From the Kickstarter page…
We are not saying that it protects 100% against all kinds of electromagnetic waves that are bad for your health, what we are saying is that if you care about yourself, be smart and put on this first signal proof apparel instead of the usual one – no one will spot it and it will protect you.
The manufacturers have a very stylish website with full details of their remarkable products. I particularly enjoyed their opening description…
Signal-Proof Hats That Incredibly Fit & Protect Your Head
Signal-proof hats that, incredibly, fit!
The hats are made from cloth that is impregnated with silver which acts as both an antimicrobial agent and shield against electromagnetic radiation. You can read more about electromagnetic radiation on the blog here, here and here.
Clothing containing silver nanoparticles (mind-bendingly tiny pieces of silver) has been around for years. It is used in hospitals and other clean environments to reduce bacteria. When silver nanoparticles enter a bacterium really horrible things happen to it. The DNA and RNA is attacked, holes appear in the cell membrane, the cytoplasm leaks out – all in all it is not a good day for the bacterium!
A nanoparticle is in a range from 10 to 100 nanometres in diameter. To give you some sense of perspective, a human hair is between 20,000 & 80,000 nanometres wide. Has your mind bent? 1 metre is 1000 millimetres; 1 millimetre is 1000 micrometres; 1 micrometre is 1000 nanometres.
Doing some reading for this, I have seen some very positive research findings for the effect of impregnating surgical clothing with silver. In some studies it seems to reduce the build up of bacteria and especially the antibiotic resistant MRSA. In another study with vets it didn’t seem to make very much difference. There is also concern that the silver could wash out into waterways and harm the environment. Whilst silver is not particularly toxic to humans, it is very poisonous to aquatic plants and micro-organisms.
However, the Shield website describes the fabric in this way…
Soft, good looking, washable and completely safe for skin contact. This wire shielding mesh is fabricated from the silver which are perfect for RF shielding and eliminating odor and bacteria.
More poor English, but it is possible that they are working in a second language so we must avoid ad hominem arguments. If the cloth contains a woven mesh then that means no nanoparticles and probably not much protection from bacteria (although less environmentally dangerous). It does increase the chance that it blocks radio waves though so that may be something in its favour. LessEMF.com produces a range of fabrics that have wire mesh built in to protect against radio waves. I am particularly impressed by the claim for TechniCOT™ that it is “All Natural” whilst being made from a woven mixture of cotton and silver fibres. Where in nature does that combination occur? Perhaps we had better not point out the instruction in Leviticus 19:19…
Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
New International Version
Let’s hope the makers of the first signal-proof headgear are not fundamentalist in their religious beliefs!
My main objection to these otherwise quite attractive beanie hats and baseball caps is the suggestion that there is anything that we need to be protected from. We are not exposed to harmful radiation on a regular basis other than UV light (which burns the skin and causes skin cancer). Radio waves from wifi routers and phones are much longer wavelength (lower frequency) signals.
Radiation can be ionising radiation (potentially harmful) or non-ionising radiation. As the names suggest the first has enough energy to free electrons from atoms, turning them into ions. The latter does not. I like this quote from Sense About Science’s freely available booklet – Make Sense of Radiation (if you have a family member who worries about telephone pylons or wifi radiation, they may find it helpful.)
The effect of ionising radiation can be likened to throwing a cricket ball at a fairground coconut shy. Sometimes the ball hits the coconut – this is like ionising radiation hitting a cell. The coconut may fall to the ground – the cell is killed. Other times the coconut just wobbles but then straightens up again – analogous to the cell repairing itself.
The effect of non-ionising radiation is like throwing a ping-pong ball at the coconut. It does not have sufficient energy to knock it over or make it wobble. Increasing the power of the radiation is like throwing more ping-pong balls every second – they still won’t knock the coconut over – so the cell remains undamaged.
Prof Anthony Barker
Radio waves used for communication networks are non-ionising radiation. As far as we know it is harmless to humans. It is being researched but no evidence, nor plausible mechanism, has so far been revealed to offer any suggestion that it might be harmful. By all means buy one of these Shield hats but do so because you like the look of them not because you think they are affording you any special level of protection.
Questions…
- What property of a light wave is governed by its amplitude?
- If you double the frequency of a sound wave, what musical transition do you make?
- What significant structure do your cells contain that a bacterial cell lacks?
- Suggest two features you might find in a plant cell that you would not find in an animal cell.
- At what speed does electromagnetic radiation travel. (Choose your unit – surprise me!)
- What is the approximate length (in µm) of a salmonella bacterium?
p.s. I completely forgot my favourite thing! On their website they make the following claim…
Our headwear is antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiradiation, antiodor, antistatic, and radar and infra-red invisible. It has electric field shielding (EMI), radiofrequency shielding (RFI) and microwave shielding.
The hat is invisble to radar and infra-red so your head would vanish if being scanned by radar or filmed at night with an infra-red light source. It’s a stealth hat!
p.p.s Reading the comments from the Kickstarter site shows that I am not the only scepticl voice out there. I wish I had seen them before I started writing this!
From the creators of the hat, from their Kickstarter comments section…
Let`s give you the answers. It`s simple and easy and everything you had to do is just think about it.
1. The products are appallingly unscientific and rely on popular ignorance for their appeal. – It`s up to everyone.
Oh well that’s OK then!
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