The call for a ban on Wi-Fi in schools just got wider in Canada, even as a new Industry Canada study shows the average Wi-Fi network exposes users to potential radiation levels “well below” those deemed potentially harmful by federal safety standards.
The B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) voted thispast weekend to demand a ban on new Wi-Fi installations in BritishColumbia schools. The group, made up of parents elected to keep an eyeon schools in every district of the province, also wants the B.C.government to designate or create one school in the province as aWi-Fifree school.
“We voted to err on the side of caution,” said BCCPAC president AnnWhiteaker in a statement released on Monday.
Students in some local schools have “developed health symptomsincluding headaches, dizziness, and an inability to concentrate,” theBCCPAC said in the news release.
The move is just the latest in a string of policy declarations andreports on whether Wi-Fi and other microwave radiation cancause canceror other health effects in children. The World Health Organizationplaced Wi-Fi and other microwave radiation technologies on a cancerwatch-list last year, the BCCPAC said.
B.C’s Saanich District School board has already banned Wi-Fi in itselementary schools. The Ontario Catholic Teachers Union released areport earlier this year warning members that Wi-Fi is a potentialhealth hazard in classrooms and calling for new Wi-Fi installations tobe halted.
Meanwhile, legal blogger Michael Geist writes today that anew Industry Canada study carried outtests showing the average Wi-Fi device used in Canada emits radiofrequency waves “well below” the levels deemed to bepotentially hazardous by the federal government.