Ecstatic remarks by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on the first “World Wi-Fi Day” June 20 have caused a bout of head shaking and alarm in the Wi-Fi health community.

O’Rielly pulled out all the stops in singing the praises of the observance, saying it “acknowledges the wonderful technology” that has been developed.

Michael O'RiellyMichael O'Rielly

He sees a world literally bathed in wireless transmission of information.

“It’s more than likely than not that internet traffic will continue to shift to Wi-Fi for the foreseeable future and security enhancements will reverse threats of exposed consumer experiences,” he said.

“Moreover, ubiquitous Wi-Fi voice calling and a truly mesh network seem not far away. Wi-Fi incorporation into location technologies seems a guarantee especially for hard to reach areas such as building interiors,” he added.

Without Wi-Fi, “Users would still be dragging fiber throughout the inner workings of commercial buildings, residences and campuses, dramatically raising service costs while reducing availability,” he continued.

Health Aspects Ignored, Say Critics

Wi-Fi and pulsed radiation health advocates say research shows that cellphones, computers, wireless tablets, cell towers, routers in classrooms and offices, cordless phones, cordless phone bases in bedrooms, baby monitors, wearables, wireless utility meters, etc., pose a health hazard.

Especially at risk are children, as is shown in this graphic.

Cecelia DoucetteCecelia Doucette

Cecelia Doucette, a leader in urging caution with radiation-emitting devices, said in response to the O’Rielly statement that, “Indeed, technology brings wonderful advances, but wireless technology also brings great harm.”

“The FCC knows this,” she said, “yet continues to fail to invoke the precautionary principle, placing corporate profit over public health.”

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She cites Harvard's “Captured Agency Report” and notes the U.S. Government Accountability Office asked the FCC to bring its public radiation exposure guidelines in line with current science in 2013.

“They have yet to do so,” she continued, “even when in 2016 the U.S. National Toxicology Program reported wireless radiation causes DNA damage, brain and heart tumors. It's important that we all become educated on this, and compel industry to make biologically safe mobile technology. (https://sites.google.com/site/understandingemfs/manufacturers)

She cites advice from wirelesseducation.org saying that government guidelines on wireless “do not reflect current science” with the result that manufacturers “are allowed to sell products that emit toxic levels of microwave radiation.”

The long-term concerns include DNA damage, cancers, infertility, Alzheimer’s, autism, chronic fatigue, learning disabilities and behavior issues, says wirelesseducation, whose motto is “Safe Schools, Safe Working Places.”

“A little education can go a long way toward protecting yourself and your loved ones,” says the site.

The product information pamphlets that come with wireless devices contain a passage about Exposure to Radio Frequency Energy, says Doucette. But some companies, she notes, have taken the passage out of the hard-copy materials, and imbedded it deeply within the device settings, usually under the Legal heading, where consumers are unlikely to see it.

Showthefineprint.org has compiled these passages so you can easily see what your device warns, she adds.

Although companies say they comply with FCC regulations, science has proven the regulations are hundreds to thousands of times too high to prevent the damage being done at the non-thermal level by mobile devices.

FCC Drags Feet on Health Issue

This was addressed in a 2008 congressional hearing where scientists presented findings of increased penetration of cell phone radiation in the brains of children:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_YhKblPtOo

Here is the FCC's response to the scientist's claims:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIEQdE-nO18

In 2012 the Government Accountability Office instructed the FCC to "formally reassess the current RF energy exposure limit, including its effects on human health" and as of this writing in 2017, it has not been done. Our FCC chairman is from the telecom industry so we may not see changes at the national level in the near-term.

On June 20, 2016 FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler indicated the priority with 5G is to be first to market, regardless of public health or safety. He states, "Unlike some countries, we do not believe we should spend the next couple of years studying what 5G should be, how it should operate, and how to allocate spectrum, based on those assumptions. Like the examples I gave earlier, the future has a way of inventing itself. Turning innovators loose is far preferable to expecting committees and regulators to define the future. We won’t wait for the standards to be first developed in the sometimes arduous standards-setting process or in a government-led activity." See his six-page speech below:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/remarks-chairman-wheeler-future-wireless

This 2017 FCC press release indicates the goal is to remove 5G infrastructure barriers, despite public health hazards:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0420/DOC-344486A1.pdf

Israeli and New York lawyer Dafna Tachover has developed electrohypersensitivity from wireless technology and in September 2016 testified before the FCC's Disability Advisory Committee. See her five-minute testimony here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qg0H63GLkU&feature=youtu.be

Click here to hear the history from Dr. George Carlo of how industry was able to get this technology to market before it was properly tested and how research findings have been suppressed since. You may also wish to read his book, "Cell Phones: Invisible Hazards in a Wireless Age (Avalon, 2001)".

In 2015, Harvard University's Norm Alster published "Captured Agency: How the Federal Communications Commission is Dominated by the Industries it Presumably Regulates". This further details what has happened with the FCC since telecom industry leaders like Tom Wheeler took the helm, and how they have been able to establish laws that protect industry profits over public health.

Feel free to look up the product information that came with your cell phone and/or wi-fi devices. Attached at the bottom of this page are the guides for the iPad and the iPhone 4. Showthefineprint.org has compiled these passages so you can easily see what your device warns. You will discover:

There are multiple antennas in each device, aiming radiation from different angles at your head and body. The brochures state:

  • The iPhone cellular antennas are located at the top and bottom edges of iPhone. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® antenna is located near the top of iPhone.
  • iPad contains radio transmitters and receivers. When on, iPad sends and receives radio frequency (RF) energy through its antenna. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® antennas are located behind the screen to the left of the Home button, and behind the Apple logo.

The attached documents also tell us we shouldn't keep these devices near our bodies, or near other objects where the radiation bounces back into our bodies:

  • When carrying iPhone, keep it 1.5 cm (5/8 inch) or more away from your body to ensure exposure levels remain at or below the maximum levels. Avoid cases with metal parts.
  • The iPad brochure states: For optimal mobile device performance and to be sure that human exposure to RF energy does not exceed the FCC, IC, and European Union guidelines, always follow these instructions and precautions: Orient the device in portrait mode with the Home button at the bottom of the display, or in landscape mode with the cellular antenna (located under the black edge at the top of the device) away from your body or other objects.

In other words, if you keep these devices on your body, the radiation you receive will exceed even the FCC's guidelines which we now know are already 100s to 1,000s of times too high. The manufacturers are only required to adhere to current government guidelines, so they continue to introduce more devices to earn more revenue.

  • The last line in this 2012 abstract from the NIH's PubMed database, on harm from laptops, is, "Laptop is paradoxically an improper site for the use of a LTC (laptop computer), which consequently should be renamed to not induce customers towards an improper use." So, that is what industry subsequently did. They renamed "laptops" to "tablets" but didn't inform the public that they are unsafe to use in the lap, and should be used on a table instead (and, might I add, best used in airplane mode and/or hard-wired).

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22315933

Public Hotspots

In 2013, Comcast/Xfinity began installing public hotspots on private residential routers which broadcast the wi-i signal from your home out to the street, further blanketing your home and neighbors in electromagenetic radiation. As their three-minute promo indicates below, you can opt to shut off this signal by accessing your account on-line and turning off your wireless settings, or you can call Comcast and they'll do it for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kX1-KnRtNU