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By Lisa Burroughes, 8 April 1999 17:25

NEWS Mobile phones are good for you. That is the finding of research from Bristol University - backed by the UK government - into the short-term effects of using mobile phones. The study found that there is no effect on short-term memory or attention from short exposures to the microwave effects of mobile phones. In fact Dr Alan Preece, who headed up the study, said there are certain cases where response times are actually increased. However the study has been strongly criticised by scientist Roger Coghill of Coghill Research Laboratories. "There is absolutely no scientific value in these findings. At the very most they underline the need for better funding of scientific studies," he said. Coghill said the study failed because the sample size was too small, it only looked into the short-term effects rather than long term and it "didn't address whether mobile phones will cause cancer - which is the main complaint people are reporting". He added that a simulation phone was used in the research rather than a real mobile phone and the subjects were not exposed to low frequencies (the frequency believed to be causing most damage). A summary of the study was printed in the International Journal of Radiation Biology, which reported: "It was not feasible to use a genuine telephone for these tests& the cost of using 'airtime' would have been prohibitive." The study received £3,000 of government funding - not enough to carry out comprehensive research, Coghill claimed. "This highlights the government's ridiculously slack attitude to something that is going to affect more than ten million mobile phone users in the UK," he said.