Question 1

Dangers of Wi-fi

Accepted Answer

Q: A situation has arisen about the use of wi-fi in our block of flats. We have one rented flat where the tenant is very susceptible to the microwaves from wi-fi and feels physically sick if she is exposed to wi-fi from adjacent flats. To this end she has contacted the other owners and tenants and asked if they can switch off their wi-fi when not in the flat and at night and/or use wired internet connections. She has even bought and lent Ethernet equipment to a close neighbour to encourage them not to use wi-fi. This, as you can imagine, is causing issues with the other tenants/owners who consider that this encroaches on their own use of their property and not being inflicted with the same physical issues cannot really understand what all the fuss is about. Having heard her story and investigated the matter for myself I did find a huge amount of evidence showing that these new microwaves are becoming known as the new danger for humanity which we are ignoring as we did the danger of smoking. The issue with smoking became evident in the 50s but only acted on in the 80s and even now variations of smoking are still being promoted on TV advertisements as "vaping". The Queen’s father George VI died of smoking related lung cancer in 1952 and my own mother, a heavy smoker, died in 1963 of the same disease. However, only a lot later in the 80s was the connection between smoking and cancer linked to such a degree that something was done about it and smokers were put under pressure to stop. 30 years is a long time to make any positive moves towards limiting smokers and making it publicly unacceptable to smoke. So with microwave telephony are we potentially facing an epidemic in the future? In the research I have done I came across a video clip showing eight phones, all active on calls, surrounding a frying pan with a raw egg, and the microwaves were frying the egg. Approximately eight per cent of the population are knowingly affected by microwaves. So I think that this issue is real and could be the next major health warning for the population as a whole. However, as always there are too many people and companies making too much money from telephony where microwave signals are used. So as a management company where we have one susceptible tenant in a block of eight flats where only four have permanent occupants and the rest are holiday flats this situation is causing a problem for the other tenants who are being asked not to use wi-fi. We have heard that there could be an Ethernet solution which would mean a wired connection and could help this tenant with her health problems. Does the FPRA have any similar instances or if not do you have any ideas as to how this issue can be overcome? FPRA Chairman Bob Smytherman replies: Thank you for your very interesting question which I have to say is a first for us! I have been asked to respond from a practical point of view as our Health & Safety advisor rather than a legal point of view. Your comparison with smoking in interesting. I was thinking about something more recent which is mobile phones and masts which were thought to be a hazard to health - we don't hear about that so much these days. I wonder whether the tenant that is concerned about wi-fi has a mobile phone and whether that signal impacts on their health? My own view is that wi-fi is very much part of modern life and it would not be reasonable for any tenant or owner to tell another flat occupier that they should turn it off in their own demised premises. In situations like this I always seek to try and identify a compromise, but I am not sure if there is one here? The legal situation is if the tenant felt these 'microwaves' were causing a 'statutory nuisance' they would need to report this to the local council environmental health department who would need to take enforcement action if they felt that it was a nuisance as determined by the Environmental Protection Act. I would be surprised if they did reach that conclusion and ordered the wi-fi to be turned off, but we live a strange legal world these days. The practical solution would be for the tenant to give notice and leave the property if such a simple part of modern life was affecting them in this way. After all, the effect of wi-fi waves could happen anywhere during their day. Are they really going to be able to avoid all such 'microwaves' which are now everywhere included public spaces? A possible compromise could be that you obtain quotes for a block internet system without the need for wi-fi and that met the specification of all the flats, but I am unsure whether your lease would allow you to charge this the service charge or whether such a system was available. I think my best advice would be for you to contact the environmental health department yourselves, explain the situation and ask for their guidance as to whether it is reasonable to expect flat owners to turn off wi-fi following a request from a tenant. I would certainly be interested to receive their response and share with other members as a generic question and answer, because if it was the case a tenant could reasonably request this on health grounds this would have huge implications, not just in blocks of flats. [Submitted November 2016]

Question 2

Dangers of Wi-fi

Accepted Answer

Q: A situation has arisen about the use of wi-fi in our block of flats. We have one rented flat where the tenant is very susceptible to the microwaves from wi-fi and feels physically sick if she is exposed to wi-fi from adjacent flats. To this end she has contacted the other owners and tenants and asked if they can switch off their wi-fi when not in the flat and at night and/or use wired internet connections. She has even bought and lent Ethernet equipment to a close neighbour to encourage them not to use wi-fi. This, as you can imagine, is causing issues with the other tenants/owners who consider that this encroaches on their own use of their property and not being inflicted with the same physical issues cannot really understand what all the fuss is about. Having heard her story and investigated the matter for myself I did find a huge amount of evidence showing that these new microwaves are becoming known as the new danger for humanity which we are ignoring as we did the danger of smoking. The issue with smoking became evident in the 50s but only acted on in the 80s and even now variations of smoking are still being promoted on TV advertisements as "vaping". The Queen’s father George VI died of smoking related lung cancer in 1952 and my own mother, a heavy smoker, died in 1963 of the same disease. However, only a lot later in the 80s was the connection between smoking and cancer linked to such a degree that something was done about it and smokers were put under pressure to stop. 30 years is a long time to make any positive moves towards limiting smokers and making it publicly unacceptable to smoke. So with microwave telephony are we potentially facing an epidemic in the future? In the research I have done I came across a video clip showing eight phones, all active on calls, surrounding a frying pan with a raw egg, and the microwaves were frying the egg. Approximately eight per cent of the population are knowingly affected by microwaves. So I think that this issue is real and could be the next major health warning for the population as a whole. However, as always there are too many people and companies making too much money from telephony where microwave signals are used. So as a management company where we have one susceptible tenant in a block of eight flats where only four have permanent occupants and the rest are holiday flats this situation is causing a problem for the other tenants who are being asked not to use wi-fi. We have heard that there could be an Ethernet solution which would mean a wired connection and could help this tenant with her health problems. Does the FPRA have any similar instances or if not do you have any ideas as to how this issue can be overcome? FPRA Chairman Bob Smytherman replies: Thank you for your very interesting question which I have to say is a first for us! I have been asked to respond from a practical point of view as our Health & Safety advisor rather than a legal point of view. Your comparison with smoking in interesting. I was thinking about something more recent which is mobile phones and masts which were thought to be a hazard to health - we don't hear about that so much these days. I wonder whether the tenant that is concerned about wi-fi has a mobile phone and whether that signal impacts on their health? My own view is that wi-fi is very much part of modern life and it would not be reasonable for any tenant or owner to tell another flat occupier that they should turn it off in their own demised premises. In situations like this I always seek to try and identify a compromise, but I am not sure if there is one here? The legal situation is if the tenant felt these 'microwaves' were causing a 'statutory nuisance' they would need to report this to the local council environmental health department who would need to take enforcement action if they felt that it was a nuisance as determined by the Environmental Protection Act. I would be surprised if they did reach that conclusion and ordered the wi-fi to be turned off, but we live a strange legal world these days. The practical solution would be for the tenant to give notice and leave the property if such a simple part of modern life was affecting them in this way. After all, the effect of wi-fi waves could happen anywhere during their day. Are they really going to be able to avoid all such 'microwaves' which are now everywhere included public spaces? A possible compromise could be that you obtain quotes for a block internet system without the need for wi-fi and that met the specification of all the flats, but I am unsure whether your lease would allow you to charge this the service charge or whether such a system was available. I think my best advice would be for you to contact the environmental health department yourselves, explain the situation and ask for their guidance as to whether it is reasonable to expect flat owners to turn off wi-fi following a request from a tenant. I would certainly be interested to receive their response and share with other members as a generic question and answer, because if it was the case a tenant could reasonably request this on health grounds this would have huge implications, not just in blocks of flats. [Submitted November 2016]

Dangers of Wi-fi

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