‘Mobile internet is bad for trees’

Electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone masts and wifi internet is having a negative effect on trees, according to various newspapers, quoting research by Wageningen University.


The reports say researchers subjected 20 ash trees to emissions from six wifi access points over a three-month period and found that the leaves closest to the source withered and fell off. Sweet corn subjected to the same emissions failed to grow properly.
The research was reportedly set up after officials from Alphen aan den Rijn council noticed strange markings and growth patterns on trees in the town, which were not due to a virus or bacterium.
Further research showed that the symptoms, which include strange growths, are prevalent all over the western world. Some 70% of trees in Dutch urban areas have the symptoms, compared with just 10% five years ago when Alphen officials noticed them, the papers said.
Doubts
The TNO institute, linked in some reports to the research, said in a statement it specifically distanced itself from the project.
A TNO researcher was involved in several discussions during the project but the organisation ’emphatically distances itself from the conclusions about the relationship between wifi and plant growth’, the statement said.
There are no details about the research on the Wageningen University website.

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