Recently France banned cell phone use in its primary schools based on the “cautionary principle” that the long-term health effects of being exposed to the EM fields from cell phones from childhood on is still an unknown. At present cell phone use is allowed on school grounds but not in classrooms. Under the new regulations, their use in primary schools is simply banned. French wireless telecom firms will also be required to supply phones that work only with a headset so as to reduce exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Some French consumer groups have been critical of the new measures and have asserted that they do not do enough to protect children. They want an absolute ban on cell phone use by those under 14 and tighter restrictions on the location of cell phone towers. One distressed telecom executive reacted with an analogy likely drawn from his school days. He noted that it is impossible to prove that something is absolutely safe just as those accused during the Inquisition could not prove beyond all doubt that they were not heretics.The translated text of the newly adopted guidelines can be found online via the Ministère de la Santé (Ministry of Health) website.
Téléphone Cellulaire—Non!
