Scared of the ether

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and it was more that little appropriate that I might be reminded of that particular truism by a friend of mine who just happens to be a librarian. The lesson involves a variation on that most modern of phobias, the fear of radio waves, and it's a classic case of how paranoia can spring from a dilettante's familiarity with the science behind a technology.

Just about everyone has heard about efforts to gauge the threat posed by cell-phone use. All that mysterious electromagnetic energy propagating through the ether -- and our brains -- what is it doing to us? After all, the argument goes, the frequencies used by microwave ovens and wireless phones and WiFi networks and electronic car keys are pretty much the same, aren't they? If one technology can fry your lunch, what could another do to your synapses or, worse, DNA?

In the example that prompted a query from my librarian friend, the alleged threat was wireless computer networks. The question I was asked was "Are you familiar with any studies proving detrimental health effects of either short or long term exposure to wi-fi?" The question followed exposure to a "press release," or at least, an email designed to look like a press release, that began with:

A Library Director at a college in Santa Fe, NM left her position due to wireless internet (WiFi) in the library. Rebekah Zablud Azen, MLIS, resigned from her position at Quimby Memorial Library, Southwestern College, on December 16th, 2006 after administrators refused to discuss the issue.

"I don't feel that I should have to jeopardize my health to secure or maintain employment, but allowing oneself to be irradiated is fast becoming a condition of employment for librarians. I just said no."

The first clue that all was not as it appears was that the contact person was none other that Rebekah Azen herself. Hmmm. Then, clicking on a link to www.energyfields.org, we come across this technically accurate, but irrelevant cartoon:

See how the microwave and the cell phone are adjacent? Oooh. Scary. And see how the wave from the radio tower heads straight through the human's upper body? Even scarier.

The site contains a reference to a film titled "DNA, Democracy and the Wireless Revolution," suggesting that somehow our genes are susceptible to damage from all those nasty EM rays. Azen's press release pursues this line of thinking further, noting that

Research indicates however that low-power exposure (WiFi is "low power') has been shown to have numerous biological effects which can lead to serious health consequences, including neurological, cardiological and hormonal disorders, breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, DNA damage, cancers, diabetes and asthma...

All of thisconveniently ignores two facts. First even microwave ovens generate only non-ionizing radiation. They don't make things radioactive. Second, the cartoon and the press release avoid any mention of the fact that the Earth and every living thing on it are constantly bombarded by electromagnetic waves, some of which are far more powerful than mere WiFi signals.

But still, and again, if you have only a smattering of knowledge about the electromagnetic spectrum, doesn't it make sense to worry about putting something next to your brain that broadcasts microwaves? Say, like a cell phone?

Seeing as science is essentially a conservative endeavor, the answer is "Probably not, but let's investigate it, just to make sure." This has been done. Lots and lots of government and telecoms money has been poured into the question of whether or not cell phones (and similar technologies) have an adverse effect on human health. And the answer, not too surprisingly, is no.

As Rob Beschizza wrote recently in a piece in Wired just two months ago,

Epidemiological studies consistently fail to uncover negative health effects. On Wednesday, a Danish study, tracking a cohort of 420,000 over 20 years, reported no increase in cancer among cell-phone users. It's as if death forgot to return their calls.

Now, it's true that a magazine devoted to new communications technology might have a bias in favor of WiFi networks, but you don't have to spend too much time in the science press to find that Beschizza's conclusion is the general consensus.

And yet, supposedly intelligent people are still buying to the notion that wireless signals can mess up your brain. The Wired story includes a few familiar and very disappointing examples:

Plans for a Wi-Fi network at an Illinois school were scuppered after parents filed a lawsuit. The president of Canada's Lakehead University banned Wi-Fi on campus, likening it to second-hand smoke. In March, Toronto's public health department questioned plans to install a citywide network.

A university banned WiFi? Yikes.

The Lakehead policy -- and the pseudo-scientific ranting of the school's president, Fred Gilbert -- is still generating headlines. Toronto, fortunately, didn't let the paranoiacs win the day. I'm not sure what happened in Illinois; the suit was more than three years ago.

Of course, it might turn out that the fear-mongers are right. Who knows? Maybe there's a physical mechanism until now completely unknown that can make cell phones calls disassemble chemical bonds and destroy healthy tissue. Maybe such damage takes 40 years to manifest itself, and we just haven't had cell phones and WiFi long enough for that to happen.

But to posit such a connection, and upset what is now a very big apple cart, one should have more than a Luddite's attitude toward gadgetry, and a better understanding of the laws of physics.

Next case, please.