On 2015-09-08 16:23 Glen Turner wrote:

> The inverse-square law suggests that transmitters which are further away -- 
> wifi, radio base stations, etc -- aren't a concern for disease.

Just as a nitpick, an antenna doesn't normally radiate according to an 
inverse-square law.  In particular, TV transmitting antennae such as those at 
Gore Hill in Sydney are engineered to direct the available power according to 
need, so for example they would transmit more towards the western suburbs and 
relatively little toward New Zealand.  Also ground effects very close to an 
antenna can result in small areas of very high or low signal strength.


> They might be a concern for a sensitivity, but that's a very generous 
> statement. The sheer number of people suddenly claiming a sensitivity after 
> so many years of mobile towers makes me doubt on the condition.

I agree that EM sensitivity and health risk are separate issues.  The latter 
seems to be much more of a worry with medical opinion supporting both pro & con 
positions, complicated by vested interests.  But it's also true that EM 
radiation can be easily and reproducibly shown to have some biological effects, 
whether or not they cause cancer and/or sensitivity.

Even if there's no physical basis to perceived RF sensitivity and the people 
interviewed in the Weekend Herald article are suffering from psychogenic 
conditions, I think they should still be taken seriously.  Maybe there's some 
commonality between "EHS" and windfarm "illness", maybe a rejection of 
modernity, or the unknown, or simple distrust of the authorities who impose 
these technologies (particularly when huge commercial interests are at stake).

Think James Hardie, the tobacco manufacturers, the long procession through ICAC 
re mining licences....

David L.
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