Man cuts neighbors' Wi-Fi for radiation fears

A man cut the Internet service to his apartment building several times for fears the radiation emitted from neighbors' Wi-fi signals was harmful to his unborn grandson.

The Fuzhou, Fujian Province resident, surnamed Li, said he had repeatedly warned his upstairs neighbors to keep it down after 8 pm so as not to disturb his pregnant daughter-in-law.

He then cut the Internet service to his building to send them a better signal.

The upstairs resident, surnamed Zhu, explained that despite his family's best efforts to keep quiet, Li still knocked on his door countless times since late March.

Zhu complained that Li had taken over part of the common green space in front of the building to plant papayas.

Li argued that the tropical fruit helps promote lactation in young mothers.

"It made the lawn ugly," said Zhu, unmoved.

Many Net users felt Li's actions ridiculous, saying that all the stress he was causing is an even bigger threat to his pregnant daughter-in-law.

Fear that radiation from everyday devices, such as cellphones and computers, can affect fetal development is common among Chinese.

Chinese tradition holds that pregnant woman should remain immobile and need excessive care. However, no solid scientific evidence suggests that low-level radiation from electronic devices have negative health effects.

"Seniors today care too much and are more anxious than pregnant women about having children. We should all just relax when it comes to pregnancy and learn more about science," said a Net user surnamed Chen.