Is Wi-Fi Harmful to Humans?

Is Wi-Fi Harmful to Humans

Let’s face it; humans are very insecure creatures, with death being the glaring root cause of most of their fears. And when it comes to looking for potential causes for deaths or ill-health, there is no dearth in possible culprits. Wi-Fi is no less a raging topic when it comes to its effects on human beings.

You will find numerous articles stating so-called ‘facts and figures’ on a plethora of side-effects ranging from infertility, insomnia to hyperactivity and cancer. There are laughable posts on social networking websites propagating this fear and presenting Wi-Fi as a silent marauder lurking in the shadows waiting to strike with its mind-boggling cancer-producing abilities!

The basic psychology behind this propaganda is that humans like to be in control of all that surrounds them, but death forestalls them. By propagating possible reasons that could lead to death, humans feel as if they have conquered part of the ‘unknown’ harbinger of death, and hence feel better about their immortality, or rather lack of!

As an example, you can look at the incidence of mobile phone usage over the past twenty years. Over four billion people use these Wi-Fi enabled phones, yet the incidence of brain tumors have remained unchanged! Although the World Health Organization recognizes the public’s concern over radiation posing health hazards, numerous studies have been conducted and all seem to show the same result that electromagnetic radiations between 0-300GHz do not pose any negative health hazards. In fact there are a set of safety standards put in place for all devices that emit electromagnetic radiation; these limits ensure that the exposure that you get from your Wi-Fi enabled devices is way, way below the safety limits.

Being on the judicious side, the British Health Agency has stated that even though there is no consistent evidence to indicate that Wi-Fi affect health adversely, to be on the precautionary side, the matter should be kept under ongoing review…

However, not to get carried away, let’s talk about radiation; though the word itself is scary and brings back memories of the Cold War era when people had backyard bomb shelters, radiation isn’t only about death and oceans and lands becoming inhabitable. It’s also about warm, golden sunshine which makes life possible on earth. It’s also the way we can tune into our wireless radios or change channels on TV.

Basically what it boils down to is ionizing and non-ionizing radiation of which ionizing is dangerous and includes the x-ray radiation, gamma radiation, UV radiation, etc, with the key element being the wavelength. However, there is no biologic mechanism by which non-ionizing radiation (read Wi-Fi) can cause harm.
Maybe it’s time the naysayers got wiser now and concentrated on real threats to life – like going for annual health check-ups and staying off the phone while driving!