Shungite for EMF protection!

Barry Lennox - 6 November 2023

In the past few months I’ve been watching a website that makes some quite extraordinary claims, at least in my opinion. It’s immersioncosmetics.co.nz What has really piqued my interest is a new product recently advertised. It’s Shungite, a relatively rare black stone with fairly high carbon content, usually 30-95% but often with many impurities and fullerenes, a spherical carbon molecule usually known as buckyballs. It was originally discovered in Shunga, in the Karelia region of Russia, but is more widespread than that,

In older times, it was regarded to hold healing powers like many other “natural’ items. The claims are even wilder these days. This site states “Shungite is very old, it is said to be around 2 billion years old. Shungite is known for its incredible healing and protection properties, including: boosting energy, balancing mind and emotions, protecting from harmful EMFs as well as detoxification of the body. It mainly focuses its energy on the Root chakra, which is believed to enhance your connection to the Earth which helps one to feel grounded.”

Wow! Pretty impressive for a lump of rock, and some of it may be true, especially this Root chakra bit (whatever that is) but the one that gets to me is the claim that it protects one from exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). See the following for the items and the claims. https://www.immersioncosmetics.co.nz/store/p410/shungitephonediscemfprotectioncs.html

Allegedly, this amazing bit of stone if “stuck to the back of your cellphone, computer , TV, or other electrical devices will keep you protected” And there’s more making similar claims; two to start with are:

After some 40+ years in the radio, electronics, electromagnetics and Avionics businesses, I believe these claims fly in the face of all electromagnetics knowledge mankind has developed since James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz in the 1860’s!

There is only one way to stop electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and that is to surround the victim item with a conducting shield, commonly known as a Faraday Cage. It has to be 100% continuous with virtually no gaps for complete attenuation. Small holes for ventilation, viewing or access are acceptable but the maximum size is dependent on the wavelength of the EMR. An excellent example is the perforated metal in the window of your microwave, the holes are in the order of 1mm, while the wavelength of the quite intense internal EMR (at 2.45 GHz) is around 122 mm. It’s a complex relationship but apertures of less about than 1/50 of a wavelength allow very little EMR to penetrate. Furthermore, the attenuation increases with more conductive shield materials. Carbon is a relatively poor conductor, compared with excellent and commonly used screening materials such as aluminium, nickel, copper or gold) Carbon will absorb some of the EMR but to an insignificant amount in this application.

So back to Shungite, in this case it’s sold as a pretty little pendant of around 2.5 cm diameter, which, allegedly, if placed on your cell phone will “block EMR”. This is nonsense, and can easily be demonstrated by an interesting and educational experiment, your children will probably enjoy this as well as hopefully forcing them into a STEM career! A few photographs are included to demonstrate.

Firstly place your cellphone on the table and call it from another and it rings. No surprises here.

Then you can see the phone covered with an aluminium pie plate (The pie was delicious!) Call again, the phone still rings.

The next picture shows the pie plate wrapped around the phone, but with a small gap on one edge. The phone still rings.

Ditto for the phone covered with some expensive (99.9 something % pure) carbon fibre mat, and the next with some BBQ charcoal. The phone still rings.

No, what is essential is a genuine Faraday Cage. The last picture is the phone wrapped in kitchen foil with all seams overlapped and no gaps. The phone remains silent. Maxwell was right!

So, back to Shungite. The claim that a small pendant of around 2.5cm diameter can block EMR from your cell phone to a human body is wrong, laughable, and easily disproved. Bear in mind that a pendant of this size is approximately 1/3,800th of the area of an average adult male.

There is also a larger and more relevant question looming here as well. That is; are humans actually affected by low levels of EMF? For high levels of EMF, yes, there are definitely thermal effects. That is why your microwave reheats food, and you will suffer sunburn if you insist on excess tanning in the midday summer sun.

My own personal experience of performing EMV testing on aircraft in High Intensity Radio Fields (HIRF) was that it was usually possible to detect on your bare arms fields of 200 volts/metre at frequencies between about 14 and 20 GHz. This is quite extreme and ANSI standard C95.1 only permits 5 minutes exposure in any one hour. It’s not a bad job, work for 5 minutes, then retire to the crew room for coffee and doughnuts!

Low level claims don’t hold up under scrutiny. A 2005 review in the Psychosomatic Medicine journal identified 31 blinded provocation experiments done on “electromagnetically hypersensitive” subjects. Twenty-four studies found no evidence of sensitivity. Seven studies did report some supporting evidence, but in two of them the same research group tried to replicate their own findings and failed; in three others, the positive findings could be attributed to statistical artefacts; and in the remaining two the results were mutually incompatible (one showed improved mood; the other showed worse mood). Studies that were not blinded all found that the patients reported symptoms only when they were aware that the EMF (electromagnetic field) source was switched on. The researchers noted the implication is obvious!

A follow up review included 15 experiments done after the initial review: it confirmed the initial findings. At least one systematic review by other authors has also confirmed those findings.

The World Health Organization reviewed 25,000 articles, and concluded that current evidence does not show any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields.

Health Canada says “there is no scientific evidence that the symptoms attributed to EHS are actually caused by exposure to EMFs.”

Skeptic Brian Dunning offers this revealing anecdote:

“We had an interesting incident near Humboldt State University. A new cell tower went up and the local newspaper asked a number of people what they thought of it. Some said they noticed their cell phone reception was better. Some said they noticed the tower was affecting their health. To paraphrase the bottom line: “think about how much more pronounced these effects will be once the tower is actually operational.”

I also did a little personal test about 10 years ago. We were staying in a remote Youth Hostel in France, the only other person staying was a rather intense woman from Germany who claimed she was ultrasensitive to “Elektrosmog” from all devices such as cellphones, TVs, and household appliances. After a while I excused myself to “go to the boys’ room” and returned with my hidden cell phone and sat as close as possible to her. There was zero reaction for the next hour.

So, I very firmly believe the case is closed on this topic. But let’s see contrary evidence and let’s do some simple experiments to verify opposing opinions

Lastly, this company also make s some rather extraordinary claims about “grounding” the process of connecting oneself to “ground’ and the many health benefits that follow. More on this next time.