City-Provided Wi-Fi Rejected Over "Health Concerns"

exphose writes "A small, hippie-friendly town in northern California, Sebastopol, had made an agreement with Sonic.net to provide free Wi-Fi across the downtown area. However, not everyone in town was pleased with the arrangement. According to Sebastopol Mayor Craig Litwin, citizens had voiced concerns that 'create enough suspicion that there may be a health hazard' and so they canceled their contract with Sonic.net. Some more details are at the blog of Sonic.net's CEO."

More information.

[TripMaster Monkey]

Great article on debunking the spurious claims of health risks from Wi-Fi can be found here [tobyinkster.co.uk].

Re:FM radio? TV?

[thatskinnyguy]

Well, the hippies want us all to live in caves. Hunting wouldn't be allowed as it's not animal friendly. You can squat bare-assed in the dirt, but wiping your ass afterwards would only be allowed if the leaves you use were already dead. No fire either because that isn't friendly to our woodland friends because we would be destroying a vital piece of their habitat... a few sticks. In a way, that means we would go back to a pre-caveman society.

Dirty... Worthless... Hippies!

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[NeverVotedBush]

Actually, it's more than just whether a signal is AC/RF. It also depends on the power level and the frequency.

There continue to be links between cell phone use and brain tumors and, though I haven't heard anything recently about power lines, I would not buy a house near high voltage lines.

On the other hand, I think the wireless signals are at a level that they shouldn't be much, if any, issue. I don't hold my computer next to my head and the base station power level just isn't that high - nor is it mounted right next to my bed.

But there are some signals that there is enough evidence of harm that people ought to be careful.

Teach her some physics.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, according to the agenda of the council meeting [sebastopol.ca.us], this 'rethink' was requested by council member Linda Kelley (email: [e-mail]). Maybe a bit of physics 101 would help her to reconsider.

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[zopf]

er, Joseph Smith? I don't think South Park had anything against the Wealth of Nations...

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[egomaniac]

While this is true, it's much easier to be sure that the data isn't falsified and the logic is sound if it was paid for by a disinterested entity.

Re:FM radio? TV?

[Thrakamazog]

We hates it!

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[pipatron]

People all over the world are wearing more sunscreen now than ever before.

But mysteriously this does't help against the cellphone radiation.

You're aware that microwave ovens work in the 2.4-3 GHz range right? If that doesn't "affect us" I'm not sure how you define affect.

Of course. It affects us in the same way as a campfire does: local heating. A microwave oven with the same effect as a wifi antenna or a cellphone could hardly heat up anything at all.

Re:comment from a contrarian

[Just Some Guy]

But in a nation that has been told that asbestos,

The one saving grace of asbestos is that if you leave it alone, it'll leave you alone. The real problems kick in when you start prying it loose and moving it around.

thalidomide,

Hugely useful [mayoclinic.com] but only when used within strict guidelines. As it turns out, one of its potential uses turned out to be a pretty bad idea so we don't use it that way anymore.

red dye #2,

I'll give you that one.

aspartame

The FDA insists that it is [fda.gov]. Sure, it's possible that they're a wholly owned subsidiary of Searle or whoever else makes the stuff these days, but I still trust the FDA at least as much as the groups opposing it.

and Vioxx

My wife's a doctor. She has patients who beg her to find old expired samples or any other source of the stuff she might know of. Those patients know that it possibly cause them harm, but it's so effective that they're willing to take that risk. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, would you rather have 50 years of crippling agony before you or 25 years of painfree enjoyment? Regardless of your answer, a lot of people wish they could pick the latter but that's no longer available to them.

are harmless I don't begrudge them their suspicion.

I begrudge them acting to make it impossible for me to use whatever it is they're afraid of this week.

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[Anonymous Coward]

Or better yet, I bet he has the proper pieces of paper to make the big bucks as a paid 'expert' for the Intelligent Design crowd or the Anti Global Warming industry.

You misspelled "anthropogenic".

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[wizardforce]

no you get *your* facts straight: aspartame is a methyl ester of a phenylalanine-aspartic acid dipeptide. it is metabolized to phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol and hydrolyzes at high temp forming methanol as well. the thing is that although this is the case, the amount of aspartame in soda is very small. fruit juices typically contain the same if not higher levels of methanol, particularly tomato juice which can have up to 5-6 times as high a methanol concentration. there is however one health issue with aspartame but it has nothing to do with methanol. it is due to the fact that those with phenylketonuris [PKU] can not properly deal with phenylalanine. If you're going to make a claim you must back it up with actual scientific evidence, you must show evidence of something's existence as well as a mechanism. In this case you must also show that it is solely due to aspartame and not just mitigating factors eg. the aspartame causes the problem not the fact that those who use it are predominately those who diet and diabetics.