(photo credit: CNET UK)
according to an article on CNET UK, some tree-huggers over at Dutch city of Alpen aan den Rijn commissioned a study to investigate if this is indeed happening. this initiative was carried out after abnormalities was found on trees not relating to viral or bacterial infections. the study lasted for five years with result showing that all deciduous trees in the western world are affected by radiation from mobile phone networks and wireless LANS.
the aforementioned abnormalities include trees displaying signifiant variations in growth, bleeding and fissures in their bark. these symptoms was termed as Wi-FI sickness. apparently 70 percent of the trees in urban Netherlands are affected by this Wi-Fi sickness which signified a 60 percent increased compared to five years ago.
although there hasn’t been any conclusive proof as to whether Wi-Fi is harmful to humans or not, i have a hunch that there in lies a longer term health issue for us. personally, i thought this isn’t limited to just Wi-Fi, but to other forms of radio waves such as mobile phone signals and bluetooth transmission.
there are many factors around that could hamper a conclusive study for the effect of these signals on human beings. ever since the popularization of mobile phones, it was surrounded with controversies and speculations including mobile phone signals could potentially disrupts medical equipments and aircraft instruments. if these are conclusively proven to be true, then i see no reasons why human bodies will be exempted from this effect.
according to CNET UK’s article “Wi-Fi is killing trees, study finds“, “our exposure to radio signals from Wi-Fi is well below government safety levels, and much lower than from mobile phones” but does it mean we should feel safe? i am wary about these signals that can pass through walls, because if it passes through walls, it is passing through us at any given time – even right at this moment as i am composing this article.
it appears that “we have to live in a Wi-Fi hotspot for a year to absorb the same among of radio waves as you would from a twenty minute phone call”. how assuring that was. does this statement include periodical exposures? if yes, than i would have, at the very least, made 60 minutes of phone call to date. now, that’s not quite a good news, isn’t it?
the fact remains that the majority of us can’t live without the Internet and mobile phones. as we use the Net more, we demand more speed and more freedom of access. hence we go wireless, even in our homes. i bet most folks who has Wi-Fi at home don’t switch them off and as result we are exposing ourselves by our own accord. if Wi-Fi is harmful, then wouldn’t it be a situation where we’re intentionally setting up our own death trap? if there was a slightest hint of harm from Wi-Fi signals (to us, animals and trees included) or any other types of radio waves for that matter, would we stop using these technologies?
i don’t know. i can’t imagine life without any connectivity, let alone telecommunications via mobile phones. basically, i can’t live without the Internet and, to some extend, Wi-Fi as well. being a gadget person, i dread the day when we realize the truth that radio waves, regardless of its nature, hurts. meanwhile, i would just cross my fingers and hope that radio waves are just fine.
reference(s): CNET UK
