Is WiFi Radiation Killing You... Slowly?

Should you run to a corner or wear a tin foil hat every time you use WiFi? Let’s put this radiation debate to bed.

If WiFi radiation was actually increasing cases of brain tumours, then the last two decades would’ve seen a phenomenal spike. A look at the time period in which cellphones and WiFi became routine shows that the incidence of brain cancers and tumours has remained absolutely flat. (Photo: iStock)

Last year, France decided to ban the use of WiFi in creches .

A 72-year-old grandma in London who suffers from electro-sensitivity, shelled a whopping 4,000 pounds (Rs 3.27 lakhs!) to coat her house with four layers of anti-radiation paint.

Chinese tech company Qihoo 360 caused a storm on social media last year after it added a “pregnancy setting” and an adjustable signal strength to their new router. Call it a genius marketing ploy or fear-mongering, the claims that their router cut emissions by 70 percent sent tech rival Xiaomi in a tizzy.

The super ugly anti-radiation maternity wear which should be a crime in the fashion world, sells like hotcakes on Chinese giant Taobao despite having no demonstrable effect.

So is this all bullsh*t?

Are companies just exploiting the unfounded, baseless superstitions of people just for a competitive leg up or is there actual science behind it?

Clinical Trials Show WiFi Won’t Make You Sick

WiFi router doesn’t emit radiation at 100 percent power for 100 percent of the time. Nearly all  routers and devices go into ‘sleep mode’ when you stop using the channel. (Photo: iStock)

Fears around WiFi signals start the moment you say radiation. You know that radiation tweaks the human DNA, causes cancer. But the radiation emitted from the WiFi router is within the radio-frequency (RF) band — a low energy, non-ionising, and basically the non-harmful type.

Let’s get a bit more science-y. The RF waves emitted by WiFi routers are not strong enough to alter the human DNA. Till now, science has found that only the gamma ray, X-rays and UV photons have the potential to cause changes at the cellular level, thereby increasing the chances of causing cancer.

Scientists at the prestigious radiation program of the Drexel University in the US say, there is “no plausible mechanism by which cell phones could cause cancer”.

Basically there is no way for RF waves to cause cancer without rewriting the laws of physics. It’s the same logic by which homeopathy is dismissed by modern science —it’s so diluted that there’s nothing in it. 

The debate also stems from IRIC’s, or the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s, (the W.H.O’s arm) carcinogenic rating on radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF/EMF). (Photo: iStock altered by The Quint)

Now the main source of the RF/EMF are radios, televisions, ovens, cell phones and WiFi and the IRIC places this in a list of potentially cancer-causing substances, along with 250 other agents like coffee and pickled vegetables.

So is WiFi going to give you cancer? The short answer is NO.

Researches like this 2010 post in the Radiation Research have uncovered no evidence that WiFi signals have a negative impact at any stage of pregnancy.

To give a comparison the WiFi signal is one lakh times less powerful than a microwave oven’s. According to the UK’s Health Protection Agency, you absorb less radiation from sitting in a WiFi hotspot for a year than from a 20-minute cellphone call because a WiFi router isn’t up against your skull.

Also unlike ovens, which are short-distance, high-voltage devices, a WiFi router is a low-voltage device which broadcasts in longer distances. Also, radio waves follow the inverse square law, which means each time you double the distance, the energy drops by a quarter.

Unless you sleep over your router, at a normal operating distance, the intensity of WiFi radiation is so low that it is just a part of the overall ‘smog’ in your house, built up by the television signals, AC mains wiring, blue tooth headsets and speakers, the baby monitor, the security alarm, and the cosmos in general.

Also Read: Chill! The Latest Cellphone Cancer Study Has Big Problems

But Children and Fetuses Absorb More Radiation. Aren’t They At a Greater Risk?

No one wakes up their kindergartner with a mug of coffee. There has to be a reason why we don’t knowingly expose them to carcinogens? (Photo: iStock)

You read about the scientific claims that WiFi cannot cause enough damage to alter your DNA or cause cancer. But scientists also agree on the fact that:

1. Children under the age of 5 absorb 75 percent more radiation than adults.
2. Fetuses are even more vulnerable. Pregnant women are advised against the use of microwaves and scanners.
3. Most importantly, we don’t know if the current radiation regulations are adequate — they haven’t been updated for 19 years.

Children absorb more radiation than an adult because their brain’s size is smaller, their skulls are thinner and brain tissues are more absorbent than adults. Children are also at a greater risk when exposed to a possible carcinogen than an adult. So why raise them on a heavy dose of WiFi since birth?

Also, a tumour takes 20 to 30 years to develop. Clearly even if there is a link between WiFi radiation and cancer, it will take three decades of research to establish that. Currently no such long-term study is underway.

Bottom line: Pregnant women and children have never been a part of any clinical trial so no one can comment on the safe limit of exposure for them. That said, all radiation laws, no matter how ancient, tend to err on the safe side — what’s safe for the industry and not you and me.

So exercise caution. Switch off WiFi at night and whenever you can during the day. We don’t want to look back after 50 years and regret that radiation from cellphones or WiFi caused the biggest health crisis in the century.

Also Read: 7 Ways Your Smartphone is Ruining Your Health