A high-level panel appointed by the U.K. government has recommended that children be discouraged from using mobile phones and that the industry not market phones to children. Although the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones, chaired by Sir William Stewart, found that there was no evidence of a health risk, it favored a "precautionary approach" given current "gaps in knowledge." "I have got a grandchild of four and a grandchild of two and I would not be recommending that they have mobile phones," Stewart told the BBC, noting that he would continue to use his own phone. Stewart was science advisor to the prime minister from 1990 to 1995. The 12 members of the expert group issued their report on May 11. They asked that radiation exposure data for different phones specific absorption rates (SARs) be "readily accessible to consumers" and that there be no shortcuts in the planning process for the siting of mobile phone base stations. The U.K. Department of Health, which asked for the mobile phone report last spring (see MWN,M/A99 and S/O99), was quick to accept the panel's recommended precautionary approach.