Public health minister Tessa Jowell has instructed the National Radiological Protection Board to set up an independent working group to assess the state of research into mobile phones. Announcing the initiative, Ms Jowell said it would be wrong to ignore public concern about the possible health risks. A short study of the effect of mobile phone frequencies on human memory and reaction times funded by the Department of Health and published last week found there was a reduced reaction time in one test but no effects on memory.