DuPont, Dow Chemicals, Johnson & Johnson Medical, Air Products and ICI Polyurethane have responded to a growing weight of research which reveals clear risks of using a car-phone while on the move - hands-free or otherwise. Now, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is due to publish a study into in-car distractions, which will back up its initial call for a ban on in-car mobile phones made earlier this year.

The study is effectively a pull-together of all the available reports on the effects on the driver of various forms of in-car gadgetry - including mobile phones - and RoSPA says the findings clearly reinforce its stance against both hands-free and hand-held car phones. It says distraction resulting from phone use on the road is two-fold, firstly from the actual physical manipulation of the phone, and secondly the concentration involved in talking to the caller.