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Comment by baddox | Hacker News Reader

Is there really even much public paranoia? I've never heard of anyone that refuses to use a cell phone because of perceived risk, other than the tiny few people who try to sue claiming that cell phones or cell towers caused cancer or a rash. At worst, I imagine many people probably think there's an extremely small negligible risk.

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In my experience cell phones and microwaves ovens are thought by the random public member to be carcinogenic. Never mind that some of these people smoke heavily and binge drink. Heck there is a more logical basis to suspect flame grilling to be cancer causing than mobiles. There is no escaping the damn thing, life causes cancer.

Not to mention smart meters - those new radio based power meters that contact the utility to digitally report electrical usage. Our electrical utility is poised to install them in BC and publications are dirtying the water with paranoia like this: http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/08/09/SmartMeterSkeptic/ and http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110808/bc...

Paranoia like this from the original WHO doc http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/12/02/are-smart-meters-safe/

and then there's whole orgs worried they're gonna get cancer http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/08/11/smart-meters-not-green...

One random dude handed me a pamphlet about stopping the smart meters, citing that it was 10 feet from his head when he slept and that he'd have to find a new home if they actually install it.

I feel like I'm watching people make themselves crazy with panic over something that has little science to back it up.

In my neighborhood, many people are protesting WiFi and new cell towers near their kids' schools. And then there are the people who are "allergic" to WiFi.

When I first installed wi-fi in my house in 2001, one of my friends declared (jokingly) that he would be wearing tin-foil underpants when visiting. While he was joking, he was the kind of person who easily believes things they are told, and lets go of beliefs slowly. He did say he would never install it in his own house.

Yes, there is a widespread belief amongst the general public that wi-fi and mobile phones are dangerous.

I wouldn't call it mass hysteria, but yeah there's paranoia. I was in a doctor's office recently (a doctor specializing in "holistic" medicine) where there was a sign in the waiting room asking people to turn off their cell phones because it interferes with the nervous system. With all this radiation messing up our nervous system, no wonder we're all crazy (and have been from prehistoric times)

I mean - if your "doctor's" waiting room has a sign saying that, I think it's time to find another doctor.

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