CELL PHONE RADIATION AND COLTAN

Just by their basic operation, cell phones have to emit a small amount of electromagnetic radiation. They emit signals via radio waves, which are comprised of radio-frequency (RF) energy, a form of electromagnetic radiation.

There's a lot of talk in the news these days about whether or not cell phones emit enough radiation to cause adverse health effects. The concern is that cell phones are often placed close to or against the head during use, which puts the radiation in direct contact with the tissue in the head. There's evidence supporting both sides of the argument.

Colombo-tantalite ore, or coltan as it is known in the Democratic Peoples Republic of the Congo is a mineral that is used in the production capacitors found in all cell phones, laptop computers and other devices we use today.
These regulate voltage and store energy in mobile phones, tens of millions of which have been sold in the past few years.
Regional analysts say the international demand for coltan is one of the driving forces behind the war in the DRC, and the presence of rival militias in the country. The European lobby groups, like the regional analysts, say that coltan production is fuelling the war in Congo.

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Started Oct 16 2007 by:

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Category: Technology

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Permalink Reply by Virginia Simson Nov 10 2007
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There is a whole section on Coltan in John Perkins' Confesssions of an Economic Hitman. That's major when you consider how no one wants to talk about the political problems and social injustice getting coltan really IS.

One reason we haven't had MORE coverage on this whole issue is that the exact effects really weren't published until the past couple of weeks. I have a section on it on www.lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Nov 28 2007
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This situation in the Congo is one that demands your heart to bleed, if you have one (and a brain attached to it). The sad fact is that many wars in Africa can be directly traced to Western powers desire for the vast resources of the continent. Puppet states get propped up in order to insure the safe flow of goods and "treasure", and local populations are left in the lurch. When the people get sufficiently fed up with living as later day colonial subjects and decide to fight back, it either results in ethnic conflict on a grand scale, or the wholesale oppression by the occupying forces. An article in The Independent a month or so back tells the little understood and completely unreported (with the exception of this one article) story of the Central African Republic, and its occupation by the French government.

I'm hoping The Real News will cover these issues in greater detail. This is something that the Western world needs to know about, and has to confront in all its horror. Africa has acted as the gilded well of the Western world for century's, first exploited for its "work force", and now for its resources. We enjoy all the wealth, while the people there get the shortest end of the stick (often directly in the eye).

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Permalink Reply by Terry Price Jul 13 2008
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The ideal solution would be finding an alternative to Tantalum capacitors. In my engineering I don't know of any other capacitor that would give the same volumetric efficiency as tantalum.

Perhaps a chemical engineer can comment here?

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