"Hands free" mobile phones may be safer than the rest
Using "hands free" kits with mobile phones seems to be safer than holding these phone directly against the head, according to research commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry.
Tests showed that the kits
offered "substantially" reduced
exposure to radiation, and when
ferrite suppressors were added to
the earpiece cables, even lower
levels of exposure were recorded.
"Hands free" kits offer substantially reduced exposure to radiation(SVI.INC)
The report of the research,
carried out by an independent
company, Sartest, said that the
position of the phone, including
which way the key pad is facing
and how the earpiece hangs,
can affect radiation absorption.
"With a hands-free kit in use,
the maximum body absorption
depends on where the mobile
phone is placed. If it is in the
hand, the situation is similar to
normal use of the phone against
the ear. If it is in the pocket, then
the body absorption is expected
to depend on which way around
the phone is placed. There will
be a lower body dose by ensuring
that the keypad of the phone is
facing the body," said the report.
It continued: "If seeking to
reduce their exposure as a precautionary measure, we recommend that users of hands-free
kits should let the ear piece
cable hang down naturally from
the ear, keep the cable away
from the phone's antennae, and
not place the phone directly
against the body."
The Department of Trade and
Industry said that all measurements taken of the phones tested
were comfortably within exposure guidelines of the National
Radiological Protection Board.
The research was commissioned after an article in Which?,
the Consumers' Association
magazine, reported earlier this
year that the earpiece wire of the
kits acted as an aerial, channelling three times the level of
radiation to the head as an ordinary mobile phone.
The "e-minister," Patricia Hewitt, said: "This report confirms that the kits reduce exposure for mobile phone users."
Roger Dobson, Abergavenny
The Sartest report is on the Department of Trade and Industry's website at www.dti.gov.uk/cii/sartest.pdf
studentBMJ 2000;08:303-346 September ISSN 0966-6494
