Australian parents demand school Wi-Fi ban despite ARPANSA saying it’s safe
Australian parents are worried about exposing children to Wi-Fi in schools. Source: News Limited
AUSTRALIAN schools are introducing Wi-Fi into classrooms despite questions over the long-term safety of the wireless technology.
The influential American Academy of Pediatrics has called for a review of radiation emissions from mobile phones and Wi-Fi, warning the existing safety limits are “not an accurate predictor of actual exposure’’.
France has legislated to discourage Wi-Fi in schools until it is “safe for human consumption’’, Germany has recommended its schools use cabled computers instead of Wi-Fi and the Council of Europe has called for a ban on Wi-Fi in classrooms.
The Israeli Ministry of Education has told schools to use wired computers in preference to Wi-Fi in classrooms, and requires teachers to turn off Wi-Fi routers when not in use.
A group of concerned Australian parents — Wi-Fi in Schools — is circulating a “non-consent’’ letter for parents to give school principals if they do not want their children exposed to Wi-Fi in classrooms for six hours a day.
“In order to minimise exposure to wireless radiation, we favour wired communications as a safer option until there is conclusive evidence that there are no harmful effects from long-term use,’’ the group says in a statement.
The federal government regulator, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), yesterday insisted Wi-Fi is safe in schools.
But a member of ARPANSA’s Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council, Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe, said he would ask the council to investigate Wi-Fi and mobile phone emission standards for children.
“When children’s health is concerned it’s always sensible to err on the side of caution,’’ he told News Corp Australia papers.
“You should not deploy technology, be it Wi-Fi in schools or diagnostic technologies, until you can be sure it is safe and cost-effective.
“I don’t think it’s sensible to spend public money so kids can wander around and use Wi-Fi in the corridors.’’
Dr Marie-Therese Gibson a former principal of an exclusive Sydney girls’ school. Source:Supplied
Professor Lowe, an eminent environmental scientist who is president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said the level of electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi is “very low’’.
He said children would absorb more radiation from an electric blanket than from Wi-Fi.
An ARPANSA spokesman said Wi Fi radiation was “well within the safety limits’’.
“Some people have expressed concern and ARPANSA has advised that there is no consistent evidence to date that exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic energy (EME) from Wi-Fi adversely affects the health of children or the general population,’’ he said.
He said parents should encourage their children not to use a mobile phone against their head, to “limit their exposure’’ to radiation.
“However, ARPANSA does not provide a similar recommendation for Wi-Fi where the RF exposures are typically lower than a mobile phone used against the head,’’ he said.
The US Federal Communications Commission is reviewing America’s limits for radiation from mobile phones and Wi Fi, which are similar to Australia’s.
The American Academy of Pediatrics — representing 60,000 paediatricians — has told the commission that “children are not little adults and are disproportionately impacted by all environmental exposures, including cell phone radiation’’.
“It is essential that any new standard for cell phones or other wireless devices be based on protecting the youngest and most vulnerable populations to ensure they are safeguarded throughout their lifetimes,’’ the academy states in a recent letter.
The newly established Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research — which has a $5m federal government grant to study the effects of electromagnetic energy on brain function — says there is no clear evidence that low-level electromagnetic radiation has an impact on health.
But its director, Professor Rodney Croft, said “there is not enough information, particularly relating to children, to be sure that it doesn’t’’.
Professor Croft said India had recently imposed new standards setting electromagnetic radiation emissions at 10 per cent of the Australian limit.
“They are more political decisions than science-based decisions,’’ he said.
The scientist who led Australia’s contribution to the World Health Organisation’s Interphone study on mobile phone safety, Professor Bruce Armstrong, yesterday said there had been “relatively little word done on Wi-Fi’’.
Brisbane moMother, Louise Brosnan with her children Peter, 9, (left) John, 10, (right) and Zara, 5, who pulled her kids out of a Catholic school after she complained about the installation of Wi-Fi. Source:News Limited
“When a person is using a mobile phone to their ear they are transmitting radiofrequency energy just a few centimetres from their brain,’’ he said.
“But Wi-Fi exposure is way, way less than mobile phone exposure, such that I don’t think anyone has thought it would be likely to be an issue.
“Sure it could be researched but the reality is it hasn’t been done.’’
Professor Armstrong said it would be “preferable’’ for children to “not be using mobile phones much, if at all’’.
“It’s a wonderful security tool but I’d be saying to my child, ‘I don’t want you having long conversations on the mobile phone, I’d prefer you use a landline’,’’ he said.
Dr Geza Benke, who is part of the Monash University team involved in the global Mobi-Kids project, researching possible links between mobile phone use and brain tumours in children, yesterday said the signals from Wi-Fi were “one hundredth to one thousandth’’ of the strength of a mobile phone held to the head.
But he said a Wi-Fi router could emit similar levels of electromagnetic radiation as a mobile phone base station “hundreds of metres away’’.
“The Wi-Fi most likely is on all day so kids might get six hours of exposure,’’ he said.
“When you’re on your phone most people spend just a couple of minutes.
“The best thing to do, and this isn’t being done, is to have a dosimeter (to measure radiation) put on children and let them go around for a couple of weeks and actively measure what their exposure is in the classroom from Wi-Fi.’’
Eminent Swedish neuroscientist Olle Johansson — of the Department of Neuroscience at the karolinska Institute in Stockholm — yesterday said Wi-Fi should be banned in schools.
“These wireless systems are never off, and the exposure is not voluntary,’’ he told News Corp Australia newspapers.
Australian parents are worried about the health affeacts of Wi-Fi on their children in schools.Source: News Limited
“Exposures should be reduced now rather than waiting for proof of harm before acting.’’
Tasmania’s Education Department deputy secretary, Andrew Finch, said Wi-Fi in schools met Australian Communications and Media Authority standards and were “deemed to be safe’’.
“Any parent who has concerns about Wi-Fi in the classroom should discuss their concerns with the school principal,’’ he said.
A Victorian Education Department spokesman said all wireless networks in schools were well below the Australian Communications and Media Authority standards.
“Independent testing … showed the highest reading was just 0.17 per cent of the ACMA limit,’’ he said.
A South Australian Education Department spokesman said it was “impractical’’ to turn off Wi-Fi when not in use.
“It is possible to turn off or disconnect wireless access points in a school,’’ he said.
“However, the technical expertise required or physical location of many of these access points would make it impractical’’.
A NSW Education spokesman said the department took “pragmatic measures to minimise exposure’’ by mounting Wi-Fi routers on the ceiling, or more than half a metre from students.
He said it would be “impractical’’ to turn off power to wireless access points mounted on ceilings.
“The department maintains its commitment to providing a safe learning environment for students and will continue to review reputable information sources investigating the effects of RF EMR from wireless devices,’’ he said.
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