Gegevens

Gepubliceerd: maandag 27 februari 2012 10:56

Australische reportage over de gevaren van WiFi, met een focus op het gebruik van WiFi op school (Nederlands ondertiteld):

CANADA:

Zie ook www.safeschool.ca 

• 2009 - Een open brief van de Canadese onderzoekster Magda Havas, gericht aan ouders, leerkrachten en schoolbesturen, waarin ze het belang benadrukt van het vermijden van WiFi op school.

• 2010 - Parents blame children's health problems on schools' Wi-Fi technology
  
  "Guidelines for the use of wireless technology are outdated and should be more in line with emerging research, experts say. And some Simcoe County parents, who say their kids have experienced adverse health effects as a result of wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) in their schools, agree.
  
  Rodney Palmer, who has two children, four and nine years old, at Mountain View Elementary School in Collingwood, recently made a presentation to the School Board. He informed the board that some students were experiencing headaches, dizziness, distorted vision and other symptoms that otherwise weren't usually a problem with the children. "It's really the long-term effects that I'm worried about. Introducing a four-year-old to microwave radiation for six hours a day when it's not being used is profoundly unnecessary," he said.
  
  What's alarming to Havas is that 2.4 GHz is a microwave frequency. "What we're using for Wi-Fi in schools is basically a weaker microwave," she said. "With a microwave oven, you close the door and the microwaves are contained within the oven, whereas, with our schools, the microwaves are released into the environment. The school becomes the microwave."
  
  "The inconvenience of getting sick outweighs the inconvenience of having to plug your computer in."
  
  
  
  

• 2010 - Ontario parents suspect Wi-Fi making kids sick
  
  

  "Some parents in the Barrie, Ont., area say their children are showing a host of symptoms, ranging from headaches to dizziness and nausea and even racing heart rates. They believe the Wi-Fi setup in their kids' elementary schools may be the problem." "Parents are getting together and realizing this is the pattern," said Rodney Palmer of the Simcoe County Safe School Committee.

  
  The symptoms, which also include memory loss, trouble concentrating, skin rashes, hyperactivity, night sweats and insomnia, have been reported in 14 Ontario schools in Barrie, Bradford, Collingwood, Orillia and Wasaga Beach since the board decided to go wireless, Palmer said.
  
  Susan Clarke, a former research consultant to the Harvard School of Public Health, said Wi-Fi technology alters fundamental physiological functioning and can cause neurological and cardiac symptoms. "We have the physics that show that children, especially young children, are going to absorb much more radiation than older children and adults because of their thinner skulls and because the size of their brains more closely approximates the size of the wavelength being deployed," Clarke said.
  
  Wireless technology also wastes energy, is less secure than wired connections, could be violating a student's right to a safe environment and should be turned off in schools, Clarke added. "The simple solution is plug back in the wired, ported system that's already there and unplug the wireless," she said. "It's real easy and it costs nothing. In fact, it will save money."

• 2010 - Ottawa looks into safety of school Wi-Fi networks

• 2010 - WiFi op school: jongeren getuigen

In onderstaande YouTube clip getuigen verschillende jongeren en ouders uit een Canadese middelbare school over de gezondheidsproblemen die zij of hun kinderen gekregen na de installatie van draadloos internet: hoofdpijn (meest voorkomende klacht), een gevoel van druk op het hoofd, concentratieproblemen, ...

In het fragment komt ook Prof. Magda Havas aan het woord, een wetenschapper die al lange tijd onderzoek doet naar de gevolgen van elektromagnetische straling.

• 2011 - School in Ontario gaat over tot het verwijderen van WiFi
  
  "A private school in Ontario has cut its wireless Internet network over concerns that the technology causes health issues in students. The school's old Wi-Fi system was taken out over the summer and replaced with Ethernet connections ahead of the first day of the school year.
  
  In May the World Health Organization said radio frequency radiation from WiFi and cell phones posed a similar health threat to DDT, lead and car exhaust. Principal Roberta Murray-Hirst says the new hard-wired Internet system is actually faster than their previous system and gives teachers control over when students can go online."

• 2011 - Second Ontario School Removes Wifi Due to Health Concerns

• 2011 - Gezondheidsagentschap Ontaria publiceert rapport over WiFi

• 2011 - Parents Raise Concerns about Wireless Technology in Schools

• 2011 - Ouders starten actie: WiFi-free Wednesday

• 2011 - Tegenstanders van wifi op scholen winnen aan kracht, verbod op 12 scholen in Ontario

• 2012 - Lerarenvereniging neemt stelling tegen inzet wifi op scholen

• 2012 - Teachers' Wi-Fi warning causes waves

• 2012 - Parents may take children out of school over Wi-Fi concerns

• 2012 - Toezichtsorgaan ouders stemt voor wifi vrije school in ieder district van British Columbia

• non consent form

• Wi-Fi in Schools FAQ

Wi-Fi in Schools: Testing for Microwave Radiation Dangers in the Classroom

Dr. Magda Havas: WiFi in Schools is Safe. True or False?

(zie ook de bijhorende slides)

VERENIGD KONINKRIJK

Zie ook wifiinschools.org.uk

• 2006 - Britse scholen bannen ongezond draadloos internet

• 2007 - WiFi poses a health risk for children

• 2007 - WiFi - Children at risk from electronic smog
  
  "Britain's top health protection watchdog is pressing for a formal investigation into the hazards of using wireless communication networks in schools amid mounting concern that they may be damaging children's health. Sir William Stewart, the chairman of the Health Protection Agency, wants pupils to be monitored for ill effects from the networks - known as Wi-Fi - which emit radiation and are being installed in classrooms across the nation.
  
  Sir William - who is a former chief scientific adviser to the Government, and has chaired two official inquiries into the hazards of mobile phones - is adding his weight to growing pressure for a similar examination of Wi-Fi, which some scientists fear could cause cancer and premature senility."
  
  Professor Olle Johansson, of Sweden's prestigious Karolinska Institute, who is deeply concerned about the spread of Wi-Fi, says there are "thousands" of articles in scientific literature demonstrating "adverse health effects". He adds: "Do we not know enough already to say, 'Stop!'?"
  
  For the past 16 months, the provincial government of Salzburg in Austria has been advising schools not to install Wi-Fi, and is considering a ban. Dr Gerd Oberfeld, its head of environmental health and medicine, calls the technology "dangerous".

T-shirt te bestellen hier

• 2007 - Schools should wait for official report before installing WiFi

• 2008 - Suspend wi-fi in schools, says union chief
  
  Philip Parkin said he is worried about reports linking wireless technology with loss of concentration, fatigue, reduced memory and headaches. Mr Parkin, general secretary of Voice, formerly the Professional Association of Teachers, believes a generation of children are effectively 'guinea pigs in a large-scale experiment'. Voice is calling for a moratorium on new wi-fi networks and the suspension of existing wi-fi if possible.

• 2009 - Interview met Philip Parkin

• 2009 - 'Wi-fi networks must be removed from schools to stop children getting cancer,' teachers insist

FRANKRIJK

• De burgemeester van de stad Calvados verwijdert WiFi uit alle scholen

ZWITSERLAND

• 2010 - In het kanton Neuchâtel wordt enkel bekabeld internet toegelaten in de klassen; in het licht van het voorzorgsprincipe mogen geen WiFi-zenders worden geplaatst. De wettekst die dit bepaalt vindt u terug hier: Arrêté concernant le déploiement du réseau pédagogique neuchâtelois dans les écoles (bron: Internet cablé préféré dans les écoles neuchâteloises)

• 2010 - Free FIBER For Swiss Schools – WiFi Warnings

• Officiële waarschuwingen tegen het gebruik van WiFi op school, zie hier.

DUITSLAND

• In de Duitse deelstaat Beieren ontraadt het parlement het gebruik van WiFi op school. Meer info hier.

• Geen WiFi op school in Frankfurt

OOSTENRIJK

• Dr. Gerd Oberfeld, het hoofd van het gezondheidsdepartement in Salzburg, stuurt een brief naar scholen om het gebruik van WiFi en draadloze DECT-telefoons af te raden.
  
  "Het officiële advies van de Afdeling Openbare Gezondheid van de Regio Salzburg is geen WLAN (draadloze computernetwerken) en DECT (draadloze telefoons) te gebruiken in scholen of kleuterscholen."

IERLAND

• 2009 - Teacher switches off class wi-fi

VS

Zie www.safeinschool.org

• 2003 -  Ouders spannen rechtszaak aan tegen school voor het gebruik van WiFi:
  • Wi-fi faces health concerns
  • Persbericht
  • Update 2012

• University professors want their classes 'unwired' (USA Today, 5/3/2006)
  
  "At any given moment in a law school class, literally 85 to 90% of the students were online," Professor Herzog says. "And what were they doing online? They were reading The New York Times; they were shopping for clothes; they were looking for an apartment to rent...."
  
  Wireless Internet access at universities was once thought to be a clear-cut asset to education. But now a growing number of graduate schools — after investing a fortune in the technology — are blocking Web access to students in class because of complaints from professors.
  
  The problem professors face is "continuous partial attention," an expression coined to describe how people check e-mail and try to listen to someone at the same time."

AUSTRALIË

Zie http://www.wifi-in-schools-australia.org/

EUROPA

• Europa wil gsm's en draadloos internet uit scholen weren (De Morgen)

ANDERE

• Voorbeeld van een brief die u naar de schooldirectie kunt sturen
  
  De originele brief is geschreven door een bezorgde Canadese moeder aan de schooldirecteur van de school waar haar dochter op zit. De argumenten in de brief pleiten voor het voorzorgprincipe en is een pleidooi om onze kinderen en jongeren niet te gebruiken voor experimenten. De brief is aangepast en in het Nederlands vertaald zodat deze voor u als model kan dienen en u voldoende argumenten geeft waarom u niet klakkeloos de implementatie van WiFi hoeft te accepteren (Bron: electrosense.nl)

• Document Safe Schools 2012
  
  "More Medical Associations, medical doctors and scientists, many of whom work on the biological effects of wireless technologies, have expressed their concerns about the safety of wireless devices for schools. They are asking for wired information and communication technologies to be used in order to safeguard children and young people, protect and promote healthy development and maximise learning and achievement. These experts do not agree with the health protection agencies which currently support or allow the use of microwave, radiofrequency-emitting technologies by children and young people in schools.
  
  This document serves to inform schools, Governing Bodies, School Boards, Education Authorities, teachers and parents of the professional, medical and scientific concerns about children using wireless technologies in schools."

• Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms? (Los Angeles Times, 4 februari 2012)
  
  How much genuine value is there in fancy educational electronics? Don't let companies or politicians fool you.

• Geen iPads in de klas
  
  Opiniestuk van Dominique Deckmyn, redacteur media van De Standaard.