November 10th, 2008
Pacemaker problem not about the iPod
Before any Democrats buy Dick Cheney an iPod for Christmas let’s be clear on what researchers are saying. (Picture from Wonkette, covering the same territory as this blog post.)
What they have found is that keeping a powerful magnet very near a pacemaker or defibrillator, an inch away or less, may temporarily degauss the pacemaker, causing a temporary malfunction.
This is not true for all devices, and it’s not true for all pacemakers or defibrillators. And it’s not the iPod doing the deed, it’s the headphones. Specifically the magnet inside the headphones.
Just 15% of the pacemaker patients studied and 30% of those with portable defibrillators had a response when the magnetic headphones were placed on their chests.
Scientists have long known that a field strength of 10 gauss may interfere with these devices. Some of the headphones studied had field strength of 200 gauss and more. Even these devices, if kept 3 cm. or more from the patient, did no harm.
So it’s not the iPod, it’s the headphones. They need to be very strong, and they need to be left right on the patient’s chest. Harry Whittington, take note. (Who wants to bet this makes the next Bond movie?)
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/10/08
