Fox News: Report: Researchers Call for Study on WiFi's Health Effects

FOXNEWS.COM
Report: Researchers Call for Study on WiFi's Health Effects

Monday, April 23, 2007

It's convenient and widely available but a growing group of researchers warn that WiFi may be hazardous to your health.

William Stewart, the head of Britain's Health Protection Agency, is worried that wireless Internet access may pose a health threat — particularly to children — and is privately calling for a study of the hazards of WiFi, the Independent reports.

Click here to read the full Independent report.

Researchers believe that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the phones, cell-phone towers and WiFi masts are contributing to an "electric smog" that could pose a future health risk.

The researchers say this smog of electromagnetic radiation is 1 billion times stronger than the natural fields in which living cells have developed over the last 3.8 billion years. Children may be more vulnerable as their skulls are thinner and their nervous systems are still developing, not to mention that they'll be exposed to more radiation over their lifetime.

The Austrian Medical Association is just one group that wants to keep WiFi out of the classroom, the Independent reports.

The head of environmental health and medicine in the province of Salzburg calls WiFi "dangerous" to sensitive people. "The number of people and the danger are both growing," Dr. Gerd Oberfeld said.

The World Health Organization says that three out of every 100 people are "electrosensitive," the paper reports.

In Britain, a lawmaker from the wireless city of Norwich is calling for an official inquiry into WiFi's risks and the nation's Professional Association of Teachers is lobbying Britain's education secretary for one, as well.

"I am concerned that so many wireless networks are being installed in schools and colleges without any understanding of the possible long-term consequences," said Philip Parkin, the association's general secretary. "The proliferation of wireless networks could be having serious implications for the health of some staff and pupils without the cause being recognized."