The programme, however, can still be seen on YouTube. The presenter, Dr Maryanne Demasi, will not be allowed to appear on-air at least until September.

The programme, titled "Wi-Fried" was broadcast on 16 February and there were several complaints about it soon thereafter. Catalyst is promoted as the ABC's flagship science programme.

Briefly, the Wi-Fried programme, which attempted to tie the use of mobile phones and the presence of Wi-Fi devices to conditions like brain cancer, was found to have several inaccuracies.

This is the second time that a programme with Demasi (seen below) at the helm has been pulled. In 2013, a two-part Catalyst programme about the alleged link between the use of statins and heart disease was removed from the ABC archives.

In a statement, the ABC said that the programme "did not provide enough context for viewers to understand that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as 'possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B)' was specifically based on a positive association found in some studies between heavy mobile phone use and glioma, and not on any potential risks having been found in relation to Wi-Fi use.

"When citing the Bioinitiative Report, the program did not acknowledge its significant scientific criticisms and shortfalls, and consequently overstated its credibility and independence.

"One statement in the program, 'newer studies showing that people who begin to use cell phones regularly and heavily as teenagers have four to eight times more malignant glioma, that's a brain tumour, 10 years later', was materially misleading as it overstated the risks identified in the relevant 2009 study, and implied that that study hadn't been considered by the IARC in its 2011 decision to classify RF electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic.

"Another statement, 'When the bombs fell at the end of World War II on Japan, we followed every person who survived. Forty years is how long it took for brain cancer to develop after that exposure', overstated the latency period for brain cancer."