Limits
Sought on Wireless Internet Access
By JOHN
MARKOFF
AN FRANCISCO,
Dec. 16 - The Defense Department, arguing that an increasingly popular
form of wireless Internet access could interfere with military radar,
is seeking new limits on the technology, which is seen as a rare bright
spot for the communications industry.
Industry
executives, including representatives from Microsoft and Intel, met last
week with Defense Department officials to try to stave off that effort,
which includes a government proposal now before the global overseer of
radio frequencies.
The military
officials say the technical restrictions they are seeking are necessary
for national security. Industry executives, however, say they would threaten
expansion of technology like the so-called WiFi systems being used for
wireless Internet in American airports, coffee shops, homes and offices.
WiFi use
is increasingly heavy in major American metropolitan areas, and similar
systems are becoming popular in Europe and Asia. As the technology is
installed in millions of portable computers and in antennas in many areas,
industry executives acknowledge that high-speed wireless Internet access
will soon crowd the radio frequencies used by the military. But industry
executives say new types of frequency spectrum sharing techniques could
keep civilian users from interfering with radar systems.
The debate,
which involves low-power radio emissions that the Defense Department says
may jam as many as 10 types of radar systems in use by United States military
forces, presents a thorny policy issue for the Bush administration.
Even as
the armed forces monitor United States air space for signs of military
or terrorist attacks and gear up for a possible war with Iraq, the nation's
technology companies hope that the popularity of wireless Internet access
will help pull their industry out of its two-year slump. New limits on
that technology could help undermine the economic recovery on which the
administration is also pinning its hopes.
"Nobody,
including the Pentagon, doubts that this is important for consumers and
industry," said Steven Price, deputy assistant secretary of defense
for radio spectrum matters. "The problem comes when it degrades our
military capabilities."
So far,
though, there have been no reports of civilian wireless Internet use interfering
with military radar, Edmond Thomas, chief of the office of engineering
and technology for the Federal Communications Commission, said.
Industry
executives say that military uses can coexist with the millions of smart
wireless Internet devices that can sense the nearby use of military radar
and automatically yield the right of way. These devices are in use in
Europe and will soon be used in the United States.
But Pentagon
officials say that the new digital technologies are unproven and could
interfere with various types of military radar systems, whether ones used
for tracking storms, monitoring aircraft or guiding missiles and other
weapons.
The Pentagon
wants regulators to delay consideration of opening an additional swath
of radio frequencies in the 5-gigahertz band that is eagerly sought by
American technology companies and is already in civilian use internationally.
In this
country, industry executives and some members of Congress see new spectrum-sharing
technologies as a way to jump-start innovation and commerce. Last month,
for example, Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, and her
Republican colleague Senator George Allen of Virginia, said that they
would introduce a bill in the next session of Congress to expand the radio
spectrum available for wireless Internet use.
The military-industry
debate also involves the merits of a technical standard known as dynamic
frequency selection, which is being used by advanced wireless Internet
radios overseas to avoid interference.
Military
officials are asking the American industry, and companies in other countries,
to create and install even more sensitive versions of dynamic frequency
selection - something that the companies say may cause the technology
to operate incorrectly. American executives say that the military's demands
may also curtail the capacity of wireless Internet services and could
even force a complicated redesign of millions of computer communications
systems already in place or nearly ready for shipment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/technology/17WIRE.html
Informant:
Volker Hartenstein, Member of the Bavarian Parliament also for the attached
document "COST281 - watchdog"
Dialog
between Iris and Miguel
Dear Miguel
Concerning what you wrote about the WHO study, I want to say that in Israel
it is said that the study is not fund by the industry, but by Europeen
Commission/union. And this was said by the israeli epidimiologist who
is taking part in the research in the israeli arm of it, her name is Dr
Sigal Sadezki.
A very big
conference in Israel about the environment is happeneing these days, all
the citizens in Israel are invited. Also a special part about the non-ionizing
radiation already took place on the 18.12.2002.
The most known specialists in Israel, whose opinion it taken very seriously,
they are the ones from the center of research of radiation, "Sorek"
they are considered the most serious experts in Israel. They gave lectures
also and there was also the representative of Israel in the WHO called
Shialal Kandel. She said "we don't know" (damages from cellular
phones), no proof etc. This people now made a special booklet very invested
(the look, the colors, the quality of pages) about celullar phone.
I will write
you some things from there, they distribute it in the country for the
people: "Is exposure to electromagnetic radiation in the radiofrequency
range dangerous to health? In high frequencies the radiaion causes to
the heating of the tissue, and to biological damages which are called
"thermal effect". But, by the last scientific knowledge, exposure
to electromagnetic radiation under a certain level does not cause damages.
This level is a lot higher than the level we are exopsed to in the daily
life. There are reseaches and scientists who claim about damages of non-thermal
levels, also in low levels, but they are not proven".
"How can one explain the heating feeling in the ear or head during
a conversation? Probably, this feeling is derived from the heating of
the battery and the handset, like electrical equipment and this is not
connected to the radiation".
"Do cellular telephones cause to headaches, dizziness, fatigue and
so on? Many users complain about that. By the scientific knowledge, it's
likely they are not because of radiation, but not enough studies were
conducted which could find out if the telephone causes it and if so what
is the reason. Maybe these phenomenons exist, but they are derived from
reasons that are not connected to the radiation like bad hearing, not
convenient way of holding the handset, tension etc.
"Are some people more sensitive to the radiation? Maybe, but the
phenomenon of "Electrical Hypersensitivity" is not proven.
Is there a recommendation to less exposure to the cellular phones? It
seems that the phone doesn't cause damages to health, so probably there
is no reason to a general recommendation like that. Still, worried people
about health damages can decide to lower their exposure by a lower SAR
rate or other.
Can cellular phone radiation cause cancer? Probably not. Generally, the
opinion of the professional bodies in the world, electromagnetic radiation
does not count as a carcinogen, but there is a need for vast further research
which will take several more years until it can be determined in high
certainty.
I remind you the case of the 14 cancers and dead animals up to 700 meters
from cellular base stations, and from a conversation with a nurse in a
hospital, she tells about a boy with a tumor in the acustic nerve in his
ear. He said from his own initiation: "I used to talk a lot on the
cell phone with this ear." She says it's not the only case.
All the best
Iris
Answer Dr.
Miguel Mutané
The general
public and the industry must have health security measures MAKE CERTAIN
AND DO NOT SUGGEST.
1. She said
"we don't know". Evasive expression ...kept . during more than....
50 years.
2. High
frequencies the radiation causes to the heating of the tissue, and to
biological damages which are called "thermal effect".
Thermal
effect only in DEGREE 9 (SCALE NINE DEGREES) About 6 meters in Base Station
and about 0.05 meters in a mobile telephone (Hand, brain).
3. Last
scientific knowledge does not cause damages.
Dr. Neil
Cherry (27 Oct. 2000)Leif Salfords research on microwaves and the Blood
Brain Barrier is probably very relevant. The BBB protects the brain from
toxins and viruses. About 2 minutes on a cell phone can open the BBB and
allow toxins, including prions, into the brain.
Dr. Neil
Cherry. (May 2000). "Electromagnetic Radiation is damaging to Brains,
Hearts, Embryos, Hormones and Cells. It is therefore a threat to Intelligent
Hearty Life. Electromagnetic radiation resonantly interacts with bodies
and cells, Interfering with cell-to-cell communication, cell growth and
regulation, and is damaging the genetic basis of life."
Christoffer
Johansen. Research director for cancer. He says "...the temperaturen
inside the brain of Denmarks ca. 4 million mobile subscribers increases
with 1/4 degree (centigrade) after 1/2 hours use...this causes concentration
difficulties..."
He suggests
that the antenna should be moved outside the car, to decrease the risk.
4. They
are not proven" (Evasive expression and Delaying tactic.)
Dr. George
Carlo said (October 1999): "Since I presented my findings, which
they found surprising, they have failed to do anything. In that time there
have been another 15 million users in the States and thousands more in
Britain. "From a consumer point of view the delaying tactic is not
good but from a business point of view its great".
5. "How
can one explain the heating feeling in the ear or head during a conversation?
Probably,
this feeling is derived from the heating of the battery and the handset,
like electrical Equipment and this is not connected to the radiation".
5.1 Report
of Professor Kasevich. Published in IEEE Spectrum, U.S.A.
Mr. Kasevich,
founder of KAI Technologies, Inc. has 30 years of corporate research and
development experience in electromagnetic science and engineering applications.
Profesor Kasevich (August 2002) "We have more than enough experimental
evidence to question the validity of formulating standards that take only
thermal effects into account."
5.2, Dr
N. Hankin. The Guidelines do not protect the health of all the alterations.
Letter of
Norbert Hankin of EPA to EMR Network (Julio 2002). EPA is the Organism
of Protection of Radiation of the Environmental Protection Agency into
the U.S.A.
Dr Norbert
Hankin informs into the protection against the Thermal effects of the
microwaves in the Guidelines does not mean to protect the health of all
the alterations.
Dr Norbert
Hankin (July 2002). "The FCC's exposure guideline is considered protective
of effects arising from a thermal mechanism but not from all possible
mechanisms. Therefore, the generalization by many that the guidelines
protect human beings from harm by any or all mechanisms is not justified."
5.3. Mechanical
agitation of molecules and cells: Risk of Irrational violence.
Dr. Madeleine
Bastide (Montpellier University). France shows that the low frequency
of mobile phones generates malfunction in the system which controls stress.
Concludes that this phenomenon may be responsible for the increase of
violence observed in areas exposed to mobile phone and base station fields.
5.4. The
molecular agitation by microwaves is mechanical. IEEE Spectrum.
Profesor
Kasevich (August 2002) Electromagnetic theory and decades of experiments
clearly indicate that the electromagnetic fields of radio and microwaves
can also affect cells mechanically, without producing significant amounts
of heat. The relevant physics starts with the fact that all living things
absorb and scatter electromagnetic waves. As they do so, they convert,
on a molecular level, the electromagnetic fields of the waves into mechanical
forces. Our bodies are full of ions - in nerve endings, in cell nuclei,
in muscles. In addition, the body's most common molecules, including water,
have an irregular distribution of charge, so that they are influenced
by an electric field (or a magnetic field if the ions or molecules are
moving. Thus electromagnetic fields can physically move, reorient, or
even alter molecules or ions-or their distributions - in the body. They
can affect the rate of chemical reactions and the ability of molecules
to pass through a membrane.
5.5. To
focus attention on the alteration of the "Blood-Brain Barrier".
Profesor
Kasevich (August 2002) Possible links between molecular or cellular effects
and human health are controversial, but a number of experts are focusing
their attention on the blood-brain barrier. This physiological complex,
which includes as its primary line of defense the cellular lining of capillaries
in the brain, shields the brain and central nervous system
from foreign and harmful substances. The barrier also seems to control
the concentrations of ions in cerebral tissue. Radiation-caused movements
or alterations of ions and molecules can be particularly vigorous when
they are caused by electromagnetic pulses that are sharp and intense.
5.6. The
Blood-Brain Barrier and "tiny gabs between the cells".
Professor
Leszcynski (July 2002) The study found that exposure caused increased
activity in a protein called hsp27 linked to the functioning of the blood-brain
barrier. "[Increased protein activity] might cause cells to shrink-not
the blood vessels but the cells themselves-and then tiny gaps come between
those cells through which some molecules could pass." "The blood-brain
barrier has been shown to be affected by radiation in animal studies.
There is a lot of uncertainty about whether this happens in humans. We
have shown some biological effects. If it did happen it could lead to
disturbances, such as headaches, feeling tired or problems with sleeping.
A study
by a Swedish research group even suggested it could lead to Alzheimer's
disease." He also stated that a study by French scientists found
similar results in rats.
6. Can cellular
phone radiation cause cancer?
Probably
... not. Generally, the opinion of the professional bodies.
7. THE "MAIN
HEALTH PROBLEM": THE "MOBILE PHONE RADIATION IN THE BRAIN"
Risk associated
to the use of mobile telephone. Dr K.H. Mild and Dr. L. Hardell. Professors
Kjell Hansson Mild, Umeaa, Sweden and Lennart Hardell, Stockholm have
published their report in the European Journal of Cancer. (22 August 2002).
Among those who had used NMT-mobilphones there was a 30% higher risk to
get a brain tumor. The longer they had used the phone, the greater the
risk. For those who had used the NMT-telephone for more than 10 years,
the risk was 80% higher. The risk to get a tumor on the side of the head
where the phone was used was 2.5 times greater than on the other side.
Both professors
think that the present accepted safety level of radiation for mobilphones
is too high. Instead of the present standard of 2 W/ kg, it should have
been 0.02 W/kg.
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