Dear Councilwoman Maio,
My name is Cyrus Farivar and I am a technology journalist who learned my
trade while a student at UC Berkeley. I wrote for The Daily Californian
and watched the City Council take stands against various issues.
Sometimes those decisions are made with conviction and well-thought out
reasoning, and sometimes those decisions are made with half-baked ideas
that come from somewhere else.
When I found out that the Berkeley City Council was considering building
a citywide WiFi network, I thought to myself that this was a moment of
clear vision. How possibly could there be any downsides to this? Cheap
Internet for all Berkeley residents? How could this be a bad thing?
However, in last night’s City Council meeting you managed to turn a
discussion of wireless Internet access into a soapbox for repeating
something that you heard on KPFA.
I didn’t hear the program that you were referring to, but a few minutes
on Google lead me to the following reputable pieces of research:
I submit to you the following, quoted from the website of the Federal
Drug Administration:
“Do wireless phones pose a health hazard?
The available scientific evidence does not show that any health problems
are associated with using wireless phones. There is no proof, however,
that wireless phones are absolutely safe. Wireless phones emit low
levels of radiofrequency energy (RF) in the microwave range while being
used. They also emit very low levels of RF when in the stand-by mode.
Whereas high levels of RF can produce health effects (by heating
tissue), exposure to low level RF that does not produce heating effects
causes no known adverse health effects. Many studies of low level RF
exposures have not found any biological effects. Some studies have
suggested that some biological effects may occur, but such findings have
not been confirmed by additional research. In some cases, other
researchers have had difficulty in reproducing those studies, or in
determining the reasons for inconsistent results. “
From the American Cancer Society: “Cell phone antennas or towers are unlikely to cause cancer.”
And most recently, from the Electromagnetic Field Committee in The
Netherlands, via Reuters:
“AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – There is no evidence that radiation from mobile
phones or mobile phone and TV towers is harmful to people, but more
investigation is needed, the Dutch Health Council said in a new report
on Wednesday.
The Electromagnetic Fields Committee of the council, which advises the
Dutch government, studied fresh research from around the world published
between 2003 and October 2005, and said the outcome of studies proved
either inconclusive or did not meet scientific criteria.”
While I agree that health concerns are something that should not be
taken lightly, it would seem that the body of evidence would seem to
disprove your concerns.
I hope that the Berkeley City Council will move expeditiously on the
construction of a municipal network. When it is built, I will be among
the first to use it.
Sincerely,
Cyrus Farivar
Oakland, Calif.
