Peter Limbrick writes –

I attended a meeting in Derby last month that was addressing concerns about wi-fi technology in the classroom. While we heard reports of pupils having unusual and unpleasant symptoms while sitting near wi-fi nodes on the classroom wall and of teachers becoming incapacitated in wi-fi parts of their school, we did not get a consistent message about the science.

My layman’s impression is that there is not yet a body of universally accepted science telling us that wi-fi is unsafe for children (certainly not any that the government wants to listen to). But, at the same time and of greater significance for me, there is no science telling us that it is safe. This reminds me of the debate about smoking and cancer and secondary smoking. We had to wait for decades for the government to pay attention to the mounting scientific evidence. As always, funding for scientific research, vested interests and the welfare of children must jostle for position.

Where does this leave teachers, parents and school governors? I suggest they should accept for the time being that they are not going to get clear, emphatic and disinterested advice from their local authority or national government. If we cannot rely on ‘official’ science, then we must revert to intuition, common sense and the precautionary principle – if in doubt, don’t do it.

While I am concerned for children in school and nurseries (and would want them to have wired systems) I am also concerned for babies yet to be born and the eggs and sperms that bring them into being. Research was mentioned at the meeting that raised concern about the permanent effects of wi-fi on ovaries and testes with possible damage to eggs and sperms that could continue down the generations.

In pursuit of safety at work, while we should protect school staff from the risks that wi-fi brings, we should also be protecting pregnant women in all their work places from wi-fi laptops, cordless (DECT) phones and hand-held devices. Just think how close these gadgets get to the embryo’s head with its thin skull and delicate, developing brain.

I have two practical suggestions for concerned Bulletin readers:

1.    Ask your employers to survey the issues and create a wi-fi policy that applies a precautionary principle to protect staff, pregnant women and clients/users.

2.    Survey the wi-fi and other wireless gadgetry that surrounds you and your children and see how much of it you can dispense with or replace with a wired version.

If you want to find out more, visit:

http://wiredchild.org/

http://www.radiationresearch.org/

http://www.mastsanity.org/

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/

For an account of the health problems termed ‘Microwave Syndrome’ visit:

http://next-up.org/pdf/MicrowaveSyndrome012007Uk.pdf

If your organisation needs help in developing a precautionary wi-fi policy      I will do my best to link you to someone who can help.

It would be wonderful if leading children’s organisations like Mencap, Scope, NCB, 11 Million, etc took a brave lead in formulating wi-fi policies to protect the children they campaign for and their own staff.

Contact: p.limbrick@virgin.net