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Hands-Free Kits Reduce Mobile Phone Dangers

New British study contradicts previous reports and describes the safest way to use a mobile phone.

Douglas F. Gray, IDG News Service

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Adding even more confusion to an already complex issue, the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry Monday published a report concluding that using a personal hands-free kit with a mobile phone reduces exposure to electromagnetic fields from the phone itself.

The new report, sponsored by the government and conducted by SARtest (an independent consultancy that specializes in measuring radio frequency fields from mobile phones) contradicts another study: The Consumers Association published a report earlier this year that said the wire connecting the phone to the earpiece was acting as an antenna and channeling three times as much radiation to the head.

In another study earlier this year, the government-appointed Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones found that there was no conclusive evidence that mobile phones could be harmful, but warned against excessive use of the phones by children.

The new report concludes that hands-free kits offer substantial reductions in exposure to electromagnetic fields compared to the normal use of a mobile phone. It also concludes that the amount of radiation coming from the phones themselves is well inside the guidelines of the National Radiation Protection Board and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.

According to the report, keeping the phone in a pocket with the keypad towards the body and using a hands-free kit reduces the absorption of radiation by the user.

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