There is a general lack of awareness about the possible long-term health implications amongst parents, staff and education authorities. Informed parents face a massive obstacle of having to educate their school communities before being able to address the core health issues about the use of wireless technologies in schools. The situation in Australia is made more challenging as each state has their own education department with different structure, policies etc.
A health crisis is looming if the government and education authorities continue to neglect their responsibilities and ignore the calls from leading scientists, doctors and civil society groups to take immediate precautionary measures to reduce children’s exposure to wireless radiation.
Victoria
In 2007 parents in Victoria first raised theirconcerns about the introduction of WiFi in schools. Aware
of the potential health risks, parents asked the Department of Education to
switch off the wireless when it was not in use.
The State Government admitted at the time that it had not done any
research on the health implications of using wireless technology before WiFi was
introduced in schools.
Today, 6 years later there has still not been
any research conducted on the long-term health effects to children from low-level exposure
to WiFi radiation, yet it is now mandatory for schools across Australia to extensively install wireless
infrastructure. Furthermore, policies such as the Digital
Education Revolution aim to make students carry laptops or tablets
enabled with WiFi and 3G connectivity. The
future projection is for students to access more resources online via the
national curriculum (videos, tutorials, books and online quizzes etc). This means that children will be exposed to more wireless radiation.
Since the Victorian Government has been the first
state in Australia to mandate wireless
smart meters in all homes and
businesses, children and teachers in Victoria are now exposed to more environmental EMR from wireless
technologies for longer periods of time.
This increase in exposure to EMR from wireless technologies in school
and now increasingly at home is seeing more reported cases of students
and teachers experiencing adverse
health symptoms.
Queensland
The following is a summary of the
correspondence between parents and the school, education authorities, federal
government and ARPANSA – including links to the emails, letters and their
replies.
Most recent email to the Department of Education & Training Education Queensland (DETE Qld)- as they state that "The department is in the process of reviewing its policies and procedures in relation to Wi-Fi in schools"
click to view correspondence with DETE
Most recent email to the Department of Education & Training Education Queensland (DETE Qld)- as they state that "The department is in the process of reviewing its policies and procedures in relation to Wi-Fi in schools"
click to view correspondence with DETE
In Queensland parents from WiFi in schools Australia wrote to their child’s primary school
Principal in March 2012 informing them of the potential dangers from WiFi use and
provided supporting scientific evidence.
As a precautionary approach and
as advised by governments andauthorities overseas, they asked the school to revert to a wired system. After
having consulted the Department of Education QLD, the Principal advised that
they will not disconnect the WiFi as the school is compliant with the Australian safety standards.
click to view email response from Principal
click to view email response from Principal
As an immediate and minimum precautionary measure the parents requested for their child to sit
as far away as possible from the WiFi access points. Although the Principal advised that the teacher
would turn off the WiFi in their child’s classroom when it was not in use, the
Principal failed to support any further investigation into this matter and
dismissed the potential health risks. The
school did not adopt a strict policy to ensure this minimum precaution was
practiced throughout the school year or in other classrooms.
The parents then contacted the Region Director of the
Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE), Queensland with their
concerns. Given the scientific evidence of potential long-term risks and the criticism of the current obsolete safety standards by leading scientists, the parents
wanted to establish if a risk assessment had been conducted and if a management
plan had been created to reduce the long-term health risks to children. If such a risks assessment was conducted, the
parents wanted it to be made publicly available for independent evaluation by
concerned parents and staff.
click to view email to the Regional Director.
click to view email to the Regional Director.
Unfortunately, the Regional Director failed to even acknowledge
the known and suspected long-term health risks to children from EMR, he did not provide answers to the
questions raised, nor did he refer the case to someone in government that could
provide answers. Instead a standard
response was issued stating that they are compliant with the Australian safety standards.
The parents also asked their local MP to pass on their
concerns to the State Education Minister as they wanted considered answers to
their important questions. The response
letter from Jonh-Paul Langbroek the State Minister for Education, Training and
Employment was disappointing. The letter
was virtually identical to the Regional Director’s letter and yet again, it
failed to provide the parents with answers to their questions.
click to view response letter from StateMinister Langbroek.
click to view response letter from StateMinister Langbroek.
Parents from WiFi
in schools Australia approached Peter Garrett, the Minister
for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth to seek his assistance with
this matter.
They wanted the relevant authority responsible for mandating WiFi in
schools to acknowledge that they have considered the long-term risks to
children, and also have their questions addressed.
click to view email to Minister Garrett.
click to view email to Minister Garrett.
The Branch Manager from the Digital Infrastructure
and Resources Branch (DETE) responded on behalf of Minister Garrett. The letter stated, “The Australian Government
works in partnership with state and territory government and non-government
education authorities to implement digital education policies such as the Digital
Education Revolution initiative. However, education authorities have primary responsibility
for decisions about the educational hardware, software and networks best suited
to the specific needs of their schools. As such, the choice to install wireless networks is one that is made by
education authorities and is not mandated at the federal level.”
The letter also mentioned that since the issues raised fall within the responsibility of the Minister of Health, a copy of the
correspondence had been sent to Minister Plibersek’s department for
consideration.
click to view response letter on behalf of Minister Peter Garrett.
click to view response letter on behalf of Minister Peter Garrett.
Parents from WiFi
in schools Australia have not had a reply from Minister Plibersek. However, the Parliamentary Secretary for
Health and Ageing, Catherine King MP asked the Australian Radiation Protection
Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to
respond on her behalf.
See the ARPANSA section of this website to see their response.
