Senior neurosurgeons and health experts have questioned the latest controversial claims from neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, who warns of potential adverse health effects from a range of household appliances, including electric blankets and clock radios.

Dr Teo warned in the Herald Sun newspaper this week that people should use the speaker on their mobiles, move clock radios to the foot of their bed and wait until microwaves had finished before opening them.

He also said electric blankets should be turned off before people got into bed.

Dr Teo said: “With the mobile phone I encourage you to put it on loudspeaker and step outside rather than sticking it up to your brain.”

Professor Bruce Armstrong of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, said: “I think that kind of advice does tend to verge on the alarmist.”

Dr Bruce Hall, Chairman of Neurosurgery, Princess Alexandra Hospital, said he believed that Dr Teo was taking an “extreme” stance on these issues and there was no hard evidence that any of the electromagnetic radiation caused brain tumours.

“It is a pet topic of Dr Teo’s, and I am not sure why that is. We talk of it generally among brain surgeons in Australia, but we know of no hard evidence that any of this is related to brain tumours.

“Dr Teo’s a good colleague of mine, but he is a little bit out there and sometimes things may be taken a bit out of context.

“I am not sure …where this one came from, bit I would just like to reassure everyone that perhaps we do not need to go that extreme just at the moment.”

Dr Teo also warned of the dangers of hair dye, particularly red, which could also casus cancer.

He told a fundraiser in Melbourne: “Even though the jury is not in, just to err on the die of safety I would try and limit the amount of electromagnetic radiation that you are exposed to.:

Professor Andrew Kay, Head of Surgery, Melbourne University and Head of Neurosurgery at Royal Melbourne Hospital, said the question of whether electromagnetic radiation caused brain tumours had not been proven.

“..you have to put this in perspective, there is electromagnetic radiation floating around us all the time, so all of these just cause a small amount of radiation. But the question is, the bottom line is, does it cause brain tumours, does electromagnetic radiation cause brain tumours, and there is no proof of that as yet,” he said.

“..do not turn off your electric blanket, if you use it, still watch the crap on TV, because the reality is, we do not know that electromagnetic radiation causes brain tumours, there has been no proof of that as yet.”