Is wiFi bad for health? Someone emailed me this link and asked my opinion

[pRICE cUBE]

http://www.radiationeducation.com/Why_Is_WiFi_Bad.html

I got this email and the person is asking me how legit it is.

Of course I looked for citations and some are from universities I never heard of, some are news articles. Upon searching the web there are dozens of similar sites.

Is there a source of reliable info on the health risks of cell phones and wifi and other radio signals in the home? I don't believe I have a tinfoil had approach but I would like to read a reputable doctor of scientist's opinion on this. Anyone have any credible info?

[cbelt3]

Credible sources say... no linkage yet.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living...q-20057798


FWIW.. when you consider the level of RF coming from that nuclear fusion reaction in the sky, and how much enters our atmosphere.... itteh bitteh cell phones are kinda minor. At least that's what I tell myself.

[Catzilla]

Well, I grew up before WiFi was prevalent, look how I turned out....
Okay, bad example.

[ztirffritz]

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-ar...act=3#play

WiFi and Bluetooth are probably OK, but I'd be cautious about the radiation emitted by cell phones. I don't think that cell phones are particularly dangerous, but it is really easy to keep them at arms length from one's head. Hands free headsets (both wired and bluetooth) are easy and cheap and make me feel better about this handheld device that emits microwave radiation next to my brain if used as designed. Think about it. Bluetooth device transmits only a few meters. WiFi can transmit maybe 100m. A cell phone datastream can transmit several kilometers. Those are very different transmissions. I think it's foolish to think that there isn't a potential issue with putting a high-powered microwave emitter next to one's head, but with hundreds of millions of phones in use any links will be apparent soon enough.

[Article Accelerator]

pRICE cUBE wrote: Is there a source of reliable info on the health risks of cell phones and wifi and other radio signals in the home?

This does not directly address your question but I wanted to note two things: First, there's a tremendous difference between a radiation source placed against your ear and one even a few feet away, and second, there's a big difference in maximum radiated power between a cell phone and a WiFi station:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propa...ropagation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBm

In other words, I don't think WiFi is an issue at all (unless you fall asleep on top of an active access point) and cell phones are best kept away from your head when in use.

[davester]

There are lots of studies discussed on the web regarding possible health impacts from various kinds of electromagnetic radiation, including wifi and cellular communications. However, the jury is still out for the most part. The link you provided is just a bunch of scare tactics assembled in one place. It cherry picks scary sounding claims from questionable sources and presents them using pseudoscientific bafflegab.

As article accelerator notes, you should be much more worried about a powerful transmitter placed against the side of your head than you should be of a wifi radio across the room. After all, anybody who wasn't asleep in high school science class should know that the intensity of all such radiation types is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.

[testcase]

Just because some WiFi users glow in the dark doesn't mean it's dangerous. 8-)

[Carm]

In high enough doses, anything is bad for your health.
Wi-fi is electromagnetic radiation. There was a university study where trees that were very near the electromagnetic radiation had abnormal growth.

[davester]

Carm wrote:
In high enough doses, anything is bad for your health.

... or as Paracelsus said, "The dose makes the poison".

[Bill in NC]

You'll get far more radiation exposure just by walking out into the sunshine for a few minutes.

ztirffritz wrote:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-ar...act=3#play

WiFi and Bluetooth are probably OK, but I'd be cautious about the radiation emitted by cell phones. I don't think that cell phones are particularly dangerous, but it is really easy to keep them at arms length from one's head. Hands free headsets (both wired and bluetooth) are easy and cheap and make me feel better about this handheld device that emits microwave radiation next to my brain if used as designed. Think about it. Bluetooth device transmits only a few meters. WiFi can transmit maybe 100m. A cell phone datastream can transmit several kilometers. Those are very different transmissions. I think it's foolish to think that there isn't a potential issue with putting a high-powered microwave emitter next to one's head, but with hundreds of millions of phones in use any links will be apparent soon enough.