Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Cell Phones, Wireless Antennas:
Public Health Threat? 2

Prohibit wi-fi and cell phone use in schools, and keep cell antennas at least 1,500 feet away from school sites, recommends Dr. Magda Havas, a professor of Environmental & Resource Studies at Trent University, Canada, where she studies the biological effects of radiofrequency radiation, electromagnetic fields, dirty electricity and ground current.

A YouTube video of Havas’ presentation, Cell phones, antennas, and wi-fi: What you need to know to protect your family was posted by a member of Burbank ACTION after Havas spoke last week in Woodland Hills. The event drew citizens from all over Southern California who have concerns about the proliferation of wireless infrastructure and installations near homes or schools.

Wi-fi in school settings is industrial strength, said Havas, and uses the same (unlicensed) frequency as microwave ovens and cordless phones. She asserts it has biological effects, including increased pulse rates, and presented evidence from a Canadian primary school where wi-fi was installed and where several students exhibited symptoms including headaches and increased heart rates. Havas recommends urging schools to adopt only fiber-optic, wired networks.

Elizabeth Kelley, who spoke along with Dr. Havas, said that the threat to public health from wireless device radiation is well-known, but that policy makers and politicians are “waiting for critical mass in terms of public demands for protection, because the technology is so convenient.” Kelley went on to say that wireless technology is “a short-term solution with very bad long-term effects.”

Continued adoption of wi-fi, wi-max, cell phones and smart phones, cordless phones in the home, smart meters and the new wave of wireless-equipped appliances that will communicate with them, and myriad other wireless devices leads to unavoidable exposure to radiation almost everywhere, and Kelley has warned repeatedly that

“The federal government’s role in assuring the protection of human health or the natural environment when it comes to non-ionizing radiation exposure from cellular phones, other wireless devices, wireless transmitters, power lines or electrical equipment is non-existent and the existing exposure standards are irrelevant to real world exposure conditions.”