Are You Electro-Sensitive?

Filed in archive Wi-Fi on April 28, 2006

Sci-Tech Today reports on the idea that some people may be more sensitive to the health effects of Wi-Fi than others.

"I've seen several doctors and dentists who have put wireless LANs into their surgeries and then had complaints from staff who can feel something in their head or can't concentrate properly," says Powerwatch's Alasdair Philips.

"But when they've taken out Wi-Fi and put cable in, the problem has disappeared."

Some people, Philips says, are simply hypersensitive to wireless and electromagnetic emissions.

"There seems to be a small proportion of people who react badly to wireless networks," he says.

"A lot of people are reporting the problem, and awareness of it is growing," Philips says. "Some studies estimate only one in 10,000 people is electro-sensitive; others suggest it's as high as 30 in 100. In our opinion, it affects about two or three percent of the population to some degree."

The Swedes have been looking at this issue for a while here -- and there's a parallel British organization here.