craig mathias
Principal

Allergic to Wi-Fi?

Opinion
May 28, 20082 mins

There is apparently a large number of folks in Santa Fe, NM, claiming they are allergic to Wi-Fi.

I just saw this on Yahoo (yes, I still look at Yahoo’s home page from time to time), and wanted to pass it along. First, have a look at the story and then the video, keeping an open mind. As I’ve said for some time, the only possibility that can derail wireless is a proven link between exposure to consumer-grade radiation and clearly consequential negative impacts on human health or safety. Do we have that here?

It looks, if we believe the claims in the items above, like we may indeed have a cluster of electrosensitive individuals in Santa Fe. OK, open mind or not, I’m doubtful that this case will result in a clear, broad-based cause-and-effect relationship being established, but more investigation is certainly indicated – this could be the smoking gun. I seriously doubt it, again, but it is possible. And, of course, this is unlikely to be the last word on the subject regardless.

I remain confident that there will be no such relationship established except in very, very rare circumstances, and to my knowledge we’ve yet to see any proven connection anywhere, even in one, single case. But let’s have a detailed, scientific investigation, in the hope that we can put this issue to bed once if not for all.

craig mathias

Craig J. Mathias is a principal with Farpoint Group, an advisory firm specializing in wireless networking and mobile computing. Founded in 1991, Farpoint Group works with technology developers, manufacturers, carriers and operators, enterprises, and the financial community. Craig is an internationally-recognized industry and technology analyst, consultant, conference speaker, author, columnist, and blogger. He regularly writes for Network World, CIO.com, and TechTarget. Craig holds an Sc.B. degree in Computer Science from Brown University, and is a member of the Society of Sigma Xi and the IEEE.

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