OT: Mobile phone chip to counter radiation unveiled

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Mobile phone chip to counter radiation unveiled

Last Updated: 2008-12-09 13:05:28 -0400 (Reuters Health) http://is.gd/aVhX

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian health products distributor Omega Pharma

will launch a chip it claims can counter potentially damaging

radiation from mobile phones and has high hopes for its sales.

The company, which sells non-prescription products such as wart

treatments, pregnancy tests and sun tan lotions to pharmacists,

unveiled the E-waves phone chip on Tuesday, a day before its launch in

Belgium.

Testing of the chip, which offsets the electromagnetic radiation from

the phone, showed it lessened symptoms such as headaches and loss of

concentration that might be associated with mobile phone use, Omega said.

It also neutralized the heating effect within the body produced by

electromagnetic signals.

Testing of consumers appetite for the product, costing 38.95 euros

($50.1), will start on Wednesday.

The company will only have 30,000 of the chips available on day one,

but believes it can ramp up production easily for foreign expansion.

" If we need 10 million, then we'll go for that, " Chief Executive Marc

Coucke told Reuters on the sidelines of the launch, although he said

that was not a forecast.

Coucke and the scientists who have developed the chip argue there is a

growing body of evidence showing a link between mobile phone use and

the growth of tumors.

" It's like smoking. Eventually we reached a point where the health

impact is widely acknowledged, " Coucke said.

However, scientists worldwide remain split between those that believe

there is a risk and others who believe there is insufficient evidence

to show mobile phones are unsafe.

Omega, which has exclusive international distribution rights, will

begin selling the product in other countries from early 2009. It will

also launch three similar devices designed for use in the car, linked

to a computer and in the home.

Omega competes with the over-the-counter arms of pharma giants such as

& and Bayer and of consumer products groups such as

Procter & Gamble.

Omega, the only sizable stand-alone OTC company, ranks itself 11th in

the world in that market. It is mainly active in Western Europe, but

is also pushing into Eastern Europe.