By Gifty Amofa/Samira Larbie, GNA
Accra, Feb. 16, GNA – Mr Paul Opoku
Agyemang, the Executive Director of African Cancer Organization (ACO) has
advised parents to keep mobile phones away from children as research has proven
that it has a greater risk of causing cancer.
He said mobile phones were very good but
emits radiation and because children’s nervous systems were still developing
they become more vulnerable to factors that may cause brain cancer.
Mr Agyemang said this during a day’s
workshop for staff of the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
The training was part of the Organization’s
series of sensitization programmes using data, to promote cancer prevention
through awareness creation and screening.
The sensitization programme is to help
people to avoid exposure to things that could cause cancer as well as early
detection for effective treatment.
The Executive Director explained that
cancers, which are simply abnormal growth in various parts of the body wre
caused by factors including biological, geographical, social, political or
cultural factors, saying that their names were derived according to where the
growth would occur.
Mr Agyemang classified cancer as chemical
(exposure to unhealthy diets, medical, nuclear), biological (family, ageing,
child bearing) and physical (consumption of alcohol, drugs, tobacco) and
carcinogens.
They spread in three ways namely through the
blood vessels, body Lymphatic nodes he said.
Mr Agyemang mentioned some of the common
cancers in Ghana as breast, cervical, colon, and rectum and ovarian, adding
that more people were dying from such cancers.
He said in as much as they are advocating
for mobile phones to be kept away from children, adults must also minimize the
risks of the mobile phone usage.
Research indicates that people who stay on
phone for an hour in a day were likely to develop brain cancers in the next 10
years, he added.
It is therefore advisable to put long phone
conversations on loudspeaker or use an earpiece to remedy the situation.
He advised Ghanaians to ensure that they use
mobile phones with low Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) as a safety precaution
and added that phones with SAR above three emits more radiation.
He reiterated the need for regular
screening, vaccination and early detection to cut down on the number of cancer
cases in the country.
GNA