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The Connection Between Wi-Fi and Illness is Real (preventdisease.com)
3 points by adrianwaj on March 11, 2012 | hide | past | favorite | 8 comments



PSA - Do not waste your time by clicking on the link.

There is zero emperical data that suggests Wi-Fi causes illness. The whole article is nothing more than FUD. The site also published an aritcle suggesting that vaccines are useless.


When it comes to health I am generally a reverse skeptic when it comes to interference and tampering - prove that it does no harm first rather than how great it is.

Anyhow, at bottom of article is link to another article (Electromagnetic Radiation From Laptops and Wireless Devices Nuke Sperm in Proximity) http://preventdisease.com/news/11/113011_Electromagnetic-Rad... which references: http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(11)02678-1/abstr...


"One sperm aliquot (experimental) from each patient was exposed to an internet-connected laptop by Wi-Fi for 4 hours, whereas the second aliquot (unexposed) was used as control, incubated under identical conditions without being exposed to the laptop." I'm no scientist, but this just screams "too many factors" - IIRC other studies have shown a link between offline laptop use (this was sometime in early 200x IIRC, before ubiquitous WiFi) and decreased sperm motility due to the higher temperature; this is an interesting point for further research, but using this as "proof" that "EM nukes sperm" [note the clever "nuclear" insinuation] is, uh, not very convincing. (I don't see this SIG complaining about wireless analog phones, microwave ovens, or other established 2.4 GHz technology. Is there an agenda? Those "EM prevention devices" ads linked at the top perhaps?)


If you're emf sensitive, you don't need any scientific study to tell you electrosmog is real, unpleasant, and likely (highly?) damaging. Wi-fi, cordless phones, walk-through and handheld security x-rays and cell phones can all be felt. I've heard of documented incidences of cancers near powerlines, especially of breast cancers of women sleeping on coiled beds near those lines. Why is any of this a surprise? your iPhone is a health hazard.


It may be possible that EMF sensitivity is a medical condition. If that happens to become accepted however, I for one would like to have some actual data on that (what EM frequencies, power, exposure time, who is most at risk, etc.) instead of a 'ban everything, btw we sell a miracle protection' style fearmongering. 'I have heard things' are anecdota, not data - I have heard five impossible things before the breakfast, doesn't necessarily mean they're true or false.


Well, my testicles hurt last time I used my laptop's wifi device close up rather than using an external one on a usb extension cable (and on multiple occasions.) I consider emf-sensitivity to be a side-effect of being healthy.


> If you're emf sensitive, you don't need any scientific study to tell you electrosmog is real.

If you're insane, you don't need any scientific studies to tell you that your feet are made of cheese. You can just tell.


All the article says is "cell phone electromagnetic signal may be harmful in prolonged exposure, Wi-Fi is a similar type of signal, so it's also harmful [note the not-so-subtle shift there]; there is no evidence to support our thesis, so naturally we conclude that OH NOES TEH SKY IS FALLING11!1!!!" Pure FUD opinion piece.




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