Teachers making Wi-Fi waves
By CHERYL BROWNE, SPECIAL TO QMI AGENCY
Updated 5 days ago
Concerns about microwave radiation related to Wi-Fi usage in schools has many parents asking questions regarding long term effects on their children's health.
For the people who have it, it's hell. But for everybody else, you're just ruining a really good sandwich.
And, until 45,000 teachers brought it back to the forefront Monday, most had dismissed the effects of invisible airwaves outright.
However, the recent outcry by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) to shelve the usage of Wi-Fi in schools pending more research into wireless technology is causing headaches for many administrators. Much like the headaches, dizziness, nausea, vertigo, racing heart, memory loss and skin rash that parents of children who attend school with Wi- Fi available are claiming their children suffer.
Parents of children at Mountainview have been very vocal about the issue, after several children exhibited similiar symptoms. However, the board has resisted calls to remove the school's Wi- Fi system.
The Catholic teachers' call for a moratorium on wireless Internet follows a warning from the World Health Organization in May. The WHO's cancer centre called for more research into the potential dangers of Wi-Fi, noting all radiation from wireless devices could be carcinogenic.
Last December, Health Canada published an updated statement on its website concerned about the potential risks of wireless technology.
"In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified RF (Radio Frequency) energy as possib ly carcinogenic to humans'," the department's website states.
"The IARC classification of RF energy reflects the fact that some limited evidence exists that RF energy might be a risk factor for cancer. However, the vast majority of scientific research to-date does not support a link between RF energy exposure and human cancers. At present, the evidence of a possible link between RF energy exposure and cancer risk is far from conclusive and more research is needed to clarify this possible link."
Health Canada's website says the department agrees with the WHO that 'more research in this area is war-ranted.'
In Simcoe County, both the school boards and health unit are convinced the technology is safe and in fact, a godsend at the schools.
"It doesn't seem to be a prevalent issue in our school community, I'd say it was the opposite. Parents want their children to have access to the best technologies available."
Stevenson said Wi-Fi is in all of their schools; both elementary and secondary. They use a Wi-Fi cart system whereby they deliver a stack of laptops to a classroom via a trolley and the Wi- Fi modem is affixed to the cart.
"It's not 100% completely Wi-Fi. I'd say there are pockets of Wi-Fi in all our schools."
People have expressed concerns about the wireless technology at the public schools, said John Dance, superintendent of facility services at the Simcoe County District School Board.
He said they'd done testing at the schools, and at one school, one out of 33 laptops tested showed raised levels close to the screen.
"Ten centimetres back, where your hands would be, there was nothing," said Dance, who was heavily involved in the Wi-Fi discussion at Mountainview. In a detailed report on the public school board's website, they list the August 2010 Health Canada statement, as well as the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Arlene King's statement, both assuring the public there is no cause for concern.
Dance said he now recommends that people who have concerns call the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit directly if they have a concern.
President of OECTA, Kevin O'Dwyer, said a report by the union's health and safety committee determined there wasn't enough research on the subject and what is available wasn't "clear and definitive".
"We're trying to be objective," said O'Dwyer, adding several teachers have raised concern about reactions to wireless technology. "They believe there's enough cause to look into the highest rate of potential exposure, and that there's a need to do more study and more research."
Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, who runs an environmental clinic in Ottawa, looks after patients with a host of chemical and environmental allergies and sensitivities.
"I believe people who are chemical-sensitive, might have an electromagnetic sensitivity as well," said Armstrong. "My fears (with Wi-Fi) are, children are still growing, their skulls and bones are thinner. They receive more radiation than we do with all of these devices. We just don't know enough about it. But do we wait until they all grow up and get cancer to find out?"
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