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Mayoral candidate Martin Weatherall accuses school boards of endangering students' health
Canada Created: 26 Sep 2014
Stratford mayoral candidate Martin Weatherall is accusing both the public and Catholic district school boards of endangering the health of children by exposing them to Wi-Fi and other microwave radiation.

Weatherall has submitted a list of more than 30 questions to the Avon Maitland District board and Huron-Perth Catholic District board related to wireless radiation at schools under a Freedom of Information request.

He concludes his requests by saying:

“If you are willing to quickly commit to rid the (school system) of Wi-Fi and other wireless radiation dangers, you need not answer my questions. If you plan to keep exposing children to microwave radiation from Wi-Fi I will question your intelligence, morale and commitment to education and safety of children. I will also encourage the Ontario Provincial Police and Stratford City Police to investigate and lay appropriate charges against you.”

Responding to Weatherall's submission, Ted Doherty, director of education with the Avon Maitland board, said the board takes the health and safety of students “extremely seriously.”

Doherty noted a couple of years ago questions were raised about the potential harm of Wi-Fi and that staff at the time did “due diligence” in investigating.

“Of course, Health Canada is the organization you look to on matters like this and Health Canada has stated that they do not believe there are any harmful effects to Wi-Fi,” he said.

“Health Canada has issued a statement on Wi-Fi and that's what we follow.”

The school board is not involved in setting levels of what's acceptable radiation.

The Catholic board did not immediately respond to The Beacon Herald request for a response.

Health Canada's website says “there is no convincing scientific evidence that exposure to low-level radiofrequency (RF) energy from Wi-Fi causes adverse health effects in humans.”

“RF energy levels from Wi-Fi equipment in all areas accessible to the general public are required to meet Health Canada's exposure guidelines. The limits specified in the guidelines are based on an ongoing review of thousands of published scientific studies on the health impacts of RF energy. Based on scientific evidence, Health Canada has determined that exposure to low-level RF energy, such as that from Wi-Fi equipment, is not dangerous to the public.”

The federal health agency says “a small number of epidemiology studies that have shown brain cancer rates may be elevated in long-term/heavy cell phone users. Other epidemiology studies on cell phone users, laboratory studies and animal cancer studies have not supported this association.”

The Perth District Health Unit responded to Weatherall's concerns by referring to Public Health Ontario (PHO) conclusions on radiofrequency energy and human health.

“There have been numerous studies on radiofrequency (RF) exposure and its impacts on human health, but to date there is no plausible evidence indicating current public exposure to wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) connections is causing adverse effects on health,” says the provincial agency.

Dr. Ray Copes, director of environmental and occupational health at PHO, and Dr. Lawrence Loh have completed a scientific review of Wi-Fi technology and health outcomes.

“Although Wi-Fi is a relatively new communication technology, use of the RF band for communications and other applications is not new,” says Dr. Loh. “Widespread public exposure to these frequencies has occurred for decades.”

“Recently published research shows that Wi-Fi exposure is well within recommended limits and represents less than one per cent of what is received during other RF exposures, such as typical cellphone use,” says Dr. Copes.

“The low frequency and power levels associated with Wi-Fi distribution mean the risk of adverse health effects is small.”

In an e-mail to news media, Weatherall says the most important part of his campaign is “the health and safety of Stratford Citizens and in particular the safety of children who are being exposed to wireless microwave radiation from items such as Wi-Fi, cell phones, baby monitors, wireless games and cordless telephones.”
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Source: The Beacon Herald, Donal O'Connor, 26 Sep 2014

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