The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: May 13, 2007

Official News - page 8


REAL LIFE NEWS: DON'T LEND GRANNY YOUR IPOD

by Hazed

We may have silver surfers - old age pensioners getting into the internet and spending their time surfing the web - but so far, iPods have remained a toy for the young (or relatively young - I myself do own one although I am decidedly middle-aged these days). And this is just as well, if the news I have just read is true...

It seems that iPods can affect pacemakers. Oh dear! A new study presented recently to a meeting of heart specialists suggests that the trendy music-playing device can interfere with the electromagnetic equipment which is implanted in pacemakers.

100 patients with pacemakers were examined in the study, during which an iPod was held a couple of inches away from the chest for 5 to 10 seconds, and half the time this was enough to cause interference. In some cases, the effect could be detected as far as 18 inches away. The interference usually just caused the equipment to misread the heart's pacing, although in one case, the pacemaker did stop working entirely.

This sounds dangerous, but none of the symptoms were life-threatening, and the pacemakers all returned to normal once the iPods were turned off.

For more information read this Reuters news report at here.


Fed2 Star index Previous issues Fed 2 home page