Wi-Fi linked to cancer ?

Concern about Wi-Fi health danger spreads to NZ from British schools

A British furore over wireless internet technology - Wi-Fi - use in schools is raising similar concerns here.

Britain's top health-protection watchdog wants the network, which emits radiation, to be full investigated because of the concern for students' health.

Wi-Fi - described by the British Department of Education and Skills as a "magical" system that means computers do not have to be connected to telephone lines - is being taken up rapidly in schools there, with estimates that more than half of primary schools - and four-fifths of secondary schools - have installed it.

But some scientists have expressed fears it could cause cancer and premature senility.

Internet safety watchdog NetSafe executive director Martin Cocker said last night that many primary and secondary schools here used Wi-Fi and the present thinking was that the technology was safe.

"That's our understanding and that's the understanding of New Zealand schools.

"Obviously, if that's not the case that's going to be pretty alarming. It would be of great concern to schools because they have really adopted the technology and many schools have extensive wireless networks."

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"Most laptops now come with the capability to receive wireless signals built in. It's a technology that is saturating the education and commercial markets."

Mr Cocker did not have an exact number of schools using the technology but said most larger schools would have some sort of wireless capability.

"If there's any indication that it has any negative effects then we would encourage a more thorough study. We will definitely be interested to know what happens in the UK. If it is damaging to children's health then it is alarming."

Several European provincial governments have already taken action to ban, or limit, Wi-Fi use in the classroom.

This week, the British Professional Association of Teachers is to demand an official Government inquiry.

Virtually no studies have been done on Wi-Fi's effects on pupils, but it gives off radiation similar to emissions from mobile phones and phone masts.

Recent research has linked radiation from mobiles to cancer and brain damage. And many studies have found disturbing symptoms in people near masts.

Professor Olle Johansson, of Sweden's Karolinska Institute, who is concerned about the spread of Wi-Fi, says "thousands" of articles in scientific literature demonstrate "adverse health effects" from Wi-Fi.

"Do we not know enough already to say, 'stop'?"

For the past 16 months, the provincial government of Salzburg in Austria has been advising schools not to install Wi-Fi, and is considering a ban.

- STAFF REPORTER, INDEPENDENT

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Comments

JDMurray

The concern is devices that emit EM radiation in the low microwave region (1-5GHz) could present some sort of health hazard. Many devices emit power in this range, including 802.11 and Bluetooth transmitters, cordless telephones, medical equipment, and microwave ovens. The actual strength of the emissions from such devices is usually under 100mW, with most being under 5mW, which is not very strong at all.

The problem is seen as being that Wi-Fi networks will cause people to be constantly exposed to low-band microwave radiation at levels above what is found in the ambient background radiation, and for much longer durations than from intermittent sources, such as microwave ovens. The affects of this type of exposure to "well organized" microwave radiation is not known

I don't believe any evidence was found that cell phones cause brain tumors, and I don't think this concern will be justified either. All life on this planet has evolved in a constant bath of wide-band radiation emanating from both the Earth and from space. We (humans) are far more naturally tolerant and resistant to this sort of thing than we realize.

blackmage439

Well, for one thing cell phones do not emit enough EM radiation to cause a spark, let alone a fire at a gas station (thank you Mythbusters!

). However, I know for a fact that in one of my cell phone manuals it clearly stated to keep the antenea pointed away from your skull due to the emitted radiation...

Also, I'm sure some of you have heard by now about the mysterious disappearence of bee colonies in the United States. I heard about this probable cause that definately raises some concern:

*Quoted from www.wirelessweek.com*

"There's a new possible culprit in the mysterious death of hundreds of thousands of honeybees in the United States and Europe since last fall: cell phones. U.S. beekeepers have been reporting the loss of 50% to 90% of their bee colonies over the last six months - in a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder - threatening both honey production, and fruit and vegetable pollination.

Now, researchers at Landau University in Germany have found that cell phone radiation could interfere with the bees' internal navigation capabilities. In a limited study, they showed that in some cases, up to 70% of bees exposed to radiation from a cordless phone docking unit placed in their hive later failed to find their way back to the hive."

Yikes...

JDMurray

blackmage439 wrote:

Now, researchers at Landau University in Germany have found that cell phone radiation could interfere with the bees' internal navigation capabilities.

I'm going with the theory that Monsanto is using large amounts of nicotine in food crop fertilizers, and this is causing the bees to literally get a "buzz" and not be able to find their way back to the hive. In areas where this fertilizer is not used, such as Oregon state here in the USA, there is actually a glut of bees.

Anyway, back to reading Drudge Report.

JDMurray

Look's like we're all wrong. There's a parasite that's likely killing honey bees, but the USA is apparently the last to find out about it.

dynamik

I read a little while back that grilling and broiling food can also cause cancer. When the fat melts and hits the element or coal, a carcinogen is released.

Everything will give you cancer. Just accept it. I'm not giving up my steaks and burgers

Seriously though, my Dad died of a brain tumor when I was little. He didn't smoke and wasn't exposed to any odd or extreme circumstances that might have resulted in cancer growth. He was a high school teacher. The doctors were never able to give an explanation for how it could have developed.

People need to quit worrying about getting cancer from cell phones/wifi, terrorist attacks, etc. You're far more likely to die from cardiovascular disease that results as a combination of high stress, poor diet, alcohol/tobacco consumption and lack of exercise than anything. Essentially, you play the biggest role in determining how you live, not your environment.

If you haven't seen it before, visit www.realage.com and complete the questionnaire. It compares you chronological age to your biological age and offers suggestions for living a healthier life.

keatron

JDMurray wrote:

The actual strength of the emissions from such devices is usually under 100mW, with most being under 5mW, which is not very strong at all.
.

This is ONE reason the FCC is so strict with EIRP numbers. 100mW is the maximum allowed for unlicensed bands (I think indoors only). Of course this along with other several other reasons.

Kaminsky

moss12 wrote:

But some scientists have expressed fears it could cause cancer and premature senility.

I'm sorry but you have to bear in mind that these are the same scientists that said only a few years ago that there could possibly be links to eggs, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc to causing cancer!

Any new thing that comes out in the UK is a possible cause of cancer. It's pathetic. What's worse is that reporters from the other side of the planet pick it up and it just makes our acedemia look like dimented, long over the hill boffins. Look to other countries where they are making real progress in the the causes and cures of cancer and leave the idiots in the UK to their own maronic demise. (little hint... Cancer research is big money in the UK *wink*)

Simple thing to remember, the bandwidth issues and the power needed for them is miniscule in comparison to the electrical power grid cables running across a lot of these schools. I live and was raised in the UK so I know that this is a much more mitigating factor. Also, People have been dying of cancer for hundreds of years ("died of old age") and computers have only been around for the last blink of that time.

And don't get me started on the latest reports of mobile phones causing brain cancer. /give me strength!

JDMurray

Kaminsky wrote:

I'm sorry but you have to bear in mind that these are the same scientists that said only a few years ago that there could possibly be links to eggs, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc to causing cancer!

Water certainly causes cancer. Everyone who has died of cancer has drunk water at least once in their life, haven't they? A positive, undeniable connection!