Ministry warns: Keep a distance from phone chargers

New research shows chargers emit electromagnetic radiation in dangerous levels.

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
cell phone 88 (photo credit: )
cell phone 88
(photo credit: )
The Environmental Protection Ministry warned the public Sunday to put half a meter between themselves and any electrical transformer, particularly cell phone chargers. After receiving hundreds of queries regarding chargers and after taking a sample survey, the ministry found that many people slept with the charging phone right next to their head on their nightstand. Such a small distance between the charger or transformer and one's body could increase the chances of getting cancer, the ministry warned. According to the ministry, any sort of device that has a charger or transformer, like an alarm/radio or cell phone or a fluorescent light produces an electrical field. While the radiation they produced was not harmful at a distance of at least half a meter, getting too close for a prolonged period of time, such as every night for hours on end, could be harmful. The ministry likened the effect to living under a power line. Dr. Stelian Gelberg, head of the noise and radiation prevention branch of the ministry, said the effects were heightened at night when the body was not producing melatonin, which mitigates some of the effects. The ministry said that its philosophy concerning non-ionizing radiation was based on the prevention principle and therefore they were issuing a general warning now to alert the public to the potential dangers.