Are mobile phones and Wi-fi the new tobacco and asbestos?

[BulgarianPride]

Even if it were to knock a couple of years off, it wouldn't be discontinued since it's so heavily relied on.

Remember that tobacco and asbestos were proven to directly cause cancer, tobacco chemically and asbestos physically.

Microwaves are non-ionising radiation and wont affect your cells. They also wont heat you up as the microvaves in a microwave oven are at a very specific frequency.

So personally I don't think there is a need to worry. I think the industries have learned from exposing the public to harmful products and testing is more rigourous now.

The Microwave oven's frequency is usually about 2.45GHz.

The 2.4GHz is the most used frequency in consumer devices. Wifi, and bluetooth also use 2.4GHz.. So you got your wifi router outputting the same frequency as a microwave oven ( 2.4 Ghz ) the difference is the energy carried by the wave. A microwave oven outputs a wave of about 700W a wi-fi router outputs about 10mW to 4W . The normal house hold wi-fi router is about 100mW - 400mW . That is a wifi router outputs wave that is 7000 less powerful than a microwave oven.

 

[Johnsonontheleft]

I think there's an element of arrogance to proclaim that these things will not cause cancer in the long term, these things just haven't been around for long enough - scientists are still learning about long-term effects and nobody can predict the future.

I remember dousing myself in factor 4 sun lotion as a teenager on holiday, and getting quite badly burnt a couple of times, looking back how fucking stupid was I. I blame my parents to a degree but there simply wasn't the scientific evidence around at the time to prove that exposure to the sun like that can directly cause skin cancer. Something I saw today was criticising factor 15 suncream - in my day that was considered HIGH!!!

Back on the topic, I've got young kids and a wireless router on all day every day - it worries me.

 

[BulgarianPride]

I think there's an element of arrogance to proclaim that these things will not cause cancer in the long term, these things just haven't been around for long enough - scientists are still learning about long-term effects and nobody can predict the future.

I remember dousing myself in factor 4 sun lotion as a teenager on holiday, and getting quite badly burnt a couple of times, looking back how fucking stupid was I. I blame my parents to a degree but there simply wasn't the scientific evidence around at the time to prove that exposure to the sun like that can directly cause skin cancer. Something I saw today was criticising factor 15 suncream - in my day that was considered HIGH!!!

Back on the topic, I've got young kids and a wireless router on all day every day - it worries me.

It is not arrogance. How would it cause cancer?

 

[a.woollam]

Even if it were to knock a couple of years off, it wouldn't be discontinued since it's so heavily relied on.

Remember that tobacco and asbestos were proven to directly cause cancer, tobacco chemically and asbestos physically.

Microwaves are non-ionising radiation and wont affect your cells. They also wont heat you up as the microvaves in a microwave oven are at a very specific frequency.

So personally I don't think there is a need to worry. I think the industries have learned from exposing the public to harmful products and testing is more rigourous now.

The Microwave oven's frequency is usually about 2.45GHz. The 2.4GHz is the most used frequency in consumer devices. Wifi, and bluetooth are also use 2.4GHz.. So you got your wifi router outputing the same frequency as a microwave oven ( 2.4 Ghz ) the difference is the energy carried by the wave. A microwave oven outputs a wave of about 700W a wi-fi router outputs about 10mW to 4W . The normal house hold wi-fi router is about 100mW - 400mW . That is a wifi router outputs wave that is 7000 less powerful than a microwave oven.

A good point, but the difference that 0.5GHz makes is the important bit since microwaves work by resonating water molecules, forcing it to vibrate at its resonant frequency. Moving away from this frequency greatly reduces the amount of energy absorbed, so in reality it's alot less than 7000 times less. Add to that the fact that power decreases with distance and your wi-fi is less scary :)

 

[BulgarianPride]

Even if it were to knock a couple of years off, it wouldn't be discontinued since it's so heavily relied on.

Remember that tobacco and asbestos were proven to directly cause cancer, tobacco chemically and asbestos physically.

Microwaves are non-ionising radiation and wont affect your cells. They also wont heat you up as the microvaves in a microwave oven are at a very specific frequency.

So personally I don't think there is a need to worry. I think the industries have learned from exposing the public to harmful products and testing is more rigourous now.

The Microwave oven's frequency is usually about 2.45GHz. The 2.4GHz is the most used frequency in consumer devices. Wifi, and bluetooth are also use 2.4GHz.. So you got your wifi router outputing the same frequency as a microwave oven ( 2.4 Ghz ) the difference is the energy carried by the wave. A microwave oven outputs a wave of about 700W a wi-fi router outputs about 10mW to 4W . The normal house hold wi-fi router is about 100mW - 400mW . That is a wifi router outputs wave that is 7000 less powerful than a microwave oven.

A good point, but the difference that 0.5GHz makes is the important bit since microwaves work by resonating water molecules, forcing it to vibrate at its resonant frequency. Moving away from this frequency greatly reduces the amount of energy absorbed, so in reality it's alot less than 7000 times less. Add to that the fact that power decreases with distance and your wi-fi is less scary :)

Conclusion, WHO? got it wrong.

 

[pauldominic]

No long term studies have been done on mobile phone or wi-fi signals - could they be a big cause of cancer in 20 years or so?

Yes they make life very convenient in so many ways and I don't know how I could cope without either, but something about wireless signals passing through your body all the time is quite worrying - especially mobiles which you hold right next to your brain effectively.

I'm sure there are studies by the World Health Organisation claiming the safety of these things, but they did the same with tobacco - it was once considered good for you.

Thoughts?

The universe is filled with "wireless" signals. These can be human created or natural. We were being bombarded by all kinds of signals even before the first radio was invented. Electromagnetic radiation from space is one example. This Electromagnetic radiation is different from say nuclear radiation. It is essential harmless.

Fair point. Eventually something will get everyone.

This is my attitude: -

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClQcUyhoxTg&feature=player_detailpage#t=39s[/youtube]

EDIT: I would listen, learn and avoid dangerous substances and materials.<br /><br />-- Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:22 pm --<br /><br />

A bigger killer in my opinion will be radiation doses from regular flying.

The exposure from 1 flight is pretty frightening.

See here: -

<a class="postlink" href="http://seeder.org.uk/spaesrane-project/spaesrane-research" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://seeder.org.uk/spaesrane-project/ ... e-research</a>

killjoy

I'd far rather use the train than any plane - personal preference.

However some things are clear and this isn't one of them yet.

 

[Ducado]

There was a story about a guy who fell asleep near a high power micro wave transmitter in Alaska, they found him cooked the next day, true story I will have to find it, it was a few years ago

 

[denislawsbackheel]

I think there's an element of arrogance to proclaim that these things will not cause cancer in the long term, these things just haven't been around for long enough - scientists are still learning about long-term effects and nobody can predict the future.

I remember dousing myself in factor 4 sun lotion as a teenager on holiday, and getting quite badly burnt a couple of times, looking back how fucking stupid was I. I blame my parents to a degree but there simply wasn't the scientific evidence around at the time to prove that exposure to the sun like that can directly cause skin cancer. Something I saw today was criticising factor 15 suncream - in my day that was considered HIGH!!!

Back on the topic, I've got young kids and a wireless router on all day every day - it worries me.

Spot on. The only longitudinal study is us, now.

 

[BimboBob]

Can you smoke them and use them to line ceilings with? No.