CBC News reports that the BC Human Rights Tribunal has ruled against parents who insisted that their child needed special protection against radio waves. The parents believed that their son had a condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), a bundle of non-specific symptoms that they attribute to EMF exposure, and that "...Wi-Fi, cellphones and other electronics ... caused the boy's migraines, nausea, insomnia and night terrors. "
Claims that Wi-Fi causes health problems are not unusual on the West Coast of Canada, but these parents added new twists to the story. His mother believes that the condition was caused by living near a cell phone tower during pregnancy, and that severe headaches and episodes of vomiting were caused by the amplification system his teachers used to help students with hearing impairments.
T's family complained he developed a headache one day after staying inside for recess. In an appeal to the school board, his family said it happened because, "as you know, the RF [radio frequency] does penetrate the room he is in when the children are moving around the school with their cellphones on at recess and lunch."
The student has since moved to a private school specializing in, among other things, working with autistic children. He is now able to develop social skills by joining other students on regular field trips to a local (presumably Wi-Fi and cell free) farm.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by dwilson on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:23AM (4 children)
I've seen variants of that story floating around for years. The last one I read had the tower somewhere in Europe (Switzerland, maybe? I don't recall), and the ending wasn't "Hang on, we haven't turned it on yet", it was something like "Well, we feel absolutely horrible that all these ailments are affecting the community as a result of our new tower. This is terrible! But just imagine how much worse it will get once we get around to installing all the electrical equipment and getting the power hooked up!"
I wonder if it's based on a true story, somewhere, somewhen.
- D
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:45AM
The original is here: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/wireless/11099-massive-revelation-in-iburst-tower-battle.html [mybroadband.co.za] and is from 2010.
But we had a similar battle here, where the residents fought over whether poles with aerials or not were better or worse. One group claimed aerials were worse because they could "beam energy" better and the other group claimed the hidden kind were worse because they were "higher power." The sergeant-at-arms finally had to kick the whole lot out after 30 minutes or so of raised voices.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:48AM
The nearest true story I can find like this is from here: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/wireless/11099-massive-revelation-in-iburst-tower-battle.html [mybroadband.co.za]
It's from South Africa. Residents complain about being sick, without knowing that the tower had already been turned off a month and a half before they had a meeting to discuss the symptoms they still claimed to be experiencing, and find out from the telco that it hadn't been used since.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:56AM (1 child)
Electromagnetic sensitivity. It was freaking out more people a decade ago but it keeps coming back:
Mobile phones safe to use, says study [theregister.co.uk] (2006)
Dark mutterings on killer Wi-Fi in schools help no one [theregister.co.uk] (2007)
Can we have a proper study of Wi-Fi, please? [theregister.co.uk]
Killer Wi-Fi panics London's chattering classes [theregister.co.uk]
HPA outlines plans to measure Wi-Fi exposure [theregister.co.uk]
Mobiles give you brain cancer? [theregister.co.uk]
Glastonbury new-agers protest WiFi [theregister.co.uk] (2008)
Moms stand firm against antenna madness [theregister.co.uk] (2010)
Ecclesiastical judge tells church: Let there be Wi-Fi [theregister.co.uk] (2011)
Mobile phones still safe... probably [theregister.co.uk] (2012)
'Hypersensitive' Wi-Fi hater loses case against fiendish DEVICES [theregister.co.uk]
Wind farms make you sick claims blown away again [theregister.co.uk] (2014)
French woman gets €800 a month for electromagnetic-field 'disability' [theregister.co.uk] (2015)
California Issues Warning Over Cellphones; Study Links Non-Ionizing Radiation to Miscarriage [soylentnews.org] (2017)
The People Who Claim They're Allergic to Wifi [vice.com] (2018)
First Clear Evidence Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Cancer In Rats [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Thursday July 19 2018, @07:46AM
I remember during the early-2000s cell-tower fuss, people were accusing Nokia of covering up cancer risks, while new towers were springing up on school roofs - because you've got to think of the children. Yet they completely failed to notice that the huge nearby Nokia campus had a cell-tower right in the middle of it. So apparently Nokia was trying to kill all its employees?!??
Not that Nokia were the good guys. There was an independent Danish mobile phone equipment designer, Hagenuk, who had directional antennae technology, such that the phone would radiate away from the head more than into it, but that was the only patent they could bring to the table, and they wanted to play with the big boys. The mobile phone mafia didn't like them, so basically killed them.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves