Cell Phones May Cause ICU Machinery to Hang up


By Martha Kerr

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters Health) Jan 31 - The electromagnetic energy emitted by cell phones may be strong enough to interfere with mechanical ventilators in the intensive care unit, even to the point where a ventilator may shut down, Harvard researchers reported here Thursday.

Biomedical engineer Cheryl Iden Shaw presented results of a study on the effects of cell phones set at a variety of strengths ranging from 16 milliWatts (mW) to 600 mW on 20 different medical devices, including mechanical ventilators, defibrillators and Doppler sonographs. The researchers used a Nokia cell phone and Cingular wire service.

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