exposure to cell phones could carry a risk, which, if real, would be of public health concern given the widespread use of this technology."
However, independent experts said it was likely the behavioural problems were not directly caused by mobile use. Prof David Spiegelhalter of University of Cambridge said: "One finding is that very young children who use mobile phones show more behavioural disorders: this may well be the case, but is it plausible that the first causes the second?
"The authors say that 'early exposure to cell phones could carry a risk which, if real, would be of public health concern'. Well, I might just as well say 'Paul's (the octopus that 'predicted' World Cup results) psychic abilities, if real, would revolutionise our thinking about molluscs."
Prof David Coggon of the University of Southampton, said: "This study appears to have been well conducted, but the pattern of results suggests that the observed increase in behavioural problems may have been caused by factors other than mobile phone use."
Prof Patricia McKinney of University of Leeds, said: "There is no scientific basis for investigating exposure of the growing baby when pregnant mothers use a mobile phone, as exposure to radiofrequency radiation from mobile phones is highly localised to the part of the head closest to phone."
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