The new tobacco? French government to control under-age mobile phone use

And, just in case the French consumer hasn't got the message, it will also be mandatory for children's phones to be sold with complimentary earphones so that they can keep the phone away from the head.

The move apparently follows a bout of radiation paranoia in France where the city of Lyon administration actually ran a series advertisements trying to dissuade parents from buying phones as Christmas presents.
 
The reason, of course is to do with the as-yet unproven ill-health effects from mobile phone or WiFi radiation. Despite years of research, no conclusive evidence has yet been established to link radiation from communications devices or networks to any ill-health. 

But despite the evidential non-show the clamour and anecdotal (rather than scientifically-established) news-flow seems to continue unabated so that eventually politicians feel they have to act on the precautionary principle in case some evidence is actually found at some point in the future and they're made to look, not just silly, but culpable.

The trouble is that this gives the impression that mobile phone radiation is on the same sort of story arc as smoking was in the 1960s. According to that storyline, it's only a matter of time before the 'evidence' of health damage becomes overwhelming enough for punitive legislation. 

On this basis Finnish authorities recently recommending limiting childhood exposure too, and in the UK at the beginning of the decade a government-commissioned report also recommended that child time with phones be limited, just in case.