Legislature in harm's way: group

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin yesterday displays an instrument measuring the excessively high electromagnetic waves emitted by wireless routers at the Legislative Yuan, in the office of the DPP's legislative caucus.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

By Shelley Shan
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jan 20, 2007, Page 2

Representatives of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) indicated yesterday that electromagnetic waves emitted by wireless routers at the Legislative Yuan exceeded a limit of 2,000 microwatts per square meter.

The areas known to exceed that value include the offices for the Democratic Progressive Party Caucus and the Chinese Nationalist Party caucus.

The corridor outside the office of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was also found to exceed that value.

The unexpected announcement from the TEPU came only a day after it released findings on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU), where electromagnetic waves reached 900 microwatts. In areas close to wireless routers, values were even close to 1,000 microwatts.

Many, however, questioned the TEPU inspection of the campus.

The TEPU says that the standard value of electromagnetic waves inside the buildings in Germany may not exceed 5 microwatts.

In Austria, the standard value may not exceed 1 microwatt.

TEPU chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said yesterday that many did not realize that wireless routers emit electromagnetic waves as well. People exposed to excessive electromagnetic waves may suffer from lethargy and memory loss and get sick easily.

However, some say a correlation between health problems and electromagnetic waves is not proven.

Chen said the union welcomed the administration of the National Taiwan University, the media and a third party to have the value of electromagnetic waves on the NTU campus remeasured.

"When people started using X- rays in health examinations, they did not know that the radiation could do harm either," Chen said.

The TEPU further called on legislators to establish a standard limit for electromagnetic waves inside buildings. They also asked the Ministry of Education to require schools at all levels to uninstall wireless connection facilities on campus.
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