Reports and Research
Wi-fi and the potential health risks
Monday, May 21st, 2007When Ben was about four months old he became poorly. As the months passed and he failed to thrive we considered every possible cause while the hospital continued to test him without any success. I had been using the internet while I breastfed and it crossed my mind, fleetingly, that the wi-fi in our house might be a suspect in causing his failure to thrive so I stopped using my laptop. Because, you know, I felt so hopeless about the fact that the hospital could find no underlying cause. And I felt a bit desperate.Then Ben was diagnosed with IgA deficiency of his blood, which is, in itself, minor but has some potentially serious long-term consequences. In researching his IgA deficiency I was contacted by a couple of people who found that when they removed their exposure to wi-fi their IgA deficiency disappeared. Normally a sceptic about things like this it nevertheless got me thinking about our exposure to wi-fi.
Then there were stories in the media about wi-fi exposure and the lack of research into long-term effects from exposure to it, particularly as wi-fi technology was being increasingly put into our schools. Even though the World Health Organisation says it is safe, with Harry being homeschooled and using the laptop at home more I felt increasingly concerned about his exposure to wi-fi.
On Friday we took a backwards step in our technological setup at home and got rid of our broadband wireless router and replaced it with a standard, wired router.
Tonight’s Panorama on the BBC is looking at the potential effects of wi-fi, particularly the use of wi-fi technology in our primary schools. As the programme says:
Readings taken for the programme showed the height of the signal strength to be three times higher in the school classroom using Wi-Fi than the main beam of radiation intensity from a mobile phone mast.
The findings are particularly significant because children’s skulls are thinner and still forming and tests have shown they absorb more radiation than adults.
Whatever research in the future may show, I am concerned enough now to adopt the precautionary principle, at least in our home. So we are no longer wi-fi. Having a wire connecting me to the wall when I’m surfing the net seems a small price to pay until I know whether there are actually any long-term health consequences from wi-fi.
And I will be getting Ben re-tested for his IgA deficiency in a few months in the (admittedly unlikely, I know) hope that he will no longer be IgA deficient. Because us mothers, we like to fix things for our children. And I so wish I could fix this for him.
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Posted in Toxic Childhood, Reports and Research, Failure To Thrive
UK mummybloggers
Wednesday, March 7th, 2007I need your help!I’m searching for the best UK mummybloggers. Who is your favourite? Who do you make an effort to visit regularly? (Daddybloggers can be included too). Include your own site if you want to!
Please leave your suggestions in the comments or e-mail me (address in the sidebar).
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Posted in Reports and Research
Children’s TV ‘is linked to cancer, autism, dementia’
Thursday, March 1st, 2007A report out last week claims that children’s television viewing is linked to cancer, autism, dementia and the onset of early puberty in girls.
Scientist Dr Aric Sigman, writing in the Biologist magazine, identified 15 negative effects that, he says, television can have on youngsters, ranging from short-sightedness and diabetes to premature puberty and autism.
Sigman says that watching television should be banned for children under three years old and severely restricted as they grow older.
So that television I put in the kitchen to help the baby eat?
Oops.
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Posted in Reports and Research
United Nations report on child well-being in economically advanced nations
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007A report out last week says that the UK is ranked as the worst place in the Western world for children to grow up.
The UNICEF report ranks child well-being in economically advanced countries.
According to the report, the UK and US are the worst places for children to grow up. The Netherlands topped the league, followed by Sweden and Denmark. (For Canadian readers, Canada came 12th out of the 21 countries.)
The UK is behind in terms of relative poverty and deprivation and UK children have worse relationships with their parents than children in other ‘rich’ countries and are at greater risk from alcohol, drugs and unsafe sex.
But there is opportunity for improvement: the comparisons in the report demonstrate that ‘given levels of child well-being are not inevitable but policy-susceptible’. Now we just need to elect someone who will give our children a better future.
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Posted in Reports and Research, The Politics of Motherhood