WiFi – the new passive smoking by Nicola Summers

On the radio today I heard a report outlining the dangers to children of passive smoking and alongside this how the Government are going to reduce tax on juice and smoothie bars to encourage people to eat more fruit.

As I carried on with my morning’s work I started to think about these two news items and about a newspaper article I read a few months ago and a television programme that had been aired about an invisible danger to health – WiFi.

While I fully support that all of us including children suffer the consequences of passive smoking, at least with smoking you can see it and you can smell it and most of us can move away from it. With WiFi on the other hand, you can’t hear it, see it or smell it so you don’t know whether it’s there or not unless, like us, you were suddenly invited to log on to an unprotected signal from our adjoining neighbour.

The safety of any new form of technology or any product that is being sold to us should I feel always be investigated by the consumer, who should never just believe what is being marketed towards us by those who would profit. After all we were told not so many years ago that smoking was not harmful; computers not harmful; polluting the environment not harmful but there is now much evidence to the contrary. We are now told that mobile phone masts and electrical pilons are not harmful to health but there are few of us who would choose to live near one, so why have two million UK residents installed WiFi in their homes in the last 18 months when WiFi has pulsing radio frequency radiation that is up to three times stronger than a mobile phone mast and a range of hundreds of meters?

And it doesn’t stop in the home, WiFi is being installed in towns/city centres, airports, railways, shopping malls and universities and this type of WiFi, called WiMax has a range of between 4-10 miles. WiFi has been installed in 70% of our secondary schools and 50% of our primary schools which is extremely alarming because children’s skulls are thinner and absorb more radiation than adults. This seems ludicrous when you read that in 2000 the Government carried out an enquiry into the safety of mobile phone masts and their connection with health and found sufficient scientific research to apply a precautionary approach when siting masts near schools. They then allow the much stronger signal of WiFi directly into the schools!

The German government, not known for having an alarmist attitude, say that WiFi should be avoided because of the potential health risks it may pose and have urged their citizens towards the use of telephone line internet access instead.

So what are the health dangers? There are many symptoms such as tiredness, poor sleep quality, headaches, depression, frequent miscarriage, skin problems, nausea, poor concentration, aches and pains and irritability. Scientists have also shown that there is chromosome/DNA damage and an increase in cancer. In natural nutrition terms the pulsing electromagnetic signal enters the body, disrupts the electron cloud that surrounds our cells, which impacts the way the cell behaves, alters the charge of the cell and ultimately influences how the cell reproduces. This will of course have an extremely stressful impact on the body leading to dehydration, mineral misplacement, congestion, lack of ability to break nutrients down fully and so on. Many people may then suffer some of the less serious symptoms described above but, as we all know, as these chains of events become ingrained in the body, gradually more chronic and degenerating disease pictures emerge.

One point I would like to raise is that if I had a neighbour who played Bon Jovi at full volume day and night, I would be able to claim noise pollution and eventually their equipment would be seized and peace would ensue and the law would be on my side. However, because my home is adjoined to my neighbour and they choose to install WiFi which ok I can’t hear, see or smell, but it’s there just like passive smoking, it seems I can’t choose not to have it pulsating through my home. The choices of my neighbour it seems, are to be forced upon me.

So, what can be done to reduce our exposure to electromagnetic radiation? Given that many public places and work places have WiFi, realistically we can’t avoid it the whole time but the very least we can do is to protect ourselves at home.

There are many steps you can take to avoid exposure to electro magnetic stress. Firstly be aware that if you have WiFi in your home, even when you are not using it, if it is left switched on, it will be continuously contacting the WiFi node to maintain a good connection and the control node transmits a pulsing signal continuously to synchronise the system. Reduce your exposure in the home to this type of radiation by not having WiFi (or at the very least switching it off when not in use and negotiate with your neighbours to do the same – particularly during the body’s night time cleanse); switch off the mobile phone; get rid of cordless phones; baby monitors, microwave ovens.

To protect myself, I bought an electro smog detector to measure the pulsing frequency that was coming through the wall into my home. The noise was alarming to say the least and particularly as I found that the worse affected area was my food pantry. I then I applied a carbon based paint, painted the adjoining wall and earthed the wall. I re-tested with the electro smog detector, repainted any hot spots where the signal was still able to penetrate and now there is no signal – all is peaceful! I purchased all of these products through www.emfields.org but there are other types of paint available from other sources.

As parents we could approach our children’s schools, make other parents aware, make the school aware of the dangers. There are sites on line where items of clothing to be worn under regular clothing like a vest, that children (or adults) could wear and give added protection. Let’s get the children away from the computers and TV when they come home from school and do something else.

As natural nutritionists we have been taught how to support ourselves, how to hydrate, feed and clean our bodies so that we minimise the impact of stress. So we have the advantage of at least recognising the dangers of electromagnetic stress and the means to do something to help ourselves and our families.

Perhaps we should be lobbying our MPs, forming pressure groups but then again, perhaps we shouldn’t be too down, after all, the Government are going to reduce taxes on juice and smoothie bars to encourage us to eat more fruit – pity many of these now advertise that they also have WiFi!

Nicola Summers, March 2008.