Municipal Wi-Fi and Trees - The Silence of the Lambs

I wonder about the trees;

Why do we wish to bear

Forever the noise of these

More than another noise

So close to our dwelling-place?

Robert Frost, The Sound of Trees

The American say “three (3) strikes you’re out” in baseball. Looks like that may be the case for the Telecoms Industry as we currently know it, as evidence has now surfaced from very credible sources that Electromagnetic Radiation, specifically utilizing frequencies in the 2.5GHz and 5.0GHz range, has some noticeable and replicable effect on living matter, specifically trees.

So says CNET News Blogger Rich Trenholm in his article entitled “Wi-Fi is killing trees, study finds”, published 22 November 2010, 1:27pm By Rich Trenholm, CNET News - Crave as well as IDG Reporter René Schoemaker in her article entitled “Wi-Fi makes Trees Sick, Study says”, published Friday November 19 2010 By René Schoemaker, Business Center - IDG News, PCWorld.

Why do I get an eerie feeling about this five (5) year study conducted at the behest of Dutch citizens living in Alphen aan den Rijn (hello Amsterdam!!) back in 2005 by Wageningen University? It seems to have a familiar ring……as if I have heard this somewhere before, or written on this very same subject.

It does! I had written about it in two articles entitled “Telecom Providers and Electromagnetic Radiation - The Silent Killer of Honeybees” as well as a follow-up article entitled “Honeybees and the American Economy - The French Connection”.

It sounds a lot like a recent experiment that was conducted by the Punjab University researchers Ved Prakash Sharma and Neelima Kumar, the authors of the report in the Journal Current Science that indicated that radiation from Telecom Providers was affecting Honeybees (Apis Mellifera) as stated in the article “Mobile phones responsible for disappearance of honey bee”, published 29 May 2010 8:00AM BST by Dean Nelson in New Delhi, UK Telegraph, right?

The body of evidence is growing against the Telecom Providers, now finding it hard to explain away these studies that do suggest, albeit not conclusively, that there is some connection between the health of living organisms and their exposure to concentrated forms of Electromagnetic Radiation.

There is also another pattern I notice; any report on Manmade Electromagnetic Radiation affecting living creatures always ends up as being inconclusive, even after being conducted over several years. Such is the case with the study by the WHO (World Health Organization), the Health Watch dog of the UN (United Nations) as stated in the article “Results of cell phone cancer study inconclusive”, published Monday May 17 2010 by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Health Tech.

This is also documented in the article on WikiPedia entitled “Mobile phone radiation and health”, viewed Monday May 17 2010 by Wikipedia.

If I wasn’t thinking straight, I would say there is a conspiracy afoot, as this particular UN study, which was 25% funded by Telecom Providers and Mobile Phone Handset Makers lasting a decade (2000 to 2010) and costing US$24 million dollars, the biggest study of them all, still manages to only conclude that there is no connection between glioma and meningioma and you are safe if you hold the phone about ten (10) centimeters or four (4) inches away.

Bluetooth headset makers must be thrilled at the news, making me again get conspiratorial minded, as per my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and Electromagnetic Radiation - The Silent Killer of Honeybees”.

With all this “Inconclusive Virus” going around and no-one in any study wanting to claim that their study is conclusive, fearing that they would offend the Telecom Gods, one wonders, what can the average customer do? After all, my blog is not about regurgitating the news, but rather suggesting solution or explaining that which is hidden from the public. 

A suggested solution would be for the Government of Jamaica to not only commission its own long term study into the potential effects of all these Wireless Networks, be they 3G, WiMax 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) but also list the SAR (Specific Absorptivity Rate) of each mobile instruments and modems that they retail to customers, so that they can make more informed choices about the phones that they purchase.

At least Telecom Provider Digicel is being honest, with their Google based map showing their true WiMaX Coverage for all to see on their website!