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Group Wants Wi-Fi Banned, Citing Allergy

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the oh-you-gotta-be-kidding-me dept.

54mc writes "A small group in Santa Fe, New Mexico is claiming that the city is discriminating against them by having wireless networks in public buildings. How are these buildings discriminatory? Simple. These people are allergic to Wi-Fi. And they're suing the city." I've been trying to sue people for the streetlights that I'm allergic to as well.

5 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. Three words... by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "double blind test."

    Allergic?, yeah sure you are.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  2. It's all in the mind. by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Phone mast allergy 'in the mind'

    However, when tests were carried out in which neither the experimenter or participant knew if the mast was on or off, the number of symptoms reported was not related to whether a signal was being emitted or not.
    Two of the 44 sensitive individuals correctly judged if it was on or off in all six tests, as did five out of 114 control participants. So, perhaps a few double blind tests are in order.
  3. Get used to suffering. by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FTA: Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones. "I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said

    Well then, looks like you'd better move to the middle of nowhere, rather than trying to live in a fairly large city.

    Even If:
    1) A physiological basis existed for having an autoimmune response to RF,
    2) Only the 2.4GHz range of frequencies triggers it (since we literally live in a sea of RF, including from natural sources),
    3) The 9th circuit accepts "electrosensitivity" as a valid "disability", and
    4) The city backs down on this...

    Well, given all that - What do you plan to do about the 50,000 nonmunicipal WAPs in your area? The FAA, NOAA, and military radar installations scattered around the country? Or for that matter, the microwave ovens found in every home and restauraunt in the country?


    And even if you have a legitimate complaint - Welcome to the real world, where no one cares about your pitiful psychosomatic response to spoooooooky radio waves. Get a shrink, get used to chest pain, or move to Afghanistan.

  4. Re:Yes I'd like to see that by MagdJTK · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And no one knows why cancer rates have increased so much in the last few years.

    We know full well why more people are getting cancer. Improvements in medicine have reduced the mortality rates of other diseases hugely and improvements in vacinations have vastly reduced the number of people who even get potentially deadly diseases like mumps and measles, so more people survive to get cancer.

    Put another way, if we shot everyone at the age of 40, I can guarantee that cancer rates would plummet. If we irradicated every other type of disease (including old age) then everyone would get cancer eventually.

  5. Re:Yes I'd like to see that by Dipsomaniac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Part of it isn't even that people are necessarily getting more cancer. Doctors are finding more cancer. More testing and better testing will have that effect.