Alan Stevens

Claims that electromagnetic radiation from wireless kit can cause illness merit investigation
IT Week, 04 Dec 2006
Alan Stevens

I’ve not been feeling that good recently. I’m tired most of the time, listless and quite irritable. It’s something I put down to the time of the year and the fact that, to put it bluntly, I’m not quite as young as I used to be. My wife says I’m just a grumpy old man. However, according to some, my malaise can be explained by the rise of wireless networking.

Apparently, if it weren’t for the electromagnetic radiation emanating from my wireless router – currently positioned about two feet from left knee – I could be skipping about like a three-year-old.

But, just as with similar scares over mobile phones and phone masts, there seems to be little in the way of scientific research to back up such claims.

There is, of course, subjective evidence, as in a recent Evening Standard story about a woman who claimed her health had suffered following the installation of Wi-Fi in her house. The two, she claimed, were inextricably linked. Moreover, she was so sensitive to the radiation that she felt able to tell instantly if Wi-Fi was installed in a particular room.

There’s also a support group, ElectroSensitivity-UK, for those made ill not just by Wi-Fi networks but all things electromagnetic.

Part of me agrees with those who point out that Wi-Fi equipment produces a lot less radiation than TVs, microwaves and all the other electrical equipment around us. I also tend to agree with those who suggest that extended late-night web cruising, facilitated by the Wi-Fi hardware, could explain most of the reported symptoms.

On the other hand, wireless hardware undoubtedly produces electromagnetic radiation, and I see no reason why some people shouldn’t be more sensitive to it than others. Just as, despite being tone deaf, I recognise there are people with perfect pitch able to hear frequencies that completely pass me by.

But good, bad or indifferent, wireless networking won’t go away any time soon. Indeed, in the next few years Wi-Fi could overtake copper as the predominant edge technology, both in the office and at home.

In which case it might be a good time to take a look at the possible harmful effects of Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies. I’m not proposing a cigarette-style government health warning, just an independent study into the cumulative effects of having so much kit pumping out low levels of electromagnetic radiation.

After all, as I said at the start, I have been feeling a little under the weather recently and would really like to know if switching my wireless router off will put the spring back into my step.