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Sir William Stewart, chairman of the Health Protection Agency, has
called for a review of the health risks of wireless technology after an investigation into its effects on
children.
The BBC’s investigative programme Panorama claims that wi-fi
networks in schools can give off three times as much signal radiation as phone masts.
Current government advice says that phone masts should not be sited
near schools without consulting parents and teachers, because children are thought to be more vulnerable to
radio-frequency radiation.
The programme-makers measured radiation levels from a wi-fi-enabled
laptop in a classroom in Norwich. It found that the signal strength was three times higher than that of a
typical phone mast. Wi-fi, or wireless fidelity, allows a computer user to connect to the internet at broadband
speeds without cables.
More than two thirds of secondary schools and nearly half of primary
schools have wi-fi. Panorama spoke to nearly 50 schools and only one had been alerted to possible health
risks. Others had been told that there was no risk. The Government says that wi-fi poses no health
risks, citing advice from the World Health Organisation.
In 2000 Sir William produced a report on the impact of mobile phone
masts on health. He found that: “There may be changes, for example in cognitive function . . .
There were some indications that there may be cancer inductions . . . There was some molecular biology
changes within the cell. . . ”
The levels of radiation found in the Norwich classroom were 600 times
lower than the levels deemed dangerous by the Government. It uses data from the ICNIRP International
Commission on NonIonizing Radiation Protection, which bases exposure limits on a thermal effect. In other
words, the radiation has to be strong enough to cause a heat effect before it is restricted.
Dr Olle Johansson, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, has carried
out experiments on radiation similar to or lower than wi-fi and found biological implications. Asked if
the commission was right to set limits based on thermal effect, he said: “That’s just rubbish. You cannot
put emphasis on such guidelines.”
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