Protection from Unseen Radiation Hazards

photo credit: Pong Case

Electromagnetic energy exposure can cause serious health issues. We have all heard the horror stories about electromagnetic energy causing brain tumors and cancer. A large number of trinket devices claim to protect us. Two companies are now taking that need for protection very seriously. Belly Armor and Pong Research are taking a scientific approach to the problem.

Protection from Unseen Radiation Hazards

Belly Armor, out of Singapore and New York, is specializing in blankets and t-shirts that protect developing fetuses from electromagnetic energy. Belly Armor says that in tests conducted by the Shanghai Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology, a Chinese government testing agency, the blankets and shirts blocked between 90 and 99.9 percent of electromagnetic radiation.

Pong Research, based in Los Angeles and Middleburg, Va., has taken a different approach. Pong has come out with patent-pending cell phones cases that effectively redirect about 60% of the dreaded killer energy. Right now these cases are only available for BlackBerry and iPhones, but Pong founder and case inventor, Professor Alfred Wong (UCLA), plans to have models for other phone lines out in the near future.

Does exposure to electromagnetic energy cause cancer? The International Agency for Research on Cancer published a study last week about prolonged exposure to electromagnetic energy. The study proved inconclusive even though it drew on 10 years of data. However, there is enough concern that both California and Maine have called for warning labels on cell phones.

Hype or fact? John Walls, vice president of public affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a wireless communication trade group, says while these new products could theoretically work to protect you, they are unnecessary. “Science has not indicated there is a problem,” Mr. Walls said. “Phones are already emitting radiation below acceptable levels as per the F.C.C. regulations.”

Professor Wong still advocates caution! Wong says that the radiation from a cell phone works much like a microwave, heating molecules of water in the objects. Since we humans are made up of 70% water, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to draw the conclusion that our goose is being cooked! Perhaps we should be paying a bit more attention to the parts of our environment we CAN control, like cell phone usage, computer exposure, microwave ovens themselves.

Ready to buy a new cell phone case? I can hardly wait for the new models to come out from Pong. I doubt I will be using a blanket or t-shirt as protection, but I think pregnant women ought to check it out and make their decisions based on “what might happen” scenarios. Do we trust government studies that tell us products aren’t harmful to us? How’s that been working? Let’s see, cigarettes, arsenic as a pesticide, Thalidomide? These products were reported to be safe for consumers. Now we know differently. I am not so trusting of government studies. How about you?