9 - 15 August 2001
Issue No.546
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 August 2001 Issue No.546 |
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Fatal attraction
They are all around us, but exposure to magnetic fields might be killing us. Reem Leila tracks down the latest thinking on magnetic waves
Mohamed Ibrahim, a Cairo taxi driver, was delighted to find some new seat covers for his car. "They were very colourful and cheap. But after a while I started to have severe back pains," recalls the chastened Ibrahim. He was soon to discover the reason for his suffering: reports in local newspapers revealed that magnets installed in seat-covers such as his were dangerous. Ibrahim then consulted a physician, who told him that his symptoms were the result of long exposure to a magnetic field.
Magnetic fields are part of everyday life -- both at home and at work. Magnets can be found in everything from telephones to computers. But many people don't realise that normal magnetic waves may be as hazardous as the low- frequency electro-magnetic radiation emitted by mobile telephone base stations. According to Dr Ali El-Garf, director- general of the radiology department at the Ministry of Health, a number of studies suggest that exposure to a magnetic field for a continuous five hours a day can cause cancer, memory loss, infertility, and problems with child development and behaviour -- to name just some of the possible risks.
The whole issue came to public attention last May when a citizen complained officially to Cairo's Qasr Al-Nil police about a woman who was selling magnetic belts and car seat- covers in the downtown area. According to a police officer, who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity, the ministries of health and supply commissioned a report to see what could be done to stop the spread of such products nationwide.
Yet in recent years, our exposure to magnetic fields has grown hugely. Mobile phones and their base stations (the sources of the phones' signals), computers, magnetic pieces, radars, and equipment used in industry, medicine and commerce have all added to the output of magnetic fields. It would be impossible to stop using such devices, so specialists focus on containing the frequency and amount of time spent within a magnetic field. An obvious target is the magnetic belts and seat-covers.
According to Fadel Mohamed Ali, professor of biophysics at the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, the belts expose the human body to a magnetic field 500 times as powerful as the human body can safely bear. "These frequencies are very dangerous and no human body can bear them without being seriously harmed," explained Ali.
Ali was a member of the committee formed by the Ministry of Health to examine the magnetic belts and seat-covers. The committee recommended a crackdown on strong frequency magnets that stick to the body. Ali explained, "There are other technologies such as radios and food processors that emit strong magnetic fields, but they do not stick to the human body. So those are OK."
But for all the fuss, the offending items remain on the market. The Weekly surveyed the merchants of Al-Tawfeqiya market, and found that most would not believe that their merchandise was a health hazard. Shehata Mohamed, who owns a car accessory store, called the health concerns, "nothing but mere rumours." He went on to assert, "People are saying so because they [the belts] are cheap. They cannot believe that there is something so cheap for no reason."
Mohamed Ismail, another shop owner, admitted to the Weekly that he used the seat covers and that he had noticed new pains. "I have used the new seat covers in my Mercedes." he said. "They come in wonderful colours. It is true that I have started to have some pains, but maybe these are because I am getting old." But Ismail refused to blame the seat covers. "I cannot believe that my pains are due to using the new colourful seat covers. That is ridiculous."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Supply is less sanguine. It has set up a committee to investigate the most effective method of removing the offending items from the market. According to Ali El-Hawam, head of the domestic trade sector at the Ministry of Supply and Domestic Trade, Law no. 113 for the year 1994 gives the ministry the right to remove from the market any commodity of unknown origin. He explained that so far the ministry has successfully collected the most harmful magnetic commodities. "These magnetic belt and seat covers are smuggled into the country. That is why the ministry has formed a committee to investigate who is importing such harmful goods," he said. While the committee has not yet discovered the source of the goods, the miscreant importers should take heed.
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