08 March 2001
A team of Hong Kong scientists said they had invented a cheap new material which
could block 90 percent of mobile phone radiation.
"It's a new material. It's very thin, very light and very cheap. It's very
effective in preventing microwave emission," Professor Ge Weikun of the
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's physics faculty told Reuters.
Ge, one of four physicians who took part in the two-year research project, would
not give many details about the material, which the team sandwiched between two
thin slices of plastic. But he said a 10 cm by 10cm (4x4 inch) sheet would cost
only around HK$20 (US$2.56), making it just a matter of a few Hong Kong dollars
to incorporate a piece into a mobile handset.
At 0.5 millimetres (0.02 inches), it is about as thick as four sheets of paper
put together.
Ge said a number of mobile phone manufacturers have approached him about the
invention but he did not identify them.
The potential dangers of mobile phone radiation have been a subject of fierce
debates in recent years and attract intense public interest especially in
mobile-phone-mad Asia. Seven of every 10 people in Hong Kong are believed to own
one.
Phone manufacturers have vehemently denied a direct link between any illnesses
and the use of cellphones but some medical studies have suggested otherwise.
A German study released last month drew a connection between cancer of the inner
eye and radio waves released by mobile devices.
This contrasted with another report published last December by the American
Health Foundation which issued cellphones a clean bill of health.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says phones emit low amounts of radio
frequency energy or radiation which can cause biological damage at higher
levels.
Ge said the invention was superior to other technologies that claimed to do the
same job because it absorbs radiation released from the phones instead of merely
reflecting it away.
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