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Wednesday, December 15, 2004

仙人掌吸收輻射 太神話

其實這已經是老"笑話"了. 兩年前我跟幾個朋友就已討論過了, 其中一封e-mail被我弄丟了. 以下是其中一個朋友當年的回應:

Written by Eric Hu (burningtyger@hotmail.com)
- please forward ^^

>>快去買一株仙人掌吧!!
>>
>>
>>據醫學報告指出每天使用電腦 46小時
>>三年後得到癌症的機率比正常人多26﹪

- Give me reference, citation, and name of the medical journal
(side effect of me writing too much thesis... :p)

>>
>>
>>* 中午睡覺時要記得關電腦
>>
>>你是否常覺得頭重重的或記憶力衰退呢?
>>趴著睡覺的時候要記的把電腦關機,不只是把螢幕關掉而已,
>>因為只把螢幕關掉是無法杜絕輻射線的,
>>而且我們都是趴著睡,頭直接對著電腦,哪天得了老人癡呆症或腦瘤就來不了!
>>輻射線真的很可怕的!!小心啊~健康重於一切!!^Q^
>>

- Right.... radiation is emitted from "motherboard" (which runs on max 15V DC),rather than the "monitor" (which transform 60VAC to ~200VAC to excite Cathode ray tube to shoot electrons... Ever wonder why there's a "HIGH VOLTAGE" label on the back of monitor ??)

>>
>>* 電腦族的殺手--胸廓出口症
>>
>>常坐在電腦桌前的你,是否一坐就是好幾個小時而且坐姿不正確,
>>總感到莫名肩頸疼痛,甚至於無心工作?
>>現在請你作個小測驗,請你將你的頭向左側方向望去,
>>然後將你的頭45度朝下慢慢彎下去,動作做到這裡,
>>你的脖子頸肩是否感到不正常的酸痛?
>>對假使你有上述症狀,你可要小心了!!
>>
>>因為你很可能得到現代電腦文明病「胸廓出口症候群」的受害者。
>>

- As mentioned, this is due to improper sitting position and has nothing to do with computer radiation.

>>* 殺手原來是" 電腦 "
>>
>>據醫學報告指出每天使用電腦46小時,三年後得到癌症的機率比正常人多26﹪。
>>你和" 癌症 "有個約會,殺手原來是" 電腦 "
>>

- Huh!?, using computer "46" hours a day?? My god... no wonder you get
cancer. (more like brain dead...)

>>一、電腦一族的您或許常納悶為何常常感到腰酸背痛,身體抵抗力越來越弱,精>>神常常無法集中,您絕無法想像原因出在"電腦",?
>>" 電腦 "所散發出的輻射電波往往為人們所忽視,依國際MPRⅡ防輻射安全規
>>定,在50cm距離內必需≦25V/m的輻射曝露量,但您知道電腦的輻射量是多少
>>嗎?

- MPRII standard is an environment standard set by "Swedisch Board for
Technical Accreditation" to ensure that man-made electric field is not higher than the pre-existing background electric field. For ELF (5-2kHz, Extremely Low Freq) electric field should be less than 25V/m within 50m distance. There are also other similar reguartion (and stricter) such as TCO'99 (which limits to 10V/m within 30m). The main application for these standard are on Monitor.

- However, these standard are not just set for fun. They are like ISO
standards and most monitor manufacturer worldwide such as NEC and MISUBISHI actually follows them.

- Note: see reference at bottom

>>告訴您
>>Ⅰ、鍵盤 1000V/m
>>Ⅱ、滑鼠 450V/m
>>Ⅲ、螢幕 218V/m
>>Ⅳ、主機 170V/m
>>Ⅴ、Notebook 2500V/m
>>

- Once again, allows me to stress the MPRII standard are only used on
MONITORS. This is because only MONITORS PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT RADIATION!!!.

- Allows me to explain how a CRT monitor works. Cathod Ray Tube essentially is a vacuum tube. A stream of electrons is emitted from the heated Cathode and acclerated by the high potential difference applied on anode. The electron stream then bombards on the phosphor coated screen causing it to glow, and creats the image on the screen. And YES, these produce some electromagnetic field, mainly from the high voltage electromagnets used to accelerate electron.

- However, LCD monitor (those used in notepad) uses different principle. In short LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is based on the effect that the crystal can be turned transparent or opaque due to different voltage applied on it. So no high voltage, no radiation!!!.

- And MOUSE and KEYBOARD emits more radiation than Monitor?? And up to
1000V/m?? hah... good one....

>>據醫學報告指出每天使用電腦46小時,三年後得到癌症的機率比正常人多26﹪。
>>
>>二、輻射電磁波對人體的八大傷害
>>
>>1、細胞癌化促進作用 (o my god!)
>>2、荷爾蒙不正常    (小心變倫妖!!偶不要@@||||)
>>3、鈣離子激烈流失 (no!no!)
>>4、痴呆症的引發 (..............痴呆-_-||||||,偶平常就呆呆滴ㄚ

>>5、異常妊娠異常生產 (冬天很冷,不企游泳沒關係!可素夏天還素得小心)
>>6、高血壓心臟病 (么么........么么九,光看完就要心臟併發啦!)
>>7、電磁波過敏症 (跟微波爐一樣喔!)
>>8、自殺者的增加 (別讓我看到刀ㄓㄨ˙........)
>>
>>.....在您使用電腦及享受上網樂趣時,請您多加深思
>>

- There are two misleading concepts about radiation here. All these
symptons are associated with power frequency, or microwave/radiofrequency field commonly found in cell phone, microwave, or high voltage power line. They are of frequency from 1 Mega Hertz (radio freq) to 10 Giga Hertz (microwave freq). According to data from WHO (World Health Organization), the only major concern now is leukemia and other cancer from people living near power line, but not much from cell phone base station or cell phone itself.

- However, the radiation from CRT monitor is "Static Field". They are among Extremely Low Frequency (1Hz to 2KHz), and Very Low Frequency (2KHz to 400KHz). MPRII regulates the amount of ELF and VLF a monitor can emit. Moreover, according to WHO, there is not much concern or theory on how static field can cause cancer or other health problem.

>>* 仙人掌的功用說明:
>>
>>仙人掌除了可以攻擊壞人,還有一項好處喔!
>>聽說在電腦桌前放置一仙人掌有助於減少輻射,
>>因為仙人掌是在日照很強的地方生長,所以吸收輻射的能力特別好,
>>那些久坐電腦同學們趕快去找顆仙人掌,保護一下眼睛.
>>>>至於要多大顆那就看你們的需要囉....?
>>

- YEAH, so is my ASS but I don't see people use it to prevent radiation. (prolong exposure of ass to sun light due to sleeping till noon... :p).

- Seriously though, catcus can absorb radiation is the biggest joke I've ever heard. The only material that can absorb (or bounce off) radiation is CONDUCTOR (i.e. METAL). From Maxwell's equation and Boundary condition,
electromagnetic field has only a certain "skin depth" that it can pentrate metal (also called Shielding Effect). This is why you use Metal Case for computer motherboard to prevent external magnetic field affecting the computer. This is also why you have a "metal screen" on the glass window of microwave to prevent leakage of electromagnetic field, and the same reason why you shouldn't put metal
spoon in microwave. (phew.. 4 yr of Electrical Engineering sure paid off...even though I only get 65% on "Electromagnetic Field")

CONCLUSION:
- Go ahead use the computer all you want. It won't give you cancer, just near sightness, muscle sore, elbow ache, headache, internet addiction, frustration, social isolaion, etc. (but they won't kill you...)

REFERENCE

1. MPRII-Swedish Standards for Monitor Emissions, EMF
http://www.fms-corp.com/mprii-swedish.htm

2. TCO and MPRII regulations
http://www.hwupgrade.com/monitor/index5.html

3. Radiation Safety
http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/healthycomputing/vdt14.html

4. NEC monitor official site
http://www.nec.com

5. Static Electric and Magnetic Fields and Human Health (From WHO,
www.who.org)
http://www.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop/static-fields-cancer-FAQ/toc.html

6. Power Lines and Cancer FAQs (From WHO, www.who.org)
http://iago.lib.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop/powerlines-cancer-FAQ/toc.html

7. ANY ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD BOOK (that does not have a picture of a catcus
on it)

Reference Article:

仙人掌吸收輻射 太神話

【大 成報 記者 丁彥伶/報導】  雖然大家都擔心電器的電磁波和輻射線影響健康,但卻無法抗拒對電腦、電視(新聞、網站、商品)的依賴,最近網路上流傳了一個訊息,建議愛上網的電腦族及 愛看電視的人在電腦螢幕前擺棵仙人掌,據說仙人掌吸收電磁波及輻射的效果特好,不過台灣大學園藝系教授凌德麟卻表示,這根本未經證實,是錯誤的訊息。

雖 然站在園藝推廣的角度,園藝界的人對這些流傳應該會覺得如虎添翼,但凌德麟認為「仙人掌能抗電磁波及螢幕輻射」的說法太過神話,也不希望誤導民眾,他認 為如果仙人掌真的能過濾微波,恐怕也得種滿滿一片如籬笆狀把整個螢幕都擋住的程度,透過仙人掌來看電腦或電視螢幕才具有這種作用。

雖然認為仙人掌無法抗電腦輻射,不過凌德麟表示,綠色植物可淨化室內空氣,並吸附游離的電離子,而且是所有的植物都有這種能力,擔心游離電離子傷害的民眾不妨在電視及各種電器附近多擺些盆栽就有保護的作用了。

另外因為研究發現電腦操作員女性流產的危險是一般人的3.4倍,因此許多想要懷孕的女性都穿起電磁波防護衣,不過在選擇時要注意這些產品是否具有抗靜電及耐水洗等永久功能,以免很快就失效了。