LOS ANGELES — The widespread use of mobile devices and Wi-Fi connections is leading to a number of health concerns, especially for men that fear radiation damage to their private parts. Now science is coming to their aid.
Described by Sir Richard Branson as “underpants for superheroes,” a British scientist has unveiled Wireless Armour, a new line of wearable tech underwear that aims to protect male fertility using a mesh of pure silver, woven into the fabric to shield against 99.9 percent of harmful electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted by Wi-Fi devices, including smartphones and laptops.
According to the company, it is estimated that 70 million couples are affected by infertility worldwide, with male fertility declining in recent years, attributed to exposure to environmental factors including electromagnetic radiation emitted by Wi-Fi enabled devices such as smartphones and laptops, which have been shown in clinical studies to lower sperm count and motility in men.
In 2014, the University of Exeter conducted a comprehensive review of all the data from previous studies investigating the link between EMR and sperm damage the and the analysis indicated a negative association between mobile phone exposure on sperm viability and motility. Whilst the findings are not 100 percent conclusive, they show a strong correlation between EMR exposure and lower sperm health.
In one study in vitro sperm motility dropped to 49 percent and viability to 52 percent, after just one hour of exposure to radiation emitted by a mobile phone. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has assigned EMR as possibly carcinogenic to humans, in the category 2B, the same category as petrol exhaust fumes and other pollutants.
“Like so many people, my smartphone and laptop use has increased dramatically in recent years which made me realize that I was exposing myself to large amounts of electromagnetic radiation, mostly centered on my groin,” says Joseph Perkins, the London scientist who invented Wireless Armour briefs. “With my physics background I knew there must be a way to shield from electromagnetic radiation using a simple solution.”
“Wireless Armour has been tested by an industry leader in wireless shielding and the results show that our fabric shields against 99.9 percent of the radiation emitted between 100MHz to 2.6GHz,” Perkins adds. “Put simply, this covers the entire range of radiation emitted by wireless devices, from voice and text through to 4G and Wi-Fi, almost everything is blocked.”
Perkins explains that Wireless Armour works by using a mesh of pure silver woven into the fabric to create an unbroken shield that disrupts the flow of electromagnetic radiation due to silver being a conductor of electricity. The electromagnetic radiation becomes distributed evenly around the silver mesh and stops the electromagnetic radiation from flowing through it. The silver is weaved into the cotton to produce an extremely flexible soft fabric which lengthens the lifetime of Wireless Armour by increasing its strength.
The silver fibers (around 35 percent of the total fabric) in Wireless Armour is highly anti-microbial, which means they increase hygiene by preventing the spread of bacteria and other microbes that cause odors.
Wireless Armour retails between £24-£35 (~$37 to $54).
Whether you call it your “jewels” or your “junk,” they’re worth protecting — and given the amount of time that adult webmasters, online marketers and more might spend with a phone in their pocket or a PC on their lap, Wireless Armour could prove a wise investment.
For more information, visit WirelessArmour.co.uk.