Retailers panic over BBC Wi-Fi scare

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 21 May 2007 at 11:14

Leading electronics retailers fear that sales of wireless networking equipment are set to plummet following a BBC Panorama investigation into Wi-Fi radiation.

Panorama will tonight claim that radiation given off by a Wi-Fi equipped laptop is 'three times higher than the... signal strength of a typical phone mast'. The report comes after a teacher from Stowe in Buckinghamshire complained of headaches and nausea whenever the wireless router in his classroom was turned on.

Last month, the PAT teachers' union wrote to the education secretary, demanding an investigation into the safety of wireless networks in schools.

The resulting front page headlines and tonight's Panorama show has caused alarm among retailers. Last week, a leading wireless manufacturer told PC Pro that its stockists were concerned about the impact of the health fears. 'They're worried they're going to see a massive drop in sales,' the spokesman told us.

However, experts have leapt to the defence of Wi-Fi equipment, claiming that the Panorama evidence is flawed. Paddy Regan, a physicist from the University of Surrey, claims in today's Guardian that the 'three times higher' comparison was based on measurements taken just a foot away from the laptop and 100m from the phone mast. Even still, the Panorama measurements were 600 times lower than the levels considered dangerous by the government.