A company which launched the UK’s first mobile phone specifically designed for children today announced it was suspending sales.

British firm Commun8 said the decision followed concerns raised by the National Radiological Protection Board, which said in a report today that mobile phones should not be given to children below the age of eight in case for fear of damaging their health in the long term

Although there is no direct evidence linking low-level radiation from handsets to increased cancer risk, Professor Sir William Stewart, the chairman of the NRPB said that while the uncertainties remain there should be a continued precautionary approach to their use.

The MyMo was launched five months ago and aimed at four to eight-year-olds. It stores up to five numbers which can be dialled automatically through one of three buttons on the front.

Commun8 said the phone was designed to be used in emergencies for children to contact their parents and vice versa.

Adam Stephenson, marketing director at Commun8, said: "We launched the product specifically because we thought it could address security concerns of parents. We absolutely do not want to damage children’s health.

"We have decided to suspend sales of the MyMo pending a chance to look at the Stewart Report in detail."

Today's report by the NRPB said that any health risk from mobile phones is certain to be greater for children than for adults and emphasised that young children should only use mobiles in emergencies.

The NRPB - the Government's advisory body on radiological issues - today published a new report, Mobile Phones and Health, as a follow-up to a similarly inconclusive study in 2000 by the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones.

The 2000 study, known as the Stewart Report, urged adults to keep conversations short and to discourage children from using handsets.

Five years on, today's report re-affirms this principle - which has been generally ignored - and also calls for independent monitoring of the effects of base stations, in response to a series of high-profile campaigns against masts near homes and schools.

Its central conclusion is that the pace of mobile phone technology is outstripping the rate of research. A number of European studies - which have reportedly established links between phone use and heightened susceptibility to inner-ear tumours - have yet to be published.

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