Wireless Health Concerns: Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed?
Over the past few years there have been several news articles based mostly out of Canada claiming adverse health effects of exposure to indoor wireless networks. These constantly seem to come up when schools put RFPs out for wireless systems. A few of the articles can be found here:
The first step towards understanding the differences between cellular wireless and 802.11 wireless is examining the output power of a cell phone handset and a typical indoor 802.11 access point.
Let’s first examine a typical cellular device. The radio waves emitted by a GSM handset can have a peak power of 2 watts.
As an example, the iPhone 4 from AT&T has a radiation rating of 1.17 W/kg. The user manual states “keep iPhone at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) away from the body, and only use carrying cases, belt clips, or holders that do not have metal parts and that maintain at least 15 mm (5/8 inch) separation between iPhone and the body.”
To contrast, the maximum output power of an indoor 802.11 wireless access point is 100 milliwats, and 1 milliwatt is equal to 0.001 watt. To put it another way, an indoor access point operating at its maximum output power is 11 times less powerful than the power output of a typical cell phone handset. Today’s indoor wireless designs do not call for the access points to operate at the maximum output power. It is more common for them to be operating with an output power of 25mW. An indoor access point operating at its recommended output power of 25mW is 46.8 times less powerful than a typical cell phone handset.
Ultimately can we say that the risks are plausible, confirmed, or busted? No. The World Health Organization has classified RF transmissions as a carcinogen concern but let’s face it, is there ANYTHING out there today that doesn’t get that classification?
Stay tuned for a podcast episode soon discussing this very matter and how Wireless VARs are combating these claims!