Ericsson has denied a newspaper report that the company, along with Nokia and
Motorola, was patenting devices to reduce the risk of brain tumours among users.
A report says that the three companies had invented new components to shield
users from radiation emissions from handsets.
The report on the patents came at a sensitive time for the mobile phone
industry.
U.S. neurologist Christopher Newman last year filed a lawsuit against leading
U.S. phone companies including Motorola, stating that his use of cell phones
caused a malignant brain tumour. Ericsson and Nokia were not named in Newman's
lawsuits.
He said the patents were designed to make mobile phones more effective by
using fewer radiowaves -- rather than to specifically prevent brain tumours --
and denied the patents were an admission that using the company's phones could
lead to health problems.
"A few individual people patented technologies specifically to reduce
the radiowaves (used by) mobile phones," Michael Westmark, says Ericsson
spokesman on health and safety.
The Times also quoted Nokia Vice-President William Plummer as saying that the
patents did not prove the existence of any health hazards through the use of
mobile phones.
Officials at Nokia could not be reached to confirm Plummer's comments.