[kwlug-disc] To WIFI or not to WIFI

[Jon Thiele]

https://nationalpost.com/health/what-who-review-says-about-cellphone-use-and-brain-cancer

On Wed, Sep 4, 2024 at 6:24 PM Doug Moen <doug at moens.org> wrote:

> As I mentioned earlier, my friend got brain cancer from a cell phone,
> beyond reasonable doubt. It was hushed up via a settlement with the vendor,
> which was a good deal for my friend, I'm happy he got that settlement after
> suffering a life changing injury. That's the only evidence I have in hand.
> No doubt there are other cases, but it would be hard to discover and verify
> them. If these cases are routinely hushed up, then they wouldn't appear in
> the data of scientific studies, which would skew the results. The tobacco
> industry was able to suppress the link between cigarettes and lung cancer
> for decades. It wouldn't be surprising if the same thing was happening
> again, considering the economic incentives.
>
> Factors that seem relevant:
> * The amount of power being radiated at the source.
> * The distance of the radio source from your brain. Remember the power of
> the radio signal diminishes with the square of the distance from the
> source. One meter away is 10,000 less power than one centimeter away.
> * The duration of the exposure.
> * It's likely that different frequencies have different biological
> effects, but I have little information on that. Ionizing vs non-ionizing is
> an important distinction. Microwave frequencies are particularly good at
> heating water and cooking organic tissue. But what else?
> * The threat model used for regulating cell phone radiation is here:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_absorption_rate
>
> I don't have numbers right now for how much power my cell phone radiates
> at its antenna, vs how much power my wifi base station or laptop wifi card
> radiates at its antenna, but I would guess that the cell phone radiates at
> a higher power, since it has to communicate with a cell phone tower, which
> is much further away than my laptop is from my wifi. Also, if your cell
> phone is 1 cm from your brain while you use it, whereas your laptop wifi
> anntenna is 50 cm from your brain, then the laptop's emissions are
> attenuated by a factor of 50² = 2500 compared to the phone, multiplied by
> the power difference. The laptop is a lot less dangerous than the phone. I
> leave the wifi running all the time when I use a laptop. My cell phone is
> turned on all the time too, and I have the phone in my pocket for a larger
> portion of the day than the amount of time I use a laptop. This is another
> factor making the phone riskier.
>
> To reduce the risk, I keep it in a thigh pocket far from my brain. And I
> keep it in airplane mode as much as possible. I assume that RF injury to my
> thigh muscles are a lot less of a problem for me than RF injury to my
> brain. Also I use speakerphone when possible, instead of holding the phone
> to my head.
>
> Doug.
>
> On Wed, Sep 4, 2024, at 4:23 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
>
> On Tue, Sep 3, 2024 at 11:36 PM Steve Izma <sizma at golden.net> wrote:
>
>
> Okay, I worded it poorly. I was irritated that the issue of
> safety was diverted into a narrow discussion of brain cancer, as
> if that was the only issue to consider.
>
> Doug's message (the above link) only mentioned brain cancer as an
> example, but his message was essentially about broader health
> concerns, which included what I thought was good commentary on
> the interaction of several factors on biological injury. You
> can't look at just one of them.
>
>
> What are the broader health concerns of RF and what is the evidence
> for them?
>
> Here is what Health Canada says about WiFi (which is what started the
> thread):
>
> Based on the current scientific evidence the level of radiofrequency EMF
> emitted from Wi-Fi devices *is not* harmful to health.
>
>
> Note the sources they cite:
>
>    - World Health Organization
>    - U.K. Health Security Agency
>    - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
>    - International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
>
>
>
> https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-risks-safety/radiation/everyday-things-emit-radiation/wi-fi.html
>
> Here is another study that is wider (mobile phones as well as WiFi).
>
> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9287836/
>
> The conclusion:
>
> The only evidence-based biological effects of exposure to RF EMF in the
> frequency range of 300 kHz – 300 GHz – which includes mobile phones, mobile
> phone base stations, and Wi-Fi networks – are thermal effects. However, the
> health risks associated with temperature rise are virtually null with
> normal Wi-Fi use, and even with the use of a mobile phone next to the head.
>
> As for non-thermal effects, scientific evidence is insufficient and
> inconsistent. Present data do not provide clear evidence of adverse effects
> in humans. Further research based on much more precise dosimetry procedures
> and protocols supported by simulations of RF field distribution inside the
> biological tissue is needed.
>
> To conclude, human exposure to Wi-Fi RF fields, including exposure of
> children in schools, is very low and, in most cases lower than to other EMF
> sources in the environment. With this in mind, we, children and adults
> alike, should be following the practical advice to monitor and limit the
> use of Wi-Fi and mobile technology, as RF fields have become an unavoidable
> environment in and with which we have to live. There are almost no places
> on the Earth not covered with some of the RF fields. We have to monitor the
> ones which are man-made and research their possible impact on human and
> non-human genetic and physiological structure.
>
> If there is evidence to the contrary, where is it, and was it scrutinized
> by subject matter experts?
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