Health Concerns

[themacuser]

Well, I use KisMac on my PowerBook, so I guess I don't notice anything - passive mode. Then again, AirPort Extreme is only ~35mw... so I guess it's not much.

[Brains]

I'm a bit of an odd one out -- I don't need any kind of kit to detect wireless network devices, just walking within 5 m of one is sufficient.

No, I'm not joking, yes I've had it verified scientifically. After four days into a new job in a call centre, feeling lethargic every day and having a grand mal epilepsy episode at my computer, having another epilepsy fit inside an MRI scanner, and three weeks of rigorous testing by some university medical boffins, I have been diagnosed with EHS, Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Disorder.

Which sucks.

I've been a geek for almost thirty years, and loved almost every year of it. Alas, as wireless tech spreads, the places I can go diminishes. Now all I get are calls from other wireless-immune geeks who want to take me wardriving

Seriously though, there's a growing body of evidence slipping past the telco's & wireless equipment makers that's showing pretty much any microwave-band (900 MHz and up, actually) is fsckin' dangerous as all hell.

I'm starting to wonder if sitting in the middle of an office where everyone is using 802.11a&g is the reason for my incredibly uncharacteristic headaches of the last few months (coinciding with the introduction of the AP 6 feet from my head)

It might be a bit late, but there's been two papers published in the last six months -- one from University of Helsinki, another from Doncaster Tech's bioelectromagnetics team -- that link the increase in the number of cases of depression & mental illness in the IT industry with the spread of microwave band wireless tech.

I never really noticed the heat generated or have any headaches...of course this could be due to the foil hat I wear to keep the aliens from stealing my bandwidth!

Firstly, Mythbusters apparently proved that a tinfoil hat is the worst possible thing you can wear if you're around RF -- it acts like a sat dish, collecting stray RF and focussing it right into the hippocampus

Secondly, a lot of people don't notice headaches & suchlike, in fact a lot of people don't even seem to show much low-level structural damage (no mangled mutagens, no distangled DNA, no calcified cell walls) ... some people are more sensitive to others. A bit like how some people can sniff a bouquet of wattle & smile whilst others break the sneezes-per-minute record when they even see a wattle tree. In the study I was a part of, of the eleven cases under scrutiny, seven of us had been born & raised in the country. The hypothesis is that we bush babies weren't bathed from birth in the 'normal' electrosmog of TV, radio & 2-way transmissions, so our growing bodies didn't get acclimatised to it.

AP's and client adapters are most likely not more than 100mw of power. They're pretty safe, unless you hold them against your head or do something stupid.

Mmm, not so. Not according to the Russians, who have known about & gathered quite a large body of evidence covering what they refer to as "microwave sickness" since they 'discovered' it in 1953, after discovering a constantly-reoccuring string of identical symptoms in construction workers & technicians on their radar installations. Dizziness, nausea, inability to maintain clear thought, as well as physiological problems -- joints swelling, dermatological rashes of no tracable biological origin, increases in skin lesions ...

In fact, they determined that one hour's exposure at 10 mW was enough to cause headaches and a general mental malaise in test subjects. They were also the first to discover that the higher the frequency, the more pronounced the effects became. An increase in power wasn't as crucial, all it seemed to do was that the area of effect increased. It was from this research that the Soviet government banned the sale of microwave ovens in 1976, citing health risks. All microwave ovens leak, there are just 'approved' limits of leakage (and yeah, I had to sell my microwave oven, I'd get a headache if I stayed in the kitchen whilst it was running).

To finish off, here's a few references (with a quote) to give you an idea of the kinds of research being done:

Neurological Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation Relating to Wireless Communication Technology (Henry Lai, Bioelectromagnetics Research Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, 1997)

http://www.mapcruzin.com/radiofrequency/henry_lai1.htm

Existing data indicate that RFR of relatively low intensity (SAR < 2 W/kg) can affect the nervous system. Changes in blood-brain-barrier, morphology, electrophysiology, neurotransmitter functions, cellular metabolism, and calcium efflux, and genetic effects have been reported.

Impact of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation on DNA integrity in the male germline. (Aitken, Bennetts et al, ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development, Discipline of Biological Sciences, and Hunter Medical Research Institute, Newcastle, NSW, 2005)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... query_hl=3

... a detailed analysis of DNA integrity using QPCR revealed statistically significant damage to both the mitochondrial genome (p < 0.05) and the nuclear beta-globin locus (p < 0.01). This study suggests that while RFEMR does not have a dramatic impact on male germ cell development, a significant genotoxic effect on epididymal spermatozoa is evident.(emphasis added)

Increase in Radiation-Induced HPRT Gene Mutation Frequency after Nonthermal Exposure to Nonionizing 60 Hz Electromagnetic Fields (Jan Walleczek et al.) Bioelectromagnetics Laboratory, Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University Medical School, 2005)

http://apt.allenpress.com/aptonline/?re ... &page=0489

We tested whether a 12-h exposure to a 60 Hz sinusoidally oscillating magnetic-flux density could affect the mutagenic effects of ionizing radiation on the HPRT gene locus. We determined that the magnetic-field exposure induced an approximate 1.8-fold increase in HPRT mutation frequency. ... These results suggest that moderate-strength, oscillating magnetic fields may act as an enhancer of mutagenesis in mammalian cells.

If anyone else is curious, there's more of this kind of stuff available on the web if you know where to look -- even more so, if you can get access to a Medline account, there's stacks buried in the NIH archives that only doctors & medical researchers are supposedly allowed to see. You can use these sites as springboards for your own research:
http://www.micrwavenews.com
http://www.powerwatch.co.uk
http://www.emfacts.com


Brains

[argh]

interesting stuff, Brains. in the specific example of 50 year old Russian research, i wonder how much control and accuracy was involved. you give other sources as well. i'm sure Linksys and Dlink would be quick to deny it.

i have some old USA magazine from the late 20's and early 30's, Popular Mechanix (later to become Popular Science). one of those has a cover photo with artwork showing a Hindenberg-type blimp disaster, and another drawing of a pilot holding his head with his hands in his out-of-control airplane. they are centered around a big, black radio tower, with zig-zaggy waves coming out of it. the name of the story was DO WILD RADIO WAVES CAUSE AIR DISASTERS!?!? that particular story was very un-scientific, as i recall, it was much more melodrama using Big Words to explain a new technology to a public that was mostly very low-tech.

if you wardrive, be sure to use Kismet, because it doesn't transmit at all!

[themacuser]

if you wardrive, be sure to use Kismet, because it doesn't transmit at all!

Yeah, especially if you have a powerful amplifier and big antenna.

Passive mode is better anyway - picks up hidden SSIDs too, and works at a longer range.