SYDNEY, May 7: Worried about research that found laboratory mice exposed to electromagnetism from digital cellular phones developed cancers, a scientist has called for restrictions on mobile phone advertising.Commenting on a series of studies on the health effects of mobile phones, Melbourne scientist Bruce Hocking said children should not be the target of advertising campaigns.

With mobile phone ownership among Australian adults almost at the saturation point, telecommunication companies are now advertising heavily to put them into the hands - or backpacks - of students.Hocking, who is former chief medical officer with Australian telecommunications company Telstra, said there is enough evidence of an adverse effect on human health to put restrictions on cellular phone advertising.``This would lead to strategies of prudent avoidance, for example I think, there should be a restraint placed on the marketing of mobile phones directly to young children,'' Hocking said.

He was commenting on a study by Royal Adelaide Hospital that found mice bred to be susceptible to cancer and exposed to electromagnetic radiation at 900 megahertz, the frequency used by digital mobile phones, developed lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, at double the usual rate.

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