London - Parents should not give cellphones to children aged eight or under, the chairman of an official study into the safety of the phones said on Tuesday.

Sir William Stewart, chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board, or NRPB, said there was a growing amount of research that showed using cellphones has health implications and it was therefore wise to adopt a "precautionary approach", particularly with children.

"I don't think we can put our hands on our hearts and say mobile phones are safe," he told a news conference to launch his report.

"When you come to giving mobile phones to a three to eight-year-old, that can't possibly be right."

'We absolutely do not want to damage children's health'

A British company that recently launched a phone aimed at four-year-olds to eight-year-olds said it was suspending sales until it has studied Stewart's report.

Stewart concluded that "there is no hard evidence at present that the health to the public, in general, is being affected adversely by the use of mobile phone technologies".

However, Stewart said he was "more concerned" about the implications for health that five years ago, when he last reviewed cellphone use.

He added that there is evidence to show that "emissions from mobile phone masts are a small percentage of the emissions that one gets from a mobile phone," but recommended that such masts - blamed by some parents for making their families ill - should not be sited near schools.

Stewart said studies showing the use of mobile phones could affect health "have yet to be replicated and are of varying quality but we can't dismiss them out of hand".

"This is still a relatively new area and the divergent views show how more research is needed."

"If you have a teenager and you feel they can benefit in terms of security by having a mobile phone, it is a personal choice," he told reporters.

"But if mobile phones are available to three to eight-year-olds I can't believe for a moment that that can be justified."

"My belief is that they (users) should take a precautionary approach and that they should use them for as short a time as possible and they should use text messaging as much as possible."

Communic8 said it was suspending sales of its MyMo phones, which were designed for children and store up to five numbers that can be easily dialled in an emergency.

"We launched the product specifically because we thought it could address security concerns of parents," said marketing director Adam Stephenson.

"We absolutely do not want to damage children's health." - Sapa-AP