Company selling cellphone radiation shield convicted

A company and its director who claimed a device they sold protected cellphone users from radiation has been found guilty of making false claims.

Christchurch District Court Judge Graeme Noble fined Waveshield (New Zealand) Limited and its director Miles Dixon $4000 for falsely claiming that its device blocked up to 97 per cent of electromagnetic radiation and was proven to do so.

The Commerce Commission case had been originally heard in July last year but a re-hearing was allowed so the company could mount a defence.

In the end they pleaded guilty part way through the new trial after Dixon admitted a letter had been sent to him by the commission in October 2002 raising its concerns.

The commission had found the device did not work as promoted and Waveshield had not taken sufficient steps to check out whether it did. It also failed to check the standard of testing done on the product before it was put on the market.

Director of Fair Trading Deborah Battell said that despite the Commission warning Waveshield its activities risked breaching the Fair Trading Act, it continued to market the device with the original claims.

Later the commission got an injunction in the High Court preventing Waveshield from advertising and selling its product.

Judge Noble said the continuing marketing of the product after the commission had contacted the company was an aggravating feature.

- NZPA