Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Over 3 million Taiwanese students are now using “digital schoolbags,” but researchers warned Friday that extended exposure to the “bags'” radio frequency fields may cause anxiety and headaches and impair students’ ability to learn.

The “digital schoolbag” program, launched by the Ministry of Education in 2002, basically consists of giving students a notebook computer to replace the heavy books they would otherwise have to carry home. But those computers may come with a risk.

“Using digital schoolbags with wireless Internet may create radio frequency radiation of 1,000 to 60,000 microwatts per square meter, ” said Chen Jiau-hua, chairwoman of the Taiwan Electromagnetic Radiation Hazard Protection and Control Association (TEPCA).

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