One Fort in the Grave, with KEITH FORT

THE debate over the safety of mobile phones has sparked off yet again. And I have no doubt it will keep on doing until scientists finally agree: do they have a detrimental, even dangerous, effect on the human brain -- or don't they?

In the meantime, millions of us, including many youngsters in their formative years, will continue to use them, even flaunt them, either for serious or flippant purposes, and even sport them as fashion accessories.

They have become part of our daily lives. They have become "must-have" possessions for millions of teenagers.

And, like the trainers of not so long ago, you have to have the "in" model, or you're not part of the crowd.

And parents join the game, fork out the money -- and for what?

Would those same parents pay out such large sums if they thought it was going on something harmful, even damaging, to their kids?

As far as I am concerned adults can make their own choices but it's the younger generation I worry about.

This is why. We have all heard government spokesmen in this country quoting the scientific findings: they have not been able to discover any discernible harm from using mobile phones.

But tests are continuing. People become moderately reassured.

Then along comes Finland, just recently, announcing that its scientists had discovered harmful effects on humans, particularly young brains, from the frequent use of mobile phones.

So why such total disagreement? Finland point out that their tests were carried out on the actual users of mobile phones -- human beings. Other scientific conclusions, they point out, were reached as a result of experimentation on rats.

Give me the human experiments every time.

Finland's conclusions and warnings are far from being a cry in the transmission wilderness. A study by Spanish scientists yielded such shocking results that it led to medical experts in many parts of the world questioning whether it was safe for children to use mobile phones at all.

The Spanish were, in fact, the first to use human guinea pigs to test the effects of mobile phone radiation. They use a CATEEN scanner linked to a machine measuring brain wave activity to measure the effect of mobile phone radiation on an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. Previously it had been thought that interference with brain waves and the chemistry of the brain terminated shortly after the phone call ended. The Spanish scans disclosed not only deep penetration of radio waves into the brain -- and not just around the ear -- but that a call lasting only two minutes affected the natural electrical activity within a young brain for up to an hour afterwards. The worry is: what effect is repeated use of mobiles having on young brains and how long will be be before we find out? Even medical experts worry about the long term effects of abnormal brain wave activity created by phone radiation -- things like memory loss, lack of concentration, aggressive behaviour and upsetting delicate balances that provide immunity to infection and disease. We just don't know. A survey in Britain at the end of last year found that 87 per cent of children, aged 11 to 16, owned a mobile phone. Nearly half of them admitted using them for at least 15 minutes a day.

Still trying to play it safe, British experts are advising parents to try to restrict the use of mobile by their children. This is also the official line of the Department of Health.

I'm not trying to be alarmist -- just cautious. And sceptical. The development of aerial and satellite global links along with phones-on-the-move over the last decade has led to a world wide revolution in communications worth millions, notwithstanding its recent downturn. But everyone knows there's more to come if the public buys into it.

One gets the feeling that warnings about brain scrambling might not be exactly welcomed in some quarters at this point in time.

I know I sound like one of those old fashioned fuddy-duddies with their Domesday warnings when that new-fangled electricity was introduced, or one of those who restricted travel to 12mph when trains were invented fearing the effect of speed on the human body. Maybe this kind of concern is endemic in the older generation.

But, about mobile phones, I do worry....I do worry.