Can Wi-Fi harm pregnancy?
That's what Chinese tech company Qihoo 360 is implying with its new wireless router, which includes the three settings: wall penetration, balance and "pregnant women." As absurd as that last setting sounds, the company is implying that Wi-Fi can potentially harm pregnancies and thus the setting made to protect them.
"We are targeting people who are afraid of radiation," Zhou Hongyi, the president and CEO of Qihoo, told the South China Morning Post.
Qihoo claims that the pregnancy setting cuts radiation emissions on the router by up to 70 percent.
"We aren't scientists," Hongyi continued. "We haven't done many experiments to prove how much damage the radiation from Wi-Fi can cause."
Searching for definitive answers about whether Wi-Fi is indeed harmful toward pregnancies, multiple reports pointed to World Health Organization findings stemming from 1996.
"Based on a recent in-depth review of the scientific literature...current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields," that report offered. "However, some gaps in knowledge about biological effects exist and need further research."
Qihoo points to WHO's findings, saying they do not specify if pregnancies are at risk.
But the same WHO report does state:
"The overall weight of evidence shows that exposure to fields at typical environmental levels does not increase the risk of any adverse outcome such as spontaneous abortions, malformations, low birth weight, and congenital diseases."
So, that pregnancy setting just might not be of any use.
