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News Burst: Motorola backtracks on GPRS health concerns

Motorola says New Scientist report on GPRS radiation safety was wrong but declines to explain why
Written by Richard Barry, Contributor and  Graeme Wearden, Contributor

Mobile manufacturer Motorola is backtracking on recent comments by its spokesman suggesting that GPRS, the high-speed successor to GSM, might have to be made slower in order to stay within radiation absorption guidelines.

Motorola marketing manager Rainer Lischetzki recently told New Scientist that implementing GPRS at the speeds its marketing division has hyped -- between 27Kbps and 86Kbps -- could cause a phone to overheat. He also said such speeds could push a phone's microwave radiation beyond European guidelines on the energy that can be absorbed by the brain.

But Motorola now says the New Scientist report was at fault, claiming that Lischetzki is not "qualified" to discuss GPRS issues despite the fact that he is Motorola's technical marketing manager for GPRS.

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