Wifi Worries.

[Jill9999]

Hi guys,

Just wanted some feedback/feelings from other ladies in a similar position, I've got a one year old boy and am becoming increasingly concerned about wifi around him and my iphone, I have some friends with older children who have got their own tablets and are hooked up to the house wifi all the time, but some things that my husbands friends have been hinting at recently have really worried me (one of them works in the wireless industry) so I started googling and found this study and web page:

generationzapped.com/trailer/

stopsmartmeters.org.uk/9th-grade-student-cress-wifi-experiment-attracts-international-attention/

My husbands friend used the tobacco industry as an analogy, apparently smoking used to been seen as healthy, doctors recommending it to people!!! Fact! It was a huge industry making billions (much bigger than it is now) the manufacturers suppressed studies that showed it was bad for health for ages until they couldn't hide it anymore but by then the health of many had been ruined beyond repair.

Wireless is a new technology, the industry makes trillions and apparently studies into the bad effects are being kept quiet, I love my iphone, would have it surgically implanted into my right hand if I could, but I waited so long for Charlie I just don't want to take any risks with him, am I being paranoid or healthily cautious? (first post so be kind )

Beware the dangers of google! Googling anything is the best way to convince yourself you have cancer! I swear, it's bad for your health!

Thank you Lonecatwithkitten I'll look into it...

OP, I'm not going to read your Daily Mail article, and if you're going to stress about this kind of thing, I suggest you learn how to critically read "scientific" information.

The website you link to has a clear and biased stance in the matter. The mainstream press will take one side or the other, though it may change from day to day. For something reliable you need to trace each point back to its source in a published, peer-reviewed paper in a credible journal. That website, which tells how wifi's going to kill us all, links to a bunch of references on the subject. First one I read the abstract of... A credible-looking meta analysis of 88 studies on the subject, says the classification of RF as a human carcinogen was NOT supported by the evidence.

I'm not saying that there aren't things to worry about in the world... Some things get safer, other things less safe, but this isn't one I'll be losing sleep over!

That article is 7 years old OP. The German government no longer warn people to avoid wifi. Why don't you read some of the links other people have posted?

@OddFodd, how do you know that, some evidence would be nice and why did they warn people in the first place?

@specialsubject, sorry I only just saw your sarcastic "telepathy" comment, in answer to your question I'm posting on a desktop PC connected by an ethernet cable to my virgin router, what was your point again?

Jill9999

I'm not sure how close your neighbours are, you might be unbelievably remote although I can say with much certainty if you searched for networks via your device several networks would be picked up. Just saying.

I also wonder (constantly) about the effects of various frequencies, however, I don't drink tap water unless I've boiled it and stored it in a sterile glass container - BPA plastic bottled water is the devils work and carbon filters don't kill everything. I worry about this, incessantly. I also worry about crossing the road sometimes in case a car comes flying out of nowhere, I also sometimes worry that there will be a Cloverfield type invasion on the underground.

Jill - people have posted links to a newspaper article which is more recent and an article from the World Health Organisation, neither of which you've chosen to read. We can all find articles to support our theories (if we so choose) and your husband's friend appears to be playing on your fears.

Here's an article which seeks to address any concerns: Princeton's response to wifi concerns

Op, please don't base your opinions on daily mail articles, if this is something you want to pursue you really need to learn how to access and review scientific publications.

Jill - Just take your iphone out with you and, everywhere you go, get it to search for wifi networks. Unless you live in the absolute back of beyond they will be everywhere you go. I only got wifi in my home very recently but, even without that, I can see that there are various other wifi networks (presumably belonging to various neighbours) which penetrate my home, regardless of whether I personally use wifi or not. I've had a smartphone for about a year and in that time I've never been in a location where I couldn't find wifi (not always one that was open to the public etc but they were always there).

If you want your son to avoid wifi, you would need to move to the middle of nowhere. If you decide to do things like not use your iphone, not go into any cafes, supermarkets etc that display 'free wifi' signs in the window etc you're just going to make life more difficult for yourself while having minimal, if any, impact of the amount of wifi your son is exposed to.

I think you are right to be concerned, wifi is in it's infancy and no one knows the long term affects - I believe one of the worst things out there is the adapters you plug into your electrical circuits to extend your broadband - they are unregulated and put out a massive electrical force around them and your whole house.

After one of the latest studies it now turns out that intensive use of mobiles does increase the risk of cancer even though WHO say otherwise www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/13/intensive-mobile-phone-users-higher-risk-brain-cancer-study - how many more studies in the future will confirm this?

Did you also know most men who get bowel a cancer have it on the right hand side on their body where there large colon starts up to the piece of the large colon goes across your body - most men also happen to keep their mobile phones in their right hand coat pocket which is next to the large colon on the right hand side of the body - is this a coincidence?

I think the OP needs to go and live somewhere with no neighbours and no mobile coverage. Just search for wifi networks at home and most likely you will see your neighbours. Most malls and pubs now have free wifi. It is everywhere. How about his school? I'm sure they have it. Oh and how about his friends mobile? Are you worried about radio and tv signals? Mobile phone signals? Or is it just wifi?

And that microwave oven cooking with invisible rays?

ok, fair point - didn't think anyone still used wires. (I am considered a primitive because I don't have a smartphone!) I hope the router has the wi-fi turned off, and that you live a long way from any neighbours with wi-fi.

your links are all years old, further research has revealed no proven problem. Can you find anything more recent with real science to back you up? (I have an open mind).

if you do want to avoid wifi, you are looking at a BIG move. Go ahead.

to answer your original question, you aren't being paranoid (that is a mental condition), nor healthily cautious. What you do have is a distorted perception of risk, possibly due to mis-information.

@bette06 From what I've been told it's the device connecting to the wifi router that produces the stronger signal rather than the router itself.

@Oddfodd, I did read that article, just like I read this one by the NHS where it states that the IARC says that mobile phone radiation is a possible carcinogen... When it comes to my childs safety I want articles that say "Wireless is 100% safe without a doubt and we have no links with the industry whatsoever"... www.nhs.uk/news/2011/05May/Pages/iarc-mobile-phones-brain-tumour-cancer.aspx

You peeps may like the "it possibly will cause cancer then again it possibly won't" odds, but for me that's too great a risk!

Belgium has just brought in laws to protect children from mobile radiation, a government as paranoid and deluded as me, who'd have thought...

www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2013/11/belgium-boosts-cell-phone-radiation-safeguards-0

OP. Do you have a problem with TV signal and radio signal floating around?

it's not a chemical put into the body but apparently it is non iroizing radiation put through our bodies in large quantities, radiation like the type that cooks Lidl ready meals in your microwave...

I'd be a lot more concerned about putting the LIDL ready meal into my body

Oh and I've never had nor will I ever have a microwave either.

It is interesting to speculate where one would have to move to be out of range of WiFi, radio etc. We live in the back of beyond (1 neighbour within 2 square miles, nearest shop 25 mins away) and I can get 3 WiFi networks on my devices (one is ours, but you see where I am going with this...)

Highlands of Scotland? Outback Australia? It would be hard, I think, to find a place with piped water, for eg, that didn't also have WiFi.

Just move to bloody Belgium then
Charlie is obviously all set for a life of risk assessment overkill.

Surely you'll need to move to the middle of the Sahara to avoid wifi?

Sigh, NoIamAngelaHernandez, when you press search on your device, that's exactly what your device is doing, it's going looking for wifi networks, to find out what exposure levels you have in your house you need to turn your network off and scan with a device like this one: secure.demonweb.co.uk/spcom-dwh/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?usr=51F9245830&rnd=1385979&rrc=N&affl=&cip=&act=&aff=&pg=prod&ref=ELEKTROSMOG1&cat=WIRELESS-ENVIRONMENT&catstr=HOME:RF_CONSUMER:WIRELESS-ENVIRONMENT

If you hear wifi, a sound like a woodpecker, then your neighbours wifi is reaching you but I very much doubt that's the case, searching for it with your phone/laptop doesn't prove exposure levels in your house I'm afraid...

This is the coverage of one WiFi provider.

Yes, some parts of Africa seem like a reasonable bet.

Right - so you're clearly being a bit disingenuous as this is something you've done quite a lot of research on.

If you're right, what do you propose you and Charlie do?

No need to sigh at me.

I know that my neighbour's WiFi reaches my house because I can connect to it if I want to.

You are aware that the WiFi signals, like radio signals, are there whether you have a device that can detect them or not? They don't just suddenly materialise when you search for them?

OP, this is such an abnormal thing to be concerned about that I wonder if you have an underlying mental health disorder - anxiety or depression perhaps?

God I'm so glad I DON'T CARE about things like this.