NEW YORK-SV1, which last year introduced SafeTShield, an aftermarket earpiece cover to reduce radio-frequency emissions from wireless and cordless phones, will begin marketing the product through 7-Eleven stores in May.
Since debuting the product a year ago, the Boca Raton, Fla., company said it has received patent and trademark approval for the PolyCarbon Metallic Fiber out of which the oval-shaped SafeTShield is made. The mesh is “constructed of materials previously used exclusively for the military,” the company said.
Another Florida company, Tampa-based Unique Premium Products, also announced it has begun direct marketing of its Anti-Radiation Cover to consumers over the Internet.
“We also are proud to announce that the Anti-Radiation Cover has recently been approved for sale to all agencies of the United States Government,” said Gus Ibrahim, a spokesman for Unique Premium Products.
The ARC is a small, lightweight mesh disc that adheres to the earpiece of a cellular phone, according to a product description.
“The Anti-Radiation Cover uses Shieldron, an enhanced conductive fiber material based on technology originally designed by NASA to counter the effects of radiation in outer space,” the company said.
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, Washington, D.C., does not take a position on individual products of this kind, said Travis Larson, a spokesman for the trade group.
Because all mobile phones sold in the United States meet federal Specific Absorption Rate standards for maximum allowable RF emissions, CTIA believes the use of aftermarket shields “will not make any material difference” in the safety of handsets, he said.
Larson and Norman Sandler, the Washington, D.C.-based director of global strategies for Motorola Inc., both cited the World Health Organization’s pronouncement that consumers need not take any special precautions when using wireless phones that meet RF emissions standards.
In 1997, Microshield Industries plc, a United Kingdom company that introduced a cell-phone RF shield at that year’s Consumer Electronics Show, acceded to Motorola’s demands it stop promotional claims of a cause-and-effect relationship between cellular- phone use and adverse health effects.
“What’s happened in the last few years is that marketers have become a little smarter about what they can and can’t say, but nothing has changed in terms of the technology,” Sandler said.
“We are not going out with an aggressive strategy against these companies. They are free to market whatever they want. In some cases we have objected to claims some companies have made to support promotion of their products.”
In announcing the upcoming availability of SafeTShield at 7-Eleven stores, SV1 said, “researchers and consumers have grown increasingly concerned about possible long-term health risks associated with electromagnetic radiation.
“While many scientists debate whether there is a direct link between long-term exposure to EMR and brain cancer, an alarming number of cell-phone users are reporting negative health effects such as headaches, memory loss and hearing trouble.”
On its Web site, SV1 said tests of its product conducted last year by the Czech Technical University Prague Electronics Institute showed SafeTShield reduced the Specific Absorption Rate by 28 percent to 43 percent. The company said S.A.R. results are imprecise because they are affected by many variables, including the type of phone used, the angle at which it is held, the power left in the battery at the time of use, the type of RF technology used and the weight of the person using the phone, the company said.
Global Certification Laboratories in Haddon, Conn., found SafeTShield reduced RF emissions from various types of wireless phones by up to 90 percent, while TUV, a product testing agency in Germany, measured reductions of 98.8 percent to 99.3 percent, depending the frequency, SV1 said. Coghill Research Laboratories in Gwent-Wales, United Kingdom, found that radio-frequency waves in 900 MHz range damaged or killed white blood cells, but that the SafeTShield blocked those effects, the company Web site said.
CTIA’s Larson said aftermarket RF radiation shields are not subject to federal testing requirements for efficacy. While not addressing SafeTShield or ARC in particular, he said some of these kinds of products have been found to increase, decrease or have no effect on RF output.
“By blocking RF, they can make the phones increase power output to compensate, although no phone sold will exceed the maximum Specific Absorption Rate,” he said.
Both SV1, maker of SafeTShield, and Unique Premium Products, producer of the Anti-Radiation Cover, said their products will not interfere with the performance of wireless phones.
Unique Premium Products said Concurrent Technologies Corp. tested ARC last year and found it blocked up to 99 percent of RF emissions. CTC, which has offices in 24 cities including Washington, D.C., also conducts tests for the FBI, the Navy, Lockheed-Martin, Westinghouse Corp., and Thomson Consumer Electronics, according to the ARC manufacturer.
Product Safety Engineering, Tampa, Fla., also tested ARC and found it reduced RF emissions to nearly zero, Unique Premium Products said.
The company has launched a Web site at www.cellphoneradiationbuster.com where it offers consumers a free download of a book entitled, “Cell Phone Radiation Danger: The Untold Story”.
“Studies conducted by the cell phone industry as well as those done by independent researchers have been inconclusive,” the company said in announcing commercial availability of ARC.
“What is not known are the potential long-term effects of EMF exposure, which has been linked to fatigue, headaches, brain tumors, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease … The newly launched Web site debates in detail the scientific findings to date on cell- phone radiation.”
The Anti-Radiation Cover retails for $20, while SafeTShield has a suggested retail price of $15.
