Is Wi-Fi making your child ill?

[Grey-gear]

Because it's too heavy to carry all the time?

 

Or your an easy target to get mugged because they would cost a lot?

[LosOjos]

As a child, I was fascinated by this mysterious abyss known as "t'interwebs" - thus I found myself permanently craning my neck down looking at my phone browsing on my phone on the Wi-Fi (far too young to have a data allowance, this was back when people actually got 'credit' for their phones instead)

 

This hurt me. When I was a kid, kids just plain didn't have mobile phones...

 

I'm only in my 20s! How bloody young are you?!

[3s-gtech]

That article is a classic case of stringing together lots of pieces of anecdotal, shaky or downright poor evidence into one lump, until it seems to stack up as a body of evidence. All you have to do is knock down each one as having little or no scientific basis and the whole thing falls apart.

 

Yes, there may be harmful effects on the body from this type of radiation. There may not be. Research and testing is the way to advance this, not scare mongering and irrational judgment. The current accepted findings of research is that Wifi is safe, in context. If the accepted findings change, we'll have to re-evaluate. In the meantime, we'll carry on using it. While people still smoke, drink, use fossil fuels and get sunburn there will be other carcinogens that get centre stage.

[Arreks]

This hurt me. When I was a kid, kids just plain didn't have mobile phones...

 

I'm only in my 20s! How bloody young are you?!

 

Early 20's, but my dad did get all the latest boxes from his jobs (Apple, HP, compaq etc). I even had a HP branded scooter!

[Grey-gear]

The article seems to be saying :-

 

[HarryMonkey]

Because it's too heavy to carry all the time?

 

Indeed!

[Sheridan]

Lets not be too hasty here - maybe we can use this to our advantage

 

We can use this paranoia to get these flipping ipads out of our hair and start using some decent wired kit again!

[tmcd35]

I've convinced the head to install swivel chairs so the kids cook evenly.

[sonofsanta]

headaches, insomnia, fatigue and palpitations

 

Almost like you've spent too long looking at an LCD screen with a blue-tint to the light. But it must be the wifi! Think of the radiations!

[ass17]

If I had the power then i would ban wifi in junior schools until more research on exposure to wifi has been conducted just as a precaution. Maybe wifi is the same as smoking as it could take the average smoker 30/40 years before they develop major symptoms. Maybe it's hit and miss, who knows what wifi will do to us, but just hearing the phrase "exposure to radiation" doesn't sit well with me. Here's another question, do you think companies like Apple would like wifi studies done if it means they stand to lose billions if the study is conclusive that wifi causes illness. Q&As on a postcard please....

[elsiegee40]

I cannot see the point in banning it inany school when it is everywhere else. One look at your phone shows at least 3 wifi networks pretty much everywhere you go. How is banning it in primary schools supposed to make a difference?

[jedmondson]

So the same story came up on my facebook timeline Is Wi-Fi making your child ill? - Telegraph Whats wrong with the 3rd photo?

[elsiegee40]

So the same story came up on my facebook timeline Is Wi-Fi making your child ill? - Telegraph Whats wrong with the 3rd photo?

 

Hahahahahahaha!

[TomHD]

"Dr Mallery-Blythe tests radiation levels at a school internet router" http://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/emoticons/v1/25/1.0

[ass17]

I cannot see the point in banning it inany school when it is everywhere else. One look at your phone shows at least 3 wifi networks pretty much everywhere you go. How is banning it in primary schools supposed to make a difference?

 

Because children's brains are more susceptible than older children.

 

But I know what you mean about it being everywhere. I always turn off my router and put all my wifi devices in airplane mode at bedtime, I want a good nights sleep [emoji1]

[Arthur]

just hearing the phrase "exposure to radiation" doesn't sit well with me

You should probably avoid bananas too.

 

http://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/radiation.png

[jedmondson]

You should probably avoid bananas too.

 

http://imgs.xkcd.com/blag/radiation.png

 

Strange that image also came up on the facebook conversation.

[localzuk]

If I had the power then i would ban wifi in junior schools until more research on exposure to wifi has been conducted just as a precaution. Maybe wifi is the same as smoking as it could take the average smoker 30/40 years before they develop major symptoms. Maybe it's hit and miss, who knows what wifi will do to us, but just hearing the phrase "exposure to radiation" doesn't sit well with me. Here's another question, do you think companies like Apple would like wifi studies done if it means they stand to lose billions if the study is conclusive that wifi causes illness. Q&As on a postcard please....

 

Knee-jerk reaction to the word "radiation" is ridiculous. You are exposed to radiation all day, every day. Mobile towers and phones, tetra radio systems, AM/FM/MW radio, background radiation, microwave radiation, bananas, nuclear power station water output, etc...

 

Studies aren't generally performed by companies, more often by universities and charities. So whether Apple would do anything if irrelevant.

[Arthur]

If I had the power then I would ban Wi-Fi in junior schools until more research on exposure to Wi-Fi has been conducted just as a precaution.

Didn't the government already do some research on Wi-Fi and concluded that we don't need to worry about it since the radiation levels so low, not to mention the fact that it is non-ionising (unlike the radiation produced by the sun and everything else shown in the chart above).

 

“When we have conducted measurements in schools, typical exposures from Wi-Fi are around 20 millionths of the international guideline levels of exposure to radiation. As a comparison, a child on a mobile phone receives up to 50 per cent of guideline levels. So a year sitting in a classroom near a wireless network is roughly equivalent to 20 minutes on a mobile. If Wi-Fi should be taken out of schools, then the mobile phone network should be shut down, too — and FM radio and TV, as the strength of their signals is similar to that from Wi-Fi in classrooms.” - Dr Michael Clark, Public Health England (Source)

 

www.gov.uk/government/publications/wireless-networks-wi-fi-radio-waves-and-health/wi-fi-radio-waves-and-health

 

General position

There is no consistent evidence to date that exposure to radio signals from Wi-Fi and WLANs adversely affects the health of the general population. The signals are very low power, typically 0.1 watt (100 milliwatts) in both the computer and the router (access point), and the results so far show exposures are well within the internationally-accepted guidelines from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

 

Based on current knowledge and experience, radio frequency (RF) exposures from Wi-Fi are likely to be lower than those from mobile phones. Also, the frequencies used in Wi-Fi are broadly the same as those from other RF applications such as FM radio, TV and mobile phones.

 

On the basis of the published studies and those carried out in-house, PHE sees no reason why Wi-Fi should not continue to be used in schools and in other places. However with any new technology a sensible precautionary approach, as happened with mobile phones, is to keep the situation under review so that parents and others can have as much reassurance as possible.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Arthur

[GREED]

Just to echo an earlier comment.... oh dear we are back here again. File it. Save it. Come back to it again in 2 years when some doctor wants to be famous for 5 minutes... which every time becomes 1 more minute wasted we will all never get back.

[abillybob]

So the same story came up on my facebook timeline Is Wi-Fi making your child ill? - Telegraph Whats wrong with the 3rd photo?

 

It's a patch switch Took me a while to figure it out though.... where's my brew!?

[synaesthesia]

An empty patch panel too. No router in sight.

 

I don't usually judge people by their looks, but that woman just looks like she has a collection of tinfoil hats and Roswell memorabilia.

[Norphy]

Just to play devil's advocate, it's entirely possible that she just got told to stand there and wave what looks like a cable tester at a patch panel by the photographers and that she does actually know what an active piece of networking equipment looks like.

 

That said, equally, she could be the paranoid quack that the article makes her sound like.

[synaesthesia]

Very true @Norphy however, like any of us, if she had the *slightest* clue what she was talking about, she'd have refused because, as it does, it makes her look entirely stupid and shows the world that she isn't to be trusted.

[Norphy]

it makes her look entirely stupid and shows the world that she isn't to be trusted.

 

The trouble is, it only makes her look stupid to those who know about networking equipment and sadly we're in a minority. To the rest of the world, it looks like scary stuff and makes them paranoid. Those who do actually know what they're talking about shout about it as loud as they can but the ignorant masses shout louder and the informed get drowned out. As it is with everything.