China Experts Warn Against Buying 'Energy Stones' After Many Found To Be Radioactive
These stones were believed to be beneficial to health and spiritual wellbeing.
Experts in China are warning the public against buying so-called 'energy stones' as they might endanger users, given that their purported health benefits lack scientific evidence
In China, these 'energy stones' are natural minerals believed to possess properties that can promote physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. They are used to make bracelets or other accessories.
However, experts are cautioning that these supposed benefits lack any scientific basis. They explain that even though merchants claim certain effects, these purported benefits cannot be scientifically quantified or verified.
They also point out that the majority of these stones are of unknown origin, making it impossible for consumers to ascertain hidden dangers.
The warning follows reports of such products being found to emit radiation. In January, Kunming Changshui Airport customs seized a highly radioactive 'energy tower' during an inbound passenger inspection.
Image via CCTV News
Following analysis with a handheld nuclide identifier, it was determined that the metal, tower-shaped item carried by the traveller had nuclear radiation levels that severely exceeded safety limits.
The detected radiation was found to be 20 times higher than the environmental background level, and the item contained the radioactive nuclides thorium-232 and barium-133.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies such objects as a Class I carcinogen.
This isn't the first happening of such an incident. In October 2023, Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport customs seized a bag of 'energy stones' from a traveller who did not know any better.
Image via National Express (Weibo)
According to a post on CTWANT, the stones were thorium-232, a highly radioactive isotope. The radiation dosage of having this material exposed to your body for a day is equivalent to receiving 117 chest x-rays.
It was only then that the traveller suddenly realised the connection between the so-called 'energy stones' he had been wearing for three months and his daughter's frequent and unexplained nosebleeds.
Instruments detected that the 'energy stones' were radiating approximately 105 microsieverts per hour — a unit for calculating radioactive dosage — which is 1,050 times more than background radiation.
In July 2023, Shenyang Taoxian Airport customs also seized 15 radioactive 'energy stone' necklaces
Image via CCTV News
Custom officers were supervising an inbound flight when a passenger triggered an alarm as they passed through a fixed nuclear radiation detection gate. The nuclear radiation levels were found to exceed safety standards by 468 times.
In December 2019, Dalian Zhoushuizi Airport customs seized a peculiar stone disc
Image via CCTV News
The stone disc — locally known as the 'Five Elements Proton Quantum Energy Resonator' — contained the radioactive material thorium-232.
The disc emitted a nuclear radiation value of 112.4 microsieverts per hour, which exceeded the permissible safety limit by an alarming 1,120 times.
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