Vienna Medical Association

January 2016: Vienna Medical Association  issued Ten Cell Phone Guidelines:

1. Make calls as short and little as possible – use a landline or write SMS. Children and teenagers under 16 years old should carry cell phones only for emergencies!
2. Distance is your friend- Keep the phone away from body during connection of Phone. Pay attention to the manufacturer’s safer distance recommendation in the manual, keep a distance during the call set-up from the head and body. Take advantage of the built-in speakerphone or a headset!
3. When using headsets or integrated hands-free, do not position mobile phones directly on the body – special caution applies here for pregnant women. For men, mobile phones are a risk to fertility if Mobile is stowed in Trouser pockets. Persons with electronic implants (pacemakers, insulin pumps et cetera) must pay attention to distance. Unless otherwise possible, use coat pocket, backpack or purse.
4. Not in vehicles (car, bus, train) calls – without an external antenna, the radiation in the vehicle is higher. In addition, you will be distracted and you bother in public transport the other passengers!
5. During the car when driving should be an absolute ban on SMS and internetworking – the distraction leads to self-endangerment and endangering other road users!
6. Make calls at home and at work via the fixed corded (not wireless) network – Internet access via LAN cable (eg via ADSL, VDSL, fiber optic) no Radiation, is fast and secure data transfer. Constant radiation emitters like DECT cordless telephones, WLAN access points, data sticks and LTE Home base stations (Box, Cube etc.) should be avoided!
7. Go offline more often or use Airplane mode – Remember that for functions such as listening to music, camera, alarm clock, calculator or offline games an internet connection is not always required!
8. Fewer apps means less radiation – Minimize the number of apps and disable the most unnecessary background services on your smartphone. Disabling “Mobile services” / “data network mode” turns the smartphone again into a cell phone. You can still be reached, but avoid a lot of unnecessary radiation by background traffic!
9. Avoid Mobile phone calls in places with poor reception (basement, elevator etc) as it increases transmission power. Use in poor reception Area a headset or the speakerphone!
10. For buyers of mobile phones, Look out for a very low SAR value and an external antenna connection!

Read the Cell Phone Guidelines Press release (in German)

See The Cell Phone Guidelines Poster (in German)

No Wi-Fi in Salzberg Schools: “The official advice of the Public Health Department of the Salzburg Region is not to use WLAN and DECT in Schools or Kindergartens.” -Gerd Oberfeld, MD.

The Vienna Medical Society had issued cell phone safety guidelines previously stating that cell phones should be used for as short of a time as possible and that children under 16 should not use cell phones at all. They also stated that “wireless LAN leads to high microwave exposure”.