The programme explored the question of whether the development of
wi-fi in schools and city centres posed a risk to health. Two viewers
complained that the programme gave an unbalanced impression of the
state of scientific opinion on the issue (thus exaggerating the
grounds for concern), that it wrongly suggested wi-fi installations
give off a higher level of radiation than mobile phone masts, and
that an experiment designed to test whether certain people were
hypersensitive to such radiation had been misleadingly presented. In
addition, Professor Michael Repacholi, a scientist who had appeared
in the programme, complained that the scientific issues had been
presented in an unbalanced way and that the treatment of his own
contribution to the programme was unfair to him.
BBC Editorial Complaints Unit's ruling
The programme reflected concerns about wi-fi which had been expressed
by Sir William Stewart, Chairman of the Health Protection Agency, and
it was legitimate to focus on questions raised by an eminent
scientist with particular responsibility for public health issues.
The programme made clear that its measurements of wi-fi and mobile
phone mast radiation were taken at the points where schoolchildren
were likely to be exposed to the respective signals, thus avoiding
the false impression that the level of radiation from wi-fi was
higher at source, and the results to date of the experiment on
"electro-sensitivity" were correctly represented as inconclusive.
However, the programme included only one contributor (Prof Repacholi)
who disagreed with Sir William, compared with three scientists and a
number of other speakers (one of whom was introduced as a former
cancer specialist) who seconded his concerns. This gave a misleading
impression of the state of scientific opinion on the issue. In
addition, Prof Repacholi's contribution was presented in a context
which suggested to viewers that his scientific independence was in
question, whereas the other scientists were presented uncriticaly.
This reinforced the misleading impression, and was unfair to Prof
Repacholi.
[MORE]
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Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>
NEWS: ECU ruling: Panorama: Wi-fi: a Warning Signal, BBC1, 21 May 2007 
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