The Victoria British Columbia School Board is questioning the safety of using wireless Internet networks in classrooms. Canadian Health Authorities are leaving them in the lurch as they search for evidence that WI-Fi radiation is safe. The ever widening gulf between Health Canada’s’ broad proclamations and reality have become to much to ignore.
-Walt McGinnis
Health Canada claims that radio frequency radiation (RFR) such as that emitted from a Wi-Fi network is safe, even though there are thousands of studies that show that the use of wireless technology is not safe, especially for the children. Up to now most of our school administrators followed the guidance from Health Canada and our Medical Health Officer even when their sources of research seemed to be more often meeting the financial needs of the wireless industry and not the health needs of our children. In the face of mounting evidence of harm school officials are grappling with the possibility that Health Canada is not telling the truth on this issue.
There are grounds for being skeptical.Health Canada has a long history of collaborating with corporate interests at the expense of Canadians health. They dragged their feet in issuing regulations to protect Canadians from products containing asbestos and lead even when they were known to be carcinogenic . Many of those products were used in schools. In 2011 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared RFR to be carcinogenic. They are the world leaders in cancer research. With this in mind the Victoria School Board appears not willing to wait for Health Canada to issue more protective regulations and is preparing to move ahead to find a scientific basis from which they can make decisions that will protect the health and safety of the children and staff.
The school board will first have to sort through a maize of bureaucracy and regulations. Wi-Fi networks are designated as low power networks by Industry Canada so they are not regulated. Many say this is a huge concession to the wireless industry and that this allows very high exposures at the expense of our health. School Boards are also saying that no government agency is telling them to warn the staff or the students about the potential hazards. Radiation levels are not being measured in classrooms. Nor is anyone on staff in the schools presenting the safety manuals and disclaimers to parents, teachers or students so they can protect themselves from injuries.
Our school officials are not medical experts so they rely solely on the advice of the Medical Health Officer. The problem is Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall is also not an expert in the field of biological effects of microwave radiation on the human body. Dr. Kendall has admitted that he has never said Wi-Fi was safe. On top of that Health Canada, the people Kendall relies upon, are unable to present one non-industry funded study that says Wi-Fi is safe for children and the unborn.
Meanwhile rates of childhood autism are sky rocketing, a disease associated with exposure to rfr such as that emitted from Wi-Fi networks. Because mainstream medicine has not figured out the cause of autism one might think they would be grasping at any theory. But no, it seems they are incapable of entertaining the idea. Wired computer networks can easily be installed that work better than wireless networks and emit much less radiation. It seems ideology is winning the battle over common sense for now.
It should come as no surprise that there are growing suspicions, amongst school trustees and many in the public, that health officials may not be telling the truth about the potential health threats posed by exposure to Wi-Fi radiation. Recently the insurance industry announced that they would no longer cover injuries that resulted from exposure to RFR. The question arises who will be liable for these injuries? Will individual School Board Trustees be vulnerable to lawsuits if it is shown that Wi-Fi radiation has harmed a child or a staff person?
Health Canada’s claim that there is a consensus amongst health authorities that, non thermal electromagnetic radiation emitted from wireless devices such as Wi-Fi networks is not harmful, is ringing a little hollow these days. Especially when it appears they are picking sources that say the technology is safe while ignoring those who are expressing concerns. For example Health Canada seems to have ignored the opinions of the following health authorities on this issue.
2009 – Seletun Scientific Panel stated that ICNIRP/IEEE/FCC guidelines [which are virtually identical to Canada’s Safety Code 6] were not adequate to protect humans from chronic EMF exposure and recommended drastically lower permissible limits for both radio frequency radiation (RF EMR) and for power line (60 Hz) electromagnetic fields. It also said: “The Burden of Proof for the safety of radiation-emitting technologies should fall on Producers and Providers, not Consumers.” [1]
2012 – The American Academy of Environmental Medicine stated formally that government and industry arguments alleging the doubtful nature of the science on non-thermal effects of RF were not defensible. Newest studies show: genetic damage, reproductive defects, cancer, neurological degeneration and nervous system dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, etc. [2]
2012 – The American Academy of Environmental Medicine stated that it opposes the installation of wireless ‘smart meters’ in homes and schools based on a scientific assessment of the current medical literature. [3]
2012 – The BioInnitiative Report (a follow-up to the BioInnitiative 2007 Report), which had 29 authors including 21 PhDs and 10 MDs, MPHs, MSc medical specialists and researchers from 10 countries, found that RF EMR should be classified a Known Human Carcinogen; also that extremely low frequency (power line) electromagnetic fields could be classified a Group 1-Known carcinogen. [4]
2012 – The US Government Accountability Office published a report urging the US Federal Communications Commission to revisit the outdated safety standards for the exposures from wireless devices [which, once again, are virtually identical to Health Canada’s Safety Code 6, WHO, ICNIRP and ICES – all of whom are heavily influenced by the electrical industry ]. [5]
2012 – International Doctors Appeal, signed by 1,000 doctors, warned against the dangers of wireless technology. [6]
2012 – The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports the proposal for a formal inquiry into radiation standards for wireless technology (which haven’t changed since1996). [1]
2012 – Fifty-four (54) experts from 20 countries warn about the dangers of Smart Meters. [7]
2014, Swedish scientist, Dr. Lennart Hardell, PhD, whose three recent studies, which – for the first time ever – studied the harm done by cell phone usage over a 20 year period, caused him to urge the WHO to immediately classify all non-thermal radiation a “definite” human carcinogen! [8] [9] By extension, this means that the radiation emitted by all of today’s wireless devices – including baby monitors and Smart Meters and Wi Fi – is a definite cause of cancer.
In spite of Health Canada’s proclamations of safety, it is clear that there is no consensus that wireless technology is safe and in fact many health authorities worldwide are calling for school boards to take precautionary measures to protect school children and are asking for biologically based exposure regulations.It is clear Health Canada is ignoring the evidence of harm and is lagging the Canadian public who are calling for the need for safer regulations. Canadians who are knowledgeable of the risks are calling for precautionary measures to be taken to protect our loved ones, especially children, while attending public schools.
Our health authorities have been wrong before which has led to decisions by school officials that have caused a lot of pain and suffering. They allowed schools to be built with asbestos in the walls and lead in the water pipes. After many years of allowing these hazards to exist in schools they are being torn down or being repaired at great expense. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes in the past. Perhaps this time the Victoria School Board need not wait several decades before acting to remove Wi-Fi networks from our schools?
Many thanks to Jerry Flynn retired Canadian Armed Forces Captain who spent 22 years in Electronic Warfare (EW) and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) for compiling these references of Health Authorities who are calling for safer regulations.
[1] http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/sec22_2012_Precaution_in_Action_Global_advice.pdf
[2] http://www.globalresearch.ca/looming-health-crisis-wireless-technology-and-the-toxification-of-america/31816
[3] http://emfsafetynetwork.org/american-academy-of-environmental-medicine-calls-for-a-halt-to-wireless-smart-meters/
[4] www.bioinitiative.org
[5] http://www.emfnews.org/articles/tag/radiation-exposure/page/2/
[6] http://www.magdahavas.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/International-Doctors-Appeal-2012.pdf
[7] http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1041159/health-experts-from-20-countries-caution-about-smart-meter-risks
8] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24192496
[9] http://wifiinschools.org.uk/20.html