Mobile mast illness 'is just in the mind'

Campaigners claim up to five per cent of the population suffer from extreme sensitivity to the electromagnetic fields emitted by masts, televisions, hairdryers and other everyday items.

The effects can include headaches, joint pain, depression and fatigue.

In severe cases, sufferers may change job or even move home to try to cut the amount of radiation to which they are exposed.

But research suggests the condition may be psychosomatic.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, scientists from the University of Essex looked at whether proximity to mobile phone masts triggered symptoms in a group of 44 electrosensitive volunteers.

They carried out the same tests on 114 healthy men and women. They found that those with electrosensitivity felt unwell and complained of anxiety, discomfort and fatigue when they were placed near a mast that was switched on.

However, their symptoms remained unchanged when the mast was switched off.

Crucially, physical symptoms such as heart rate and blood pressure did not change whether the mast was on or off.

Lead researcher Elaine Fox said that while there was no doubt the electrosensitive individuals felt unwell, phone mast radiation was not at the root of their problems.

Instead, it is possible they are thinking themselves ill.

Professor Fox, whose work was part-funded by the mobile phone industry, said: 'We do know there is a very large literature showing that the placebo effect, the power of belief, is very powerful.

'There's nothing magical about that. There are real clinical, biological effects.

'If you really believe something is going to do you harm, it will.

'I'm pretty confident that it's not the electromagnetic field causing these symptoms.'

The professor, who is a psychologist, said it was natural for people to try to explain away their ills. She said: 'They might have a headache, and they notice on the train that someone has a mobile phone, so they immediately make the attribution, that it must be the mobile phone causing the problem.

'It is very natural to try to support a hypothesis rather than find evidence against it.

'We all do this but it becomes quite dangerous when it's to do with health symptoms.'

The results are published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

However, campaigners questioned the validity of the findings, pointing out the figures may have been skewed by electrosensitive volunteers dropping out when their health deteriorated part-way through the study.

Alasdair Philips of Powerwatch, which investigates the alleged health effects of electromagnetic radiation, added: 'Good science isn't necessarily looking at people in a lab somewhere for a short time.

'I think now we're going to have to look at longer term exposure, using information from GPs in the community.'