{"id":7415,"date":"2016-03-23T10:33:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T17:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=7415"},"modified":"2016-03-23T15:30:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T22:30:47","slug":"kingston-teachers-want-wifi-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=7415","title":{"rendered":"Local teachers unions in Ontario call for moratorium on Wi-Fi use in schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0Ashley Csanady<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0March 21, 2016\u00a0| Last Updated:\u00a0Mar 22 8:57 AM ET\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0@AshleyCsanady<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wireless internet signals are often no stronger than a baby monitor, but that hasn\u2019t\u00a0curtailed\u00a0the debate over whether Wi-Fi should be banned from the classroom.<\/p>\n

Two teachers\u2019 union locals in Kingston, Ontario, want their school to permanently switch off wireless internet connections over concerns the over-the-air signals post a significant health risk. Public health units across the country maintain Wi-Fi is perfectly safe, even for young children. But that hasn\u2019t prevented various teachers unions and school boards, including the Canadian Teachers\u2019 Federation, from calling for a moratorium on wireless use in schools if not an outright ban.<\/p>\n

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\"Fotolia\"<\/p>\n
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FotoliaIs analog a safer way to teach kids?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned because Wi-Fi and microwave communications have not been determined to be safe and we\u2019ve never received any training about the hazards such as all the warnings that come with your cellphones or wireless devices,\u201d said Andrea Loken president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers\u2019 Federation Limestone District. \u201cWe\u2019ve never been asked if we\u2019re OK\u00a0with being subjected to Wi-Fi all day everyday while we\u2019re at work. No one has given consent and no one has been informed of the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The local branch of the Elementary Teachers\u2019 Federation of Ontario (ETFO) joined the local OSSTF in asking its school board to review Wi-Fi use, something that was already underway. The school board expects a report to be tabled later this month assessing the safety of wireless connections in schools.<\/p>\n

Loken cites a number of studies and that taps into an appetite to ban Wi-Fi across Canada, and internationally. The central ETFO union, representing all elementary teachers in the province, has also\u00a0questioned<\/a>\u00a0Wi-Fi\u2019s safety, while OSSTF\u2019s province-wide team has not. Many believe Wi-Fi exposure can cause everything from nausea to cancer. France has banned it from its public schools over concerns about safety. That prompted a similar debate in Peel Region, one of the country\u2019s largest school boards covering a swath of suburban area west of Toronto, and the Edmonton Catholic School Board has previously debated banning the use of the increasingly ubiquitous wireless internet connections.<\/p>\n

The concerns stem from a belief the the radiofrequency electromagnetic energy that carries a Wi-Fi to your electronic device is detrimental to human health and especially on a mass scale, such as routers large enough to cover an entire school or system. It is a low form of radiation, but one that\u2019s usually less powerful than the radio signals that have streamed unseen through the air for over a century, and about the same as what comes off a TV or microwave.<\/p>\n

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\"Justin<\/p>\n
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Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images\/FilesOpponents believe that Wi-Fi exposure can lead to an array of health symptoms including headaches, nausea and heart conditions, while Health Canada maintains that there is no need for the public to take any precautions.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Despite the commonality of those low-doses of radiation, Loken said she and other members of the OSSTF executive in her area have done their own research and are convinced Health Canada is failing to recognize the danger of Wi-Fi. She says \u201cit\u2019s simply not true\u201d Wi-Fi is the same strength as a radio broadcast tower. (Most Wi-Fi runs between 2.4 and 5 gigahertz, and 2.4 gigahertz is so common it\u2019s usually the frequency for baby monitors and garage door openers).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with Wi-Fi in schools is that it\u2019s on all the time. We\u2019re not allowed to turn it off,\u201d Loken said, adding that people can choose to smoke or own a cellphone and accept those risks but not whether they are exposed to Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

But Health Canada \u2014 like the World Health Organization and Public Health Ontario \u2014 states \u201ccurrent scientific evidence supports the assertion that (radiofrequency) energy emissions from Wi-Fi devices are not harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n

At its strongest, Wi-Fi is only about as strong as one per cent of the maximum electromagnetic energy emissions allowed by Health Canada under what\u2019s called \u201cSafety Code 6\u201d \u2014 a common flashpoint for those who believe Wi-Fi exposure poses an imminent threat. That\u2019s the regulation that outlines how strong the energy emitted from any wireless device can be in Canada, including cellphone and broadcast towers. It\u2019s also important to note Wi-Fi non-ionized energy, which means that unlike an X-ray which is ionized, its effects on the human body at low doses are fairly innocuous.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think most scientific experts would feel there is any kind of an established risk for children around Wi-Fi<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think most scientific experts would feel there is any kind of an established risk for children around Wi-Fi,\u201d said Dr. Ray Copes, chief of environmental and occupational health, with Public Health Ontario. \u201cThat\u2019s very different than saying we have conclusively proven that nothing can ever happen to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of literature out there. The challenge in much of that is you get one off studies that can\u2019t be replicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where so much of the confusion creeps in. It\u2019s impossible to prove a negative, and there are so many studies out there about Wi-Fi that sometimes a negative connection is made, but that doesn\u2019t mean all other environmental factors have been ruled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not aware of any evidence that would suggest that the Wi-Fi exposures in schools are a major contributor to (radiofrequency) exposures overall,\u201d he said. \u201cWherever we go we\u2019re going to be exposed to some degree of radiation, and that\u2019s everything from sunlight\u2026 to high-voltage electricity transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n

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