Letter to the Editor
Following is a very good letter forwarded on by Magda Havas. The author, Greg Borowski makes a very important point about involuntary experimentation, something the Telcos are very adept at.
Don
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Letter to the Editor:
Regarding: A step closer to going wireless
Milwaukee reaches deal for citywide computer network
By GREG J. BOROWSKI
gborowski@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 12, 2006
Going Wireless
This is very exciting news for Milwaukee residents. Going wireless will be convenient for those wanting internet access and it will provide income to the City of Milwaukee and make a lot of money for the providers of this service. It looks like a win-win-win situation. However, one aspect hasn’t yet been considered and it’s a serious one. What are the immediate and long-term health effects of going wireless?
Scientific studies show that people who live within 400 m (1200 ft) of cell phone antennas report a variety of symptoms that are now classified as electrical hypersensitivity (EHS) and some studies show an increased incidence of cancer.
These cell phone antennas use radio frequency radiation similar to the wireless computer network proposed for Milwaukee. Are we not simply introducing an additional form of this energy into our environment by going wireless? How much of a radiation load can the human body be exposed to before it reacts?
While the scientific community is divided about what specifically causes EHS, they do agree on the symptoms which include insomnia, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, poor memory, skin irritations, pain, headaches, mood disorders, ringing in the ears, etc. As many as 2-40% of the population may be affected by EHS and according to the 2000 US Census, Milwaukee has a population of 600,000. If these estimates are correct, then the health and quality of life for between 12,000 and 240,000 people may be affected by this wireless technology. Younger children are likely to be more vulnerable and Milwaukee has a population of 150,000 kids under the age of 14.
Scientists who want to test the effects of radio frequency on human subjects have difficulty getting permission from ethics committees for this research even if participation is voluntary and often they have to use rodents for their studies. Yet the commercial sector of society is freely given permission to exposure a large group of people, not all of whom are willing participants, to radio frequency radiation. It seems that the residents of Milwaukee are going to be the mice in a large experiment. Let’s hope that someone is documenting their reactions and that other cities won’t welcome this technology so readily if indeed it proves to be harmful.
Magda Havas, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Trent University,
Peterborough, Canada
mhavas@trentu.ca