I have little to add to this Techdirt piece on the recent widely-forwarded Independent article concerning "electronic smog" (another triumph of science journalism!). Given that the article itself admits that there is not any evidence that this "smog" is in fact harmful (or has any effect at all on anybody), I humbly submit that one might equally justifiably call it "electronic vitamin C", while one is waiting for evidence of effect to arrive.
(Ben Goldacre's been catching abuse for a year or so now as a result of his clearly inhuman and evil view that people who believe electromagnetic "pollution" is making them ill have real symptoms, but are incorrect about the cause. For some reason, it's hard to find similar pressure groups who believe that people who hear voices should be provided with earplugs.)
24 April 2007 at 4:00 pm
That article (the original newspaper one) makes me want to cry. Apart from the obvious mention that they "emit radiation" (not electromagnetic, they make it sound like they're radioactive...) they're also saying the signal Wi-Fi networks emits is similar to that from cell phone towers! Oh my gosh! So's your car's keyless entry remote!
Cell phones that (supposedly, I think the jury's still out on this one) microwave your brain emit 0.6 watts to 3.0 watts RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR HEAD, people. My Wi-Fi router has been hacked to emit 0.05 W from its base level of 0.03 W. And I'm not holding it against my head.
I can't wait to find what these guys will say about ultrawideband.
24 April 2007 at 9:12 pm
I was so incensed when I saw that article in the shops that I scared a passing shelfstacker with my swearing. The Independent is supposed to be (relatively speaking) a sane persons' paper, and it's printing this Daily Mail-calibre horseshit on its front page?! I have been known to actually buy it in dead tree format, but won't be doing that again in the near future, that's for sure. Grrr.
25 April 2007 at 2:54 am
Ya know... it is somehow gratifying to see that this hogwash isn't limited to just the USA. I mean, I get so depressed looking at the crap that passes for "fact" around this country (the USA) that I actually get a little lift when I see that the rest of the rold is having to deal with the same idiocy. Of course I'm fairly certain that we get a bit more of this than rest of you (idiotic design anybody?) but at least I'm not alone in wanting to beat somebody (anybody!) with an anti-stupid stick.
Oh, and I choose to believe it's elctronic B12 with a caffeine chaser - I get more than enough C as it is! ;)
Also, if this EMF stuff is so harmful why aren't all the HAM operators in the world horribly ill? I mean they have some serious transmitters that are usually located right on the roof of their house!
25 April 2007 at 2:55 am
ummm... rold = World
Thwack! One smack of the anti-stupid stick for me!
25 April 2007 at 2:10 pm
In fact, one of the reasons this belief ever got any credence at all (beyond the confusion about what radiation is) is that there *was* a study of ham operators, electrical engineers, and other people with a high exposure to electromagnetic radiation at long (well, more than a millimeter) wavelengths, and they *did* have more cancers and illnesses than usual.
Someone took a second look at that study, though, and found that they also had a higher exposure to various noxious chemicals used in electronic components (the magic smoke they run on!), which was quite sufficient to explain the difference.
I'm afraid I don't have a specific reference, though.