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Good news: A Prius won't fry your ankles, but your gas car might
Brandon Davenport
Good news folks! Your hipster co-worker’s green machine won’t fry your ankles — but little did we know, this was actually an arguable issue at one time. According to science, hybrid cars (like the Prius) give off EMF radiation (much like phones and WiFi) that could damage your body, and it’s a speculation that has been tossed around by theorists and the public for a while. We have been threatened by health professionals and old people that Cellphones and (now) Hybrids are killing us, and that we need to stop using them — but did you know that your car could be frying your ankles?
The test, conclusion and surprise
What happens when a scoop pops up like this? Consumer reports gets in on it, and uses the power of high tech testing equipment (and deep pockets) to run this claim of hybrid cars frying brains and ankles, into the ground. The following is a quote and chart from the consumer reports article, comparing gas guzzling normal cars and hybrids to see which one is the EMF radiation culprit.
To conduct our measurements we used a sophisticated three-axis ELF/Magnetic Field meter. That gave us readings in milligaus units, the commonly accepted measure for magnetic fields. We measured EMF levels on all 13 vehicles under the same conditions. We took measurements at the driver’s right foot, knee, waist, and head when idling and driving around our simulated stop-and-go city-driving course, and while accelerating from 0 to 60 mph.
For all vehicles, EMF readings were highest in the driver’s foot well and second-highest at the waist, much lower higher up, where human organs might be more susceptible to EMF.
So as you can see, the culprit was not the Prius (or any other hybrid), but it was in fact the Chevy Colbalt, which has a reading of 30mG and “wins” the test by a long shot. The fact that hybrids were framed for having “unhealthy consequences” was probably just fear towards a new technology (remember when TV rotted your brain?), and wasn’t necessarily backed by any credible numbers (until now).
So all of you Prius owners are safe to continue saving the planet, but for those of you driving a Colbalt… you should get those nuclear kankles checked out by a health professional…
Read more - Consumer Reports
