Oh dear – a very poorly argued episode on the supposed dangers of Wi-Fi. I just don’t know where to begin with this sensationalist scaremongering.
The relative powers of different kinds of transmitters was ignored, the inverse square law was ignored, and it was mixture of facts and unproven information.
We heard about Sylvia who is supposedly electro-sensitive. The results of some research into her sensitivity were not in, but according to the programme Sylvia could tell two-thirds of the time whether or not there was electro-magnetic radiation. Except that we don’t know how many trials were conducted, as two-thirds could easily be within the limits of randomly guessing.
Oh and by the way, this programme was brought to most of us via giant masts that broadcast with massive amounts of power to ensure that we can get the signal just about anywhere.
If someone can prove that there’s a danger to Wi-Fi, then I’m happy to give it up, but at the moment, simply wandering around Norwich City Centre measuring signal levels is not really helpful.
How many of these people are using mobile phones? Microwave ovens? Listen to the radio or watch TV?
If we’re truly worried about our childrens’ schools then we need to site them all away from major roads and ban parents driving kids to school. The 100% proven damage from traffic fumes is far more serious. After all, we know full-well that asthma’s on the increase.
I’m not alone in believing that this ridiculous scaremongering: checkout the feedback to the programme itself. It’s all just really bad science.
(Oh and “3,000 hotspots”? Commercial ones maybe, but try closer to 300,000 when you take into account work and home hotspots. Without some kind – any kind – of scientific proof, I’m still not concerned)
Addendum – This was an email I genuinely received from someone who shall remain nameless in corporate HR. I really shouldn’t reproduce it here, but I can’t help myself:
WiFi has been in the news today following a BBC investigation into claims that WiFi can have long term health effects.
As you know, all of our buildings are WiFi networked to allow laptops users to work anywhere in the building. We continually monitor guidelines from the government’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) on WiFi and although there are some levels of concern, HSE advise us that no threat to human health has yet been proven from exposure to WiFi.
Of course, we’ll keep you updated on this if the situation changes. If you do have any questions please give me a call.
You don’t know how much I wanted to give them a call and discuss the finer points of the issue to see exactly how up to speed they are. But I’m nice. And I didn’t.