My guests today are Dr. Ryan McCaughey and Dr. Rong Wang from Pong Research, I use Pong cases on my cell phone and ipad to block harmful radiation. We’ll be talking about the health effects of radiation from cell phone and how you can protect your body.  www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/pong-research.

Dr. McCaughey is the Chief Technology Officer for the company. He leads the technical team that designs and tests the Pong technology. He has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Manchester (UK) for his thesis on Laser Stimulation of Nerves. He also received a Masters in Physics with Technological Physics from the University of Manchester. Dr. McCaughey grew up in Northern Ireland, before moving to the United States in 2007 for a research position at the Beckman Laser Institute, University of California, Irvine, where he researched laser surgery of the bones in the ear. In 2009, Dr. McCaughey joined the International Foundation for Science, Health and the Environment (IFSHE) in Los Angeles, where he worked on development of a plasma centrifuge for isotope separation and the genesis of the technology that became the foundation for Pong Research Corporation.

Dr. Rong Wang joined Pong in 2011 as Chief Science Officer. She is responsible for the oversight and scientific integrity of all research, published content, and documentation related to the biological effects of non-ionizing radiation emitted from cellular and Wi-Fi devices (including cellular phones, tablets, laptops, routers, and Bluetooth accessories). Rong reports directly to the CEO as lead technical writer, editor, and media representative on all scientific issues related to mobile health, wellness, and environmental topics that pertain to Pong’s technology. As a co-inventor of Pong’s internationally patented technology, Rong also continues to participate in product research and development and helps identify and qualify new technologies and applications for the company.

Rong received her Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including a joint degree from Harvard in Health Sciences and Technology. She is a specialist in radiation biology, and her doctoral dissertation focused upon human cellular responses to radiation. She also earned two bachelor’s degrees in Physics Engineering and Economics from Tsinghua University in China.

Prior to Pong, Rong is originally from the Sichuan Province of China.

 

TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
How to Protect Your Body From Your Cellphone

Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Dr. Ryan McCaughey & Dr. Rong Wang

Date of Broadcast: October 23, 2013

DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And this is Toxic Free Talk Radio, where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world. And we talk about this because there are toxic chemicals all around us, in the water we drink, in the food we eat. In fact, you’re probably being exposed to toxic chemicals unless you’re doing something to be aware of where they are, and choosing toxic-free alternatives.

But in addition to chemicals causing harm, we also are concerned about electromagnetic fields, radiation and other things that are in consumer products that cause harm besides toxic chemicals.

And today, we’re going to be talking about cell phones—cell phone radiation, how it affects your health, and what you can do about it.

My guests are Dr. Ryan McCaughey and Dr. Rong Wang from Pong Research. And what Pong Research does is that they make cases for cell phones and other wireless devices that block the cell phone radiation up to 95%.

So we’re going to be talking with them today about Pong, as a company, what their technology is about, and how it can protect you.

I have Pong cases on my iPhone and my iPad. And while you can’t really tell that it makes a difference, you can’t feel a difference, I have confidence in these products. And so I feel good that I’m protected.

I actually had an experience a few months ago. I was at a conference. I was walking through the parking lot, and this woman called out to me, and she says, “Are you Debra Lynn Dadd?”

And I said, “Yes.”

And she said, “Oh, I bought those Pong cases because you recommended them, and I feel so much better. I bought them for myself and my family. All my children now have Pong cases, and it’s so wonderful that I feel that they can be protected.”

And she was so happy that I had recommended them that she stopped me in a parking garage—a perfect stranger—to tell me this.

So, welcome to the show, Dr. McCaughey and Dr. Wang.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: It’s a pleasure!

DEBRA: I’m going to get this all right. Dr. Wang, right?

DR. RONG WANG: That’s right.

DEBRA: Okay, good. Well, why don’t you introduce yourselves? Dr. McCaughey—I’m going to write this down. I’m going to make sure that I get it phonetically.

Dr. McCaughey from Ireland, and Dr. Wang from China. So Dr. McCaughey, tell us something about yourself. Let’s start with you. You’re the Chief Technology Officer for Pong Research.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: That’s right. Pong Research is a mobile technology company dedicated to advancing the performance and safety of mobile devices. And as you mentioned, I’m the Chief Technology Officer at Pong Research.

I’m originally from Ireland. And I’m now based here in Virginia with Pong Research. I’ve been here in the United States for about five years. I have a background in Physics, a PhD in Physics, from the University of Manchester in England. That’s how

I’m able to provide expertise in this realm of electromagnetic interactions.

As you rightly introduced, cell phones and other wireless devices emit wireless radiation or electromagnetic fields. And the Pong cases are uniquely designed to interact with those fields, to re-distribute the energy in a much safer way, so to redirect it away from you.

In your introduction, you actually mentioned that the Pong cases block cell phone radiation. And really, an important distinction is that we don’t block radiation, we re-direct it.

DEBRA: I apologize.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Oh, no. It’s just something I want to tell you to clarify. As you’re probably aware, it’s essential for the communication ability of the device that the signal has to get in and out of the phone, so we don’t actually want to block it. And what makes Pong cases unique is that we direct it. So it’s not something directed towards your head when you’re on call, for example. It’s not sent out the back of the phone.

DEBRA: Good! Okay. We’ll talk a lot about that during the course of the show.

So, Dr. Wang, tell us about your background. You’re the Chief Science Officer for Pong.

DR. RONG WANG: Yes. Hi, this is Rong. And I’m currently the Chief Science Officer for Pong. And my background, I received my PhD from MIT’s Nuclear Engineering in the Science & Technology Department with a joint PhD degree in Health Science & Technology from Harvard.

So basically, I came to a lot of knowledge about radiation and how radiation interacts with human bodies—human cells, to be specific—from my PhD research.

And before I joined Pong, I worked in research team in Los Angeles. We did basic research to look for innovative solutions for a wide variety of problems facing us today.

And one of the technologies we developed in the laboratory is—I created the prototype of the current Pong technology, the re-directing technology for the wireless device.

Right now, I’m based in Kansas City. And it’s a great pleasure to be here with you, Debra.

DEBRA: Thank you. I’m very happy to have both of you. You have just impeccable backgrounds, so I’m very interested. And I’m sure my listeners are interested to hear what you still have to say on this subject.

So, Dr. McCaughey, could you tell me something about the company? How did Pong get started? What was the motivation that led the founders of Pong to decide that they needed to start this company?

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Sure! Really, in the mid to late 90’s, at that time, Dr. Henry Lai—he’s a researcher at the University of Washington—found that radiofrequency radiation, similar to that emitted from cell phones can cause damage to DNA in the brain cells of rats.

This was really at the time when cell phones were becoming more prevalent. It was really when people started—the general population, everyone, started getting a cell phone mid 90’s.

That was a very concerning research that came from the University of Washington, and we at Pong wanted to use our knowledge of radiofrequency antennas and electromagnetic interactions that we developed through research at UCLA and the company that Dr. Wang mentioned before. And we wanted to provide cell phone users a way to protect themselves.

It’s still a matter that’s under considerable research, exactly what the impacts of cell phone radiation are on health. But until such time as there is a conclusive evidence that they’re safe or otherwise, we want to be there to provide consumers just an option to protect themselves, a way to reduce the unnecessary exposure from a cell phone.

DEBRA: Thank you. We need to take a break, and we’re going to be back in just a minute. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And today, I’m talking with two scientists from Pong Research about cell phone radiation and what you can do to protect yourself, Dr. Ryan McCaughey and Dr. Rong Wang.

And when we come back, Dr. Wang is going to tell us the health effects of radiation from cell phones and other devices.

This is Toxic Free Talk Radio, and we’ll be right back.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And today, we’re talking about cell phone radiation and what you can do to protect yourself with two scientists from Pong Research, Dr. Ryan McCaughey and Dr. Rong Wang.

Now, before the break, Dr. McCaughey said that in terms of health effects, that there is not complete agreement about what those health effects are yet. But there’s something called the precautionary principle which I apply all the time and have been applying for 30 years, which is if there is some question about the health effects of something, it’s better to be precautionary about being exposed to it rather than be in danger, and be exposed to it, and then find out later that it causes cancer, or could kill you, or something like that.

So I feel there’s enough evidence so far to bring into question the safety of talking on cell phones all day, or even carrying them around with you.

So Dr. Wang, tell us what you know about the health effects of cell phone radiation.

DR. RONG WANG: Before I give into the topic of the health effects of cell phone radiation, I would like to first explain what cell phone radiation is.

DEBRA: Thank you. Good. I would like to hear that.

DR. RONG WANG: As you know, cell phones, and essentially all wireless devices, use radio waves to communicate. The radio waves emitted from cell phones is a form of electromagnetic radiation, commonly referred as the cell phone radiation.

When you hold your cell phone next to your head or wear it on your body, you can absorb over 50% of the transmitted energy.

While cell phones bring enormous convenience to our modern lives, the possible health consequences of exposure to cell phone radiation have aroused a considerable—it’s a topic of concern and scientific debate.

So, when we talk about the cell phone radiation, the first thing people should understand is that it is different from x-ray which is an ionizing radiation and a known cancer-causing agent.

On the other hand, the cell phone radiation is a type of non-ionizing radiation, which means it does not carry enough energy to break the DNA bonds directly. And it is the same type of energy used by microwave ovens to heat up food […] except that it has much lower power compared to a microwave oven.

So a typical cell phone emits about 100 mini-watts or 1/10 of a watt average power with a peak power somewhere between half a watt to two-watts.

So many people assume that this low-level, non-ionizing radiation is safe for humans. But the fact is that we don’t know yet.

The existing scientific findings on this subject are mixed and conflicting. So that means about half of the studies showed some kind of effect, while the other half showed no effect.

And the reported effects from cell phone radiation include cancer, especially brain cancer, impaired brain and the nerve root functions, sperm damages in men, and behavioral problems in children, just to name a few.

So, let me give you an example. In 2011, a U.S. study showed that safety limits of cell phone use changed the human brain’s glucose metabolism in the region of the brain closest to the cellphone antenna. Although the health outcome from this change in glucose metabolism is unknown from the study itself, at least we know that cell phone radiation starts to interact with our brains, and that they said one hour of exposure is enough to change our brain activities.

So, that’s a very interesting finding.

DEBRA: Yes, I would agree.

DR. RONG WANG: With regard to the health outcomes, the relationship between cell phone use and the brain cancer has been the subject of several large studies in the past decade or so. Those studies normally in scientific terms called epidemiological studies, they normally involve a large number, sometimes up to hundreds of thousands of human subjects, and compare the cell phone use pattern, and the actual brain tumor incidents among the studied population.

If we look at those studies, while no study was able to say for sure that there is a definitive link between cell phone use and brain cancer, many studies observed increased risks for subgroups of heavy cell phone users or people who use the cell phone for long periods of time. We’re talking about at least five years or longer, sometimes more than 10 years.

DEBRA: I had an experience where I know a good friend of mine is one of those people who are on the cell phone all day long. He’s a business executive, and he just carries his cell phone with him all day long. And he had a brain tumor.

Now, I can’t say that it was related to his cell phone, but I can tell you that he literally talks on his cell phone at least eight hours a day. And he got a brain tumor.

So when I heard that, I thought about these studies about brain cancer and cell phones, and what you said earlier, there are studies that show that there is a change in the brain when the cell phone is near the brain.

We need to take a break, but we’re going to continue to talk about this when we come back. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And this is Toxic Free Talk Radio. We’re talking today about cell phone radiation with two scientists from Pong Research. We’ll be right back.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And today, we’re talking about cell phone radiation, how it can harm your health and what you can do to protect yourself. My guests are from Pong Research.

I want to just suggest that you go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and look for the description of this show. And on there is a link to my listing on my link to Pong Research on my website on Debra’s List. You can also just go to any page of my website, and type in “Pong Research,” P-O-N-G Research into the search box, and it will take you to the listing that I’ve written for it.

And on that listing, there’s a very dramatic picture of looking at how much radiation emits—you can actually see it on the picture, and how much there is with Pong device. And it’s virtually nothing without it, and you can really see the radiation in this picture.

And I’ve seen other pictures. I don’t have them right here in front of me, but there are other pictures that maybe you’ll find on the internet, or I’ll find them and put them up here too, where you can see the radiation from the phone on the ear penetrating into the brain area.

So it’s not just the phone is just out here doing nothing. It’s emitting these radiation rays, I guess they are, and they’re going into your brain.

Now, that’s not something that was designed by Mother Nature to have us be exposed to, and there are plenty of evidence that there is some harm. It’s just not completely proven yet.

So Dr. Wang, go on with what you’d like to say about the health effects.

DR. RONG WANG: Thank you, Debra. So basically, I was talking about some studies showed some evidence of increased brain cancers, while others do not. But still, the limited evidence of increased cancer risk from those studies led the World Health Organization to classify cell phone radiation as a possible carcinogen to humans in 2011. We all know that.

And I do want to emphasize that, when it comes to children, we believe—and health experts, they generally agree—that children are more vulnerable to cell phone radiation because they have thinner skull and skin which allows a deeper penetration of the cell phone energy as you just mentioned.

And also, they have a smaller head, and still, their nervous system is still developing (they’re not yet mature). So it’s more susceptible to any damages.

Besides, children, they start using cell phones at a very young age. They have the potential of accumulating many, many years, or even decades, of cell phone exposure when they are old. So that is a concern.

And again, the search data for the effects on children is very limited.

DEBRA: That’s a big thing in my field when we’re talking about toxic chemicals or electromagnetic fields or radiation, any of these things, is that all these things are being used, and yet, there’s limited data on their safety. And we need to do more research. We need to be finding out definitely what the dangers are, and if there is any indication that there is a danger, we need to be applying the precautionary principle.

I really believe that even if adults don’t use these cases, anybody who has children, the children absolutely should be using the cases because some of us—I didn’t start using a cell phone until well on in my life, but if somebody starts using a cell phone when they’re five years old, they’re going to have a lifetime of exposure to this.

Especially since there is technology available, it is relatively inexpensive for what you’re getting. You buy a case and it lasts—since there’s nothing being used up, this case would just last as long as it lasts. You could it use it for years?

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Absolutely! We strive to make our cases as durable and sturdy as possible. We want our technology to stay on the phone and be used.

DEBRA: So considering how long it could be used, the investment is very small, and the amount of protection that you’re getting, it’s just a very high value product, especially when you’re looking at the health of your children.

I wanted to ask you, Dr. Wang, so as long as the cell phone is on, it’s getting off radiation whether it’s in your pocket or in your purse or up next to your ear.

DR. RONG WANG: That’s right.

DEBRA: So even if you’re just carrying your cell phone—you don’t even have to be talking on it. If you’re carrying your cell phone, you’re getting that radiation in your body.

DR. RONG WANG: That is correct.

DEBRA: But if it’s in your pocket, it’s not next to your brain—so how far away—I know with electromagnetic fields that the further away you get, it diminishes exponentially. So how far away do you need to be from your cell phone in order to not be feeling the effects of radiation?

DR. RONG WANG: Really, there is no—because the radiation, they don’t just disappear. The intensity goes down exponentially over distance. So that means if you hold the cell phone further away from your head, the less radiation exposure you are going to get.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: The cell phone manufacturers provide warnings in their manuals in small print, which most people don’t read, that advise you to keep your cell phone at least half an inch away from your body.

And that’s something that we also agree with. We often advise people not to keep their cell phones in their pockets particularly because, as you mentioned, the proximity to the body is a big factor. So if possible, try not to keep your device in your pocket.

But that’s somewhere where that the Pong case can be a benefit. If you have to keep it in your pocket, the Pong case will reduce exposure in that instance. But of course, the less exposure is always better.

DEBRA: The less exposure is always better. We need to take another break. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. And we’re talking with scientists from Pong Research today about cell phone radiation, its health effects, and what you can do.

And when we come back, Dr. McCaughey, I’m going to have you explain the Pong technology. We’ll be right back.

= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And my guests today are from Pong Research where they make cases for cell phones and other wireless devices in order to protect us from the cell phone radiation.

So Dr. McCaughey, explain to us how the technology works.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: When you normally talk on your cell phone, it’s emitting energy in all directions really. And that’s next to your head, and half of that is being absorbed in your head. Not only this has health implications, which we just discussed, but you’re also wasting the signal.

What the Pong case does is when it’s applied to the phone, it has a built-in antenna technology that pairs with the antenna inside your phone to re-direct the wireless energy away from your head.

So essentially, it draws the energy towards the back of the phone and away from your head, so it provides you with a reduced exposure to the cell phone radiation, and at the same time, providing a greater cellphone signal to the tower for improved [unintelligible 29:39] which is dropped calls.

So really, it’s multiple benefits from one solution.

DEBRA: Yes, it improves performance and increases battery life too.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Yes, simply by less waste of your signal in your head, you have a more efficient device for communication. And we made these cases slim line cases that sit on the phone snuggly. We make them for a range of devices, including I guess the iPhones, Samsung Galaxy products, and tablets including the iPad and the iPad mini.

Just this week, it’s available for pre-order now on our website, our case for the iPhone 5S, which was recently released.

DEBRA: And I find it to be that they’re very attractive cases, and particularly, the one in my phone, it actually makes it easier to hold. It just wraps around the phone.

I did a little research. Some people asked me, “Well, aren’t they made out of plastic?” all these kinds of things. But I talked to the company when I first started became aware of these, and I found out that the cases are made of polycarbonate, but it’s all bound up in the plastic.

The problem with polycarbonate, people know about BPA and polycarbonate, is that you actually have to have something like a polycarbonate water bottle, though BPA will leech into the water because—it leeches into the water. If it’s just there around the phone, it’s not leeching into the air.

And it’s not anything like handling a cash register receipt, which gives off BPA.

If there is any BPA coming off of this case, it’s so minimal that—you would be exposed to more BPA in just going shopping, and handling the cash register receipt, or eating canned food. And the benefits of this are so astronomical just in every way that we just need to be protecting ourselves from this radiation.

Is there more you want to tell us about how the technology works, or anything innovative?

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Sure! So, the technology itself is an embedded technology—an embedded antenna, I’m sorry. It’s wafer thin, thinner than a human hair which is very important. We don’t want to make a huge, bulky case that you’re not going to want to carry around with you.

And how it works is that it attracts the electromagnetic energy towards it. And it’s precisely engineered and designed to function at the frequencies that your cell phone operates on. Your listeners may not be aware that your cell phone operates at many different frequencies.

DEBRA: No, I didn’t know that.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: Over a range of about 1 Ghz, which is a large variance, but the Pong case is designed to work at any of the frequencies that your cell phone can operate at, not just here in the U.S., but worldwide as well.

So a lot of engineering goes into making sure that it pairs precisely with the cell phone antenna.

DEBRA: This is an amazing thing. I’m looking on your website right now, and it says that it’s been tested in FCC-certified laboratories. That’s the Federal Communications Commission, and that Pong is the only mobile device case proven to reduce your exposure to radiation while still protecting your signal strength.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: That’s right.

DEBRA: And I think that that was the thing that impressed me was—because I’ve been looking at other technologies, and that you have such a high rate of reduction, and that it also—there’s performance instead of decreasing it.

So that’s just between those things—it was just—why not have this on my phone? That was just so obvious.

We only just have a few minutes left. But I wanted to ask you, is there anything you want to make sure you get to say that you haven’t covered yet?

DR. RONG WANG: Yes, Debra. I do want to resonate with your previous comments on the precautionary principle. The reason is, just last week, WHO classified air pollution as a leading cause of cancer to humans. And it actually took the Director of IARC, an international agency for research on cancer, to come into the [desk].

It actually takes two, three, or four decades, once the exposure is introduced and before there is sufficient research data to show a relationship to the cause.

So, if you look at cell phone radiation, I think it’s—we’re talking about the [unintelligible 35:34]. So right now, we only have widespread cell phone use for about 10 to 15 years, so we are still at a very early stage compared to three, four decades time period that it normally takes to define a carcinogen or a cancer agent.

So, it’s really the uncertainty and the time. I think they all justify the application of precautionary principle which we definitely support. At Pong, we support the worldwide call for precaution.

And lastly, just last Tuesday, the French National Agency for Food, Health, and Environmental Safety issued recommendations to limit exposure to cell phone radiation, essentially, for children and the heavy cell phone users.

Again, really, I think it’s all early evidence and the worldwide call for precaution. They are, I think, a good cause of concern on this issue.

DEBRA: I agree with you. And yes, I do see as well that as time goes by, there are more and more recommendations by intelligent people who have done research and looked at the research to say, “This is something that we should be watching out for.”

In history, there was a time when we thought that cigarettes were safe. And now, we know that they cause cancer. If there are indicators that we should be watching out for something, why not watch out for it if we can?

Dr. McCaughey, any final words from you?

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: I think until we reach that time when there is conclusive evidence, we should adopt this precautionary principle. And one way to do that is to use a Pong case.

For any of your listeners that would like to get one, we’d like to offer you a discount. If you enter Pong, P-O-N-G, PONG10, in the checkout, you’ll get a 10% discount just for your listeners, Debra.

DEBRA: Thank you so much. So that’s P-O-N-G 10, the number 10. 1-0.

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: That’s right, yes.

DEBRA: Thank you so much. And until when is the discount good?

DR. RYAN MCCAUGHEY: That’s available for up until the end of the month, October 31st.

DEBRA: Okay, good. Thank you very much. I’ll announce that on my website as well.

So now, we really do only have a few seconds left, so I just want to thank you both so much for being with me. I learned some things, and I’m sure my listeners did. And thank you for providing such a great product that can protect our health.

If you want to learn more about Toxic Free Talk Radio, you can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, where we have a list of the guests that are coming up this week. And also, every single show is recorded and archived, so you can listen to this show again, you can tell your friends to listen to this show, you can listen to yesterday’s show. You can listen to the 200-something shows that we’ve done, and find out what’s going on in the future.

You can also find out more about my website when you go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. Across the top, there’s a navigation bar that will take you to various places where you can find out about where to buy non-toxic products, how to get toxic chemicals out of your body, et cetera, et cetera.

So tune in tomorrow, and we’ll have more. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio.