Oh PULLEEASE!!!
I wonder if the concerned parents use their cellular or cordless phones near their kids, let their kids talk on them....??? Do their kids have their own cell phones?? Do the kids operate or live near electrical appliances, power lines, television sets? Does their MP3 player or headset employ BlueTooth? Does the family use FRS radios?
The conversation goes to exposure values and limits ... YES, high doses of specific RF exposure can alter tissue and life forms - an 800W 2.4 GHz microwave oven is not healthy for cats, gerbels, etc. I have yet to see ANY data on what 100 mW of 2.4GHz does to any life form at 1-2", 1-2 feet or 1-2 yards. The FCC suggests that children not be exposed to excessive cell phone use because no one knows for sure what the effects, if any, are. (read it all carefully)
I don't have time to do the exacting math right now....but...
The typical cordless phone will put out up to 100 mW at 49, 900 or 2400 MHz. A typical cell phone can put out 600mW of energy at 800 or 1.8-1.9 GHz. Nextel 800 MHz phones even higher.
These units are held at face/head level - or approximately 18-24" closer than a WiFi card in a laptop is to the user. A 100 mW WiFi unit near the operator, or a base unit with 3-8 db antenna 10-20 feet away is a LOT less exposure than a cell phone next to the body mass. RF intensity drops significantly with distance - but we know that (which is where the missing math comes into play.)
Neither the FCC, OSHA, NIH, CDC, Better Homes and Gardens, Sports Illustrated, Oprah, etc. have gone beyond ANY form of RF avoidance recommendations/limitations other than OSHA published RF exposure levels - based on what little scientific evidence there is.
Such limitations apparently do not affect or limit the use of WiFi cards as they are FCC-certified and obviously in wide use with seemingly little if any concern for exposure. If 100 or even 200mW at 2.4 or 5.8 was excessive exposure none of us would not be using this technology (legally or sensibly) today.
All this is going to do is waste a LOT of money and time on an extensive OSHA-standards-based RF exposure study, lawyers and the public there at large, to determine that the parents are Luddites that should be living in UV and infra-red shielded bio-bubble on the middle of an Antarctic ice mass (which would be employing new technology and thus a dilemma all its own for them.)
If only for the $$ I wish I were a lawyer or at least an expert technical witness for such cases...
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