Allergic to Wi-Fi?

A group in New Mexico says they're being discriminated against because of their allergies but they're not talking about pollen, dust, or cats. They say they're allergic to wireless internet signals and they want it banned from public buildings. It's getting harder and harder to find spots without Wi-Fi. At the capitol there are three signals outside. But residents who say they are allergic to these electric fields want them out of public buildings and they are starting at the library.

Bill Bruno, who says he's electro-sensitive, says "that's what Wi-Fi sounds like." Faint signals from a neighbors wifi come through Bill Bruno's specially-shielded walls. Bill says "it's a Wi-Fi detector that you can hear the modulation in the signal."

Outside his car also has some protection from what he calls electro-smog. Bill says "the manufacture did test to show us that it blocks microwaves for people who care about that."

Bruno is not alone in his concern about electro exposure. Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields including wireless internet and cell phones. Arthur says "we walk in you get a headache you walk in and your chest hurts me I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away."

Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim putting up wifi in public places like libraries is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city attorney is now checking to see if putting up Wi-Fi could be considered discrimination. But City Councilor Ron Trujillo says the areas are already saturated with wireless internet. He says "it's not 1692, it's 2008 and Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology. It's not going away."

The city attorney says he hopes to have a legal recommendation by the end of next month.