UK Consumers: Hand-Free Devices Risky
L O N D O N, Nov. 3, 2000 -- Fresh evidence that hands-freemobile phone kits can significantly boost the brain’s exposureto radiation was published on Thursday, challenging UKgovernment research amid consumer health concerns.
British consumer research magazine Which? said its newfindings confirmed claims it first published in April that usinghands-free earpieces could more than triple the brain’s exposureto radiation compared to a conventional mobile phone call.
Which? is published by the Consumers Association, a group analogous to Consumers Union in the United States, publisher of Consumer Reports according to Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, a U.S. newsletter that follows the radiation and cell phone issue.
Long-Standing Issues
Which?’s original report was dismissed in August by thegovernment, which had commissioned research that showed the kits didcut exposure levels.
But Which? said the methodology used in the governmentresearch was flawed and that further research using a morerealistic model confirmed hands-free kits could act as an aerialthat channeled radiation to the ear.
The level of emissions depended on the distance between thetip of the phone’s aerial and the earpiece, which variedaccording to how the phone was held. The government tests didnot allow for this, Which? said.
“As in our earlier tests, it’s clear that consumers can’trely on hands-free kits to reduce radiation emissions at thebrain from mobile phones,” Which? editor Helen Parker said.
Positions Change Radiation
“Although these kits can reduce radiation, they can alsoincrease it significantly, depending on where you position thephone and kit. Unfortunately, there is no way that consumers canwork out the best position to reduce radiation.”
The increased emissions were still within British andEuropean safety levels, she said.
Scientists agree electromagnetic radiation from mobilephones warms brain tissue, that some strains of mice havedeveloped cancer in tests in Australia and Finland and thatothers become disorientated.
Cell Phone Risk Unproven
Although 100 million people use cell phones, there remains little research looking into whether mobile cell phones are safe. “There are serious questions about whether mobile phone use is safe,” Slesin said. It remains unproven that mobile phones pose a human health risk.
But Slesin said he believes scientists from industry and the consumer groups can come together and do the appropriate tests to either either corroborate or contradict Which?’s findings about the hand-free devices.
“Such testing is trivial,” Slesin said. “It needs to be clarified so consumers know what to do. Right now it is confusing.”
Which? said the kits could cut emissions by 10 to 90 percentin some positions. But in others they could increase them by afactor of 1.5-3.5. The government used only one position whichdid not allow the wire to hang straight down, Which? said.
A spokeswoman for the British Department of Trade and Industry saidit still had doubts about the Which? research because of thetype and position of the measuring probe used and the liquidinside the test dummy’s head.
“The important thing is that we resolve the differences,”she said.
Mobile phone maker Ericsson also played down the newfindings.
“Ericsson and other mobile phone manufacturers, while notagreeing with the conclusions, encourage any organization thatbelieves that they have an alternative test methodology to puttheir case to international standards setting bodies in orderfor experts to evaluate the relative merits of the respectivemethods,” it said in a statement.
Which? said it was impossible to recommend a “safe” positionfor holding a phone. Both short and long distances between theaerial and the earpiece produced increased emissions, with onlya short length in the middle generating lower emissions thanconventional calls.
It said fitting small ferrite collars made from metallic orceramic compounds over hands-free kit wires appeared to cutradiation into the ear.
Robin Eisner of ABCNEWS.com contributed to this report.