The Ontario Catholic Teachers Association and Ontario Teachers Association have tried to ban Wi-Fi signals in classrooms as a part of a move that claims to protect the health and safety of children. Dubiously citing research published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the move tried to ban Wi-Fi over concerns of the carcinogenic potential of the radiation produced by the wireless communication between electronic devices. For the most part, schools in Ontario and B.C. have decided to keep Wi-Fi but there are a few in Ontario that have decided they are better off without it.
The authorities are not citing particular research, but a lack of research on the long-term health effects of exposure to radio-frequency (RF) signals as part of the electromagnetic field frequencies (EMF). The only research published on the subject involved short-term exposure to radiation over the last decade, as a result of the recent global acceptance of cellular technology. In experiments conducted by scientists as part of the WHO’s EMF investigation team found no short-term effects in lab specimens after exposure to RF signals. Reported cases in humans are just as rare. Experiments conducted, repeated and reproduced around the world have failed to substantiate claims of short-term carcinogenic effects as a result of exposure to RF waves.
We won’t know for the next couple of decades before the long-term effects can be researched, reported, and published. The effects can be estimated, but how this type of radiation affects the body is poorly understood outside the scientific community, and apparently by the people making decisions that effect how our students communicate.
A review of electromagnetic radiation is provided to the reader. Most mobile electronic devices use radio and microwave frequencies to establish a connection with one another. EMF in this range was and continues to be the focus of ongoing research by the WHO. EMF waves can be separated into two categories: non-ionizing and ionizing. Non-ionizing radiation occupies the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, and visible light. This type of radiation is not energetic enough to disrupt the chemical bonds between atoms and molecules, even in biological organisms, and remains relatively inert. Ionizing radiation includes ultraviolet rays (you know, the stuff that actually causes cancer), x-rays, and gamma rays, which are even more energetic forms of radiation that can disrupt chemical bonds, especially in biological organisms, and more so without sunscreen. This is important because it is a proposed cancer-causing mechanism.
Ionizing radiation can damage DNA and although DNA inevitably repairs itself, it ends up making errors in the process. This can lead to mutations, which can cause cancerous cells to develop. However, there are a couple of conditions that are required for this to occur. One, the radiation must be ionizing; two, the person must be susceptible to mutations in their DNA as a result; and three, the mutation must be cancer causing, which some are not (e.g. benign tumors). By falsifying one of these conditions (ionizing radiation) cancer-causing mutations due to RF communication devices are unlikely.
Other effects have been suggested such as temperature effects caused by the heating of the skin and underlying tissue, which can lead to cancerous mutations. Furthermore, some researchers point out that the skull around a child’s brain is smaller and less developed. This possibly could lead to higher radiation absorption by the brain than in adults. However, the amount of radiation emitted by these devices is several orders of magnitude smaller than even the cosmic background radiation (relic radiation from the big bang that permeates throughout the universe), solar radiation, and radiation from decay of radioactive minerals in the Earth’s crust and core. These are all forms of radiation that have been around for billions of years and contributed to the environment humans evolved in and continue to live.
However, if causation is found – that exposure to RF waves leads to an increase in the incidence of cancer beyond some statistically significant level of error – then it would demand change in the global communication network. It is estimated that almost five billion people use cellular technology, many of them using cell phones as their only means of electronic communication and vital to the developing economies of the third world. This means the way we communicate would need to be rethought to maintain the same level of communication while protecting the health and safety of the user and economic output of developing and developed nations alike.
It may be unlikely that the effects of exposure to Wi-Fi will cause any significant injury that can be reproduced by exposure to EMF. Right now, the school boards are playing it unduly safe. I encourage readers to look at this topic on their own and educate themselves beyond this article. A good starting point would be the World Health Organization website here: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/index.html and the Globe and Mail here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/andre-picard/a-catholic-teachers-association-looks-to-ban-wifi-whats-next-coffee/article2343964/
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