Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

[Mugu]

KOB.com

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. "I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said.

Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is now checking to see if putting up Wi-Fi could be considered discrimination.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S451152.shtml?cat=517">Complete article

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. I want to sympathize here...

being as I suffer from chemical/fragrance sensitivity that many people don't take seriously
but this guy with the chest pains sounds more like an anxiety issue.

[BearSquirrel2]

16. Your surrounded by RF ..

You are surrounded by RF constantly from countless electronic devices, power lines ... THE SUN!!!

Put him in a box to see if he can detect whether a wi-fi device is on. I bet you he cannot.

[BlooInBloo]

2. First thing to check: Do group members work for telecoms.

[NeedleCast]

3. I'm allergic to bullshit

I demand that Arthur Firstenberg be catapulted into the sun so I don't risk running across him in public.

[timtom]

17. I don't normally do this, but...

LOL!!!

[Kutjara]

4. "Electric-sensitive?" Oh please.

These people better move off Planet Earth and into deep space if they need to avoid electromagnetism that badly. Powerlines, home electrical wiring, appliances, TV and radio signals, the Earth's magnetic field itself, are all bombarding us with "electric fields" all day long. "Wi-fi" signals are no different in quality from those given off by cordless phones or a dozen other devices in everyday use.

This group should get together with the "cellphone brain cancer" crowd and form a 'lectophobics support group.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Allergic to electrical fields?

I have never heard of that. Is that a real allergy?

[Kutjara]

7. As real as their lawyers can make it.

Sounds like some people think they've found a juicy seam of lawsuits to mine. I'll bet they've already picked-out their (wifi-free) yachts.

[Indenturedebtor]

10. No it's not possible.

For one thing your own body emits some fairly strong electric and magnetic fields.

For another - Allergies are caused by a misdirected immune response to molecules that it takes to resemble parasites. The itching and inflamed skin are the bodies response to worms and the like... These people couldn't be more full of shit.

I'm allergic to tree pollen. I demand that all of you cut down your trees. Get bent buddy.

[Clovis Sangrail]

6. this is pretty hippy dippy

I once rented a room in a house where my housemates were concerned about the radiation coming from the back of my TV.
:rofl:

[Kutjara]

9. I had a housemate like that.

She was always concerned that "radiation" (which she had no idea about other than it was "bad") was attacking her from all directions. She'd actually avoid the kitchen or living room if the microwave or TV was switched on.

Another housemate fixed the "problem" by buying a crystal "guaranteed to absorb harmful radiation" from a "mystical" shop. hanging it on a chain, and giving it to our radiophobic friend. After that, she was fine, because she "knew" the crystal was "absorbing" all the bad hoodoo. She was still wearing the chain a year later when she collected her PhD...in education.

[L. Coyote]

11. here is an elecric field emanating from televisions. Just try holding your

electric guitar near one, and you will see the effect yourself.

Of course, fearing that isn't very rational.
Just keep reasonable distance from CRT devices.

And, don't sleep curled up with a T-V! :rofl:

[Prophet 451]

8. And their evidence is where?

I have no idea if it's even possible to be allergic to wi-fi signals but even assuming it is, do they have any evidence at all? Striplights cause me to get migranes (as do CFLs), can I then sue every supermarket for discrimination?

[Warpy]

12. All I have to say to them is "PROVE IT."

That's all I'm asking for, conclusive proof that Mr. Firstenberg isn't just a garden variety anxiety neurotic.

After all, he's got microwaves passing through his sensitive body wherever he is unless he lives in a retired missile silo far underground.

(when I first moved out to this part of the country, what put me off living in Santa Fe wasn't the real estate prices or chichi, overpriced art galleries; it was all the crystal people and other sanctimonious screwballs)

[Jack_DeLeon]

13. Better hope they never get tasered...

[TygrBright]

14. Clue: Many local residents also refer to our home as "Fanta Se"....

...my esposo says it's the only place he's ever lived that makes Berkeley look like an authoritarian right-wing dictatorship.

"Individualism" is the local religion, and there are a LOT of fervent fundamentalist fanatics.

If this kind of stuff gets to you, you won't be happy living here.

Anyway, it's in very bad taste for you outsiders to be slanging on our nutballs. WE'RE allowed to slang on our nutballs (in fact, nutball-a-nutball matches --at public meetings, City Council sessions, local festivals, etc.-- are THE local entertainment draw) but we close ranks when it comes to non-Fanta Seans pointing fingers and sniggering.

So stop that.

militantly,
Bright

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. First, prove it exists

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: a systematic review of provocation studies.

Rubin GJ, Das Munshi J, Wessely S.

Mobile Phones Research Unit, Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry and Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine, King's College London, UK. [e-mail]

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to assess whether people who report hypersensitivity to weak electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are better at detecting EMF under blind or double-blind conditions than nonhypersensitive individuals, and to test whether they respond to the presence of EMF with increased symptom reporting. METHODS: An extensive systematic search was used to identify relevant blind or double-blind provocation studies. This involved searching numerous literature databases and conference proceedings, and examining the citations of reviews and included studies. The results of relevant studies were tabulated and metaanalyses were used to compare the proportions of "hypersensitive" and control participants able to discriminate active from sham EMF exposures. RESULTS: Thirty-one experiments testing 725 "electromagnetically hypersensitive" participants were identified. Twenty-four of these found no evidence to support the existence of a biophysical hypersensitivity, whereas 7 reported some supporting evidence. For 2 of these 7, the same research groups subsequently tried and failed to replicate their findings. In 3 more, the positive results appear to be statistical artefacts. The final 2 studies gave mutually incompatible results. Our metaanalyses found no evidence of an improved ability to detect EMF in "hypersensitive" participants. CONCLUSIONS: The symptoms described by "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" sufferers can be severe and are sometimes disabling. However, it has proved difficult to show under blind conditions that exposure to EMF can trigger these symptoms. This suggests that "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" is unrelated to the presence of EMF, although more research into this phenomenon is required.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15784787

[haele]

18. I've worked with 25KV 440 three bank transformers,

And I've worked with small, localized RF transmitters - wi-fi, if you will. Yeah, you can tell - hear as well as feel, when one of those big transformer banks are cooking along, but a cell phone or bluetooth transmitter - c'mon. I can't pick them up on a O'scope unless I'm within 10 inches of one - and I can pick up the same amount of ambient EMF put out by a living body when I put the 'scope probe right on the skin. Flourescent lights put out more energy than a bluetooth or cell phone.
Betcha this guy is living next door to someone on a wireless network; unless he knows it's on and transmitting, he probably doesn't feel a thing.

Haele