Wait a second please, hold on. I need to put on my aluminum foil deflector cap for this one. No, the sky is not falling. Close, though. The British newspaper, The Independent has an online article talking about the increasing danger of Wi-Fi signals permeating throughout our culture, through our lives and more importantly us. I admit, I never really thought about it. I’m sure I had that same helpless sort of look on face as my mother did when she heard about the dangers of cooking with microwave ovens, or living near high voltage power lines or how awful eating bologna is for you back in the 70’s and 80’s.

Wi-Fi systems essentially take small versions of these masts into the home and classroom - they emit much the same kind of radiation. Though virtually no research has been carried out, campaigners and some scientists expect them to have similar ill-effects. They say that we are all now living in a soup of electromagnetic radiation one billion times stronger than the natural fields in which living cells have developed over the last 3.8 billion years. This, they add, is bound to cause trouble…” The Independent, Danger on the airwaves: Is the Wi-Fi revolution a health time bomb?

I guess the irony to consider as I stuff that deliciously dangerous all beef hot dog (that I just zapped in the microwave) is the common knowledge that cancer rates in our culture are through the roof in comparison to most. This is not surprising if you start to tally up all the stuff that is mildly dangerous for you, like cell phone towers, Wi-Fi stations/routers/signal amplifiers and high voltage lines, never mind the unknowns like what kind of electronic ’soup is made when these two are in constant close proximity.

Wouldn’t it make sense to have a sort of F.D.A. in place for new technology to be approved by before hitting the shelves? I know that sound very “pie-in-the-sky.” My gut feeling is when a certain death or more likely death rate or specific type of cancer is directly linked to a given piece of technology, then something (hopefully) will be done about it - which is kind of sad. In the meantime, you may want to take an extra step back when reheating your coffee in the microwave, or reconsider playing with your kids at that park near those high-voltage lines.