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Sat, Nov 17 2007

Why Be Wary of Wi-Fi?

It fascinates me somewhat that so many inventions that are considered signs of how advanced our society has become—technological innovations like wireless technology and, yes, vaccines—are often pointed to as “causes of autism.” Is there some assumption that, because our society is so “developed”—–so that we live longer than people in the past, don’t have to worry about harvesting our next meal from the grain in the field, have access to education and school—–that sickness and disease and illness should be minimized, if not eradicated?

Put another way, if we can’t cure the common cold, why are claims made that we can cure, or that we hope to cure, autism?

And if wi-fi can be implicated as a cause of autism (according to a study in the Australasian Journal of Clinical Environmental Medicine), all those Manhattanites in the soon-to-be-created CBS Mobile Zone—a wi-fi high speed network provided by CBS—may feel the need to walk outside the bounds of 6th and 8th Avenue, from Times Square to Central Park South.

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Comments

  1. Trackback
    1396 days ago
    False Controversy: Autism and Vaccines

    [...] “(unfounded) concerns over WiFi and vaccinations“—both of which have also been linked to autism—and the (now put on hold) federal study on the possible use of chelation therapy as a [...]

  2. Trackback
    1640 days ago
    A Little Debunking

    [...] scientists offer some quick debunkings of some rather debunkable ”science” about autism: Ars Technica’s John Timmer explains why wi-fi does not [...]

  3. By Skov

    Um…perhaps the carbon monoxide spewing from an endless stream of cabs is a wee bit worse than the wifi…

  4. By cs

    There is no good evidence that radiation from WiFi networks is dangerous. It is a part of the radio spectrum that includes FM radio and mobile phones, among other household electronics that have been around for a very long time.

  5. By Marla

    Good point!