Wi-Fi Unsafe

Germany Warns Citizens to Avoid Using Wi-Fi
By Geoffrey Lean
The Independent UK
Sunday 09 September 2007
People should avoid using Wi-Fi wherever possible because of the risks
it may pose to health, the German government has said.
Its surprise ruling - the most damning made by any government on the
fast-growing technology - will shake the industry and British ministers, and
vindicates the questions that The Independent on Sunday has been raising
over the past four months.
And Germany's official radiation protection body also advises its
citizens to use landlines instead of mobile phones, and warns of
"electrosmog" from a wide range of other everyday products, from baby
monitors to electric blankets.
The German government's ruling - which contrasts sharply with the
unquestioning promotion of the technology by British officials - was made in
response to a series of questions by Green members of the Bundestag,
Germany's parliament.
The Environment Ministry recommended that people should keep their
exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi "as low as possible" by choosing
"conventional wired connections". It added that it is "actively informing
people about possibilities for reducing personal exposure".
Its actions will provide vital support for Sir William Stewart,
Britain's official health protection watchdog, who has produced two reports
calling for caution in using mobile phones and who has also called for a
review of the use of Wi-Fi in schools. His warnings have so far been ignored
by ministers and even played down by the Health Protection Agency, which he
chairs.
By contrast the agency's German equivalent - the Federal Office for
Radiation Protection - is leading the calls for caution.
Florian Emrich, for the office, says Wi-Fi should be avoided "because
people receive exposures from many sources and because it is a new
technology and all the research into its health effects has not yet been
carried out".