Dear Sir/Madam,
On June 26, 2012, BC CTV aired an “investigative” report by Jon Woodward on WiFi in schools. http://bc.ctvnews.ca/wi-fi-danger-in-schools-overblown-ctv-investigation-1.854418
The entire report was based on testing by Karl Reardon who has an easily verifiable conflict of interest:
- A former Director and General Manager of Motorola
- A current industry consultant (Planetworks and Radiowize) with close financial ties to the telecommunication industry
- Collecting paycheques from consultation on cell tower installations
- Author of a celltower guidebook for the Municipal Engineers
- Holder of seven US and EU patents on wireless and data technology
- Chief Technology Officer of Wireless Image whose sole business is the sale of mobile advertising solutions for cellphones
Mr. Reardon makes several irresponsible statements which are readily refuted by speaking with any independent engineer, and others which are nothing short of ridiculous. For example, “There’s no significant difference between WiFi on or off.” To any logical person this makes no sense, yet Mr. Woodward did not question it.
Mr. Woodward did not announce Mr. Reardon’s conflict of interest and presented him as an independent contractor. Neither did he speak with another “expert” to allow another view. Rather Mr. Woodward accepted everything Mr. Reardon said without question. His lack of intellectual curiosity (dare I say laziness) is appalling for such an experienced reporter.
There are thousands of scientific studies showing that microwave radiation like that from WiFi modems cause harm, especially to children. SwissCom, the largest provider of WiFi in Switzerland, has admitted that WiFi is dangerous and puts children at risk. As a consequence, SwissCom is removing all WiFi from schools in Switzerland and replacing it with fiber optic cable for wired access, at its own expense. There are experts in this area who were available for comment, who should have been consulted. Apparently Mr. Woodward did not bother to do any research or to consult any independent resource, nor did he or his anchors remind the audience of these dangers. This is an important topic and this program minimized its significance. The public deserves better reporting.
I have asked if Mr. Reardon or Planetworks had approached CTV or Mr. Woodward, asking to do this “free” testing. The segment was in response to a recent decision by a provincial group of concerned parents asking for accommodation for those who want their children to attend schools with wired internet access. No response has been received. If this were the case, CTV and Mr. Woodward apparently did not question the reason behind the offer.
I charge that Mr. Woodward’s investigation was sloppy, the work of someone who did not do his homework, and who should not be allowed to mislead the public on a topic which is so important and emotional. I charge that CTV allowed someone with an obvious bias to present information which was not only inaccurate but was also dangerously deceptive.
CTV and Mr. Woodward demonstrated a lack of professionalism, one, I believe, was based on a desire to get a report out on a hot topic without doing any investigation of their own.
Yours truly,
Sharon Noble
Victoria, BC
#1 by John Malthouse on July 2, 2012 - 8:21 am
A well articulated letter. The criticisms in Sharon Noble’s letter are appropriately directed at CTV and Mr. Woodward. I fully support her position. It is time that CTV and Mr. Woodward quit hiding behind self-imposed ignorance and viewed industry representatives, such as Mr. Reardon, as extremely biased individuals with no regard for our health and safety.
#2 by Aaron on August 11, 2012 - 1:52 pm
It is precisely because of Mr. Reardon’s vast experience that I would put my trust in him. Furthermore, having worked with wireless technology since the 1960’s including both high and low power microwave as well as cell phone systems, there is no health danger at all at the power levels currently used. Obviously, the few lab rats that were subjected to kilowatts of energy for long periods of time do not count as “scientific” evidence.
The power out of an antenna drops logarithmically with the distance and also by a factor of 8 when vertical separation is taken into account. So each time I hear people complaining about “fuzzy” feelings emanating from cell phone towers or Wi-Fi routers I ask them to first compare notes with the hundreds of tower climbers and hundreds of thousands of people who have been using hand held devices such as cell phones and walkie talkies for the last 50 years!!!
I actually do not support the use of the current types of Smart-Meters because they are actually not smart at all. They use an inexpensive ISM band radio which “walks” all over the legitimate internet service providers who use the same bands to bring wireless internet broadband into their subscribers homes.
Wireless internet providers carefully plan their allocation of spectrum in order to make sure they do not interfere with any nearby transmitters. However, the Smart Meter people have opted for an all or nothing, take no prisoner approach by using 100% of the spectrum all the time.
I have already heard of irate wireless providers wonder out loud what will happen if one of their frustrated colleagues parks right outside the utility companies receiving tower and cause the same interference in return thus affecting the utility’s ability to collect meter data!! A dog’s breakfast!!
The power company chose these radios because they are cheap. The fact is the Federal government already made licensed spectrum available for them to use that would not interfere with the internet providers’ systems.
Apparently the next battle is supposed to start in Quebec as they have chosen the Landys-Gyr system using 900 MHz Zigbee spread spectrum radios. These are in direct conflict with the technology used in thousands of Quebec homes for their internet reception.
Remember, wireless rural broadband is more often then not the only solution available to these homeowners that are off the Rogers, Bell, Telus and Videotron grids!!
A coalition of like minded wireless providers are currently organizing against these meters and welcome any support from anyone else.
For any further info please email:
[email protected] in French or [email protected] in English.