If you've been on the internet at all in the past few years, you've no doubt been advised

that you need to watch out for dirty electricity, something you've never heard of before and

have never had a problem with.

But now that you've been warned, it's probably a terrifying threat to your health.

What is dirty electricity?

And is it something you truly need to be concerned about?

We're going to find out right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

The dirty secret of dirty electricity.

Whenever some new technology comes on the market, there are always technophobes claiming that

it causes some kind of terrible health problem, always without any evidence and usually without

any plausibility.

When cell phones first came out, people said they'd give us all brain cancer.

And 30 years later, with zero cases, there are very few people still beating that drum.

Same with wind turbines.

Same with Wi-Fi.

Same with smart meters.

And when compact fluorescent light bulbs first appeared, it happened there too.

The claim was that they produced dirty electricity, a term which was basically undefined, and

that it caused a range of health problems.

Gradually, the claim was refined and it evolved to eventually mean that electronic devices

...