[ad_1]

Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love has it. Many in San Francisco want it…

Wireless broadband Internet access (WiFi) seems too good to be true. At

relatively low cost, anyone can get on the Internet anywhere in a city. All the city

needs to do is install WiFi antennas.

An argument in favor of citywide WiFi is that it will reduce the digital divide:

the poorer you are, the more limited your access to the Internet and its information

resources. Cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco are actively trying to close the

digital divide. One option is WiFi.

Yet in weighing the options, virtually nothing is heard about the potential health

risks. Saturating an entire city with WiFi adds to the existing burden of nonionizing

radiation. That burden, called electrosmog by some, consists of long-term

exposure to low-level concentrations of nonionizing radiation from familiar sources

like radio and TV signals, electronic and electrical devices, and the ubiquitous cell

phone.

Wireless Internet Access

Local area networks (LANs) link computers, printers, modems, and other

devices. Traditional LANs make the links physically using wire cable. Messages

between computers and the other devices on the network are managed by a device

called a router.

A wireless LAN does away with the wire cable by using a router that transmits and

receives radio signals. To use a wired LAN, you have to plug the computer or other

device into a wall socket. A wire leads from the socket to the router, which manages

signal traffic between the devices on the network.

With a wireless LAN, each device on the network is built so that it can send a signal

to the router and receive signals back. Wireless routers typically have a range of a

hundred to several hundred feet. The range can be increased by adding a booster

that increases the signal strength.

As with all radio signals, the closer you are to the transmitter (the router) the

stronger the signal. Cell phones work on the same principle. The difference is that

cell phones work at a different frequency and put out a stronger signal than wireless

LANs.

Radio Frequencies

Cell phones operate at frequencies in the 3 to 30 GHz range, similar to microwave

ovens. Wireless LANs operate at one tenth of that range–0.3 to 3 GHz, the range of

UHF television broadcasts. GHz stands for gigaHertz, a standard measure

of radio frequency radiation (RFR)–electromagnetic radiation created by

sending an alternating electrical current through an antenna. The higher the GHz,

the faster the current alternates.

Frequency by itself does not measure the potential effect of RFR. As you would

guess, the strength of the signal also matters. The strength of a signal is measured

in watts, a standard measure of electrical energy. For example, a 100 watt

light bulb is brighter because it puts out more energy than a 60 watt bulb.

Think of the effect of waves at the beach: small waves far apart (low strength, low

frequency) versus large wave close together (high strength, high frequency). The

former is likely to have less of an effect than the latter.

The exposure to RFR is measured using SAR–specific absorption rate. SAR is

expressed either in milliwatts/kilogram (mW/kg) of body weight or milliwatts/cubic

centimeter (mW/cm2) of exposed body area: the size of the wave and how much of

your body it strikes.

Health Risks

WiFi enthusiasts dismiss health risk concerns because the power output and SAR

exposure is significantly below the minimum standard set for cell phones. But cell

phone standards are set for the short term exposure of a cell phone in use pressed

to your head. In addition, the standards are set based on the thermal (heating) effect

of the radiation.

Nonthermal effects of cell phones are documented at exposures below the current

US standards, including

– memory loss,

– sleep disruption,

– slowed motor skills and reaction time,

– decreased immune function,

– spatial disorientation and dizziness,

– headaches,

– lowered sperm count,

– increased blood pressure and pulse,

– DNA breakage and reduced DNA repair capacity, and

– cell proliferation.

A second problem is that cell phone exposure is intermittent, whereas WiFi

exposure is constant. A more accurate comparison is to the effect of cell phone

broadcast antennas. These antennas send and receive radio frequency signals

constantly.

The signal strength from an antenna is comparable to a cell phone only at very close

range. The exposure is not a cell phone's brief blast but a persistent bath of low-

strength RFR. In addition to the health effects documented for cell phone use,

exposure to cell phone antennas include

– increased blood pressure and pulse,

– sleep disruption,

– emotional effects such as increased depression and irritability,

– memory loss and mental fog,

– fatique and vertigo, and

– increased cancer risk.

Because of these effects, the International Association of Fire Fighters (AFL-CIO)

decided in 2004 that they will not permit cell phone antennas on fire houses.

RFR Hypersensitivity

Much of the discussion of RFR health effects is framed as a concern with people

who are hypersensitive. Hypersensitivity is the technical term for allergies

and similar immune system overreactions. But instead of pollen, RFR

hypersensitivity is a reaction to nonionizing

radiation. It seems that an unlucky few are affected while the rest of us are off the

hook.

Research by Olle Johansson and Örjan Halberg of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm

suggests otherwise. They looked at the incidence of cancer in Europe and the US

and found a striking association between the increase in certain cancers during the

20th Century and exposure RFR as measured by radio and TV broadcasts.

What the hypersensitive really represent is one extreme in a complex landscape of

effects and risks. Just like any other environmental stressor, RFR will affect some

people more than others. And as with other environmental stressors, the greater the

overall burden, the greater the risk of becoming one of the the “unlucky few.”

Wireless LANs add to the existing burden of RFR. Just as burning more fossil fuels

adds more smog, adding more RFR adds more electrosmog. You don't have to

expose your home or your city to the increased burden created by WiFi. There's a

viable alternative: a wired LAN. The hype might make it seem less convenient and

more expensive. But what's a good night's sleep worth? Or reducing your risk of

cancer?

Resources

International Association of Fire Fighters. 2004. Position on the Health Effects from

Radio Frequency/Microwave (RF/MW) Radiation in Fire Department Facilities from

Base Stations for Antennas and Towers for the Conduction of Cell Phone

Transmissions. Access at http://www.iaff.org/safe/content/celltower/

celltowerfinal.htm.

Johansson, Olle and Doug Loranger. 2005. Electrosmog. Your Own Health And

Fitness. Broadcast November 29, 2005. http://yourownhealthandfitness.org/

radiation.html.

Sage, Cindy. 2005. Comment on San Francisco TechConnect Community Wireless

Broadband Initiative. Sage Associates: September 2005.

[ad_2]

Source by Jeffry Fawcett