Hands-free means radiation-free?
Hands-free means radiation-free?
JAKARTA (JP): The booming trade of mobile cellphone always
sparks controversy. The latest issue over cellphones, which are
now used by about one billion people, is whether hands-free kits
also emit radiation to the brain.
Since cellphones have become daily lifestyle fixtures and a
person's best friend, there has been a lot of studies and
research done aimed at investigating the effects of
electromagnetic and microwave radiation from cellphones on the
human body.
The studies and research focus on major areas, including the
thermal (heating) and biological effects. The latter is defined
as the effects of microwaves on human cells, particularly brain
cells.
The new issue concerns the findings that hands-free cellphones
tripled levels of radiation to the brain.
The report, recently raised by the Britain's Consumers
Association, has ignited arguments involving mobile retailers in
Britain.
"The ear piece wire on the hands-free kits we tested acts as
an aerial and channels three times as much radiation to your
head," the association said. "Although we tested only two kits,
our experts agree others could suffer from the same problem."
It is not clear yet whether this radiation is harmful.
Millions of cellphone users have purchased hands-free kits,
believing they reduced the risk of cancerous brain tumors. It is
also advised to use hands-frees as there is mounting evidence
that talking on cellphones while driving contributes to an
increase in road accidents and fatalities.
In response, telecoms tools makers Ericsson and Motorola said
that health and safety are and have always been important and top
priorities of consumers.
"Motorola invests considerable time and effort into assuring
that our product are as safe in use as they are sound in design,"
said Yanty Agus of PT Motorola Indonesia.
She said that Motorola products are designed, built and tested
to assure that they operate within reliable science-based
standards for safe human exposure to radio-frequency energy.
Strategic PR Manager for Ericsson Mobile Communications,
Mikael Westmark, said that Ericsson's extensive research over the
course of many years had never established any conclusive
evidence of a link between the use of mobile phones and any
adverse health effect.
He said the new finding contradicted Ericsson's test results
as well as numerous results conducted over years by independent
research laboratories and media outlets around the world. (icn)