Study: Proliferation of Wi-Fi and cellphones linked to childhood autism

Study: Proliferation of Wi-Fi and cellphones linked to childhood autism

www.computerweekly.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This really highlights the true lack of understanding about what is causing aurism. This and many other factors may be behind the surge in numbers. The anti vaccine crowd with thier blinders on will cry foul over something or another, but the fact remains there is no smoking gun as far as vaccinations are concerned and autism.

www.computerweekly.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Hmm.

Given that autism has existed for a long time, preceeding Wi-Fi networks, and was often just categorised as people being "different", "difficult", "retarded", "insane" or just plain "dumb" I'd say that this study has to be somewhat dubious.

reply to post by FredT

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Perhaps early on in life, soon to be autistic kids who have a lot of heavy metal build up in their nervous systems are exposed to the rf energy from cell phone towers or home networks, and because of the excess metal in their bodies, the RF energy causes changes...

Most forms of energy, electrical anyways love metal...

Just an "off the top of my head" thought

Peace

its cell phones not thermisol yay ya im sure i have this shot called leadosol its made from lead but i changed the name to Leadasol so now you must take it.

And it doesnt cause lead poisining.
Cell phones do and wifi!!!!

Didnt you say practically the same thing in the thermisol thread?

I think all this article highlights, as Fred said, is our lack of understanding of autism. I dont think we will see a smoking gun from any published study.

I'm building a house. I just had a guy come in to plan the utp network. We talked about the wifi health issue, bad feng shui etc. He said the power from wifi is miniscule compared to the power from a cell phone (by a factor of hundreds if not thousands). Sorry can't remember the exact details, some techie out there can confirm, but it was an eye opener.) Also, cell phone radiation is approx 6 inches from the brain, wifi is just a bit further away

Point is, any study that lists cell phones together with wifi is like comparing the wake of the Titanic with that of a row boat ... according to this dude.

Just throwing it in.

PS. nice one Fred, using a cell phone radiation post to take a shot at the anti vac crowd

As the OP made it open season to talk vaccines, I'm still waiting for someone to post ANYTHING that proves or even substantially suggests that vaccines actually work. 3 threads, 400+ posts and counting, and still nothing....

ciao for now

edit: of course when I refer to wifi, I'm referring to home networks, not this super wifi stuff that covers entire cities (is that widespread now?)

[edit on 21-11-2007 by RogerT]

reply to post by RogerT

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Found this:

huizen.deds.nl...



Phones are closer to 1 Watt I think. Correct me if this is nonsense.
Ta.

Most WLAN (802.11b/g) devices are 2.4 GHz and anywhere from 30-60mW. Cell phones, on the other hand, are anywhere from 30mW (standby) to maybe 500mW when in use, but on different frequencies from WiFi. The lowest of which I'm aware is 850 MHz, with the highest being 1.9 GHz.

It'd probably best not to use cell phones excessively, but really, the amount of energy they output is fairly small considering all the radiation to which we're exposed each day. Whether it's man-made, solar or cosmic in origin, the only different with cell phones and wireless devices is that they tend to be somewhat close to your body.

As far as causing autism, unless some cell providers have started marketing a FetusPhone, I don't think that's the issue.

My thoughts on this news article can best be summed up by the following:

image source: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/firefox_wicca.png

Could be. Geeks have a higher rate of emission than non-geeks. That would explain the Geek Syndrome; There is a higher rate of autism among children whos parents are scientists, engineers, etc.

A coincidence is not causality, though. It could also be that people who are more likely to go into technical careers (scientists, engineers, etc.,) have genetics that carry a higher risk of autism in their offspring. The truth is that nobody really knows what causes it.

Really. Wow, that's quite interesting in it own right. Got any links I can take a look at? (genuine question, NO sarcasm intended)

shoran, I tend to agree as the correlation appears to be in families where both parents are in a technical field. It could be that big_brain_gene + big_brain_gene = big_messed_up_brain. Maybe that's why I... nevermind.

There's also the problem of radiation penetrating the womb. Down in 800mhz passes through just fine, but shorter wavelengths like PCS (1.9ghz) and WiFi (2.4ghz) have a hard time passing through water. Amniotic fluid is mostly water.

Of course, that rationale would depend on it being correct that autism develops in the womb and not during infancy. As twins are more likely to come as an autistic pair, indicating a genetic component, it may not really matter.

RogerT, www.wired.com..., www.time.com..., or just google "geek syndrome"

[edit on 22-11-2007 by apc]

reply to post by apc

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Thanks for those links, a fascinating read.

I've always held to the belief that genetics will determine which 'conditions' the body adopts and the lifestyle will determine whether or not it happens.

So the idea is that the 'geek' is mildly autistic, hence the insular and 'overly' technical attitudes and behaviours, and Silicon valley and such places bring the 'geeks' together, hence doubling the chance of genetic hand down. Makes sense.

For me though, this doesn't highlight a possible cause of autism, just a genetic predisposition towards it, and possibly a concentration of individuals as a good case study.

I can't really see any credible reason for attaching that evidence with the wifi/cellphone factor. I doubt the 'geeks' are the highest users of cellphones as a group.

I'd bet that autism triggers are multiple rather than singular, and the evidence for vaccinations being one of them, if not the main one, is very compelling, especially given the timing of the onset of Autism.

The Amish studies are perhaps the most stunning evidence I've seen to date, and unless there are big holes in the data, point quite squarely at vaccination as at least one smoking gun.

PS. Don't like the word geek, it seems disparaging, just using it as that's what the 'syndrome' is called. Apologies for any offence.