sickness – Techdirt (original) (raw)
Parents Sue School, Claim Wi-Fi Made Son Sick
from the shaky-science dept
For years now we’ve noted how some people are absolutely positive that Wi-Fi is making them sick, despite a lack of any substantive evidence on that front. Still, schools have repeatedly found themselves on the receiving end of lawsuits for simply installing and using Wi-Fi, and in some cases have been forced to remove the technology for the supposed benefit of the “electromagnetically sensitive.” The majority of double-blind studies conducted indicate that, contrary to claims of the afflicted, these individuals cannot accurately state when they’re in the presence of stronger electromagnetic fields.
Regardless, a lack of science hasn’t stopped parents in Massachusetts from suing their local private school, claiming the school installed new Wi-Fi gear in 2013 that triggered “headaches, nosebleeds, nausea, and other symptoms” in their thirteen-year-old child. The suit hopes to have “Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome” classified under the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the lawsuit (pdf), the child’s mother, after “much research and study,” concluded that it was the Wi-Fi making the child sick, something family doctors were willing to substantiate.
Justifiably, the school brought in EMF analysis experts to document the specific EMF hazard being posed (spoiler, there wasn’t any):
“Isotrope found that the combined levels of access point emissions, broadcast radio and television signals, and other RFE emissions on campus ?were substantially less than one ten-thousandth (1/10,000th) of the applicable (FCC) safety limits.”
The family was also annoyed when the school district wanted to use their own doctors, who in about ten minutes (at least according to the parents) came to the conclusion that whatever is ailing the kid, it wasn’t Wi-Fi radiation:
“The family was also unhappy after officials at Fay asked them to have G see another physician, who after speaking to G for 10 minutes and not conducting any tests ?pronounced that in his view there was not enough study yet done to link Wi-Fi emissions to symptoms such as those G is experiencing at Fay School,? they say in the complaint. “This doctor stated in essence that he does not believe in EHS,? the lawsuit says. ?Yet he made no alternate diagnosis.”
All told, the parents demanded the school run Ethernet to classrooms their child attends, lower the overall power of Wi-Fi transmissions in the school, and provide $250,000 in settlement funds. A new, updated report suggests that a preliminary settlement with the school may have already been reached. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like these disputes could be settled very easily (and without hindering the school’s coffers or other student’s capacity for learning) by having the electromagnetically-sensitive participate in a blinded study requiring they clearly illustrate their ability to detect electromagnetic fields.
While there are countless diseases that constantly illustrate we certainly don’t know as much as we think we do (Lyme Disease, for example), if EMF exposure really is having that dramatic of an impact on certain individuals, this is surely reproducible and provable, right? Right?
Filed Under: electromagnetic sensitivity, lawsuit, sickness, wifi, wifi sensitivity
DailyDirt: The Flu Season Is Here…
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
This year’s flu season seems to be unusually miserable and widespread. One of the flu strains getting passed around this year hasn’t been seen for a few years, so people’s immune system resistance to it may be weak. If you haven’t caught the bug yet, here are just a few links that could help you avoid it — or just tell you more about what the flu actually is.
- The Khan academy has a lesson on what the flu is, making sure everyone knows the difference between the flu and a cold. It’d be cool to see online classes for all kinds of medical information — and maybe even medical degree badges….? [url]
- The 2013 flu vaccine wards against three strains: H3N2, H1N1 and Influenza B. However, the vaccine this year has been labeled only “moderately effective” by the CDC. [url]
- Flu season comes around during the winter generally and not spring, summer or fall. But why? It could be the humidity; the flu virus survives well in warm, low-humidity air — just like the conditions in most homes in the winter. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.
Filed Under: flu, flu season, health, humidity, khan academy, sickness, vaccine, virus
Companies: cdc
Does WiFi Make Trees Sick?
from the why-wifi? dept
We’ve heard claims for years that WiFi makes some people sick. Unfortunately, the evidence shows that in double-blind studies people can’t tell if there’s WiFi (even if they do appear to really feel sick when they think WiFi is present). However, a new report is claiming that WiFi is making trees sick, and that the impact is pretty widespread. Having just had to take down a (rather large) tree in our yard that suddenly died, this made me pay attention — but it seems quite unlikely it had anything to do with WiFi. In this study, it seems like the findings are extremely preliminary and involve a very small scale test, which appeared to show that WiFi radios had more of an impact than other sources of electromagnetic radiation. It could be quite interesting to see further testing in this area, but it seems a bit early to conclude anything specific about WiFi.