SF City Government dodging Environmental Review for Wi-Fi

Report Warns of Possible Health Risks of Google/Earthlink WiFi Network

A report filed by the San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union (SNAFU)
with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors warns of potential adverse
health and environmental impacts that could result from a proposed
Google/Earthlink WiFi network. Dr. Magda Havas, an environmental scientist
at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, prepared the scientific analysis of
the project, which SNAFU submitted in support of its appeal challenging
Mayor Gavin Newsom's citywide WiFi proposal. The Board of Supervisors will
hear SNAFU's appeal on July 10, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. in City Hall.

"SNAFU is requesting that the proposed Google/Earthlink WiFi network undergo
environmental review before it is approved due to our concern about adverse
health and environmental impacts," said Doug Loranger, a SNAFU spokesperson.

Dr. Havas, who specializes in electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure health
effects, writes that while there have been no studies to date on the effects
of exposure to WiFi, the potential for harm can best be seen by examining
the scientific evidence emerging from studies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere
on people living near cell phone antennas. These studies report adverse
biological and health effects at radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposures
well below levels the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says are safe.

Havas' report discusses a number of health effects that have been documented
at levels below the FCC exposure limit, including headaches, insomnia,
memory loss, slowed reaction time, impaired motor function, DNA breakage and
childhood leukemia. These effects occur at levels constituting a small
percentage of the safety threshold set by the FCC under its RFR exposure
guidelines. Havas also points out that the FCC guidelines are based on
short-term exposures (30 minutes) and do not take into consideration the
long-term exposures characteristic of a citywide WiFi network.

A study prepared by certified engineer Mitch Maifeld of Zenzic Research also
submitted with SNAFU's appeal calculates the potential RFR exposure levels
of the WiFi antennas proposed by Google/Earthlink. Maifeld prepared
calculations based on exposures to residents living in close proximity to
the antennas, which would be mounted on light and utility poles in
neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. According to Havas, these
calculations reveal that residents may be exposed to radiation levels high
enough to potentially induce adverse health effects.

In scientific terms, the Google/Earthlink antennas could expose residents to
RFR levels more than 50 times higher than levels associated with a
significant increase in headaches, sleep disturbances and dizziness detected
in a study conducted in Spain. According to Maifeld's calculations,
wireless laptop users could expect exposure levels from a combination of
antennas and laptop more than 350 times greater than the levels in the
aforementioned Spanish study.

Havas' findings reveal a major lapse in public health protection offered by
the FCC RFR exposure guidelines. Her report shows that health effects in
the scientific literature appear at levels almost 10,000 times lower than
those permitted by the FCC. Havas' opinions are shared by scientists
worldwide who have signed the Benevento Resolution, which recommends
"proposals for city-wide wireless access systems (e.g. WiFi or equivalent
technologies) should require public review of potential EMF exposure." (See
http://www.icems.eu.)

"Because the City and County of San Francisco is acting as a proprietor and
party to a contract with Google/Earthlink and not in its regulatory
capacity, it is not preempted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 from
fully considering the health issues as it is when cell phone carriers seek
to place antennas in the City," Loranger added.

Nancy Evans, a health science consultant with the Breast Cancer Fund, said,
"We are calling upon the Board of Supervisors to apply the Precautionary
Principle, which is a City ordinance, in addressing our concerns by
conducting an environmental study before any decisions are made."

Copies of the Havas and Maifeld reports, along with SNAFU's appeal, may be
found at the Council on Wireless Technology Impacts (CWTI) website at
http://www.energyfields.org.

For additional information, visit SNAFU's website at
http://www.antennafreeunion.org.

You are full of crap. There is NO, repeat NO scientific evidence of "harm" from living near these structures.

You just don't want the poor to have wireless. Admit it. That's your only defense.

Your endless luddlite whining about technology is wasting our time. If you want to live in a rural village, then please fucking do so and stop complaining about this most ordinary technology.

According to wikipedia, there is "currently no scientific literature on the effects of wLAN and Bluetooth technologies" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_electronic_devices_and_health

Could be useful data to publish if someone were to do a study on sf residents by proximity to wireless access points...

If you need convincing that the wireless industry is burying its head in the sand when it comes to investigating health effects of low level EMF, google for "George Carlo emf". Dr. George Carlo started to investigate the question in the early 1990's and was basicly shut down and shut out by the wireless industry. His preliminary investigation did find correlations between low level emf from cell phones and health effects such as headaches and brain cancer.

There is some evidence out there that the real danger from driving while talking on a cell phone is not the distraction from handling the keypad and the steering wheel at the same time, but the increased reaction times under the influence of the emf from the cell phone. The claim is that a person talking on a cell phone has a reaction time comparable to a drunk driver. That wasn't some quack doctor that funded that study. It was done by the auto insurance industry bean counters.

Reference: http://www.oxygenmedicine.com/cellphones.html