School Bans Wi-Fi Over Heatlh Concerns

[LitleWaffle]

Okay... We have had Wi-Fi for a pretty long time. And i am pretty much around it all of the time. I only get sick less than once per year. And that is just because sickness flying around my school.

Am I resistant to radiation poisoning? Am I god?
I don't think so...

Though maybe children are more prone to radiation sickness. Maybe their immune systems can't fend it off. maybe this is complete stupidity

 

[Bigsmith]

and so the armys of ignorance march upon the doorstep of technology, they are scared of what they see and destroy it within there firm grasp.

The above can be used to describe this situation and any like it...

Even so, they have, as many people have already said, seemed to have jumped to the easyist option rather then doing proper reaserch...

 

[LitleWaffle]

Also this...
http://objectiveministries.org/kidz/

I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing was done by these people as well. =/

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

See normally I'd be scoffing at this like the rest of you, but I do tend to notice my fead getting fuzzy when I leave my phone's WIFI on for a good amount of time.

Maybe it's nothing, maybe it is...

 

[mr_rubino]

Oh, and cell phones can theoretically cause gas stations to explode. Just because it has never happened in recorded history doesn't mean it can't happen (except that it won't). Ban 'um!

 

[Bigsmith]

At my school we have a wireless network that crashes every 2 minutes. THAT is bad for my health.

Ah yes, I can definatly see how that is bad for your health.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I am so glad that we live in an age full of rationalism and fact! (voice so sarcastic, its thicker than titanium or what they make guns out of)

 

[TornadoADV]

The f**k. They're ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KIDS. If a third the class isn't ill with something, then you've probably got a few pod people infiltrating your area.

Til someone gets a good, fully independent/non biased, double blind, large sample-space and otherwise scientifically and statistically valid study on the go - and it finds that sub-1-watt, non-focussed levels of non ionising radiation at a frequency also emitted by the sun, or at much higher levels by kitchen equipment, somehow causes a measurable detriment to human health - I'm calling horseshit on the very idea.

It's the whole thing that people hear "radiation" and think automatically think "hiroshima, chernobyl" again, then start looking for the slightest pattern of unusual activity around them. Never mind that they'll happily sit out for hours under the planet's largest vaguely-local source of nuclear radiation whilst on vacation. And don't seem (any longer) to have much issue with the very similar radiation required to e.g. run the teacher's cellphone, beam in the educational TV and radio programmes that they may show to the children at some point in the day, allow GPS to work etc. I wonder even if they're maybe close to some power lines, or an air traffic control radar? Either of those -should- have a bigger effect, even allowing for inverse square law and the like.

Wi-fi is the boogeyman of the moment, and we'll see this whole palaver disappear quietly into the dust when the next big bad phantom rolls along. The emissions from a typical 802.11 AP are the radiological equivalent of a mouse fart... in a hurricane. Take 'em on a tour of a radiology, or better yet radiotherapy deparment and let them see some serious (and beneficial - if properly handled) radiation at work. Then tell them that being in the beam does damage equivalent to being stabbed with all the wifi points in their county at the same time. Will they get the hospital shut down because of the danger of that leaking out and hurting the children?

/ex nuclear medicine technician and current IT tech in a department that can't actually get hold of APs powerful enough to penetrate a useful distance through our steel-reinforced concrete structures.


EDIT - oh, and what if they have PCs with CPUs operating at 2.4Ghz, and poorly shielded casings?

You my good sir, win an internets.

 

[CaptainKoala]

Even though hundreds of millions of people use wireless internet every day. And tens of millions of people have at their homes, constantly beaming everywhere. Clearly they have put a lot of thought into this.

 

[fullbleed]

OH for FUCKS sake! Why are people so stupid?! And this probably sounds bad it is always fucking mothers complaiing about this shit. I'm not saying mothers are idiots but I will say that they are the biggest fucking bunch of whiners ever!
Oh sure ignore numerous scientific studies done by world recognised organisations, if your lickle jimmy has a head ache then it must be because of this new fangled why-figh stuff! BAN THIS SICK FILTH! Oh no, my child has a cold and he's spent the whole day breathing in air! AIR IS A SLIENT KILLER! IF I MAKE MY ASSUMTIONS LOUD ENOUGH THEN IT MUST BE FUCKING TRUTH!

GRArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhgaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

I'm sorry for that, this kinda shit just... *sigh* I think we need an epic face palm here.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

Haha oh wow, the ignorance of the general public never ceases to amaze me

Better ban Blenders too, soccer-moms, they might one day go all "I, robot" on your collective arses.

Oooooh the evils of techno-sorcery is giving your children the plague... or maybe the fact that children are germ-infested and dirty little mongrels that constantly glomp each other.

 

[Sparrow]

You know another way kids get sick at school? By being stuffed in rooms full of their germ-infested classmates. I hope that was considered, too.

The man has a point. After all, if wi-fi is dangerous, what's next? Banning pencils because they might be sharp?

 

[gnarf]

this is kinda like why cell phones are not allowed to be used on airplanes. it's pure paranoia, modern cell phones cause no interference with any airplane electronics. heck there is even wifi on a few planes now a days

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

You know another way kids get sick at school? By being stuffed in rooms full of their germ-infested classmates. I hope that was considered, too.

So if you installed wi-fi in a school, and a ton of people got sick RIGHT afterwards, but got better once it was out, you'd simply blame a random cold?

 

[fullbleed]

my new favourite facepalm ever

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Is it possible wireless radiation affects some people? Sure, it's possible. It's medically possible to be allergic to darn near anything. It doesn't stop this from being blown way out of proportion. I doubt it affects a significant percentage.

Except that radiation does not consist of "ordinary" physical matter like the molecules of stuff that people are allergic to.

Allergy to any sort of molecule: Possible.
Allergy to electromagnetic radiation: Not really.

(Of course there is a condition where the skin cannot repair damage so sunlight is somewhat deadly to them but that's not the same as an allergy and the results are very obvious and severe as a result)

 

[Bretty]

They use microwaves to broadcast, the same as every wireless communication device on the planet. Is the school also planning on getting rid of all it's AM/FM radios?

You do know that if the gain on a Microwave transmitter is turned up it can kill a person.

Indeed, the high intensity burst would cause a heating effect, as mentioned in my now edited second post. You'd cook to death. That said, that's not a very good argument against the use of Microwaves as a transmission carrier wave, did you know that if you stick a fork in a power outlet you can kill a person? Used correctly, anything can kill a person.

Exactly my point. The fact is though that we dont know what is dangerous in this regard. We know high gain MW transmissions will kill anything directly infront of a dish, hence why they are highly secured areas. We do not, however, understand the long term risks of wireless signals to children. So it is hard to know when to use something correctly when you/we/they dont know how?

 

[GenericAmerican]

...my school has the equivalent of dial-up...OHNOEZITWILLMAKEMESICK!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bretty]

OP: The point most critics of this 'deadly airwaves' controvosy is that scientists have NO idea what the long term effects are to adults or children.

This is the same argument as power lines over schools.

Well isn't 100 years of no symptoms not enough for you? I really hate the arguement "Scientists don't know what the LONG TERM effects will be" because most of the time, yeah, they HAVE looked at them. It the waves do not effect the operation of cells, cell processes, or the transmission of electrical impulses within our body (which can all be tested) then they have no side effects, I consider it that simple. Our bodies may be complex but something like Wifi would effect it at a fundemental level so I doubt only some people would get severe migranes while the rest are completely fine.

Because we have had this technology for 100 years right?

The point is that in 40 years we have moved from nothing but radio waves around us to a preverbial shit tonne of higher more energized transmissions. Frankly I hate the "No ones died have they?" people, like yourself who see things in a very short sighted view. I see you as one of those people that saw asbestos as a good thing too eh? Shit, they used that for years before they actually found out that it was VERY deadly. But hey, who are we to argue with that logic of yours?

 

[Semudara]

This is silly. Wi-Fi is completely harmless. Cell phones, on the other hand, emit radiation that will slowly fry your brain.