ICE PEOPLE: Ulla Bak & JP Folsgaard Bak

Two of a kind

Ulla Bak & JP Folsgaard Bak

Ulla Bak and JP Folsgaard Bak, the husband-and wife team who are the co-founders of EMX Corporation have many similarities. They both worked as corporate lawyers in the Scandinavian region; can't stop gushing about India and have a single mission.

Their current agenda is to create awareness about the hazards of using mobile phones, and promote the use of phones having a bio-protection chip.

EMX Corporation was set up in 1991 in New York as a business platform, based on the results of a research project initially funded by the US Army.

The project was to study the effect of electromagnetic radiations on the personnel who operated them. A series of studies led to the conclusion that electromagnetic fields indeed have biological effects.

The Army pulled out of the project in 1992 and EMX has continued the study on the radiation effects of mobile phones.

Says Folsgaard, "55 per cent of the research studies carried out till now show harmful effects of mobile phones on biological cells and unless cell phone manufacturers act with immediate effect, they would also go the tobacco industry way once it is proved legally about the dangers of cell phones."

The company has spent $20 million in the US to develop this technology to make it compatible for wireless handsets, hair dryers and microwave ovens.

Says Ulla "The EMF bio protection chip imposes a electro-magnetic field (EMF) over the hazardous EMF that emanates from a cell phone, hair dryer or a microwave oven. The superimposed field restores the natural electromagnetic environment around the biological cells and prevents change in the biological cells."

The company has signed a strategic alliance with the German company G Hanz to manufacture cell phones that incorporate this chip.

Adds Folsgaard Bak, "We wish to be like Intel in the field of cell phones where every cell phone would have the EMX Chip."

But why haven't major mobile manufacturers not evinced interest in their product?

They say that the legal suits that will arise after incorporating the chip is something that the companies wish to avoid. Using the chip would amount to admitting that their mobile phones were indeed harmful." But the couple is undaunted.

Their mission remains to make the chip compatible with just about any gadget that emits radiation. The company plans to go public in three years with a $100 million turnover.

For now, the couple dreams of building an education centre through the commercial sale of the invention.

They are happy that India is one of the first countries to allow cell phones without harmless radiation. Ulla has wonderful memories of India and reminisces of her days in the country when her father was a visiting professor here.

And who would they want to promote their chip? They admit they do not follow cricket, but say that Sachin Tendulkar would be the ideal brand ambassador for their technology in India "because of his popularity amongst the young and the old alike.