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Dec-13-2007 05:29printcomments

Invisible Smog

A recent controversy over the harmful effects of WiFi has much of the world talking.

Girl using Wi-Fi
Image courtesy: instablogsimages.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Wi-Fi (pronounced wye-fye) is a wireless technology brand owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance intended to improve the interoperability of wireless local area network (WLAN) products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Released in 1997, and clarified in 1999, these standards apply to the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz public spectrum bands. Today, common applications for Wi-Fi include Internet and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), phone access, gaming, and network connectivity for consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players, and digital cameras.

An area covered by one or more interconnected access points is called a hotspot. Multiple hotspots result in mesh networks. Mesh networks have been set up in cities and schools all over the world, as well as businesses and fairgrounds.

So what, if any, are the hazards of WiFi?

For most people, WiFi is an excellent convenience of modern society. However, for the 3% of the population with alleged electromagnetic hypersensitivity, the invisible waves can feel like "being shouted at all the time"(Wired.com), and have reportedly been responsible for headaches and nausea, sort-term memory loss, and tinnitus (perception of sound in the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound).

These are far from proven facts, but the subject is still worth paying attention to, as the technology is so new, any long term effects are not yet possible to document.


As WiFi gains in popularity, it brings with it a thick controversy. Some are quick to dismiss the problem, like Skeptic Magazine's producer Micheal Shermer, who is quoted, "There is no known mechanism by which EMF from any source can cause health problems of any kind, in fact, there is nothing that even needs explaining."
(Wired.com)
Mr. Shermer is certainly a one-sided skeptic.

In May 2007, the BBC's Panorama featured a half-hour segment on the dangers of WiFi, which was strongly criticized and surmised as incredulous.

There is one option for sensitive individuals who wish to be Wi-Fi free in their home. An expensive EMF blocking paint may be applied to your home's inner-walls, effectively stopping EMF radiation.




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Henry Ruark December 16, 2007 2:01 pm (Pacific time)

Neal: Us old geeks make all kinds of errors, including inconsequential typos...it's a wonder we get so far ! IF you have Pinker, see his chapter on Hotheads, then Family Values, which happens to be following-one. Merry Christmas to you et al, esp. those fine young ladies in your household; truly sincere, we blessed with 4 sons, ONLY ONE daughter !


Neal Feldman December 16, 2007 1:17 pm (Pacific time)

Henry - Here is the S-N channel... I think the S-M channel is over in leather goods. lol. Ah well...


Henry Ruark December 16, 2007 7:00 am (Pacific time)

Neal: I admire your strong, sensitive instincts, and all here is intended ONLY to share via some of same painful experience. DO believe language arts key to whatever progess Man (AND Woman !) can ever make...and here you sound sensible way to continue this effort...which S-M channel surely strengthens. Personally, find systems thinking one key for me, breaking away from both emotion and huge flaws in linear thinking, instinctive approach for most, and almost always for our many W/Ds...


Neal Feldman December 16, 2007 1:15 am (Pacific time)

Henry - While it may not be perfect it is better to try and keep emotion from clouding judgment and thought processes with the alternative to just throw rationality to the winds and just rant on emotion alone. The goal in perfection may not be attainable but it is better to try for the goal as best one can than to just give up on the goal entirely. At least that is my opinion on it. Ah well...


Henry Ruark December 15, 2007 6:14 pm (Pacific time)

Here's "see with own eyes" on emotional-content note-below: Fundamental reference How The Mind Works; Steven Pinker;'97'; ISBN 0-393-04535-8. Index shows more than 50 references to emotion and its involvements. There are many later findings by such as Chomsky, too.


Henry Ruark December 15, 2007 2:21 pm (Pacific time)

To all: Do NOT mean to be in any way "disagreeable",but must rapidly disagree with this: "It is one of the reasons I focus decision-making on logic and reason instead of allowing emotion to cloud rational thought processes." Cognitive scientists long ago showed this is close to impossible, with emotion creeping in, inevitably, since human development from birth is primarly built around it and its influence on thinking patterns, sometimes termed "mental models" in much of the literature of "decisioneering" now piled high since early 19th Century. I wrote about fundamentals in a well-circulated piece in the '80s, soon available here; watch for small story soon.


Neal Feldman December 15, 2007 1:59 pm (Pacific time)

I have no issue with studying... documenting, etc. But at THIS TIME there is nothing to justify hysteria. Nothing. And at the wattages used in wi-fi there is simply no data (even after decades of research in radio and emf - yes we have been working in the GHz ranges since the 40s and before) to support the claims. There might be a tiny fraction of the populace that reacts just like there ar some allergic to peanuts or bee stings. But should we eradicate peanuts or bees from the planet because of this? Of course not. It is the responsibility of those so afflicted to limit THEIR lives, they have no right to limit the lives of others. Same concept. Ah well...


Austin December 15, 2007 12:38 pm (Pacific time)

Neal- I like the conversation that you bring into the story- but surely you agree that some attention must be paid to the potential long-term effects of Wi-Fi (eg. cancer), that haven't been documented because not enough time has passed in the tech's existence?Also, we should simply pay attention to the amount of people who react in volatile ways to mesh networks, documenting it for future generations.do you agree? blessed be all


Neal Feldman December 15, 2007 12:10 am (Pacific time)

Anonymous - Actually I'm quite empathic... far moreso than the norm. It is one of the reasons I focus decision-making on logic and reason instead of allowing emotion to cloud rational thought processes. And while I, though not allergic to anything they have ever found and tested me with, am aware when someone gets on a bus or walks by who smells like they bathed in Eau du Offensive it is annoying it is still a matter of they have a right to. Neither you nor I have a right to not have anything we dislike or disagree with enter our sphere of awareness. In the case of allergies it is beholden on the one who is allergic to limit THEIR activities so their allergies do not come into play. it is unreasonable for them to expect or demand that everyone else cater to them and restrict themselves or their activities solely for the benefit of the allergic person. Same with the so-called 'EMF sensitives'. If someone is photosensitive THEY should stay out of the light, THEY should wear the cremes, glasses, clothes, etc to deal with it. They should not demand the sun b e blotted from the sky for their benefit. Same with the EMF folks... stay away from it if it bugs you but do not try and tell me that I should not or cannot do what I am legally allowed to do within my rights. If EMF bugs you it is on you to avoid it... it is not on anyone else to stop what they are doing just for your benefit. If you cannot live around electricity (EMF is present everywhere that electricity is present, not to mention the electromagnetic fields of the planet itself) then get a nice place in RFA and stay there. Where have I ever said that either I have experienced everything or that nothing exists outside of what I have experienced? It is not that I am insensitive nor unsympathetic or lacking in empathy/ I am merely not paralyzed on an intellectual level by such aspects. I have the intellect to conclude that in cases of human interaction those with limits do not have the right to limit everyone else to their own parameters. In my own case the ADA says accommodation (reasonable) must be made where possuible but it certainly does not ban stairs because I cannot use them (without an iBot chair.. you have $30,000 laying around? I sure don't!) or ban access to beaches because I cannot go on them (but used to love doing so), etc. It is one thing to have empathy, sympathy and sensitivity... quite another to allow them to override intellect, logic and reason into making idiotic public policy. Can you see what I am talking about? I am beginning to wonder if you can. Ah well...


Anonymous December 14, 2007 7:38 pm (Pacific time)

Thank you for the balanced reporting, Mr/Ms King. As a person who is allergic to most of the colognes and perfumes people lavish on themselves, I feel strong sympathy for the 3% of humans who are sensitive to WiFi emminations. (Mr Feldman, it's becoming increasingly clear that you have no sensitivity at all, nor empathy. Please trust us when we say there is more to the world than you have experienced.)


Jimmy December 13, 2007 1:46 pm (Pacific time)

The woman in your photo is getting far more EMF from her laptop's processor than from the wi-fi signal she is receiving. I agree with Neal and am donning my tinfoil hat!


Neal Feldman December 13, 2007 10:55 am (Pacific time)

As a ham radio operator familiar with the frequencies involved I can say save the paint... those complaining about the 'harm' of wifi already have the only tool they need for 'protection'... their tinfoil hat. There is no threat from wifi. Luddite rantings notwithstanding. Ah well...


Henry Ruark December 13, 2007 9:09 am (Pacific time)

Austin et al: Thanks for perceptive, insightful, interesting and highly informative article. Facts herein thus first to come to my information, while I have been pursuing some efforts to add to Wi-Fi generation for areas around our nation. Will now follow this new lead with interest and perhaps more responsibility, due to your solid reporting.

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