A recent article published in the Journal of Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine reported that children (particularly teens) absorb twice as much microwave radiation from cell phones than adults.

The article on cell phone safety was published online on October 17, 2011 and reported that cell phones used in the shirt or pants pocket exceeded Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) guidelines for exposure.

The article was written by researchers from several different universities, companies, and organizations across the nation, including: Om P. Gandhi (University of Utah), L. Loyd Morgan (Environmental Health Trust), Alvaro Augusto de Salles (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), Yueh-Ying Han (New York Medical College), and Devra Lee Davis (Intrexon Corporation)

The article said that when compared to adults, kids absorb twice the amount of cell phone radiation to their heads, triple the amount to their hippocampus and hypothalamus, and nearly ten times more in their bone marrow than adults.

The hippocampus portion of the brain plays an important role in consolidating information from short-term memory to long-term memory. The most important function of the hypothalamus, on the other hand, is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system through the pituitary gland.

In order to measure cell phone radiation exposure to the head, researchers use a plastic model of a mannequin’s head, and it’s referred to as a Specific Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM). SAM uses a fluid that has the average electrical properties of the head.

However, the fluid doesn’t necessarily differentiate absorption of specific brain tissue, nor can it differentiate absorption in children and smaller adults. For example, the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for a 10-year old is up to 153% higher than the Specific Absorption Rate SAR for the SAM model.

When it comes to electrical properties, a child’s Specific Absorption Rate (SAR can be over two times greater, and absorption of his/her skull’s bone marrow can be ten times greater than adults.

As a result, researchers are saying that a new certification process is needed that incorporates different modes of use, head sizes, and tissue properties.

They’re saying that anatomically based models should be employed in revising safety standards for modern devices, and that certain standards must be set by accountable, independent groups.

The FCC has approved a better certification process that relies on anatomically based models of people of various ages, including pregnant women.

This type of process determines the absorbed radiation in all tissue types, and can account for the increased absorption in children. However, the certification process doesn’t apply to cell phones.

In the U.S., the FCC determines the maximum allowable exposure rates, but in many other countries especially European countries use the guidelines set forth in the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), a non-governmental agency.