Subject: "Hands-free" mobile phone safety (Dean)..
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 063324 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
........Let us all keep an open mind on this...... There is a strong
"smell" of commercial influence here..... Thanks, Margaret....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
roy@emfguru.com
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
NEW!!! Website... http://emfguru.com
...................People are more important than profits.................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 06:26:34 EDT
From: DEANBT29@aol.com
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: (no subject)
Roy
FYI
Front page story from Express, also front page of Daily Mail, story
carried in all other main national press.
NEW MOBILE PHONE DANGER
BY MARK TOWNSEND AND MICHAEL HANLON
HANDS-FREE kits used by millions with mobile phones may actually increase
the amount of radiation channelled into the brain, a new report claims.
Tests found a three-fold increase in microwave radiation transmitted to a
user's head. The research by the Consumers' Association showed that an
earpiece with a mobile phone, far from reducing exposure to radiation,
effectively amplified it and focused it directly into the brain.
"If you've heard about possible health risks and started to use a shield
or a hands-free kit, you should stop now," the report says. "If you don't
have one, don't waste your money. In reality, the earpiece wire on the
hands-free kits we tested acts as an aerial - and channels three times as
much radiation to your head." The earpieces were originally introduced to
make phones more convenient to use, but became more popular as fears were
raised over radiation.
The tests examined two of the most popular hands-free earpieces. Experts
believe the problem could affect other kits.
The findings, to be published in Which? magazine this week, also claim
that shields - sold as a means of protecting users from radiation - offer
no protection.
There is still no undisputed evidence that the phones cause brain damage.
But many experts claim they pose a risk to health, with cancers, memory
loss and psyc hological disturbances all blamed on the handsets, now used
by about 25 million Britons.
In the past four years, more than six million hands-free kits have been
sold to worried users. The report states: "Think again if you use a
hands-free kit to protect yourself from mobile phone radiation - the two
we tested increase the radiation levels inside your head compared with
holding the phone by your ear."
The British Medical Association is urging companies to give the public
more information about hands-free kits and shields. Last night the
£6billion cellphone industry hit out at the report, saying they were
baffled by the findings.
"We were amazed by the results of the Which? survey because we perform
thousands of tests on our products," said Ericsson spokeswoman Lindsay
James. "The report said that a couple of headsets increased the level of
radio waves and we found that the levels were reduced - a massive
decrease - from an already very low level."
A spokesman for the Federation of Electronics Industry, which represents
cellphone firms, said: "If for any reason mobile phone users want to use
their phones without holding them next to their head they should consult
their dealer about a personal headset or hands- free kit. It's a question
of consumer choice." Mobile phone manufacturers have been accused of
cashing in on the public's fears of radiation from the devices by
marketing hands-free kits.
The report looked at the £14.99 BT Cellnet Hands Free Accessory kit for
the Philips Savvy phone and a £19.99 Carphone Warehouse kit for use with
the Ericsson A10185.
The tests, using dummy heads and radiation detectors in a shielded
laboratory, found that both kits tripled the levels of radio waves
reaching the brain.
"The results took us by surprise - by the time we discovered them it was
too late to test more kits," the report says. "But looking at several
other kits, our experts thought they would also conduct the radiation."
Attachments and shields sold with the promise of protection from
microwaves also came under scrutiny. Five models were tested but just one
shield was found to reduce the levels of radiation.
"The attachments we tested didn't reduce the radio waves picked up inside
a dummy head," the report says.
Jean Philips of consumer watchdog Power-watch, an organisation that gives
advice on electromagnetic fields, said: "Anyone who uses a phone
extensively runs a risk of adverse health effects. We estimate that 10
per cent of the population may be at risk of milder effects such as
headaches and loss of concentration."
The report also warned that the 35,000 mobile phone masts across the UK
could pose a significant health risk. "People who live or work near
transmitter masts may also have legitimate health worries," it says.
A spokesman for Philips said: "Their tests have not followed the industry
approved testing mechanisms." A Department of Health report into the
dangers of mobiles will appear at the end of this month. A World Health
Organisation inquiry is expected to report back later this year.
"Until the international studies report there's no way to know whether
mobile phones are perfectly safe or whether they are like cigarettes - a
health risk that's suspected long before it's proved," Which? states.
© Express Newspapers, 2000
Margaret Dean
Secretary NIFATT
26 Ballydonaghy Rd
Crumlin BT29 4EP
TEL: 44 (0) 28 9442 3213
Fax: 44 (0) 28 9442 2947
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com