Tower Switch-Off Embarrasses Electrosensitives 292
Sockatume writes "Residents in Craigavon, South Africa complained of '[h]eadaches, nausea, tinnitus, dry burning itchy skins, gastric imbalances and totally disrupted sleep patterns' after an iBurst communications tower was put up in a local park. Symptoms subsided when the residents left the area, often to stay with family and thus evade their suffering. At a public meeting with the afflicted locals, the tower's owners pledged to switch off the mast immediately to assess whether it was responsible for their ailments. One problem: the mast had already been switched off for six weeks. Lawyers representing the locals say their case against iBurst will continue on other grounds."
Correlation != Causation (Score:5, Insightful)
There can well be something else that causes symptoms of area residents which is not related to microwave radiation. This may or may not be related to iBurst. For example, construction of the tower could have used toxic materials responsible for rashes, headaches and so on. The fact that symptoms appeared at the same time as the tower still bears investigation, but the world is full of coincidences.
Perhaps (Score:5, Insightful)
The issue that remains is if a company can be held responsible for the mental anguish that it indirectly caused. (I mention indirectly, because the act of constructing a tower isn't directly changing peoples mental condition, it's simply "turning on" something that may have been there)... Either way, it should be interesting to see how this pans out...
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"The case will continue...." (Score:3, Insightful)
The fact that the case still isn't dismissed apparently means the lobby of electrosensitives is rather strong there :(
Well it was the lawyer who said that the case would continue "on different grounds", not the court.
What that tells me is that this lawyer is not being paid on a contingency basis. :)
Why is this in Idle? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is this in Idle? It's a real issue, not because the electrosensitives are right, but because they cause real trouble. Good evidence against them is valuable.
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not sure if this is brilliant or crazy. On the one hand, the resale value of his house just dropped 30% if that little fact is revealed before closing. OTOH, a house with no outside signals getting in sounds amazingly peaceful.
Re:Ha. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wtiches. That's al these lunatics are, the modern day equivalent of people who think they're being cursed by witches.
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:5, Insightful)
There can well be something else that causes symptoms of area residents which is not related to microwave radiation.
Sure, sure. The symptoms could be "real" (as in caused by a real external factor rather than hypochondria), and caused by something in the environment.
This is what the end result of the long-time theories that high tension transmission lines were causing cancer. The EM radiation was harmless as always, but the herbicides they used to clear the ground under the towers was not.
The question in my mind which TFA doesn't answer and could point out whether or not this is the case: When the company announced that they were turning off the tower, did the residents symptoms abate? If so, they're clearly mental in origin. If not, well, maybe they didn't believe the cell company, or maybe there's something in the environment that is actually harming them.
If their symptoms are real, an actual chemical being their cause makes so much more sense that it just boggles me that this isn't the first thing people choose to blame. But no, their insistence on it being due to EM actually gets in the way of the more straightforward investigation.
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:4, Insightful)
Real problem in the US (Score:4, Insightful)
This limits the construction of any EMF emitting source including things like cell phone towers and power lines. There is enough belief in the idea that EMF causes medical problems that companies are pretty much unable to push construction projects ahead in the face of opposition.
The result of this is that building a new transmission line in a new area is pretty much off limits unless it winds around to avoid existing structures by miles and miles. If someone can see it, they can use this as an argument to prevent (or at least delay) construction. I have seen this happen in Illinois.
Anyone thinking that we are going to get all sorts of new "green" superconducting transmission lines for wind and solar power needs to understand the seriously wacked out nature of these protesters. Until these issues are really put to rest, they will prevent progress on many fronts.
Think the cell phone brain cancer rumors are over? This is the same people, and it keeps coming up every few years.
Re:"The case will continue...." (Score:4, Insightful)
They really really don't want this tower anywhere near them and now that the electrosensitivity excuse didn't work they're trying other approaches.
Hey, the placebo effect is very real! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Well.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:3, Insightful)
No, but usually you'd put your WiFi router inside your house. Hence, the house would work as a Faraday cage around the rest of the world, keeping all WiFi signals within the house (might be a good idea for tinfoil-hat wearers, btw)
Re:Perhaps (Score:4, Insightful)
The issue that remains is if a company can be held responsible for the mental anguish that it indirectly caused.
In this legal climate, I'm sure at some point someone ill try to make them responsible for agitating someone's delusional phobias. Clearly they shouldn't be held responsible for "mental anguish" over "radiation" from a tower that WASN'T EVEN SWITCHED ON.
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:4, Insightful)
The worst part was that he freely admitted that his wife was a loon.
It's not the worst part - to be honest that is just how it is - if it made her happy and comfortable living there then he did what he needed to.
the worst part is - he isn't alone - the rest of us poor suckers would do it too.
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:5, Insightful)
They could also be caused by wanting to get money for nothing.
Re:Real problem in the US (Score:1, Insightful)
Unless you're somewhere where earthquakes are a common occurrence just bury the damn power lines. Out of sight, out of mind, and a tornado can no longer get to them.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:3, Insightful)
The worst part was that he freely admitted that his wife was a loon.
Don't most people freely admit that there wife is a loon?
Re:Perhaps (Score:4, Insightful)
Can I sue you for putting a curse on me? I am firmly convinced that you are a witch.
Even if that is not actually the case, I mentally suffered while thinking so.
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:1, Insightful)
Because "Troll" and "Flamebait" are completely ill-named moderation tags on Slashdot. They should just be combined into one, and renamed "Disagree". I don't know why Slashdot doesn't just do this; they always claim their stupid metamoderation system is supposed to prevent this sort of thing, but it never has.
Re:"The case will continue...." (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt they'd get anything for frivolity, as hypochondria is real and people may have sincerely believed they were being affected by the tower. Frivolous lawsuit laws are to protect against malicious litigation, and I doubt that's the case here.
That said, they're still a bunch of nutheads. To not have said "oh... it was OFF for the last month? hummm maybe it's just ME". But no, to persist saying the tower is causing their problems, indicates they have "other unresolved issues" besides hypochondria.
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:it's peanut allergy waves (Score:3, Insightful)
Dude! Stop making fun of my mom! :(
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:3, Insightful)
Most peoples' houses these days are filled with electronic items, plus peoples' houses have had electric wires in the walls for nearly 100 years now, all giving off EM fields.
I think the family in your post had something else going on in their house, or maybe they were just highly susceptible to cancer by genetics. Did they do a radon test?
Also, what kind of cancer was it? All three were female, was it cervical cancer? That one is caused by a virus, HPV. Living in the same house (and the daughters being born of the mother), maybe the mother somehow got it and passed it to them in birth, and it took a while to manifest as cancer. There's some other cancers we now know are caused by viruses too.
As for your allergies, MSG and aspartame are shit, and shouldn't be consumed by any humans. Some people are just more resistant to poisons than others. They knew 25 years ago that aspartame caused problems if it was heated (like in a hot drink).
As for things like soybean oil, there are people with soy sensitivities. I don't think there's been enough research into some of these sensitivities. My wife can't eat very much wheat gluten, or she gets a migraine and fatigue symptoms. How on earth does gluten cause a migraine? I have no idea, but after living with her for years and seeing her food intake and migraines firsthand, the relationship is pretty clear. She used to get migraines all the time, now she doesn't, and when she screws up and eats too much wheat-based food, she gets a migraine. (A little is OK, but too much sets off the headache.)
I think there's still a LOT we don't understand very well about the human body and how things work. Back to the cancer thing, remember, it wasn't very long ago that we had NO idea that viruses could cause cancer, but now it's commonplace to vaccinate women against HPV to prevent most cases of cervical cancer.
Re:Hey, the placebo effect is very real! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:LOL, ROFLMAO, ha-ha, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
This is Africa. There is a lot of folk religion and superstition there, and they don't really understand how technology works.
This is also America.
Re:Correlation != Causation (Score:2, Insightful)
The world is also full of ineffective doctors, the kind who send off a blood test and pronounce you healthy six weeks later despite experiencing constant pain, or who blame swelling on water retention or menopause or a fatty diet, or who think migraine headaches are "stress related", or who cut a mole out and tell you it looks pretty harmless, then call back later to tell you they need to cut some more out because it was malignant, or who don't know the symptoms to a thyroid condition, or who... yeah, I think that's enough examples for now.
They have much better PR than the hypochondriacs, though. I seem to meet quite a few "hypochondriacs" these days.
Re:LOL, ROFLMAO, ha-ha, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
" a lot of folk religion and superstition there, and they don't really understand how technology works"
TFA proves that this is the same everywhere, just superstitions are different.
Re:LOL, ROFLMAO, ha-ha, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why is this in Idle? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a real issue, not because the electrosensitives are right, but because they cause real trouble. Good evidence against them is valuable.
All the evidence is against them as it is. That hasn't stopped the damage they cause. There needs to be large, punitive punishments against people who use pseudoscience judicially. But this country won't do it for the same reason this country allows people to kill their children over their religious beliefs and kids who have never read a book wear that fact like a badge of pride in many schools.
I'm sorry to say... but maybe vigilante justice might be a better solution -- they'll worry less about their EM poisoning if they're being chased by heavily-armed scientists.
Re:Faraday Cage (Score:3, Insightful)
Aside from the obvious 'correlation does not equal causation' and the absence of a correlation between cancer and EMF fields over the century we've had our houses wired, there are two reasons not to assume that the cancer you saw in that house was due to EMF fields: first, susceptibility to cancer is heritable, so it's not that surprising for multiple family members to get cancer, especially the same kind; second, statistical clumping is a normal and expected effect of any phenomena like cancer, meaning that, just like a series of die rolls will, over time, show long runs of sixes, you can expect to find clumped cases of cancer somewhere with a large enough sample.
In short, it's predictable that there would be a house with multiple cancer cases in it, as well as towns where the number of cancer cases is significantly higher than the average. This says nothing about local causes, either in favour or against. While it's understandable that the townsfolk would look for a reason, it's actually likely that there's nothing there but predictable statistical effects.
Re:"The case will continue...." (Score:3, Insightful)
iBurst appointed an independent and accredited EIA consultant and that the correct procedures were followed - including notifying the adjacent property owners and publishing notices in the press and on the site itself. He added that he is confident that all processes and procedures were followed to the letter.
I figure that this is more like what happened. "Damn cell phones. The service sucks out here! I pay good money every month and I can hardly ever get a signal. I've been calling those lazy bastard to do something every week but those corporate fat cats are too busy counting their money. I swear some day I'm gona... what the. What are all those trucks and people doing there? Building a cell tower? I don't want a cell tower in our town. Those things cause cancer and other things. I don't want to look at an ugly tower. Go build that thing in another town. What the hell made you guys thing that we wanted a tower here?"