Is Wireless Dangerous?

Almost, all the people in this world are using Internet through wireless devices. And communicate through wireless devices such as mobile phones, but do they know what harm are they doing to them. Last month, I had to do a research about this topic for my university project. I performed an independent research and I would like to share it with you guys. 

Wireless devices are the most wonderful blessing of science and technology. Wireless devices have turned out to be quite profitable to its users. The evolution of wireless technology has seen a number of changes in recent years. They have positive effects on the lives of people, i.e. their work is done faster and more efficient. They are used in different fields for different purposes. The most famous form of wireless device is cell phones which has a great influence on the society. The most commonly and extensively used form of wireless devices are cell phones and Wi-Fi. Due to its advantages, people are not aware of the effects on their health due to these devices. We will take these commonly used wireless devices into consideration.

Radio waves and Microwaves

When you listen to the radio, watch TV, or cook dinner in a microwave oven, you are using electromagnetic waves. Radio waves, television waves, and microwaves are all types of electromagnetic waves. They differ from each other in wavelength and frequencies. Radio waves emit non-ionizing radiations.

Radiation Chart

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi uses wireless technology in the field of internet. Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity, and is a term used to describe the way computers can connect to a network without the need for cables. Wi-Fi is such a system that uses radio waves of a very low intensity and the power is around 0.1 watts (100 milliwatts) and is well below the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, (Prof. Patt Troop, October 2007). Radio frequency (RF) signals allow the communication to take place between the computer and the Wi-Fi router.There has been concern about the adverse effects that can have on health due to these radio frequency radiations (RFR) emitting from Wi-Fi. RFR effects are measured by specific absorption rate (SAR) i.e. how much energy is absorbed in human tissue and is represented by Watts per Kilogram (W/Kg). It was found that SAR was higher in children than adults because the skulls of the children are thinner than adults and their nervous system is weak.

Mobile phones

Mobile phones are the oldest form of invention in the field of wireless devices technology. It has great benefits towards people. People rely on this technology in almost every moment of their lives. Mobile phones have changed the people in every walk of life. Since the popularity of using mobile phones among the people is increasing considerably, it is obvious that the safety of these devices is questioned. Like Wi-Fi, mobiles phones use radio waves too, (Aloysius Choong, 2002). Since the safeties are concerned, we need to take many things into consideration. Since we are talking about radio frequency waves from mobile phones, it should be clear that mobile phones operate at 800 MHz and 1800 MHz and unlike X-rays and gamma rays, RF is not an ionizing radiation and cannot cause radioactivity in the body, (WHO, 2000). See Figure 1.2 to find out the difference between the frequency of mobile phones and X-rays.

Radio Frequency Guidelines

Whenever mobile phones antennas are placed in some area, the telecommunication industry and federal government has to acknowledge that this technology is safe as long as the radio frequency exposure levels remain below the federal guidelines. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is similar to International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. The biggest obstacle in the research about the effects on human health is that the radiation levels are below these guidelines and still scientists are unable to give a proper conclusion about it.

Radio frequency guidelines are difference in different countries. Adverse effects are reported at levels below the FCC guidelines (Magda Havas, May 2007) 

Radio frequency guidlines

Researches: Wi-Fi and mobile phones

Many researches are conducted for the sake of safety issues arising from the usage of Wi-Fi and mobile phones. In this matter, Panorma investigation concluded from its experiment done in school in Norwich that the RFR levels are three times the levels found in the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts while government insists that Wi-Fi is safe. Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to be posing any threat to health as the transmitters are low power, (Prof. Challis, 2007). But still “It's impossible to prove that something has no effect” Professor Malcolm Sperrin. Since wi-fi and mobile phones emit non-ionizing radiations, these radiations had been existing in our lives for a century, if health effects was the case, they must have been recorded and studied, (Prof. Malcolm Sperrin, 2007). There has been estimation about the studies been conducted in Wi-Fi field for the past years ago, “there is a 50-50 split - half finding an effect with the other half finding no effect at all” Professor Henry Lai. There have been studies conducted for health safeties but “overwhelming body of evidence shows little cause for concern” Professor Will J Stewart.

As far as the difference between the hazards from wi-fi and mobile phones is concerned, wi-fi is the lowest possible source of these hazards because “the power output from mobile phones is far greater than wi-fi” Louis Cannell.

According to Health Protection Agency (HPA):

“Sitting in a wi-fi hotspot for a year results in receiving the same dose of radio waves as making a 20-minute mobile phone call”. This shows that how dangerous is mobile phones than wi-fi. And it is also been found that the power of Wi-fi are much lower than mobile phones, (HPA, 2007)

In many countries like Britain, Wi-Fi masts are being removed from the schools. Many researchers have protested against such attitude.

“When we have conducted measurements in schools, typical exposures from Wi-Fi are around 20 millionths of the international guideline levels of exposure to radiation. As a comparison, a child on a mobile phone receives up to 50 percent of guideline levels. So, a year sitting in a classroom near a wireless network is roughly equivalent to 20 minutes on a mobile. If Wi-Fi should be taken out of schools, then the mobile phone network should be shut down, too — and FM radio and TV, as the strength of their signals is similar to that from Wi-Fi in classrooms.” Dr. Michael Clark.

While talking about mobile phones (handset), its base stations should not be ignored. In the handsets, RF exposure only occurs when the call is being made, while in the case of base stations, there are continuously RF signals emitting from it, (WHO, 2000). So people living near the base stations are in greater risk of RFR exposure. A number of symptoms rose due to the 900/800 MHz base stations of mobile phones and those symptoms are depressive tendency, fatigue, sleeping disorder, difficulty in concentration and cardiovascular problems, and also loss of memory, visual disorder and dizziness, (Sir William Stewart, 2004). On the basis of this research, D. Oberfeld Gerd of the Public Health Department of Salzburg, Austria advised to reduce the exposure levels to no more than 1 microWatt/m³ as the present limit set by the ICNIRP is 10 times than the suggested one.

The researches done above, so far, there are differences in opinions amongst researchers who have found so far. So we will conclude our results in the following pages according to our survey.

Methodology

Since there are differences in the opinions of the researchers above, we cannot come to a proper conclusion that whether wireless devices really effect human’s health. So an appropriate conclusion is only possible through a meaningful survey conducted with the help of questionnaires.

In order to be able to conduct the survey, the steps included in it are as follows:

1. Get knowledge about the topic through reviewing the past researches.
2. Coming to our own conclusion with the help of the knowledge gained from the past researches. But in this case, we are unable to conclude.
3. Designing the questionnaires. We read about the people’s opinions on the internet, and viewed the surveys done in the past. So accordingly we designed our own questionnaires.
4. We published the questionnaires on the website www.makesurvey.net
5. We submitted the link to the published survey through Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and other social networking websites.

We are able to receive the results on time and have gathered people’s opinions regarding the effect of wireless devices on health. The results will be illustrated in the following pages and accordingly a conclusion will be made. .

Results & Discussion

Fifty people responded to our survey in which were included students and people from various professions. This survey had been successful since it has allowed us to arrive at a conclusion which will be satisfactory for the people who need to know about hazardous effects of wireless devices on human health. The results of our survey will be presented in the form of tables and charts.

Data Analysis:

It is been determined that 94% people use mobile phones and 84% people use wifi. So tables, drawn below, gives more clear idea about the mentality of people towards these devices.

Research Results

Research Results 

According to the above data, people are quite aware of the effects of mobile phones than wi-fi. And many people don’t know if Wi-Fi is dangerous. From the survey, it has been found that there are some categories of people who say that spreading the idea of wireless devices exposure to health is just propaganda and they don’t believe in it. But there are people who by experience say that wireless devices have considerable effects.

 Concludions & Recommendations

So from the survey and data collection, we can conclude that wireless devices do have effect on human health. We link our results gathered from the survey to the section 2.4 where we discussed about mobile phones being far dangerous than wi-fi. Our findings are same as what we discussed above in 2.4. Mobile phones pose much greater threat to mankind than Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi though seems it doesn’t pose any threat, but it does have some effect on human health specially the young generation.

Wireless devices will be friendlier towards health if used in their limited circle of time. Over usage causes risk to the health. Talking over the mobile phone for more than 20 minutes is very hazardous, because your head is exposed to the radio waves and constantly is faced with the RF radiations. This can lead to brain damage.

So it should be innate in everybody that we should lower down the usage of mobile phones thus reducing the exposure of radiation. This way, there will be no mental and physical problems to people. About using Wi-Fi through laptops, it should be taken into consideration that keeping laptops on one’s lap should be strictly prohibited; laptops should rather be kept on the table at a farther distance from the body to minimize the radiation exposure.

                                                                                                                        

And the vital role is of the government in this safety issues, they should be on a lookout for the areas which are constantly being exposed to the radiation emitting from mobile base stations. Either the mobile base stations be removed or government should reduce the exposure levels than the exposure levels set by ICNIRP because effects of radiation exposure are still taking place below the ICNIRP guidelines levels.