> From: Ken Norton <xra@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>> I also have the feeling (but can't say for sure) that
>> all these wireless networks in my workplace (I can see 24 stations
>> emitting) are causing these headaches to be even worse...
>
> ... it is actually highly likely that you do sense and are
> experiencing issues with microwave radiation. If you use a cell-
> phone,
> you're getting an especially intense dose right next to your head.
> Use a
> microwave oven? Same thing. How about some cordless phones?
> Yup. 2.4gHz
> Wifi? Yup. What do most of the above have to do with anything?
> They emit
> radiation at or near the frequency where water molecules vibrate.
But there are many orders of magnitude difference between them!
I once had someone lecture me about the evils of microwave oven
radiation, claiming it gave him headaches to be in the same house with
one -- he was telling me this from his cell phone, which he was on
constantly, and from which he never complained of headaches.
And yet, a properly installed and maintained microwave oven will leak
no more than microwatts into the ambient, whereas a cell phone is
pumping several watts directly into one's skull -- that's a 1,000,000
to 1 difference in power levels!
Wifi is between the two. You get no more than milliwatts exposure from
wifi, even when sitting on your lap -- roughly 1,000 times less energy
than that emitted by a cell phone. And yet, some people who use cell
phones with abandon claim wifi somehow hurts them.
I once had a person insist I turn my GPS off, because of the
"radiation." I pointed out that this was a passive device, that it
didn't transmit anything, other than perhaps nanowatts of "noise" from
the microprocessor within. She replied that the GPS antenna "sucks in
the radiation from the satellites." Sheesh.
There's also the "square law" relationship to consider:
electromagnetic radiation goes down as the square of distance. This
means EM drops off fairly rapidly with distance. Stand 1cm from a
microwave oven to get the same dose of EM as standing 31cm from a wifi
hub, or standing 10 metres from an operating cell phone!
There's a great deal of pseudo-science out there regarding
electromagnetic radiation -- much of it, I suspect, due to the
unfortunate common word with "nuclear" radiation, which is an entirely
different beast.
I believe in the "precautionary principle." It's good to have
rational, science-based doubts about anything that can be shown to
have detrimental effects, especially at high levels and/or high
frequencies. But as an electrical engineer (RF) and life-long amateur
radio operator who owns several wideband spectrum analysers, I think
there are some reasonable assumptions one can make about relative
hazards, and I have absolutely no respect for arguments against
microwave ovens and wifi when those arguments come from anyone who
will get within 30 feet or so of a functioning cell phone!
Common sense is all too uncommon when it comes to this subject.
:::: ... the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the poplace
alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with
an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. -- HL Mencken
:::: Jan Steinman <http://www.EcoReality.org>
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