Local Parents Concerned About Wi-Fi in Schools / EMF-Omega News

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

27 June 2010

Local Parents Concerned About Wi-Fi in Schools

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

http://www.themeafordindependent.ca/home/in-the-schools/663-local-parents-concerned-about-wi-fi-in-schools

There is new evidence that suggests the Wi-Fi in our schools may cause serious short and/or long term health problems, and this has some Meaford parents concerned.

What is Wi-Fi?  Wi-Fi is a microwave transmitter that is used to connect to the internet without wires. Some concerned parents are beginning to feel that wi-fi might be convenient but not necessary as every school has all of the wiring required still available to plug back into the internet in every room.

Wi-Fi comes with a long list of potential health risks.  Wi-Fi or wireless router signals are microwaves just like cell phones.   There is growing concern that Wi-Fi is potentially harmful, especially to children.  Microwave exposure is associated with infertility, neurological disorders, Leukaemia and Cancer, especially in children.

Each school has a large main antenna in the centre of the school and multiple smaller ones placed in classrooms further away to boost the signal strength as it starts to weaken.  It sends signals all day/night and never gets turned off.

Is Wi-Fi safe?  According to hundreds of Doctors and Researchers (including Trent University's Dr. Magda Havas), Canada's safety guidelines are outdated.  Wi-Fi is new technology, while the safety studies are old and based on thermal effects only, meaning that if the internal organs of an adult are not HEATED in less than 6 minutes they consider it to be within the guidelines.  There has never been a study done on children's long term exposure to low level microwave radiation (Wi-Fi) and the biological effects.

Now children starting as early as three years old are exposed to this low level microwave radiation for 6-8 hours each day at school.  They will be exposed five days each week for the next 14-20 years.

According to researchers like Dr. Havas, biological effects may include increased permeability of the blood brain barrier, increased calcium flux, increase in cancer and DNA breaks, induced stress proteins, and nerve damage.  Exposure to this energy is associated with altered white blood cells in school children; childhood leukemia; impaired motor function, reaction time, and memory; headaches, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and insomnia.

According to a group of concerned parents in Meaford, symptoms showing up in area school children include:

Headaches (3-5X per week, requiring pain medication)

Dizziness - Nausea - Vertigo (subsides when student leaves the school)

Visual and Auditory Distortion (unsure of where they are, voices change volume)

Racing Heart Rate (Tachycardia)

Memory Loss  (trouble remembering school material)

Attention Deficit (trouble concentrating while in class)

Skin Rash  (mostly lower leg, goes away on weekends or longer breaks)

Hyperactivity (particularly among children not previously known to be hyperactive)

Night Sweats (unexplainable, unrelated to fever, and lasting several nights)

Insomnia

Some parents are also noticing that in the past year their kids "aren't quite the same". Explanations of this description include having dropped a grade point, no longer getting along with friends, and behavioural notes coming home from the teacher where in previous years there were none.

Symptoms of Microwave Exposure can vary from child to child. All of these symptoms have been reported by parents of children attending schools in Collingwood, Ont. The symptoms tend to subside when the children come home, or on weekends and extended periods away from their school.

Red blood cells seen under a microscopes after exposure to 90 seconds of cell phone microwave radiation  (Wi-Fi or wireless router signals are microwaves just like cell phones) show that the cells have lost their polarity and integrity and are clumping together. This results in hypoxia or a lack of oxygen reaching the cells in the body's organs. Due to numerous cells clumping together a cell's surface area is diminished and this results in the inability of the red blood cell to take in sufficient oxygen.

Since the brain consumes 20% of the oxygen carried by red blood cells, the possible effects of this are a diminished ability to remember new things.  Children's developing nervous systems - having not reached full maturation - are especially sensitive to the effects of mobile phone microwave radiation.  Dr Gerd Oberfeld, head of Salzburg's Public Department of Environmental Health considers Wi-Fi dangerous, especially for children, and has called for their removal.

"Wi-Fi in schools is basically a weaker microwave. With a microwave oven, you close the door and the microwaves are contained within the oven, whereas, with our schools, the microwaves are released into the environment. The school becomes the microwave," says Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University.

At the most recent Bluewater & District School Board (BWSB) meeting on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 the WiFi Advisory Committee to St. Vincent Euphrasia Elementary School Parent Council in Meaford urged the BWSB to err on the side of caution and remove the Wi-Fi until a study can be done on children's long term exposure to low level microwave radiation (Wi-Fi) and the biological effects.

The group asked the board to return to using the existing wires in each classroom which would be of no additional cost and the internet would continue uninterrupted as it was a few years ago, prior to the installation of the wireless routers.

The board refused the request of these parents so they are now asking for other concerned parents to help them inform local School Trustees of their concerns.

A petition has been prepared and can be downloaded by clicking here.  (Will open a PDF file)

For more information or if you believe your child may have symptoms, please visit www.safeschool.ca and/or contact the parent group by emailing sveparentcouncil@gmail.com .

Please mail your signed petitions to S.V.E. Parent Council  (box 596, Thornbury, ON  N0H 2P0)

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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Strange in apple land / Wi-Fi Router combo / EHS TV News / Yucaipa Planners / Critics blast Wi Fi plan

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

25 June 2010

Something is ...strange in Apple land

The new iPhone 4 - ( notice that 4G is not there ) Is released.  It's making waves all over the internet but not good ones. Steve jobs is telling the world not to hold the phone!

If you don't hold the phone in your hand you will have better reception. If you hold the phone in a certain way that shorts out the new aerial - you will loose your connection!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphone-4-reception-issues-youre-holding-th/

The people at apple could not be that DUMB.  Perhaps Apple is coming out to show the world that you can't hold the phone because the radiation will go right into your body. A perfect demonstration.

Make them addicted to the devise and then tell them NOT to touch the aerial. Show it too them. Don't hide it inside the phone any longer. And they dropped the WIMAX part of the phone. There is no G4 and that's WIMAX.

Could it be that Steve is going to set new health standards by showing that you can't hold the phone. That you have to use a headset to get it to work properly?

And no G4? Rogers said that it is not going to invest into G4 networks.

Submitted by Robert W

Steve Jobs solves iPhone 4 reception problems: 'don't hold it that way'

Antenna design on new iPhone is acknowledged as source of poor connectivity - but Apple says problem is inevitable and advises different grip. Or you could try duct tape...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/jun/25/iphone-reception-problems-solved

Apple has issued official guidance - and its chief executive Steve Jobs has issued unofficial guidance - on how to avoid the widely-noted reception problems with the new iPhone 4 when held from below: don't hold it that way.

The cause has been narrowed down to a circuit being formed when the skin bridges the gap between the left and bottom antennas that form the phone's outer stainless steel bezel: depending on the conductance of the skin, it can make the phone reception drop off dramatically.

Emailed by the website Ars Technica about the problem, Jobs responded in his normal terse manner: "Just avoid holding it in that way," he wrote - a response from Jobs that was received by a number of gadget review sites and customers in the US.

Or, in Apple's official statement - which is only being passed out to news organisations which ask for a statement on the problem, rather than sent out (as happens with iPad or iPhone sales figures): "Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your Phone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases."

The problem emerged within hours of the first iPhone 4 devices being delivered to customers in the US, with dozens posting videos to YouTube showing mobile reception dropping off dramatically when they picked up the phone. Some users wondered why Apple had not spotted the problem during its testing of the iPhone 4 before its launch, and wondered whether the £25 "bumpers" that Apple sells to go around the casing - and protect the metal antennas - was an implicit acknowledgement of the problem. Apple had no comment on Friday on whether it had discovered the problem during testing, or only after the phone went on sale.

Spencer Web, an antenna engineer with Antennasys, notes in a blog post that antennas for mobile phones are generally placed at the bottom of the phone, in order to keep the radiative parts of the phone as far away from the user's head as possible. In the US the Federal Communications Commission measures the output of a phone, and the amount of non-ionising radiation given off, in specific tests - but Web says that those would not have picked up the problem: "when the FCC tests are run, the head is required to be in the vicinity of the phone. But, the hand is not!"

He added: "The antenna structure for the cell phone is still down at the bottom (I won't address the WiFi nor GPS antennas in this blog entry). The iPhone 4 has two symmetrical slots in the stainless frame. If you short these slots, or cover them with your hand, the antenna performance will suffer (see this video I found on YouTube). There is no way around this, it's a design compromise that is forced by the requirements of the FCC, AT&T, Apple's marketing department and Apple's industrial designers, to name a few."

There is some speculation that the problem only occurs on some phones because the antennas are usually covered with a clear finishing solution; if the finish did not cover them properly the phone might be more liable to the problem.

Meanwhile iPhone 4 users are developing their own solutions - which range from the use of duct or masking tape on the bottom edge, painting clear nail varnish over the gap, buying cases to cover the sides of the phone, or - the most expensive option - buying Apple's "bumpers" which cover the edge of the phone.

Meanwhile another problem has appeared on some of the new models: yellow discoloration under the screen. According to one suggestion, this is due to a chemical used in the fixing process that joins the touchscreen to the glass above it and will fade in a few days. That remains to be seen.

----------------------------------

It turns out the new 4G iPhone has an antenna that surrounds the phone and if you hold it in your hand it interferes with reception.  Is this a huge technical flaw or a clever way to ensure that you don't hold your cell phone?

Apple recommends that you keep the phone at least 5/8th of an inch away from your body and that includes your hand.  Could it be that Apple and cell phone activists are converging on the proper use of cell phones? Place the phone on a table and use it in speaker mode or with an airtube headset   Could it be that Steve Jobs is trying to get people to use the iPhone safely?  Now isn't this an interesting way of viewing things?

Read more at

http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/06/25/new-iphone-4-problems-are-actually-good-news/

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This is quick video I did yesterday of a TELUS 2WIRE ADSL Modem/Wi-Fi Router combo.

This router appears to have reset itself to the default settings - thought the Wi-Fi was off, but it was actually on with NO indication from the LED indicator on the front panel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aWBcLrPunM

Carl

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EHS TV News from France

 - Le Dauphiné  "Électrosensibles Réfugiés en forêt de Saoû" (PDF cliquer)
- Participer à la conférence de Michèle Rivasi ce vendredi 25  JUIN à 18h30
sur le site de la Forêt de Saoû (le plan d'accès : cliquer)

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Yucaipa Planners deny CUP for cell tower on North Bench

Yucaipa/Calimesa News Mirror

Some people don't have landlines, they only have cell phones." She also addressed the radiation issue that many residents were concerned about and said it ...

http://www.newsmirror.net/articles/2010/06/25/news/doc4c22886b7ba33923947435.txt

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Critics blast plan to introduce wireless Internet at local public schools

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2640130

The public school board's plan to put wireless internet in all elementary and high schools has Peterborough parent Teri Strain worried that exposure to radiation could lead to cancer in children.

Before the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board goes forward with the proposed multi-million-dollar instructional technology plan, Strain said trustees should do a little more research on the adverse health effects.

Strain was one of six delegates who spoke against wireless Internet in schools at Thursday night's public school board meeting.

Exposure to wireless Internet can lead to nausea, dizziness and weakness, she said.

"These symptoms all go away on the weekend when the kids are no longer in school," she said. "I'm not against technology, but if one child has a nut allergy, peanuts are banned.

"I urge the board to take precautions on this."

Jackie Donaldson, a Peterborough parent of two children, said radiation can affect the body in harmful ways.

"Exposure can result in damaged cells, and this is day in and day out exposure during children's most vulnerable period," she said. "Don't put our children at risk."

Donaldson said damaged cells can lead to cancer.

The longer people are exposed to electromagnetic fields, the more sensitive they become, said Magda Havas, an associate professor at Trent University who has been conducting electromagnetic research for 20 years.

"Children are more sensitive to environmental contaminants and that includes microwave radiation," she told the board.

Havas said 3% of adults experience "electro-hyper-sensitivity," which is described as having adverse effects to electromagnetic frequencies.

"The percentage among children is much higher," she said. "An accurate estimate would be about 1,000 across the board."

Charlene Creelman, a Peterborough grandmother, said she is electro-hyper-sensitive.

She experiences chronic fatigue, memory loss and headaches, she said.

"I don't want radiation in my body," she said. "And I don't want my grandchildren exposed to it. I don't give my consent to this."

Creelman suggested labelling the areas in schools with clearly marked signs warning everyone that wireless Internet is used.

"This board should be protecting students, teachers and staff," she said.

Board chairwoman Diane Lloyd said the board will look further into the issue and rely on information from Health Canada.

"We are certainly interested in student safety at all times," she said.

Wireless Internet is already used throughout the public school board offices on Fisher Dr. and in some schools, she said.

"I'm not aware of any school that's totally wireless at this point," she said. "We have a very ambitious technology plan we would like to implement, but wireless is only one piece of that."

Trustee Gordon Gilchrist, who took a moment to discuss the issue further with Havas and Strain, said the board plans to investigate the research.

"We're looking into it," he said. "It's the right thing to do."

In March, some Simcoe County parents brought similar concerns to their local school board, saying their children have experienced adverse health effects as a result of wireless Internet.

ahouston@peterboroughexaminer.com

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