Scientists for a GM Free Europe - ISIS/Green Network/TWN International Briefing at the European Parliament
Brussels 12th June 2007
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Wireless communication takes over in homes, offices, and public places, as evidence of microwave health hazards multiply for humans and species across the living world. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
To be “wireless” has replaced “wired-up” for being connected and cool. Wi-fi is now in hotels, airport departure lounges, universities, schools, homes, and entire cities. You cannot get away from it. We shall all be submerged in a sea of microwaves, whether we choose to go wireless or not. Soon, all one can do is to lock oneself away in a shielded room, an electro-smog-proof yellow submarine. And for the estimated 1.5 – 3 percent of populations worldwide that are “electromagnetic hypersensitive” [1], that may well be the only option open. Unlike cigarette smoke, passive involuntary exposure to electromagnetic radiation cannot be avoided easily.
Box 1
Wi-fi (Wireless-fidelity) was originally developed to be embedded in local area network (wLAN), and used for mobile computing devices such as laptops, but is now increasingly used for more services including the internet and connection to consumer electronics such as TV, DVD player and digital camera [2]. A user can connect to the internet via an enabled device, such as a personal computer, when in range of an ‘access point' (AP). A region covered by one or more APs is called a ‘hotspot'. Hotspots can range from a single room to many square miles of overlapping hotspots. Wi-fi can also be used to create a mesh network, and allow devices to connect directly with each other in peer-to-peer ( ad-hoc network) mode, as in consumer electronics and gaming applications.
A typical wi-fi consists of one or more APs and one or more clients. An AP broadcasts its SSID (Service Set Identifier, or network name) in small (short-duration) packets, called beacons, every 100 ms. Wi-fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 G Hz microwave bands, with an 11 Mbps (Megabytes per second) or 54 Mbps data transmission rate, or both (dual band), and clients can choose which service to use.
Wi-fi has the advantage that it operates without cables, and is built into most modern laptops, and rapidly expanding into other devices as prices continue to drop. It operates on a global set of standards, so it can work in different countries. However, the operational limitations are not consistent around the world and power consumption is fairly high. Wi-fi is not secure, and worries about health risks of microwaves from mobile phones are growing (see main text).
There are now more than 250 000 public hotspots for wi-fi worldwide [2]. Wi-fi is available in millions of homes, corporations, and university campuses. According to one estimate, wi-fi use has increased 74 percent in Europe and 75 percent in the UK between the first and second half of 2006 [3]. Birmingham is to have Britain's first city wide wireless communication by early 2007, and Manchester is planning the largest European wi-fi zone covering 400 square miles. Norwich and Milton Keynes already have wi-fi, and Brighton is set to follow [4]. Most worrying of all, wi-fi has been installed in up to 80 percent of secondary schools in the UK and more than half of the primary schools [5] , exposing the most vulnerable populations to microwave irradiation.
The increasing popularity of wi-fi comes on the heels of the explosive growth in wireless mobile telephones, and amid heightened concerns over the health hazards of saturating levels of electromagnetic radiation [6] ( Cancer Risks from Microwaves Confirmed , SiS 34). Microwaves at current exposure levels are linked to brain damage, DNA damage, brain tumours, cancers, microwave sickness, impairment of cognitive functions, impairment of reproduction and fertility, affecting humans, rodents, birds, and bees (Box 2).
Box 2
Sir William Stewart, Chair of the Health Protection Agency and former chief scientific adviser to the Government, has issued the most authoritative warning on mobile phones in successive reports and public statements to the press [7], which have been ignored by the government. He is becoming worried about the rapid spread of wi-fi, and is privately pressing for an official investigation into the risks. He is not alone among government scientists to be concerned. Dr. Ian Gibson, former Chair of the Commons Science and Technology Committee, called on the Department of Health to conduct an enquiry into potential health risks of wireless computer networks [14]. Gibson is an honorary Professor and former Dean of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
Meanwhile the backlash against wi-fi installations is growing. Teachers are leading the calls for more research into wireless communication networks in Britain, fearing it may become the “asbestos of the 21 century” [4]. The Professional Association of Teachers with 35 000 members wrote to Education Secretary Alan Johnson expressing deep concern. One of its members, Michael Bevington, became ill after the wi-fi network was installed at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire where he has taught for 28 years. He suffered from nausea, headaches and a lack of concentration, symptoms typical of microwave sickness (Box 3). The German Union for Education and Science had already advised its members to resist the roll out of wLAN in its schools in March 2006 [15].
Box 3
There have been numerous reports from physicians that mobile phone base stations are associated with a number of health symptoms in people living nearby: headaches, fatigue, sleep disorders, memory impairments, collectively known as microwave sickness syndrome, or electro-hypersensitivity. These have been documented in several recent studies.
A French study found that people living within 100 m of a cell phone transmitter station suffered from irritability, depression and dizziness, while those living within 200 m of the station suffered from tiredness [16]. In Austria, researchers detected a correlation between electromagnetic field strength and cardiovascular symptoms in people living near mobile phone base stations [17]. A study in Spain confirmed that microwave radiation was linked to a host of symptoms: headache, nausea, loss of appetite, unwellness, sleep disturbance, depression, lack of concentration and dizziness [18].
In order to counteract the criticism that the symptoms were ‘psychosomatic' in origin, scientists in the University of Vienna carried out a new study covering urban and rural areas in Austria, involving 365 subjects in 10 locations [19]. Two network providers were each asked to identify about five base stations within both regions that have been operating for at least two years and there had been no protests against the base station from residents. These stations also have no other base station nearby, and transmission are mostly only in the 900 MHz band.
The results showed that microwave exposure from the mobile phone base stations is orders of magnitude below current guideline levels in Austria, which is 4.1mW/m 2 . But people still suffered from headache and difficulty in concentrating.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) conference on hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields (October 2004, Prague, Czech Republic), 1.5 to 3 percent of the population currently suffers from the condition. (The WHO otherwise denies that electromagnetic radiation has any health impacts [20].)
A number of schools in Britain had dismantled their wireless networks after lobbying from worried parents; others are under pressure to do the same [21]. Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, with 7 400 students has removed wi-fi because of what its Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Fred Gilbert, calls “the weight of evidence demonstrating behavioural effects and physiological impacts at the tissue, cellular an cell level.”
Dr. Ger Oberfeld of the Public Health Department in Salzburg Austria, had written an open letter addressed to “Governor/Head Teacher/ Concerned Parent” worldwide in December 2005, giving them the official advice from his Department not to use wLAN or cordless phones in schools and kindergardens [22]. In September 2006, more than 30 scientists from all over the world signed the Benevento Resolution issued by the International Commission on Electromagnetic Safety, stating, “there is evidence for adverse health effects, including cancer and EHS (electro-hypersensitivity) from microwave radiation at current exposure levels and that a precautionary approach should be adopted [23].
Evidence is emerging that the health hazards associated with wireless microwave are at least comparable to, if not worse than, those associated with cigarette smoking. Unlike cigarette smoking, passive exposure to microwaves is hard to avoid if wi-fi becomes ubiquitous. Now that smoking bans are in place all over the world, there is no reason not to do the same with wi-fi.
All wi-fi networks in public places should be dismantled, especially in schools and universities, and a ban imposed. For the same reasons, citywide networks should not be installed. Lounges, coffee bars, restaurants and hotels with wi-fi networks should carry warning signs.
The use of cell phones should be reduced to a minimum, especially for populations at risk, such as children. There should be mandatory adoption of cellphones and microcells with ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) levels of radiation, together with hand-off and earphone technologies.
Article first published 17/05/07
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Liz Chafer Comment left 6th October 2009 06:06:16
All the wind turbines installed in Germany have had little impact on Co2 emissions in that country due to the intermittency of wind . The same is the case for Denmark cf. the CEPOS report sept 2009 In many countries including USA Canada France and the UK there is immense pressure to install industrial wind turbines often within a mile of houses affecting the health of those living in the vicinity. Even where I live the load factor will only be 15% but lack of wind doesn't seem to present a problem to the wind industry promoters.
Intermittency is a serious problem until there is a means of stocking the energy produced.There are other forms of renewable energy that should be developed in preference to that of wind - wave power for example.
Mark Russell Comment left 24th October 2009 02:02:38
Those are big, sweeping statements about nuclear ... "the nuclear black hole in terms of cost, safety and sustainability." All (except maybe sustainability in the grand scheme) are nothing more than populist fears, and not based on fact or reality. Wind power is positively medival by comparison no matter how you dress it up. Once the planet is out of all other forms of energy wind power may make sense (and by implication it is last on my list of desirable technologies). By that time the place will look like "planet of the apes" anyway so wind power will fit right in.
Mae-Wan Ho Comment left 23rd October 2009 06:06:49
All you people against wind and pro-nuclear really want to come down to earth and look at the nuclear black hole in terms of cost, safety and unsustainability. We are not for big wind farms. Cheap affordable small wind turbines are here! Read our complete report and get a full picture. Join the dots and join the future.
Mark Russell Comment left 23rd October 2009 06:06:18
Once the "storage solution" is worked out, why would you fill that storage with energy produced by industrial wind turbines when you could fill it with energy produced by nuclear power at a fraction of the cost, and without the massive eyesore that are wind farms?
A storage solution notwithstanding, the cost of wind power in general will cause countries that have committed to wind power losing almost all of their manufacturing base to countries that can supply cheap, reliable energy, whether clean or dirty (manufacturers don't really care).