Microchip to fight mobile phone radiation

A US company claims to have developed technology that reduces potential health-related risks associated with using mobile phones.

EMX claims its tiny microchip, called EMF (electromagnetic fields) BioChip, can protect users' body cells from the electromagnetic fields emitted by handsets when inserted into the battery packs of mobile phones.

The EMF BioChip radiates a random electrical impulse or 'noise' that overpowers the electromagnetic signal emitted by phones and thereby reduces their potential harmful affects. The first shipment of batteries that include the chips will be available in March. The batteries will fit Nokia's 5100, 6100 and 7100 range of phones.

"Perhaps for the first time in our history, we have the opportunity to utilise technology to reverse some of its own negative effects," said Thomas Magnussen, EMX founder and chief executive.

Five universities in Europe, Canada and the US have tested the EMF bio-protection technology and the results have been published in scientific journals including Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics.

However, mobile phone manufacturers say there is no danger. Scientists around the world have reported biological affects from EMF exposure that include memory loss, a decrease in the body's protective biological mechanisms, genetic disorders and changes in brain function.

UK consumer research group Which?, for example, reported controversial findings which claimed that hands-free mobile phone calls could more than triple the brain's exposure to radiation compared with a conventional mobile phone call.

The report said the level of radiation depends partly on the distance between the earpiece and the phone's antenna, and urged the UK government to press for a new European standard for hands-free kits.