Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commission research into the potential impact of the daily use of mobile phones on eye diseases and health-related conditions.

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR is funding research into the possible health impacts of mobile phone use on health, although this has not focused on eye diseases. The NIHR Policy Research Programme has allocated approximately £2 million of funding to support the United Kingdom arm of the pan-European Cohort Study of Mobile Phone Use and Health. This international cohort study has been funded since 2014 and is investigating possible health effects from long-term use of mobile phones and other wireless technologies. Specific health effects being examined are brain and other tumours, heart disease, stroke, fertility, birth events, for instance low birth weight or preterm birth, neurodegenerative diseases, and mental health conditions. Previously, NIHR provided £1.5 million to the Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones, which has investigated whether children’s use of mobile phones might affect their cognitive or behavioural development.

The NIHR welcomes research funding applications in any aspect of health and care, including the impact of mobile phone use on eye diseases.