Panorama's "Wireless in schools" Program 8:30 Tonight

[cheesypete]

I dont think the programme did itself any favours by showing the person who experienced radiation sickness (now known as BacoFoil Woman) but i'm amazed by the number of folk who are 100% ignoring the fact that there may be something in it - and I stress the words "may" and "something"

 

I'm a huge fan of Wifi - dont get me wrong, but it is a relatively new technology / science and we have no way (at the moment) of knowing the long term effects.

 

Being the shortsighted ICT geek that I am, people often ask why I dont have laser correction when thousands say how great it is. The simple answer I give is that we need to see the long term effects after a generation of people have been and gone. Who's to say that in 40 years time the people who have had laser surgery simply go blind- we simply dont know.

 

The same reasoning needs to apply here - there is obviously heavy research going into this bourne of concern for the health of everyone. If you want to ignore it then its your choice.

[localzuk]

I dont think the programme did itself any favours by showing the person who experienced radiation sickness (now known as BacoFoil Woman) but i'm amazed by the number of folk who are 100% ignoring the fact that there may be something in it - and I stress the words "may" and "something"

 

I'm a huge fan of Wifi - dont get me wrong, but it is a relatively new technology / science and we have no way (at the moment) of knowing the long term effects.

 

I don't think anyone is ignoring that there 'may' be 'something' wrong with it - it is either like me, they don't really care, or they may just be laughing at the show whilst acknowledging that there may be something...

[alan-d]

The general concensus here seems to be that;

 

Yes - If there is a possibility of a problem then lets have it studied and the findings published by reputable researchers.

 

No - Don't broadcast biased trivia with no real evidence to back up the claims being made.

 

The program last night just had the same effect as me running through a busy shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon shouting 'Fire Fire' because someone lit a match outside!

[GrumbleDook]

A good collation of information from various sources is available from Ewan McIntosh's blog.

[apeo]

i'm amazed by the number of folk who are 100% ignoring the fact that there may be something in it - and I stress the words "may" and "something"

 

I dont really think any of us are 'ignoring' that there maybe something wrong but at this state its almost like saying something as vague as you may get knocked over by a bus at some point in the future.

 

I like others do think its worth looking into though.

[djm968]

For sale: Sony Ericsson HBH 600 Bluetooth headset:

 

One careful owner, inability to think for myself forces prompt sale.

[Skoggmeiger]

Don't get me wrong, I use Wi-Fi at home, but I'll be bluntly honest and tell you that after a few hours infront of my laptop, I feel like sh*t!

Ah, but how much of that is definitively the WiFi and not other ambient radiation levels from your laptop or any other electrical devices in the room, or indeed other factors such as eye-strain from staring at the screen, poor lighting in your room, incorrect seating position, the mobile on the desk next to you, etc etc etc.

 

Try turning off the WiFi (access point and laptop) and see if you feel any different. Then and only then would you have anything to go on, and even that would just be one person's opinion and not any quality research.

 

I wrongly presumed you would have fathomed that I didn't feel like sh*t, when Wi-Fi was turned off.

 

One again, I'm not asking for Wi-Fi to be banned, I merely believe further testing needs to be done, but some of you on here, especially yourself, ignorantly disregard an opposing opinion on the debate.

 

A small mole may only be a small mole, but leave it too long and it might become a melanoma.

[_Bat_]

The same reasoning needs to apply here - there is obviously heavy research going into this bourne of concern for the health of everyone. If you want to ignore it then its your choice.

 

That reminds me of the saying "A wise man learns from his own mistakes, but a really wise man learns from the mistakes of others".

 

Have we learnt from the mistake our ancestors made with smoking etc? I'm sorry to go so much against the crowd here, but the conversation that is taking place here strikes me as something that would have happened if I went back in time to around 1850 and told them smoking tabacco wasn't good for your health. Do you think they'd have mocked me and laughed at me? Of course they would.

 

That said, I've stated in a previous post that there is not a lot we can do about it. In answer to my own question above, of course we haven't learnt from the mistakes our anscestors made. We rarely do. That's just human nature. It's too late now... we have implemented this technology with little research into it's long term effects and trying to stop it now would be like trying to stop the world using cars.

[Jake]

As I was busily doing something else last night, I missed this program....however I could have sworn that I just heard people talking about a woman wrapped in bacofoil and figured I would come over and have a look

[_Bat_]

As I was busily doing something else last night, I missed this program....however I could have sworn that I just heard people talking about a woman wrapped in bacofoil and figured I would come over and have a look

 

Erm, do I dare ask what you were doing last night? Have you managed to work out the exact GPS coordinates of WITCH yet, who happened to be moving into your county? Hehe.

[Disease]

I am sure they said Thalidomide was safe and posed no threat to health as well.

 

oh wait.....

[enjay]

One again, I'm not asking for Wi-Fi to be banned, I merely believe further testing needs to be done, but some of you on here, especially yourself, ignorantly disregard an opposing opinion on the debate.

I think that ignorance is the key word there, but not in the defamatory way in which you meant it. The problem is that we simply don't know. I have no idea either way on the subject - which I have in fact said before in previous posts - so am waiting for some sensible, intelligent research data on the matter before making an informed decision.

 

I have said throughout this conversation that I believe more testing needs to be done, and have in fact argued your case more than some other posters.

[Jake]

 

Erm, do I dare ask what you were doing last night? Have you managed to work out the exact GPS coordinates of WITCH yet, who happened to be moving into your county? Hehe.

 

I was shopping for telescopes

[djm968]

The sad thing is that with this programme, the BBC had an opportunity to open a healthy public debate on this issue and completely missed the target with sensationalist, biased and ill-informed journalism which as a license payer really p@sses me off.

[Disease]

It's all irrelevant anyway, if parental concerns build up enough you will be made to remove wi-fi anyway regardless of any scientific study. Once parents start to create a fuss, which they will do, it will only be a matter of time.

 

I am glad anyway as we don have and will not have any wireless here as its crap.

[djm968]

Some interesting quotes from the TES website

 

Parents complain and advise their children....

 

"Phone me on your mobile love if you see any of those nasty wireless networks in school....We'll have 'em."

 

So their main evidence is a teacher who gets a headache in the classroom that magically goes away when he is away from school.

 

I used to feel like that when I was teaching.. and we didn't have a wireless network. It's just the kids....

[Oops_my_bad]

Did the guy have the signal meter set to 50 MHz when looking at the GSM base station but to 2.4 GHz with the wi-fi. I couldn't tell if the y axis was the same either so I really wouldn't know what they had measured.

[TechMonkey]

There are people though that are sensitive to radio waves of all types. As someone said earlier with light, it is just some people. I know of someone who used to have flat mates that used to torture him with a microwave. Just being in the same room with it on would make him feel really nasty in the head. They even did studies on him (Ok drunken after pub studies) with him blindfolded and ears muffled and see if he yelped with it on or off. He could tell the difference. That there weren't all of them rolling around in pain says that it isn't the fact of the microwave being on but the person.

 

So is there something in it. Yes I think there is. Should we instantly dash all heaten devil devices on the rocks of ludditism...... Welll maybe not straight away. Weigh them opposite a duck should help us.

[Geoff]

Slashdot has picked this story up now.

 

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/22/1230231

 

Expect it to hit most online media soon.

[ptaylor]

This is interesting

 

http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/papers/goldsworthy_bio_weak_em_07.pdf

[djm968]

Looks like a good read ptaylor? You wouldn't happen to be French would you?

[ptaylor]

No I'm English, why do you ask?!

[mattx]

Checkout this fruitcake of a lady:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=450995&in_page_id=1879

[djm968]

I thought you might be a ptaylor I used to work with.

[mattx]

I am sure they said Thalidomide was safe and posed no threat to health as well.

 

Thalidomide is still used today in treatments.