Posted on 12/20/2011 11:43:52 AM PST by matt04
Although wireless Internet can be found everywhere from your corner coffee shop to your local dog park, a growing group of concerned parents across the country are urging health officials to keep it out of one place: schools.
And if this year was any indication, the chorus of opposition to the popular technology and its potential health effects is gaining momentum.
In September, at least 12 elementary and middle schools in Ontario and B.C. imposed sweeping bans on wireless Internet by not installing it or removing it completely from their classrooms. In May, the World Health Organization reclassified the radio frequency (RF) energy emitted through wireless devices such as cellphones and Wi-Fi connections as possibly carcinogenic.
Health Canada maintains that strong scientific evidence shows current exposure rates to these low-level frequencies is “not dangerous” and that there is no need for the public to take any precautions.
Still, those opposed to the technology urge for a more cautious approach to be taken with Wi-Fi, claiming the risks of long-term exposure in children are still unknown.
“This is not a question mark,” said Rodney Palmer with the Safe School Committee, a parents’ advocate group north of Toronto. “The idea is that we shouldn’t kill them to be online.”
Last year, Palmer’s two children aged six and 10, often came home from school feeling feverish. He says that the illnesses stopped when they were transferred this September to Pretty River Academy, a private school in Collingwood, Ont., which only uses wired Internet connections.
Palmer and other parents believe that Wi-Fi exposure can lead to an array of health symptoms including headaches, nausea and heart conditions.
“It’s very difficult to avoid Wi-Fi and it’s a huge problem in the classrooms, where the kids are for six hours a day,” said Magda Havas, a Trent University professor who has studied electronic-magnetic pollution since the mid 1990s.
“Then they go home and get exposed to another signal. It means their little bodies just can’t get rid of it basically.”
Havas cites past studies, which show that radio frequency exposure in rats led to an increase in tumours. A study she completed in 2010 also found a possible link between the frequencies and heart problems.
“I just can’t fathom how they can say that it’s safe,” she said.
But Dave Michelson, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia disagrees.
Not only is wireless Internet safe; its opponents are doing the public more harm by spreading panic and misinformation, he says.
“This is the problem. These activists are good at intimidating,” said Michelson, who measures and researches radio-frequency energy.
“They have a deep-seated belief that it must be true. It becomes a matter of faith, not fact.”
Get rid of what?
“Get rid of what?”
The stupidity of their parents. It’s following them to school now, too.
Get rid of what?
All of that electromagnetic energy that's being stored in their bodies, of course. Having them grab onto a water pipe to ground them for a few minutes might be a solution. :=)
The next “logical” steps are to ban radio/TV/microwave communications/RADAR/GBS radio speakers/electric motors (there goes the Volt)/just plain magnets (there goes the magnetic field that protects us) and any other form of modern technologies. Turning parents into unibombers through the spread of ignorance...
Unless it’s a very large school in area, they’re still likely to be exposed to this “dangerous” radiation from networks in adjacent buildings.
Let’s face it; most of the things that go into our schools are bad for the children.
Massive disinfective cleanup is needed.
I wish the same amount of energy would go against those things shown to be harmful to the child’s soul (somewhere in the NT).
That actually could be a concern, especially if other kids come home from school feeling ill. There could be mold growing somewhere, like in the ventilation system or carpets. Or there could be a source of bacteria, or fumes from something. Removing the kids from that environment *would* cause an improvement.
Of course, the idea that Wi-Fi poses a health risk is ludicrous. Now, if they were against Wi-Fi because kids don't seem to be learning all that well, and computers and internet are present in more schools than ever--well, that would be a different matter.
The radio waves that are clogging up their bodies. Everyone knows that radio waves go in, but the body can't properly metabolize them so they build up. This is one of the main causes of obesity. Radio waves are turned into fat. /s
So, the parents have wireless at home and they don't see that as a problem, but in school it is?
Ignorant peasants will increasingly turn their backs on the technology that would save their lives. Technology as magic is only just a few steps away. The sheeple will gladly trade their freedom to the government to "protect them" from what they do not understand.
I weep for Western civilization.
Mold is another one of those things that gets over blown.
I grew up on a farm in the Midwest. Mold was all over outside in the barns and in the old houses.
Might be because we were exposed to it all the time.
These are the same kind of parents who endanger their children by refusing to have them vaccinated.
There are many different kinds of mold. While I agree that the “toxic mold” was overhyped, molds *do* cause some problems. Even the non-pathogenic ones can cause allergic reactions.
I grew up on a farm, too.
But the cell phones they bought for their kids which operate at up to 6 times the output of wi-fi at almost the same frequencies and are in their pockets—well, those are ok. What ignorance.
These radio waves sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids!
LOL. I am very much of the opinion that every classroom should have Wi-Fi, with two cameras linked to it. One pointing from the teachers desk toward the class, and one pointing AT the teachers desk FROM the class. I’ll bet discipline problems would drop like a lead brick if the kiddies thought that mom and dad might be tuning them in from work (or home). And likewise the teachers would probably perform better, if they knew that their paymasters could be looking in at any time.
The kind of mold you're talking about (green mold) that grows on the outer surface of trees/old buildings, etc., is not a major culprit. The "bad actor" is/are the black molds that grow in dark areas with high moisture. THOSE are both highly allergenic and toxic. And the problem is much worse in warmer climes.
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