BBC apologises for Wi-Fi risks report
Thursday 21 February 2008
The BBC has publicly apologised for a report in their established documentary series Panorama in which they broadcast misleading facts on the risks of Wi-Fi broadband.
During the program, three scientists were shown expressing concern over the possible health effects of using wireless broadband. However, only one interview was conducted with a scientist who defended the use of Wi-Fi. The interview with this independent Wi-Fi supporter was deemed to be "unfair" compared to the treatment of the other scientists.
The Panorama investigation claimed that radiation levels in some schools were up to three times the level found in the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts. The program included a request that Wi-Fi technology should be tested under the same schemes as mobile phone masts. Panorama visited a school in Norwich, with more than 1,000 pupils, to compare the level or radiation from a typical mobile phone mast with a classroom equipped with WiFi.
"If you look in the literature, you have a large number of various effects like chromosome damage, you have impact on the concentration capacity and decrease in short term memory, increases in the number of cancer incidences," said Professor Olle Johansoon of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
The BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU) condemned Panorama for a poorly balanced report, which gave a "misleading impression of the state of scientific opinion on the issue".
No scientific evidence has ever been published proving risks of the use of WiFi in the home.
