Wi-Fi making kids, teachers sick?
14BY KRISTY KIRKUP ,PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
A growing number of Canadian students and teachers are convinced wireless Internet at school is making them sick and they're wondering why Health Canada has remained silent about the potential risks linked to Wi-Fi.
Canada's health agency issued new advice on mobile phones Tuesday, advising parents to encourage kids under 18 to cap their cellphone use.
But Health Canada has not issued information about the possible risks associated with other wireless devices, including wireless Internet. It maintains Wi-Fi is "safe."
In May, the World Health Organization's (WHO) cancer arm classified all radiation emitted by wireless devices as possibly carcinogenic.
The main basis for the WHO classification was epidemiological studies on heavy cellphone users, but the group extended its evaluation to cover radiation from all devices - including baby monitors and Wi-Fi.
Scientists say radiation emitted by cellphones is substantially higher, however, and more focused on the brain.
Tara Strickland, a kindergarten teacher in St. Catharine's, Ont., is waiting for Health Canada to speak up on the potential risks of wireless Internet.
"I just think Canada is making a huge mistake by not making people aware of it," she said. "There hasn't been proof that it is safe."
Strickland said she has experienced leg weakness and intense headaches since Wi-Fi was installed at her school a year ago.
She's now working reduced hours and doesn't understand why the wireless can't just be turned off when her school is using other methods to connect to the web.
"We're still using the computer labs - the wired computer labs," Stickland said. "We have this wireless system and it's not being used and yet it is pulsing microwave radiation all day long."
A private school in Collingwood, Ont., located north of Toronto, decided it wasn't going to wait for a formal warning on Wi-Fi from the Canadian government.
School officials at Pretty River Academy took a "precautionary approach" and now plug in all computers to access the Internet.
The Council of Europe said children in schools and classrooms should be given access to wired Internet connections, and countries like France have banned Wi-Fi in settings like libraries.
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