Summary
• The former chair of the government’s Health Protection Agency, Sir William Stewart, has called for an urgent review of the potential health risks of wi-fi (wireless) computer systems in schools 2
• [Name of school] uses wi-fi
• Wi-fi computer systems operate through the emission of microwaves at a similar frequency and modulation to mobile phone systems
• Scientists have found evidence of behavioural and functional disorders, indications of possible brain damage, and increased rates of cancer, from exposure to microwave radiation at levels found in wi-fi
• At the school, children are exposed to any potential effects of wi-fi for six hours a day, five days a week
• If experts are concerned about the health effects of wi-fi, the lay person must consider that it might pose a risk to health, especially that of children, who are likely to be more vulnerable to microwave radiation than adults
• Government advice that there is “no reason why schools and others should not use wi-fi equipment” 3 does not take into account evidence for a wide range of adverse health effects not covered by international guidance
• The new school building was designed with a comprehensive, wired (i.e. not wi-fi) computer system
• The wi-fi was added some time after the new building was opened, but an alternative, dLAN, is available that is safer, more secure and functionally superior
• [Name of school] has a duty of care towards the children in its charge, the first priority of which should be their health
• The wi-fi installed in [name of school] should be switched off until it can be shown beyond reasonable doubt to be safe