A bill requiring all cell phones sold in Israel to bear a health-hazard warning label passed its first of three readings into law on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) and Yulia Shamalov (Kadima), won blanket approval in parliament. It also requires all advertisements of mobile phones to bear the warning.

Although the jury is out on the science, some suspect that heavy cell phone use may cause cancers, particularly in children. Youngsters can be more vulnerable to carcinogens because of their faster rate of cellular division. The labels will read “Warning – the Health Ministry cautions that heavy use and carrying the device next to the body may increase the risk of cancer, especially among children.” Similarly to cigarettes, all advertising targeting minors would be banned under the law, and breaking the law would be a criminal offense.

“The bill that passed today is a breakthrough in expanding public awareness of the possible risks in using cellular phones,” Khenin said yesterday after the vote. Given the worrying results of a number of Israeli and international studies, he said, it is incumbent on the government to bring the possible risks to the public’s awareness. People need to be more careful in their use of cell-phones, he said, and especially, they must protect children.