Teachers calling for Wi-Fi ban in schools due to health risk

Wireless Internet signals are often no stronger than those from a baby monitor, but that hasn’t halted debate over banning Wi-Fi from classrooms.

Two teachers’ union locals in Kingston, Ont., want their school to switch off wireless Internet connections. They’re concerned the signals pose a significant health risk, although public health units across the country say Wi-Fi is safe, even for young children.

That hasn’t prevented some teachers’ unions and school boards, including the Canadian Teachers Federation, from calling for a moratorium on its use in schools, if not an outright ban. “We’re concerned because Wi-Fi and microwave communications have not been determined to be safe and we’ve never received any training about the hazards, such as all the warnings that come with your cellphones or wireless devices,” said Andrea Loken, president of the Limestone district branch of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.

“We’ve never been asked if we’re OK with being subjected to Wi-Fi all day, every day while we’re at work. No one has given consent and no one has been informed of the risks.”

The branch has been joined by the local branch of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) in asking their school board to review Wi-Fi use, something that was already underway. The board expects to table a report this month.

There have been similar debates in Ontario’s Peel Region, one of Canada’s largest school boards, and at the Edmonton Catholic School Board.

The concerns stem from the belief the radio-frequency electromagnetic energy that carries Wi-Fi to electronic devices is detrimental to human health, especially when it’s powerful enough to cover an entire school or system. It’s a low form of radiation, about the same as what comes off a TV or microwave.