5G ‘Bioshield’ USB Stick Exposed In Teardown

The absurdity surrounding the conspiracy theories wrongly linking Coronavirus to 5G emissions, took a fresh twist this week.

The USB stick called ‘5GBioShield‘ costs approximately £330, and it claims to offer protection against 5G “thanks to the wearable holographic nano-layer catalyser, which can be worn or placed near to a smartphone or any other electrical, radiation or EMF emitting device.”

But a teardown of the USB stick by PenTestPartners has revealed that “the 5G Bioshield is nothing more than a £5 USB key with a sticker on it.”

USB teardown

PenTestPartners in its teardown found that anti 5G USB stick in fact only contains found 128MB of storage, and that it is probably a rebadged USB stick made in China with an additional sticker on it.

“Now we cannot say this sticker does not have additional functionality unused anywhere else in the world, but we are confident you can make up your own mind on that,” said the teardown specialists. “Digging further into the device, there appeared to be no electrical or other connections between the device and the “sticker” and also no additional components other than the USB stick.”

“In our opinion the 5G Bioshield is nothing more than a £5 USB key with a sticker on it,” they concluded. “Whether or not the sticker provides £300 pounds worth of quantum holographic catalyzer technology we’ll leave you to decide.”

“We do not believe this product should be promoted by publicly-funded bodies until a full, independent, peer-reviewed scientific study has been undertaken on its effectiveness,” they added. “We think trading standards bodies should investigate this product.”

London Trading Standards has since confirmed to the BBC that it has launched a probe.

No regrets

What makes this scandal even more depressing is the fact that the ‘5GBioShield’ has been recommended by a member of Glastonbury Town Council’s 5G Advisory Committee.

“We use this device and find it helpful,” said one of nine external members, Toby Hall, and provided a link to its website.

Hall later said his remarks said his remarks in Glastonbury Town Council’s 5G Advisory Committee report should not be seen as a recommendation to buy the product.

But he had no regrets about buying it and since plugging it in had felt beneficial effects, including being able to sleep through the night and having more dreams.

“I also felt a ‘calmer’ feel to the home,” he told BBC News.

Not authorised to disclose ‘proof’

The BBC searched records in Companies House and identified the two directors of BioShield Distribution, namely Anna Grochowalska and Valerio Laghezza, who previously sold a dietary supplement.

Ms Grochowalska told BBC News her company was the sole global distributor of the 5GBioShield – but it did not manufacture or own the product.

“We are in possession of a great deal of technical information, with plenty of back-up historical research,” she reportedly said.

“As you can understand, we are not authorised to fully disclose all this sensitive information to third parties, for obvious reasons,” she helpfully added.

And she rejected the suggestion selling a £5 product for more than £300 was unreasonable.

“In regard to the costs analysis your research has produced, I believe that the lack of in-depth information will not drive you to the exact computation of our expenses and production costs, including the cost of IP [intellectual property rights], and so on,” she reportedly said.

“It is therefore hard to take your evaluation seriously, since you have evidently not researched the background facts in any meaningful way,” she concluded.

Conspiracy theory

The conspiracy theories surrounding 5G has lead to repeated attacks on 5G masts and towers, and even landline telephone poles.

BT engineers have even been attacked and abused, and attackers have attached barbed wire to telephone poles or placed razor blades behind anti-5G posters.

The attacks are thought to be motivated by fears that 5G mobile technology presents a danger to public health and may have helped the coronavirus to spread – theories condemned by experts.

To help combat the spread, YouTube and Twitter banned all conspiracy theory videos that falsely link 5G networks to the spread of Coronavirus.

ITV’s This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes, last month cast doubts on media reports that debunk the false rumour that 5G causes the virus “when they don’t know it’s not true.”

He faced hundreds of complaints and Ofcom investigated. The television presenter later issued a half hearted retraction. Ofcom later concluded his comments were “ill judged”.

Previously an American singer/songwriter claimed 5G networks were to blame for the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. She subsequently retracted her claims.

Other celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon, including Amanda Holden who tweeted a link to an anti-5G petition to her almost 2 million followers.

Boxer Amir Khan, actor Woody Harrelson, and even conspiracy theorist David Icke have published similar claims. Indeed, Icke had live-streamed an interview on YouTube, in which he had linked the technology to the pandemic.

Experts at the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) this year declared that 5G was safe for human health.

ICNIRP is based in Germany, and it is the international body in charge of setting limits on exposure to radiation.

Ofcom also recently carried out safety tests in the UK of 5G base stations and found that there is no danger to the public posed by electromagnetic energy (EME) levels.

How much do you know about UK mobile operators? Try our quiz!

Tom Jowitt

Tom Jowitt is a leading British tech freelancer and long standing contributor to Silicon UK. He is also a bit of a Lord of the Rings nut...

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  • Apparently it can be used to detect the IQ of people, if they have one, then their IQ is below 50.
    Latest report is that the Cabinet Office have ordered a quantity for use at Downing Street.....

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