Re: No escape from radio frequencies (Edward Hill column, Feb. 1)
In your opinion, “anti-wi-fi and anti-smart meter people” are “grossly exaggerating” the ill effects from microwave radiation, insinuating people are either misinformed or irrational in their concerns.
I can assure you this is far from the truth. Concerns are based upon a plethora of independent studies from many international research institutions, including the military, going back several decades. The assertion that vulnerable children are placed at high risk and must be protected from this radiation is reiterated around the world by many credible health experts. You will have to look further than mainstream media for this information, however, for obvious reasons.
Questions undeniably remain, but to state that all is fine, in the face of growing evidence that it is not, fails to provide critical information about this important public health challenge.
We need to promote reasonable measures to reduce exposure to wireless radiation for everyone, particularly children. Preference should be given to wired Internet connections in schools for safety where students spend countless hours in close proximity to many transmitting devices.
Many technology specialists agree wired is superior in many ways to wireless that is notoriously slow, unreliable and unsecure.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified all sources of radio frequency radiation as a class 2B carcinogen for good reason. One has to remember that IARC monographs are considered as ‘gold standard’ in evaluation of carcinogenicity of physical and chemical agents. There must be sufficient scientific reason or IARC would not put its reputation behind such claim.
It is also important to note WorkSafeBC occupational health and safety guidelines stipulate, under section 5.57, that any 2B carcinogen must be replaced with a safer alternative that “reduces the risk to workers.”
How is this important fact overlooked by employers and school officials?
History is replete with failures to control highly profitable carcinogenic substances, ranging from tobacco to asbestos, until proof of harm became irrefutable.
We can ill afford to go through that same course with wireless technologies, given the long latency involved before serious disease manifests.
Tammy Jeske
Langford
