[NBLUG/talk] EMF/EMR (was Re: Sebastopol Downtown WiFi

[Scott Doty]

On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 02:11:07AM -0700, Christopher Wagner wrote:
> I must admit, I'm curious as to what the cons would be for having Sonic
> set-up downtown WiFi?  Yes, the city is tacitly "approving" of Sonic.net
> (a local business).  Are they the tinfoil hat types?  What's their gripe?

Well, I hesitate to discount the people as "tinfoil hat types", as they may
have very real fears about EMF and EMR.  However, two facts seem to take the
wind out of their sails:  First, that there is no evidence that WiFi
emissions cause harm; and second -- afaik -- Dane's war-driving experiments
have shown there to be quite a few WiFi network already in operation in
Sebastopol.

Resources:  I've been a scientific skeptic for many years, and I've found
the Skeptic's Dictionary to be as valuable as Snopes.com when examining
phenomenon such as EMF sensitivity -- for a quick survey:

   http://skepdic.com/emf.html

Obquote:

      At this time, it looks as if hypersensitivity to EMFs
      (electrosensitivity or ES) is a psychosomatic disorder. (For example,
      a research team in Norway (2007) conducted tests using sixty-five
      pairs of sham and mobile phone radio frequency (RF) exposures. "The
      increase in pain or discomfort in RF sessions was 10.1 and in sham
      sessions 12.6 (P = 0.30). Changes in heart rate or blood pressure were
      not related to the type of exposure (P: 0.30–0.88). The study gave no
      evidence that RF fields from mobile phones may cause head pain or
      discomfort or influence physiological variables. The most likely
      reason for the symptoms is a nocebo effect.")

There's also talk about a "possible" link between WiFi and autism, found here:

   http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/funk59.html

Of course, someone may have new information that isn't covered by the
existing literature -- but it does appear that, when using double-blind
experiments, there is no noticible effect of having WiFi on in the room with
you, much less out on a street pole.

 -Scott

p.s. I have a Meraki up in my window in my den; I also have a Mac
Mini on my desk, with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth... if there are harmful
effects from these technologies, I'll probably be one big tumor by the time
I'm 50... ;P