Amusing Leaked Letter - BBC Panorama Wi-Fi - now updated with further
response from BBC

http://www.badscience.net/?p=415#more-415

May 23rd, 2007 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, bbc, electromagnetism |
"This has fallen into my hands. It is - I am informed - the letter
that the BBC complaints people are planning to send to people if they
complain about the ludicrous Panorama Wi-Fi show from Monday,
featuring Alasdair Philips and electromagnetic hypersensitivity.

I thought it might amuse you to know that it has apparently been
written before you managed to write to them. Do please let us all know
if you receive anything eerily similar yourself…


Dear ,

Many thanks for taking the time to get in touch following our show,
Wi-Fi - A Warning Signal.

I’m sorry if you believe the programme lacked the hard evidence you
wanted to see. Unfortunately, the truth is that as things stand, there
is no hard evidence regarding the effects of long term exposure to
Wi-Fi which is why we made the programme.

Wi-Fi is being rolled out into classrooms around the country by the
Government contrary to the precautionary approach recommended by the
head of its own advisory body Sir William Stewart - chair of the
Health Protection Agency. As you will have seen in the programme, he
believes that where radiation is concerned we should base policy on
the precautionary principle particularly when it comes to children.
This therefore raises questions as to whether Wi-Fi should be rolled
out into the classroom without any long term health research being
carried out.

Many scientists criticise the way in which the radiation exposure
limits are set in this country. The programme featured both the WHO
position and ICNIRP who base their limits on what they term a “thermal
effect”. It is this view that courts criticism from some scientists,
including those featured in our programme, because the safety limits
do not take into account a biological effect which some scientists say
they have found evidence of. The reason why these positions were not
represented by different people is that Dr Michael Repacholi is
perhaps the most qualified person to answer such questions given that
he was the founding chair of ICNIRP (and continues to be Emeritus
Chairman) and because he set up and headed the WHO EMF project for ten
years. However, he was given the opportunity to make his position
clear in the programme.

The other scientists in the film are all experts in their fields who
have concerns that we are rushing forward into something before it’s
been around long enough to know what the long term effects could be.

The fact that the Swedish government recognises radiation sensitivity
as a disability that affects 3% of the population was, we felt, of
interest given our Government’s publicly stated view that this
condition does not exist.

The programme attempted to raise concern without causing alarm -
always a difficult balance to strike but one which we believe we
achieved.

Please continue to let us know your views on the programmes as they
are always welcome and we hope you keep watching.

Regards

BBC Panorama"

Amusing Leaked Letter - BBC Panorama Wi-Fi - now updated with further
response from BBC

http://www.badscience.net/?p=415#more-415

May 23rd, 2007 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, bbc, electromagnetism |
"This has fallen into my hands. It is - I am informed - the letter
that the BBC complaints people are planning to send to people if they
complain about the ludicrous Panorama Wi-Fi show from Monday,
featuring Alasdair Philips and electromagnetic hypersensitivity.