Wi-Fi Exposure Worries Surface in Germany, U.K.

The safety of Wi-Fi emissions from mobile phones and other sources that comply with existing exposure limits was questioned in August by the BioInitiative Working Group. Wireless technologies reliant on microwave radiation to send e-mails and voice communications are “thousands of times stronger than levels reported to cause some health impacts,” the group said. Prolonged exposure to radiofrequency and microwave radiation from Wi-Fi and other sources is linked to headaches, fatigue, sleeplessness, dizziness, changes in brainwave activity and memory impairment, it said. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects, scientists and health policy professionals said.

Acknowledging lack of expertise in EMF, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in response to the report that case studies of public hazards show that “harmful exposures can be widespread before there is both ‘convincing’ evidence of harm from long-term exposures, and biological understanding of how that harm is caused.” EEA Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade urged “appropriate, precautionary and proportionate actions” now to avoid plausible and potentially grave health threats from EMF.

Germany, responding to a political party’s queries, said research is underway on EMF’s age-dependent impact and to the special absorption rate of whole-body exposure of children to EMF. The government expects to order no direct precautions or safeguards, it said, generally recommending keeping personal exposure to radiation from high-frequency EMF as low as possible and substituting cable for wireless connections where possible. “In general, the government has a strong interest in rolling out Wi-Fi because it could fill some white spots on the broadband map, particularly in rural areas,” said German telecommunications lawyer Axel Spies.

The U.K. is the scene of growing concerns about using Wi-Fi in schools. The Carmarthenshire (Wales) Council executive board agreed this month to parental requests to create a code of practice for school use of the technology, the BBC reported. Schools in England and Wales reportedly switched off wireless networks and one member of Parliament urged banning Wi-Fi from Welsh classrooms. Last May, BBC program Panorama reported that in some schools radio frequency radiation was three times that found the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts.

But a local authority in London is reported to have resisted pressure to scale back Wi-Fi in schools, denying it poses a danger. That’s the view of U.K. Health Protection Agency (HPA), whose most recent statement, in May, pointed to “no consistent evidence to date that Wi-Fi and wireless local area networks adversely affect the health of the general population.” Radio frequency exposures from Wi-Fi are likely to be lower than those from mobile phones and broadly the same as frequencies in traditional applications, the agency said.

Considering existing data, the HPA “sees no reason why Wi-Fi should not continue to be used in schools,” it said. But, as with any new technology, common sense dictates caution and review, it said. The HPA is discussing more studies with relevant parties, it said.

The European Commission is “aware of the public concern” over EMF, a Health and Consumer Protection Directorate spokesman told us. The EC long has monitored EMF’s potential health effects, requesting reviews of scientific literature, financing research, disseminating information and helping to create a legal framework for protecting workers and citizens, he said.

The EC draws advice from the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Risks, the spokesman said. That panel’s latest report, in March, urged more study of EMF’s effects on children’s health, links between childhood leukemia and extremely low-frequency EMF, population exposure to EMF and long-term prospective study on the effects on GSM mobile phone use, he said.

“No evidence has emerged requiring a revision” of the rules, the spokesman said. Any effort to restrict Wi-Fi in schools would be a national, not an EU matter, he said: “There are no such plans at the EU level.”