Is the World Becoming Too Wired?

Published November 20, 2014

I remember when the microwave first came out, and even though it was a fascinating piece of kitchen equipment meant to cut meal preparation in half and generally make cooking easier for busy families, people began to become very concerned about the health risks associated with it once the novelty wore off. People started to question the effects of radiated food, and whether or not your pacemaker was going to act up if you got close to the microwave. Now, these concerns may sound silly knowing what we know today, but at the time they were enough to keep people like my mother from buying microwaves.

These days, the world of radiofrequency radiation has now become a constant factor in all of our lives and we no longer have a choice as to whether or not we want to expose ourselves to it. Take for instance, wi-fi - it's everywhere - from hotels, to offices, private homes to schools - entire cities are being "wired." Wi-fi uses radiofrequency transmitters to eliminate the need for complex cabling making it easier for us to download data on our wireless mobile devices.

We know that exposure to high levels of radiofrequency radiation can heat body tissue causing changes in cells, but exposure from cell phones and wi-fi are too low to cause significant tissue heating. But the truth is, the technology hasn't been around long enough for any long-term studies to be conducted, so there is still a lot we don't know as to the potential for negative health effects of radiofrequency radiation over a period of time. And with newer, faster forms of the wireless technology constantly emerging, it becomes even more difficult for us to study any possible health risks.

Now I don't want to sound paranoid - I'm a slave to my Blackberry and I'm amazed by the capabilities of the iPhone and the iPad, but there are many articles written by scientists and researchers on the safety of low-intensity radio waves. And although they haven't really come to the conclusion that there are definite links to cancer or other diseases, the results of their studies are always "seems unlikely to pose risks to health." I never see the words, "we guarantee that low-intensity radio waves will not damage your health in any way" from the radio waves that are constantly around us.

So even though they say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," maybe we should think about "unplugging" ourselves once in a while. What do you think?

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/health/is-the-world-becoming-too-wired