Exploring radiation from wireless baby monitors and other household devices

A wireless baby monitor emits from 2,000 - 100,000 microwatts per square centimeter of microwave radiation depending upon the distance from the monitor. This is comparable to a wi-fi router which emits from 3,000 (at 3 feet) - 50,000 microwatts per square centimeter. Near a wireless tablet, one can get a reading that exceeds 20,000.

The FCC allows devices to emit up to 10 million microwatts per square centimeter, but the U.S. only protects its population against the heating or thermal risks from microwave radiation exposure. In contrast, some countries only allow 95,000 and the EU Parliament recommends as little as 100 microwatts per square centimeter!

The EU Parliament recommendation is intended to protect against all non-thermal risks (100,000 times less than the U.S. allows). Note that bioeffects have been observed in the laboratory with exposures around 5 microwatts per square centimeter.

The southern California Coachella Valley CBS affiliate did a segment on this subject: