In the past few years, a new trend has been gaining popularity in China: pregnant women should wear radiation-proof clothes once they have a baby. However, scientists said these suits could be doing more harm than good.

Last Sunday, a CCTV program exposed that these radiation-proof clothes do not protect people from daily doses of radiation. An experiment carried out at a national leading electronic test center showed that the radiation absorption by a person wearing a radiation suit is much higher than a person without one.

A separate experiment showed that a radiation-proof suit only protects you where you're covered, so radiation can still reach the body via the ends of sleeves, neckline, etc.

The radiation that can squeezes inside the radiation clothes gets trapped inside, accelerating absorption through the skin. Like a greenhouse, the intensity of the radiation underneath the clothes is thus increased as radiation waves bounce back and forth between skin and clothing. Without these radiation clothes, normal skin can actually reflect most radiation away from the body, absorbing only a small amount.

Dr. Chen Qingsong, an expert on electromagnetic radiation at Guangdong Prevision and Treatment Center for Occupational Hygiene, said that electromagnetic radiation that is seen in our daily lives has a very small impact on human health.

"National standards for electromagnetic radiation from home appliances has been set up in 1988 with a top limit of 12 volt/meter, which is far less than a western standard," said Chen. "If a TV, a computer, a micro-wave oven and a hairdryer are turned on at the same time, their combined radiation is still harmless to human health."

近年来，在中国国内，孕妇们穿防辐射服的趋势蔚然成风。然而，科学家表示，穿着这些防护服有时候弊大于利。

央视在上周日的节目中披露，防辐射服其实并不能对人们受到的日常辐射起到多少防护作用。一家国内顶尖的电子检测实验室对防辐射服进行了检测，结果证明，穿着防护服的人所吸收的辐射量反而高于未穿防护服的人。

一项独立的实验证实，防辐射服只能保护覆盖住的身体部位，而辐射波仍然会从衣服的袖口、领口等缝隙射入。

由缝隙进入防护服内部的辐射波无法反射出去，就会更快地被皮肤所吸收。这就像温室的原理一样，辐射波在皮肤和防辐射服之间进行多次反射后交会叠加，反而增大了防护服内的辐射强度。而如果不穿防护服，正常情况下，人的皮肤能够将大部分的辐射都反射出去，只有很小的剂量会被人体吸收。

广东省职业病防治院的陈青松博士是研究电磁辐射方面的专家。他介绍说，日常生活中的电磁辐射对人体的影响是微乎其微的。

陈青松说：“我国在1988年就制定了家用电器的电磁辐射标准，规定的上限为12伏每米，远低于欧美等国家的标准。无论是电脑、电视、微波炉，还是电吹风，即使把它们全开了，叠加起来的电磁辐射对人体也不会构成伤害。”