Mobile health inquiry cash finally sees the light of day

Funding approved by the Department of Health for research into the health risks associated with mobile phone use is only now being put to use - two years after it was first announced.

The mobile telecommunications research programme was launched again today, two years after the first announcement about the £7.4m in backing raised by government and industry.

The money has been sitting in the bank while controversy raged over the open-ended conclusion of the Stewart Inquiry in 2000 into radiation and heat-affected cellular changes caused by base stations and mobile phones.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health, told silicon.com: "I think we wanted to make sure the methodologies of the experiments would be correct as previous studies haven't been that rugged."

So far 15 experiments, some of which may use human volunteers, have been awarded two-thirds of the cash by the programme.

They may take up to five years to complete.

Mark Squires, spokesman at handset manufacturer Nokia, said: "The balance of existing evidence points to no risk at all of radiation above accepted levels from mobile phones."