Mobile phones cause dangerous interference in hospital equipment?
By Will Park on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 1:11 PM PST In Research
Ok, we knew mobile could possibly be responsible for killing bees. They could be linked to cancer. Now it looks like mobile phones could interfere with a hospital’s critical care equipment – external pacemakers, syringe pumps, etc.
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam researchers recorded nearly 50 incidents where mobile phones were used in close proximity to such sensitive equipment. They determined that mobile phones should not be brought within one meter of these devices – and found that “critical care equipment is vulnerable to electromagnetic interference by new-generation wireless telecommunication technologies with median distances of about 3 centimeters.”
The study seemed to indicate that GPRS signals (EDGE for most of us still using GPRS) seemed to provoke the most interference.
So, the next time you go to visit your sick friend or relative (especially in an intensive care unit), try to hit the power button on your mobile phone.
[Via: Yahoo]
Wow… In the UK there’s been a staunch ban on phones in hospitals for ages.
Really? I wonder what prompted that ban – and why the same hasn’t happened in the US.
Not sure, but a friend of mine who is a medic rarely turns his off, and the same goes for a lot of surgeons, even in theatre. Odd!
We’ve had a ban on cell phones in hospitals here in sweden since forever as well. I was quite surprised to see that not all countries agree/know that they are potentially disruptive to hospital equipment. Are you US dudes allowed to use your phones on planes? Are -we-? I dunno! It’s all bananas!