Subject: Worst science event of the year.....
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 092713 -0600 (CST)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
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From:
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
Bill Curry sent the following. He belongs to the Elsevier Science
Channel. They are soliciting the "best" or the "worst" developments
related to science during the past year....... Bill's submission:
Greetings:
In regard to your request for the best and worst science developments,
inventions, technologies, etc. Let me nominate for the worst idea, the senate
bill which attempts to establish a nationwide emergency 911 system based on
wireless technology (submitted by Senator John McCain, withdrawn at the end of
the session, and likely to be resubmitted in early 1999). Bad points of this
bill include the following: 1) Recent natural disasters like hurricanes in
the Gulf have shown that when disaster strikes, the wireless phone systems are
not there to rely on, because they rarely have emergency power sources and are
susceptible to damage themsleves. 2) Location of a nationwide 911 caller
requires GPS satellite technology. The cost to individual users is currently
around $1,000 for GPS based navigation units in cars - so it seems unlikely to
be attractive to individual users. 3) The bill required that any Federal
property (including Post Offices) could be commandeered by wireless providers,
regardless of the wishes of the people and government in the area affected.
Futhermore, the bill included a provision to offer financial incentives to
states to adopt similar practices with respect to state owned property -
including SCHOOLS! Why Senator McCain would sponsor this bill which goes
against home rule principles that are supposedly dear to the Senator's
constituents and the principles of his political party are beyond me - except
that Motorolla has three plants in the Senator's home state! 4) While the
FCC states that 0.57 miliwatts per square centimeters radiation density is a
safe radiation density for cellular phone systems and 1 miliwatt per square
centimeter is safe at digital PCS frequencies, many recent bioelectromagnetic
experiments and epidemiological studies say other wise. Some experts in these
fields advocate 2 microwatts per square centimeter as the lowest level at
which bioeffects are observed; others say that the safe radiation level should
be no higher than 0.1 microwatt per square centimeter. Homes nearest current
cell phone base stations typically receive radiation levels of about 20
microwatts per square centimeter. Senator McCain's support of the wireless
revolution is ill-advised and his bill certainly deserves the title of the
worst technologically related development of 1998, in my opinion.
Bill P. Curry, Ph.D. |Physics is fun.
EMSciTek Consulting Co. |Trying to make a living!
22W101 McCarron Road, |Phone: (630) 858-9377
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 |Fax: same, but require prior notice
Home page: http://www.EMSciTek.com
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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html