22.2 billion devices worldwide are going to be connected via Wi-Fi in 2021, according to market data platform Statista1. Wi-Fi will be actively included in virtually every smart electronic device sold.  Sergio Racini, an electrical engineer and professor, has participated in governmental projects in Brazil to test and measure the signal intensity and quality of networks. In colorful engineering images and comparative analysis, Racini will present research on the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of electromagnetic radiation. SAR is a measure of how much radiation is absorbed per unit of mass of exposed biological tissue.

Measured in watts per kilogram (or miliwatts per gram), Racini will show how distance between the body and the device can impact human exposures.    The work of Sergio Racini as well as researchers from Brazil Federal and international agencies have been unable to keep up with the science associated with this huge market, leaving billions of people worldwide exposed to increasing radiation levels. Instead of testing for emerging threats, agencies like the Federal Communications Commission base their “acceptable” exposure limits on several faulty assumptions. This includes the outdated notion that only one transmitter antenna is directing wireless signals at a human body or that any danger from these devices are purely from thermal heating.   

This criterion is now nearly 30 years out of date and no longer inapplicable. Heating is not the risk that needs to be addressed. Numerous studies show adverse health effects from headaches and sperm damage to many types of cancer. In all of these studies, temperature change was not a factor. However, the current reality is that governments use thermal heating measurements to measure human exposures.