4 ms·

Cellphones or Wi-Fi today are like cigarettes in the '50s. A huge lobby pretend they are just fine, people are in denial because they love them and we lack of l

by kome 10y ago

Cellphones or Wi-Fi today are like cigarettes in the '50s. A huge lobby pretend they are just fine, people are in denial because they love them and we lack of longitudinal data about their effects on health. But thanks to further research, and time, we are starting to understand better the effects of cellphone radiation on health. The World Health Organization already had a rapport in 2011 about cellphones possible dangers: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/31/who.cell.phones/ http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/31/who.cell.phones/ Meanwhile, people should learn to use cellphones in a healthy way, and not living 24/24h with them (during sleep, for example). And at home would be better using cables instead of Wi-Fi...

1337biz 10y ago
> Cellphones or wi-fi today are like cigarettes in the '40s. That is exactly the same question I am always asking. But with most controversial topics this could be true.
- Johnythree 10y ago
  When the statistical evidence for Cigarette usage was closely examined it was immediately obvious that there was a link with health. But we have hundreds of detailed studies of Radio and Health, and no reproducible link has ever been found. You can't have it both ways. To conflate the two is simply wrong. The evidence doesn't support your argument.
  - andy_ppp 10y ago
    Agreed, exercise, smoking and alcohol are likely to be hundreds of times more effective at stopping cancer than giving up your mobile phone, wifi and bluetooth devices.
  - dalu 10y ago
    > But we have hundreds of detailed studies of Radio and Health, and no reproducible link has ever been found. What about http://www.bioinitiative.org/ http://www.bioinitiative.org/
tim333 10y ago
Cellphones or Wi-Fi today are unlike cigarettes in the '50s in that if you run the numbers cigarettes cause loads of deaths (maybe 10 years off lifespan) while the effects of Cellphones and Wi-Fi if they cause any harm are so small as to be pretty much undetectable (see eg http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/your-cellphone-absolutely-will-not-give-you-brain-cancer http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/your-cellphone-absolutely...). If there's a modern equivalent to cigarettes it's probably air pollution which can probably knock about a decade off your life in the worst places. ("Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a new study examining 20 years of data has determined."...). Or maybe sugary food.
- tedsanders 10y ago
  Don't put faith in that Chinese pollution study. Their "statistically significant" discontinuity in life expectancy only happened because they chose to fit the data with a strange third order polynomial plus step function. Take a look at the data behind that China pollution study and see if you would draw the same fit line: http://andrewgelman.com/2013/08/05/evidence-on-the-impact-of-sustained-use-of-polynomial-regression-on-causal-inference-a-claim-that-coal-heating-is-reducing-lifespan-by-5-years-for-half-a-billion-people/ http://andrewgelman.com/2013/08/05/evidence-on-the-impact-of... There's so much bad science in the world. :(
ars 10y ago
Callphone? Maybe. Wi-Fi? No way. That is way too low power. What about TV? Or Radio? No one seems to ever talk about them.
alexandre_m 10y ago
I think we should talk about EMF in general, not just WiFi. It's fair to say we don't have enough data to prove there's no link with cancer or health effects in the long term, yet.

by kome 10y ago

1337biz 10y ago

> Cellphones or wi-fi today are like cigarettes in the '40s. That is exactly the same question I am always asking. But with most controversial topics this could be true.

Johnythree 10y ago
When the statistical evidence for Cigarette usage was closely examined it was immediately obvious that there was a link with health. But we have hundreds of detailed studies of Radio and Health, and no reproducible link has ever been found. You can't have it both ways. To conflate the two is simply wrong. The evidence doesn't support your argument.
- andy_ppp 10y ago
  Agreed, exercise, smoking and alcohol are likely to be hundreds of times more effective at stopping cancer than giving up your mobile phone, wifi and bluetooth devices.
- dalu 10y ago
  > But we have hundreds of detailed studies of Radio and Health, and no reproducible link has ever been found. What about http://www.bioinitiative.org/ http://www.bioinitiative.org/

tim333 10y ago

Cellphones or Wi-Fi today are unlike cigarettes in the '50s in that if you run the numbers cigarettes cause loads of deaths (maybe 10 years off lifespan) while the effects of Cellphones and Wi-Fi if they cause any harm are so small as to be pretty much undetectable (see eg http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/your-cellphone-absolutely-will-not-give-you-brain-cancer http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/your-cellphone-absolutely...). If there's a modern equivalent to cigarettes it's probably air pollution which can probably knock about a decade off your life in the worst places. ("Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a new study examining 20 years of data has determined."...). Or maybe sugary food.

tedsanders 10y ago
Don't put faith in that Chinese pollution study. Their "statistically significant" discontinuity in life expectancy only happened because they chose to fit the data with a strange third order polynomial plus step function. Take a look at the data behind that China pollution study and see if you would draw the same fit line: http://andrewgelman.com/2013/08/05/evidence-on-the-impact-of-sustained-use-of-polynomial-regression-on-causal-inference-a-claim-that-coal-heating-is-reducing-lifespan-by-5-years-for-half-a-billion-people/ http://andrewgelman.com/2013/08/05/evidence-on-the-impact-of... There's so much bad science in the world. :(

ars 10y ago

Callphone? Maybe. Wi-Fi? No way. That is way too low power. What about TV? Or Radio? No one seems to ever talk about them.

alexandre_m 10y ago

I think we should talk about EMF in general, not just WiFi. It's fair to say we don't have enough data to prove there's no link with cancer or health effects in the long term, yet.