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BBC Panorama airing on Monday night in the UK fans fears of health risks from Wi-Fi through bad interpretation: As the Guardian points out, not only are the classroom measurements discussed in the program 600 times below the level that the government expresses concern at, the measurement of Wi-Fi signal strength and a cell base station signal are made at different points. The measurement for Wi-Fi is at 1 meter, and the cell base station at 100m. At those disparate differences, Wi-Fi comes out three times stronger. I haven’t seen the program, as it hasn’t aired yet, and in parts of the program description online, it makes it clear that they are measuring exposure within the classroom to Wi-Fi and exposure at the same location to signals from the mast; in others, they appear to be making an apples-to-apples comparison.
The entire basis of the program appears to be using the many studies of mobile phone emissions and resulting health effects and applying them against Wi-Fi on the basis of this erroneous measurement. The Guardian doesn’t note the other specious element. The point isn’t a cell base station radiating to a user, but the cell phone someone carries produces a signal that reaches the base station. No measurement appears to have been taken of a cell phone in use.
Lest we forget, the Guardian writes, “The Health Protection Agency says a person sitting within a Wi-Fi hotspot for a year receives the same dose of radio waves as a person using a mobile phone for 20 minutes.”
Scientists quoted in the program apparently say that using thermal effects—heat produced by exposure to electromagnetic radiation—to determine risk isn’t enough to, well, determine risk.
You will likely be able to hear me speak on this issue on the UK’s Channel 4 Morning Report podcast being posted Monday morning GMT.
Posted by Glennf at May 20, 2007 8:30 PM
Categories: Health
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