Mobile 'Damaged Nerves'
Herald Sun
Journalist: Kate-Ashley Griffiths
May 28, 2000

The use of a mobile phone may have caused a Melbourne businessman to suffer from permanent damage of nerves in his face. The 72-year-old man, who has been using the mobile phone for several years, made two one-hour calls on successive days on his mobile phone 18 months ago. The unpleasant and bruised feeling on the right side on his face, which normally went away, remained permanently, and now with some loss of feeling on that side of the face. 

A leading Australian expert in electro-magnetic radiation, Bruce Hocking of Caulfield General Medical Centre, said in late May 2000 that exhaustive tests showed that the nerves in the distribution field from the phone has undergone a permanent change in function, indicating that low-level radio frequency can affect tissue and nerve function. However, the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association rejected Hocking's findings.