Canadian college curbs Wi-Fi due to health risks

[aquajet]

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060223/tc_nm/life_canada_internet_dc)

TORONTO (Reuters) - A small Canadian university has ruled out campus-wide wireless Internet access because its president fears the system's electromagnetic forces could pose a risk to students' health.

Lakehead University, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has only a limited Wi-Fi connections at present, in places where there is no fiber-optic Internet connection. And that, according to president Fred Gilbert, is just fine.

"The jury is still out on the impact that electromagnetic forces have on human physiology," Gilbert told a university meeting last month, insisting that university policy would not change while he remained president.

If there's any truth to this, you Chicagoans better get out while you can!

[Koodauw]

He was previously a zoology professor.

I'm not sure Fred's the most qualified to make this decision. It's to bad for the students there. WiFi is great.

[noaccess]

Hmmm... personally, the lack of net access would kill me loooong before the electromagnetic waves. Yup, I'm that addicted. And proud of it :D

[~Shard~]

So, what you're telling me is that if I hang out in WiFi hot spots long enough I'll develop super powers? :p :cool:

[aquajet]

Hmmm... personally, the lack of net access would kill me loooong before the electromagnetic waves. Yup, I'm that addicted. And proud of it :D

I always thought I would become extremely obese and die of heart failure as a result of excessive internet usage before the electromagnetic rays got to me.

Just to be safe, maybe I shouldn't sit next to the microwave with my Powerbook and Airport Extreme base station (I carry it with me wherever I go in the house, to ensure maximum signal strength) while my TV dinner is cooking, all the while talking to the bf on my cell phone and listening to my satellite radio and police scanner.

[MacFan782040]

You are exposed to the same thing with TV and Radio waves. They also use the electromagnetic spectrum. WI-FI is just radio waves on a higher frequency. If there's any risk, you'll get cancer from cell phones or genetically modified food long before WI-FI :rolleyes:

[Abstract]

Well he has a point in that it has got to be bad for you (and it is), but this has very little impact on life expectancy and health, I think. :rolleyes:

[MacNut]

The only way that wifi can kill you is if you use it while your driving in your car and you are speeding down the highway going 65.

[Raid]

A good friend of mine went to Lakehead for a year, around 1994 so things might have changed. ...But from what I heard, most of the students there were most likely to die of alcohol related complications (or exposure in the winter months). :cool:

Mind you I'd bet he would have liked wi-fi on the campus, but I don't know if it would have made him anymore 'productive'. ;)

[Laser47]

So I guess they banned Cordless Phones, Microwaves, Cell Phones, and CRT monitors. Since they all emit EMI.

The guy probably has a laptop without a wireless card in it and is jealous of everyone else so he told them all they cant have on either.

[dornoforpyros]

hmm, right now my airport controller widget is showing 5 wireless networks that I can reach just from my bedroom. Changes are if I were to wonder around the town with an open laptop I would have almost constant network access.

I'm not really concerned about it, I think this school is just being cheap and scared of technology.

[Timepass]

Well he has a point in that it has got to be bad for you (and it is), but this has very little impact on life expectancy and health, I think. :rolleyes:


he right on the fact that the bad for you but it requires it to be at a much high power to do anything to some one. The waves can not even get pass our skin much less do any real damage. Microwaves TV and put more out.

Heck cell phones are a lot stronger and they dont do any damage to us and lets see most people have a cell phone with in inches of out body 12+ hours per day

[mkrishnan]

If you get rid of all the WiFi and leave all the cell phones in place, how much of a difference in the amount of ambient RF radiation would you make? Hmmm....

[live4ever]

Bah, the new med school is all wireless (officially supported) - the campus computer store has one set up - lots of professors have them set up.

It's not officially a wireless campus but there's plenty of access around.