What do France, Belgium, Israel, Spain, Australia and Italy all have in common? They have all taken action on removing or reducing WiFi (or cellphone) use in schools. Take France for example, they passed a law in 2015 banning WiFi from all nursery schools. In addition to that, the law states that WiFi must be turned off in all elementary schools when it’s not in use.
This is because there are increasing numbers of peer-reviewed studies showing that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can cause health problems (see our science section). WiFi and cell phone data is transmitted by pulsed microwave or radio frequency radiation. This creates a continuous EMF in which the majority of us are exposed to 24/7. At the cellular level, this non-ionising radiation has been shown to cause oxidative stress and DNA damage which is the backbone of all health problems.
Wireless tablets in schools
It’s especially concerning for children because the bone marrow of a child’s head absorbs 10 times more radiation than that of an adult. The Council of Europe warns about installing routers in schools and recommends a 100 µW/m² precautionary level in classrooms. In many schools however, levels are often 10 times higher because there are now dozens of devices emitting a signal at once, partly due to schools utilising more wireless devices like tablets. Scientists are only beginning to understand what the long term effects of this microwave pollution will be on children’s development and behaviour.
Mobile phone companies are also failing to factor in children when testing their devices for safety, despite calls to update regulations. The existing cell phone certification process uses a plastic model of the head called the Specific Anthropomorphic Mannequin (SAM), representing the top 10% of U.S. military recruits in 1989, greatly underestimating the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for children. In the SAR test, the mobile phone is placed 5mm away from the head on full power for several minutes.
Specific Anthropomorphic Mannequin (‘SAM’)
SAM’s headsize only represents roughly 2% of the human population and 0% of children. Furthermore, the measurement, ‘SAR’ is still only based on thermal induced effects and therefore disregards numerous health hazards, such as the effects on the blood brain barrier (BBB), neurotransmitters and autophagy which have all been well documented.
Today the default is to have WiFi on all the time and our mobile phones constantly on us, which adds up to a very heavy cumulative dose of radiation. Some schools have already taken action on this by hard wiring their internet in using Ethernet until further research has been carried out however, with 5G on the horizon and wireless transmitters becoming more powerful every year, there is increasing concern about the long term effects. See our section on WiFi for more information on router alternatives.
EMF Home Team