Learning occurs when brain cells are able to freely communicate with each other. Science now shows that Wi-fi signals disrupt inter-cellular communication[1] and impede learning.
Although individual learning, taking advantage of the Internet and rich multi-media resources, is a good idea in principle, we believe that using wireless-enabled devices to do so is adding unnecessary danger to children and their teachers particularly when wired and pluggable devices+ can be used virtually risk-free. (+ e.g. see HHL07 Guide P17 for digimemo USB and espresso SD Card devices)
In this conference you will be tempted by wireless hand held devices which use the same microwave emitting technologies that mobile phones do - and thus carry the same health risks (although, no doubt, you will not be told this by the conference speakers or equipment vendors).
Facts to Consider:
- Wi-fi has never been pre-market safety tested, nor were mobile phones or other wireless devices.
- Wireless/Mobile technologies (Wi-fi, Bluetooth, HSDPA, 3G etc.) all use microwave frequencies
- Independent Scientific studies have consistently shown health effects from microwave emissions well below currently allowed levels[2,3,4]
- The UK Department of Health's own advice is that "the widespread use of mobile phones by children (under the age of 16) should be discouraged for non-essential calls"[5,6]
- It has been shown on Panorama[14] that the radiation intensity inside a classroom with 30 Wi-Fi laptops is 3 times higher than as a result of being in the main beam from a mobile phone mast antenna at a typical distance.
- Wireless computers, laptops and routers constantly emit pulsed microwave radiation over (and through) students' and teachers' bodies even when not being actively used.
- Sir William Stewart reiterated that they (Stewart Committee) had found evidence for genetic damage and cancer at exposures below the guidelines[5] and he is now calling for an enquiry into Wi-fi in schools[14].
- The German government is already advising its citizens to use wired internet connections instead of Wi-Fi, and landlines instead of mobile phones[7]
- Executive Director of the EU's European Environment Agency said last month that, "it would be prudent for health authorities to recommend actions to reduce exposures, especially to vulnerable groups, such as children." The Agency called for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos and smoking.[8]
- World Health Organisation's EMF Project has been funded by Industry* and has not issued health warnings despite the ever increasing mass of evidence[11,12] to justify doing so - their decisions have been made on out of date and biased data.[9] (* Admitted by Mike Repacholi, it's ex-head and speaker at HHL07)
- The exposure guidelines (ICNIRP) only protect against short term heat shocks and burns (heating effects). They are not designed to protect against long term exposure.[10]
- Furthermore, Industry is perpetuating
the myth that only the heating effects from microwaves can cause health
problems, as opposed to non-heating (biological) effects[13 , 15 ].
Current 'ICNIRP' exposure guidelines used in the UK ignore non-heating effects.[10 ]
With Adult and even teenage adoption of mobile phones at saturation point, children - with their less-developed and more vulnerable bodies - are being targeted by companies such as O2 and T-Mobile (who are both heavily involved in HHL07) as an easy way of increasing sales and hence their revenue.
We hope that this information is useful and that it persuades you to put the safety of pupils and staff first and to keep all your hand held devices and networks wired.
Mast Sanity
Calling for Environmentally and Biologically safe communications networks and radio frequency devices
To Read the References click here .
To Download "Voice of Sanity Leaflet - Hand Held Learning 2007 Edition" (PDF) click here .
To Download "Precautionary Approach to Wireless Communication" (RRT) Leaflet (PDF) click here .
To Read Our Press Release click here .
To Read Our Letter to the Sponsors click here .
Read the Diary of Hand Held Learning 2007 click here .
To e-mail us for more information click This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
To visit the Hand Held Learning 2007 website click here .
We Want Education - Not Radiation. HHL07 Ignores the Risks. Let's Help Them Out:-
1. Selling To Kids How Young? - 3? Check out Hand held Learning Guide Advert on Page 5
( see Fujitsu-Siemens Advert below or in situ click here )
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"The key element in London's recent Handheld
Learning conference [2006] was not the tools but the ethos behind them......These are not new technologies, and the speakers weren't saying anything they hadn't said several times before. However, it seems the message - that these devices can fundamentally change learning - is beginning to be heard more widely." John Galloway, The Guardian
(It seems like the real 'ethos' is sell sell sell "wireless" The advert says "he's got the World in his hands" - not mentioning the microwaves going through his vulnerable, sensitive and partially formed brain. |
I'm told that the HandHeld Learning '07 Conference Guide includes the following ‘information' provided by Dr Mike Repacholi:
"Reports of cancer clusters around base stations have
heightened public concern. However, since
cancers are unevenly distributed among any population and given that base
stations are everywhere in the environment, it is expected that cancer clusters
will occur near base stations merely by chance."
This is a most surprising statement to be coming from one who is credited with authoring (in some cases jointly) over 200 research publications, many of which doubtless include substantial statistical analysis. It's true that if you look hard enough you can find a 'clump' of occurrences of all kinds (cancers, lottery winners, three-legged dogs) around any particular type of 'landmark' - be it a mast, an oak tree or a church. However there are two points that one would expect someone in Dr Repacholi's position to be well aware of:
One: There are a number of studies (e.g. Naila, Wolf & Wolf) which show a STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT increase in incidence of cancers around mast installations - this means, by definition, that the likelihood of these groups of cancers having happened by chance are SO SMALL that this 'explanation' is not credible - those groups are VERY unlikely to have occurred by chance. That's what 'statistically significant' means.
[It's worth noting here also, in respect of Repacholi's reported statement that "base stations are everywhere in the environment", that various of these studies, including the two cited above, deal with historical information relating to times when masts were much fewer in number than they are today.]
Two: It's not that difficult to find a grouping around a landmark, if you look long enough. Finding TWO becomes rather more difficult. Finding TEN or TWENTY - well, as Goldfinger said to James Bond: "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action". To find the same thing happening all over the world - how could anyone write that off as coincidence?!! As a simple guide:- if the probability of a cancer clump around a given mast, by chance, is 1 in 100, the probability of two such occurrences is 1 in 10,000 (one hundred squared), the probability of three is 1 in 1,000,000 (one hundred cubed) etc. The probability of 10 such clusters is one in 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 - one in a hundred billion billion.
Finally, Dr Repacholi's reported statement that "base stations are everywhere" so "cancer clusters will occur near base stations merely by chance" applies equally to telegraph poles, pylons, public lavatories, church towers, even phone boxes before they started being removed. Could he possibly explain why there has never been a major outcry about these alternative centres of random cancer clusters? Perhaps others have spotted overwhelming evidence of a repeating pattern around phone masts that industry-funded official advisers have failed to notice. Maybe that's why those advisers sing such a different song to the urgent warning being echoed by independent scientists all around the world.
Dr Grahame Blackwell
BTech(Hons) PhD MBCS CITP CEng EurIng
[1] http://www.w-a-r-t.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/2007_carlo_jersey_evidence_health2.pdf (P48) Dr. George Carlo evidence to States of Jersey Health, Social Services and Housing Sub-Panel Telephone Mast Review 26th February 2007.
[2] Ecolog Report - Mobile Telecommunications and Health - Reveiw of the Current Scientific Research in view of Precautionary Health Protection, Ecolog-Institut April 2000 - sponsored by T-Mobil (Translated from German into English by Andrea Klein 2007) - http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/ecologsum.php
[3] The Bioinitiative Report - http://www.bioinitiative.org
[4] Joining the Dots - Overview of Public Health Trends in Australia - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=169&Itemid=1
[5] ,[6] The Government's expert group on mobile phones recommendation, from the leaflet Department of Health Leaflet: Mobile phones and health
- Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones Report "The Stewart Report" http://www.iegmp.org.uk/
- Department of Health Leaflet: Mobile phones and health
N.B. The Department of Education Guidelines and the Stewart Report state that "... the beam of greatest RF [i.e. microwave] intensity ...should not be permitted to fall on any part of the school grounds or buildings without agreement from the school and parents".
[7] The German government is already advising its citizens to use wired internet connections instead of Wi-Fi, and landlines instead of mobile phones - http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/bundesregierung.php
[8] Europe's top environmental watchdog is calling for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and lead in petrol.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA's executive director, said yesterday: "Recent research and reviews on the long-term effects of radiations from mobile telecommunications suggest that it would be prudent for health authorities to recommend actions to reduce exposures, especially to vulnerable groups, such as children." - http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/radiation-risk-from-everyday-devices-assessed and http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10463870
[9] Repacholi and the WHO - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=168&Itemid=90
[10] Barrie Trower on ICNIRP - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=152&Itemid=90
[11] Essex Study on MS - http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=160&Itemid=90
[12] MTHR on Powerwatch http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20070926_mthr_update.asp
[13] Mobile Phone Industry view ('heating only' - see also [10] above) - http://www.mobilemastinfo.com/information/fact_sheets/public_exposure_guidelines.htm
[14] Panorama "Wi-Fi: a warning signal" Transcript - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/6683969.stm
[15] Non-thermal bioelectromagnetic effects explained - http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/resonance1.php