June 4, 2008
WiFi in Libraries Blamed for Health Maladies in Paris
To many people, the idea that wireless networks cause health problems seems wacky.
But four libraries in Paris have switched off their wireless connections after staff members complained that electromagnetic radiation from the networks was the source of their health problems, according to an article today in the newspaper, The Connexion.
The article states that the latest library to turn off the service is at Sainte-Geneviève University. The action was taken after a staff member threatened to take early retirement on health grounds. He said his symptoms included “headaches, balance problems, general weakness, stress and sight problems.” But he also blamed electromagnetic radiation from cell phones for his maladies.
College employees in North America, too, have raised health concerns about wireless networks. A library director at Southwestern College, in Santa Fe, N.M., left her job last year, saying the wireless network played a role in her insomnia. And two years ago the president of Lakehead University, in Ontario, prohibited his institution from deploying a wireless network across campus citing concerns about students’ health.
Despite these worries, the Centers for Disease Control says scientific research does not indicate “a significant association between cell phone use and health effects.” Cell phones also emit electromagnetic radiation. But an article in Tuesday’s New York Times points out that three prominent neurosurgeons do not hold cell phones to their ears in order to reduce their brains’ exposure to radiation.—Andrea L. Foster
Posted on Wednesday June 4, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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The bad influences of electromagnetic radiation are not clear and the good ones are not either for us.
— DK Jun 4, 11:11 PM #
DK is right; there’s too much not understood. But as Michael Crichton has pointed out, many of the same people who worry about EMR from power lines also wear magnetic bracelets or anklets, as if magnetism were something different.
One striking thing in this article is that in three cases the persons complaining of illness are accepted as expert on the subject. Since when does the patient acquire expertise beyond the symptomatic? If I’m sick, I can tell you how I feel, but I’m not endowed with insight as to cause. That’s one reason we go to doctors.
I don’t hold cell phones to my ear either, but that’s because they’re annoying, just like other phones.
— Dan Jun 5, 08:42 AM #
Err… there’s no such thing as “Sainte-Genevieve University”! The Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve is a public research library in Paris.
— Duff Jun 5, 08:48 AM #
Since their arrival, cell phones have been cited as causing health concerns. There are decades of research there.
Am I the only one who sees a repeating pattern of big business downplaying the dangers & concerns? Remember the false “studies” conducted on both tobacco and environmental threats?
— sketical Jun 5, 09:07 AM #
We live in an electrified world, our houses are literally electric cages, our planet is a giant magnet … are there possible adverse health effects? Sure, but same can be said for any number of things we cheerfully expose ourselves to. The risks are evidently minimal and certainly insufficient for us to don suits made of aluminum foil and relocate into caves.
— CW Jun 5, 09:23 AM #
and for decades dentists told us that mercury fillings were safe… now the ADA is recanting
— pg Jun 5, 09:38 AM #
I wish some bona fide physicists would explain cogently why RF from cell phones at the ear that at best would provide only about 0.01 watts/cm-squared on the ear are dangerous while the sun at noon provides 0.137 watts/cm-squared, part of which is ionizing, and no one gets dizzy or headaches, even though they do get sunstrokes if they stay in the sun long enough. Solution: turn the cellphone off when you start overheating!
— David Jun 5, 10:12 AM #
In the 80’s there was a study done in Great Britian of people living under power lines who exhibited significantly higher rates of depression and suicide – their homes also happened to be subsidized, low rent, fairly dangerous places to reside. Couldn’t that also influence their health and happiness?
I suspect the dizzy librarian in Paris would have been so with our without wi-fi.
— Patt Jun 5, 10:31 AM #
Sounds a bit like these folks need to have their …uuhh … firmware updated.
— Eric Jun 5, 11:19 AM #
Nothing elicited more health complaints from citizens than the introduction of the now ubiquitous automobile. Our friends the Mennonites and Amish took a stand. What will you do?
— original marci Jun 5, 12:00 PM #
Re: Post #8, I have lived in a house under a powerline for over 20 years. Other than growing a third ear, there are no other symptoms.
I think our health is in greater jeopardy due to people driving and using cell phones concurrently. I read a study not terribly long ago that equated drunk driving and cell phone use in their ability to impair driving efficacy.
— Dr. J Jun 5, 01:04 PM #
They need to get someone to come in and check the actual levels of EM radiation in the place. Most likely they will find stronger signals than the WiFi ones have been coursing through their library for years, but no one has had a problem. Numerous studies have failed to establish a link between low-level EM radiation and actual human health problems.
— Maxwell Jun 5, 03:01 PM #
Gosh, my library is Wi-FI intensity … next time, i need to wear a radiation suit to come into the library.
— Hazman Aziz Jun 11, 11:01 PM #
Why Wi-Fi is the wrong way to provide internet access
It’s not safe.
There are hundreds of studies showing harm from microwave communication signals
(electricwords.emfacts.com). Here are a few recent examples:
o Wi-Fi-like signals can activate the “cell suicide” response in isolated human cells (Lee et al., 2005).
o Similar cell-phone signals, in blind-controlled experiments, interfere with sleep long after exposure (Arnetz et al., 2007).
o Mother’s cell phone use nearly doubles the number of kids developing behavior problems, even after correcting for other effects (Divan et al., 2008).
o Even weakened cell phone signals cause rat brain damage (Salford et al., ’03).Reports from the World Health Organization that the evidence of harm was not convincing were authored by at least one person shown to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporations with vested interests (Slesin, 2006). When Wi-Fi was installed at the French National Library, some of the workers in the vicinity complained of health deterioration, which, after reviewing the science, caused the library to remove its Wi-Fi system.
It’s not necessary. Free access to the internet can be provided
safely to any laptop computer by means of wires. Ethernet jacks and inexpensive
USB-ethernet converters can bring the internet to virtually any computer, including the many laptops not equipped for Wi-Fi. This would create no new microwave exposure.
It’s not secure. Because most people don’t know how to install the
William J. Bruno, Ph.D.software needed to encrypt their connection, hackers can see user’s emails and
websites (Acohido, 2007). Users who unknowingly connect to a hacker’s network (which can be disguised to be identical to the City’s networks) can be redirected to bogus and malicious websites, and have every transaction read, even if encrypted.
B. Acohido, “Public Wi-Fi use raises hacking risk” USA Today, Aug. 6, 2007.
Arnetz et al., “The Effects of 884 MHz GSM Wireless Communication Signals on Self-reported Symptom and Sleep (EEG)- An Experimental Provocation Study,” Progr. In Electromag. Res. Symp. 3:1148 (2007).
Divan et al., “Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Cell Phone Use and Behavioral Problems in Children.” Epidemiology. eprint ahead of publication, May 7, 2008.
Lee et al. “2.45 GHz radiofrequency fields alter gene expression in cultured human cells.” FEBS Lett. 579:4829 (2005).
Salford, et al., “Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain after Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Mobile Phones” Environ. Health Perspect., 111:881, (2003).
Slesin, L., “It’s Official: Mike Repacholi Is An Industry Consultant and He’s Already in Hot Water” Microwave News, Nov. 13, 2006, & “WHO and Electric Utilities: A Partnership on EMFs,” Oct 1, 2005.
— Bill Jun 12, 12:36 PM #