The safety of mobile phone use, particularly by children, has continued to generate debate in Australia and around the world, the Advertiser in Adelaide reports this week.

The Australian Government says there is no evidence to support links between use of the devices and brain tumours, but also refuses to rule out the possibility of potential harm.

But even state and federal governments do not have a consistent message for parents concerned about potential harm to their children.

In South Australia, Child and Youth Health SA suggests "children and young people should limit their phone use, as children and young people could be more at risk of damage because their nervous systems are still developing".

A growing number of experts agree, including prominent neurosurgeons Charlie Teo and Vini Khurana.

In the past year the pair have spoken out against the dangers of mobile phones, despite the lack of scientific evidence, and produced a report that shows the risk of tumours doubles if a mobile phone is used over a period of 10 years or more.

Dr Teo fears an epidemic of brain tumour cases in coming years and, despite owning a phone himself, says he and his children "limit their exposure" to the potentially fatal affliction by using hands-free kits.

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association says this type of self-regulation by mobile phone users needs to be encouraged, but also points out it is not supported by scientific evidence.

"Brain surgeons, Doctors Teo and Khurana, have expressed strong personal opinions in the media and publicly about mobile phones and brain cancer and advocate precaution based on their concerns," it says.

"If individuals are concerned, they might choose to limit their own or their children's (radio frequency radiation) exposure by limiting the length of calls or by using "hands-free" devices to keep mobile phones away from the head and body."

The chief executive of The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, Chris Althaus, says safety is very important to the industry. "Mobile phone handsets and base stations are designed, built and tested to comply with strict science-based safety standards," he says.

"The standards include significant in-built safety margins and provide protection for all users, including the elderly, children and others regardless of the frequency of use. People can be confident that there is no biological, medical, or statistical basis to assert a link between mobile phone use and brain cancer."

Mr Althaus says claims mobiles may pose a higher risk to children are based on the untested assertion that their brains and nervous systems are still developing and their skulls are thinner, allowing radio frequency energy to penetrate deeper into their brains.

He says there is no scientific evidence to support this.

In the United Kingdom, a shift towards a more relaxed policy similar to Australia's has angered some health campaigners.

A new advisory leaflet for parents removes safety advice to impose strict limits on the use of mobiles by children, saying the heating to the head caused by using the phone is no more harmful than a hot bath.

Previously, the leaflet told parents to limit the use of the devices by children under 16.

Alasdair Philips, of the Powerwatch organisation opposes relaxing the safeguards, citing the Australian research.

"A number of international studies have found a significant increase in brain tumours among people who have used a mobile for more than 10 years," he says.

"Parents are under pressure to buy mobiles for their children at younger and younger ages.

"By doing this they may well be giving them brain tumours in 30 years time."

In March, an EMF activist group issued a report that people who begin using mobile phones before 20 are more than five times as likely to develop a tumour. Groups affiliated with the report include Powerwatch and the Radiation Research Trust in the U.K., and in the U.S., EMR Policy Institute, ElectromagenticHealth.org and The Peoples Initiative Foundation.

The report, Cellphones and Brain Tumours, says exposure to mobile phone radiation is "the largest human health experiment ever undertaken, without informed consent, and has some four billion participants enrolled".