Swedish town blighted by WiMAX

By INQUIRER newsdesk: Monday, 12 June 2006, 4:27 PM

THE WI-MAXING-UP of the small Swedish town of Götene went horribly wrong when local residents around the base-station started dropping like flies.

It seems that within hours of the WiMAX base-station being activated, local hospital emergency services received calls from residents with complaints, ranging from sharp headaches and difficulty breathing, blurry vision, and, according to a report, two cases of heart arrhythmia.

The sufferers' symptoms are said to have subsided after they moved away from the base-station.

Coverage of the incident on Sweden's STV Debatt apparently caused questions to be raised about WiMAX, leading to calls that Swedish government to close down the nation's WiMAX networks.

The Swedes are particularly unconvinced of the safety of some electro-magnetic frequencies on humans, and there are plenty of vested interests piping up to pooh-pooh the Scandinavians' concerns.