“There are those who claim that exposure to wi-fi is making people sick, and some people don’t even know it,” CBSNewYork reports. “‘Brain fog. That’s my worst problem. A brain fog,’ Suzanne Hoyt said.”
“Hoyt said that nothing prepared her for the rush of symptoms that she suddenly developed,” CBSNewYork reports. “‘Headaches, perspiration, pain in my jaws and my heart. It’s like physical expansion of the heart,’ she said.”
“It’s called wi-fi sensitivity, and doctors say it’s a very real condition with serious consequences. Dr. David Carpenter, an Environmental Scientist and expert on wi-fi’s effects said the scientific link between wi-fi and health is clearly emerging,” CBSNewYork reports. “Dr. Carpenter said it’s a significant problem for about 5 percent of the population, many of them have no idea that wi-fi is to blame.”
“Other doctors counter that the evidence connecting wi-fi to illness just isn’t there,” CBSNewYork reports. “‘It’s a psychological phenomenon,’ neuropsychologist Dr. William Barr said. Dr. Barr said some people may have symptoms, but what causes them is something else altogether. He said the power of suggestion may play a role.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Brain fog? Who diagnosed that, Dr. Ellison? Suzanne should expect a visit from Samuel Graynamore any minute now. Our advice to Suz: Stay away from volcanoes!
Wow. What drivel. Pseudoscience spews out another baseless claim. There’s a sucker born every second in this overpopulated world.
Have you done any research? Is there background besides her? What kinds of people are saying this is real?
Or are you just jumping to a knee-jerk statement?
I’m not saying either way. I’m just asking if you have done any research. The same kinds of statements have been made about lead in gasoline, tobacco and numerous other dangers.
This sort of bogus anti-science bullshit has been around for ages. It’s never been valid, always been quackery, and never, just never, accepts the fact that there is no possible physical process that could cause these symptoms. Here’s just one of perhaps thousands of references -http://www.badscience.net/2007/07/essex-electrosensitivity-study-results/#more-470
WI-FI RADIATION IS KILLING TREES, NEW STUDY FINDS
YES, TREES CAN BLEED, AND IT’S OUR FAULT
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-11/wi-fi-radiation-killing-trees
Groot wouldn’t like it in my building:
Studies on the impact of wireless radiation on humans are endlessly inconclusive, but a recent study on the effects of Wi-Fi radiation on trees–yes, trees–indicates that our woody friends may be much more vulnerable than we are. And trees can’t even enjoy the benefits of Wi-Fi. It’s all very unjust.
Quoting a popular science article is almost as bad as quoting something from a tabloid.
Snicker…
Wi-Fi Might Not Kill Trees After All
http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2010/11/29/wi-fi-might-not-kill-trees-after-all/
YAY!
oh, shut up Cocoa Boy.
This seems highly unlikely to me. Billions of people have been exposed to a variety of radio frequencies for decades. Wi-Fi uses 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. In the electromagnetic spectrum, those Wi-Fi frequencies fall into the high end of radio or the low end of microwave. Current cell phones use a variety of frequencies up to 1.9GHz, so they are in a similar range.
Show me the results of well-designed, double-blind experiments executed in shielded rooms and I will be glad to listen. Until then…
C’mon, electromagnetic sensitivity is real! Have none of you see Chuck McGill on Better Call Saul? 😜
We used to have this posted up on the wall when I worked for a university IT department:
http://bit.ly/1BexOtv
A lot of the foreigners, who lived in on-campus apartments, often with their children, were convinced that WiFi was bad for them, and would unplug the access points. Then we’d get call from neighbors saying that they couldn’t access the Internet. Ugh.
Reminds me of a story that made the rounds a decade ago about cell towers (different EM waves, same claims about sensitivity). A carrier was installing a new cell tower on the roof of a building, and nearby residents concerned about cell phone sensitivity made a huge fuss when they found out about it, but they couldn’t stop it from going ahead.
For a week or two after the announced go-live date, those residents complained of headaches and other new ailments that coincided with the tower being switched on.
Unfortunately for them, the carrier then reported that regulators hadn’t actually given them the go-ahead to turn it on at the original date, and the tower had been offline the entire time, and any claims of ailments were totally unrelated to nearby cell tower transmissions.
“a story that made the rounds” — that’s conclusive.
To anyone of reasonable intelligence, that phrase clearly means I have no idea if it’s true or not so take with a grain of salt.
It’s leaps and bounds more honest than acting like the story is totally true.
She may have a real medical condition, but it’s NOT caused by “WiFi.” It’s just radio waves.
Or anything in the non-visible electromagnetic spectrum range, which includes radio and wifi. She was always being bombarded, but here’s the thing. The amount of noise in the WiFi range has increased dramatically and that’s an understatement for sure.
I wish I could show you the pull down for my WiFi menu! It’s at least 100 devices deep. That’s 100 broadcasting devices that are strong enough for me to pick them up. Not to mention the airport on my desk.
I use to live in a house, in the hills, and there wasn’t much of anything around. Since buying a place in this building I’ve had very restless nights. I never seep very deeply, lots of crazy dreams, and I’ve always kinda wondered…
I dunno. It’s wacky sounding I know… correlation is not causation, but I swear when I’m sleeping I can see ads now…
It’s all those vaccines you been taking.
/s
Maybe you have good hearing.
And late at night, when it is quieter than normal, your sleeping brain is hearing the sounds from the videos using WiFi streaming late at night, or what those people are doing while the video is playing.
Radiation can definitely cause sickness, but there’s different types of radiation, and different intensities. Apparently wifi is in the class of “safe” radiation that doesn’t mutate or cells.
or “damage” cells.
“Radiation” not only comes in different types, that word is used to describe two completely different THINGS. Like saying a flashlight and pistol are two means of “projection.”
In typical human exposure, electromagnetic radiation ranges from ultraviolet, through the visible range of light, to radio waves. If you go to the hospital, you may be exposed to a small dose of X-rays (above UV) for some exams. Microwaves are above radio. This kind of radiation is generally not harmful, except in extreme scenarios, such as getting 10 consecutive CT scans in one hour, or rigging a microwave oven to run without its door closed (and sticking your hand inside), or being out in the hot sun (without skin protection) long enough to get burned. We are exposed to electromagnetic radiation constantly. Being exposed to WiFi (normal radio waves), which is toward the low end of the wavelength scale, is no more harmful than sitting in a room with the lights turned on.
Particle radiation is completely different; what is being “radiated” are subatomic particles. This is where the word “radiation” gets its negative connotation; its completely different from electromagnetic radiation. If a nuclear power plant fails and releases radioactive material, people nearby are exposed to this kind of radiation at harmful levels. At very low levels, even this radiation is all around us. Bananas are radioactive because they contain potassium. But it is obviously harmful at high levels.
Brain fog? The doctor should have prescribed that she stay off the hooch and psychedelics!
Wonder if she ever visited a typical Starbucks with one dozen WiFi stations going at once?
“Suddenly developed”? As if wi-fi was just turned on yesterday instead of having been around for how many years now? And is she twice as sensitive to the 5GHz band as she is to the 2.4GHz band? What about microwave ovens?
Wait until they develop the 10GHz band. She will go bat crazy.
Microwave radiation from ovens fades away within 20 inches. That’s why you should never stand staring into the microwave oven for long periods.
A new reason to make an AFDB! See http://zapatopi.net/afdb/ for instructions.
Come to think of it, in the years since the widespread adoption of WiFi began, my hair has turned gray, and I’ve become smaller than my kids.
So THAT’S what caused it! Thanks. I have exactly the same symptoms.
I get those same symptoms that the woman in the article gets every time I get outside of a WiFi zone. I can’t live without it.
Im leaning towards calling it Bogus .
It’s not even wrong….
If she’s truly affected by WiFi, it should be simple enough to test. See if she can tell whether the WiFi is on or off in a room without being told. I’ll bet you she can’t. I’ll bet you she gets sick if she thinks the WiFi is on. This reminds me of “multiple chemical sensitivity”, another “reverse placebo effect” disease where patients would manifest symptoms if they thought they could smell something.
——RM
Or dowsing, as in the test Randi did to prove it’s totally bullshit.
Maybe she should wear an aluminum foil hat-to protect from wifi radiation?! 🖖😀⌚️
One thing is KNOWN – we’re all awash in EMR (electromagnetic radiation) all the time.
Plucking out the effects of your wireless signal sounds like a real needle in the waveform haystack.
Wow! Now I know how to get rid of a unruly neighbor. Turn up the WiFi
Offer to install free wifi with a signal booster in his home. 🖖😀⌚️
Wifi makes her sick but FM radio, which has been surrounding us for 100 years, is fine?
100 years of FM radio? You come from an advanced planet. Here on earth, we have only had it for 54 years.
2015 – 1941 = 74 years, actually
Could be – like the chemicals in carrots don’t hard you while the chemicals in cigarettes does.
Or like the digitalis from foxgloves can help a heart attack – or quickly kill you if you take some more.
Her best option is to move to Green Bank, West Virginia, one of the few places in the US where wifi is banned. Where I’m sitting right now in my home, I can see eight wi-fi networks (one of which is mine). You can’t demand the world change to meet your niche needs.
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/the-town-without-wi-fi/
You see eight wi-fi networks?! As Mr. Spock would say, “PAIN! PAIN!” 😉
Mr Waturi gave her cart blank over the advertising library.
Samuel Graynamore.
Ha! 🙂
YES, Brain Fog! Stay away from Volcanoes.
MDN’s take is perfect.
Damn funny.
Apple launched the first available WIFi kit, Airport, in July 1999. If she’s more than 16 years old she should have been having this problem for a LONG time. I have 21 WiFi networks visible to my MBP. When I walk around with my iPhone, it is almost always showing someone’s WiFi network. Every store, cafe, bar, restaurant has one. This poor person must be in a constant fog. And, on top of that, she is bathed in RF and has been since birth: radio, tv, radar, cellular networks, microwaves, wireless phones, etc.
Why don’t we hear more of these health issues?
I once met the chief engineer on the innards of Apple’s first WiFi gear at Apple HQ in NL at the time the product came out. He told me he always got dry eyes when working in close proximity of a working WiFi transmitter.
Ha ha. Love the Tom Hanks movie reference.
This is bullshit. We are all bathed in electromagnetic radiation from various sources all day every day. These sources are both natural and man made. Unless we eliminate the Sun, the stars, other planets, all electronic devices, the air, etc., there is no way to eliminate the radiation.
For the last two pages — all frothing, illogical arguments. “We’re bathed in numerous chemicals all day, so any criticism against a particular type of chemical is bullshit”.
I’m NOT saying it’s dangerous.
I AM saying that everyone’s rabid negativity against any possibility of validity is quite fascinating.
I’m sure the same kind of supposed “logic” and knee-jerk negativity greeted Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”.
John Smith, while Rachel Carson’s book did stimulate pubic interest in environmental issues (good), it unfortunately contained a lot of junk science (bad). To point that out isn’t knee-jerk negativity.
Yehh. Trust Monsanto or trust Rachel Carson. Hmmm.
Saw a big-shot Monsanto spokes-puppet being interviewed recently. Talking about how some Monsanto super-herbicide is totally fine, not dangerous at all — and that, in fact, he would NOT be concerned about drinking it straight. So the interviewer brings out a glass full of liquid, says, “I’ve got some here”. Spokes-puppet gets REALLY pissed off. Says he isn’t stupid and leaves the interview. Hmmmm.
Ah, no. He’s not PAID by Monsanto. He just supports them. Which doesn’t change my point.
Heh, one straight from Erin Brockovich 😉
OK, what was the junk science?
Rachel Carson was wrong and the banning of DDT meant that millions likely died because of the malaria that could have been prevented by killing the mosquitos that carried the disease.
I looked that up on Wikipedia and according to W you are incorrect. DDT is not banned outright, but available and permissible for specific limited targeted projects like malaria hot-spots.
The massive indiscriminate deployment of DDT against malaria in combination with the rapid reproduction cycle of the carriers had the effect of quickly causing resistance against DDT. So DDT lost its effect fairly rapidly and as a result was abandoned for that reason. The overall decline of deployment has by now caused the malaria carriers to lose their immunity, so DDT can again be deployed in a limited but effective way.
The overall problem with DDT (as with countless other products) was that the manufacturers had quick profit as their only goal, instead of long term business consolidation through responsible application of their product.
Carson laid a foundation by producing solid, peer reviewed scientific research, as scientists are supposed to do. Down the line others will build on it, chip away at it and thus advancing our body of knowledge about our environment.
I’m done talking about this. Move on.
‘Woman claims wi-fi is making her sick’ Of course, she does. Along with her aversion to peanuts, lactose, beans, all electrical signals and her husband, this woman is just another in an epidemic of the emotionally-damaged individuals we are producing due to our dumbing down of just about all aspects of this society. Complainers now dominate the medical population with their insane phobias and wildly-exaggerated reactions to anything that goes bump not only in the night but during the day. If you can claim you are sick all of the time then you no longer have to be responsible for your pathetic little life. Queue up here folks: the pharma-giants are working on new pills for your hallucinations. I’m so glad to be a Martian. Lame, carbon-based life forms!
That is so over-the-top, I’m completely unsure if it’s satire or a serious post by some right-wing nutcase who kisses the asses of corporations and believes they never have and never will do anything bad. This is, there are people like that – who think ANY word against our overlords is automatically bullshit.
And I’m just as glad to be a Venusian. These Earthlings are an insufferable bunch, privileged to live with mild weather, rich resources, and a global habitat. Yet their sense of entitlement is grotesque. While you on Mars must make do with a thin atmosphere and reduced magnetosphere, increasing your mutation rate and depressing your metabolism; and we in the greenhouse of Venus gasp for every corrosive breath. Yet humans are the ones to whine. Go figure.
At least she’s saying wi-fi and not just Apple’s AirPort. 😉
Well, she has a physical ailment from an electronic source. Her lawyers need to be planning the case of negligence and malice against Apple! It has deep pockets, so it must ultimately be Apple’s fault, and she has been wronged. Perhaps, they can even sue the neighbors for their EM radiation invading her space!
/s
Back when we used soup cans and string some people complained of string rash. There’s always something.
I recall the story of a small village in Germany where they installed cell phone towers. Citizens started complaining about various symptoms — headaches, dizziness, nausea, back pain, sleeping problems. They complained to the company installing the towers. The leading engineer, upon asked about that, said: “Oh my goodness! I wonder how bad it gets once we hooked these up and turn them on!”
In short, numerous studies did not find any actual effect of power lines, cell phone or wi-fi radiation when the knowledge of the electrics were hidden from the test persons. It’s a pure psychological placebo/nocebo phenomenon based on misinformation and FUD.
She could move to The National Radio Quiet Zone in Virginia and North Virginia, where all EMF is banned for approximately 13,000 square miles. It’s the location of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is a giant radio telescope.
No cell phones, no TV, no radio, no WiFi. Many people with EMF issues have moved there.
Sounds like a nice place.
My name for this kind of bizarre human behavior is ‘The WooWoo Factor.’ Metaphysics or mental derangement, it doesn’t matter. It’s someone’s personal reality. Forget about making sense of it. Walk away. Don’t get infected.
Urban Dictionary: woo woo
Kurt Vonnegut: Breakfast Of Champions
…Dwayne reads the novel, which purports to be a message from the Creator of the Universe explaining that the reader – in this case Dwayne – is the only individual in the universe with free will. Everyone else is a robot. Dwayne believes the novel to be factual and immediately goes on a violent rampage