Appeals

History of warnings against wireless technology

1993: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): The FCC’s exposure standards are “seriously flawed.”
Official comments to the FCC on guidelines for evaluation of electromagnetic effects of radio frequency radiation, FCC Docket ET 93-62, November 9, 1993.

1993: Food and Drug Administration (FDA): “FCC rules do not address the issue of long-term, chronic exposure to RF fields.” Comments of the FDA to the FCC, November 10, 1993.

1993: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH):The FCC’s standard is inadequate because it “is based on only one dominant mechanism—adverse health effects caused by body heating.”
Comments of NIOSH to the FCC, January 11, 1994.

1994: Amateur Radio Relay League Bio-Effects Committee: “The FCC’s standard does not protect against non-thermal effects.” Comments of the ARRL Bio-Effects Committee to the FCC, January 7, 1994.

2000: UK Department of Education: Children under 16 should not use cell phones except in an emergency.  Read More

2002: Interdisciplinary Society for Environmental Medicine (3000 physicians in Germany) recommends banning cell phone use by children and banning cell phones and cordless phones in preschools, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, events halls, public buildings and vehicles. Read More

2003: American Bird Conservancy and Forest Conservation Council:Brought a lawsuit against the FCC because millions of migratory birds were being disoriented by microwave radiation and crashing into cell towers. Read More

2004: International Association of Fire Fighters opposes communication antennas on fire stations. Read More

2005: Salzburg, Austria’s Public Health Department bans WLAN and DECT phones in public schools. Read More

August 2005: Austrian Medical Association: Warns against Wi-Fi, cordless phones, and cell phone use by children. Read More

August 2005: Vienna Medical Association warns against Wi-Fi, and cell phone use by children up to age 16. Read More

2006: Frankfurt, Germany’s government states it will not install WiFi in its schools until it has been shown to be harmless. Read More

2006: UK schools remove their wireless networks: Prebandal Preparatory School, Chichester, West Sussex; Ysgol Pantycelyn School in Carmarthenshirem, Wales; and Stowe School, in Buckinghamshire, England. London Times, November 20, 2006. Read More

2007: Ballinderry Primary School, Ireland: Removed Wi-Fi to protect young children. Read More

2007 Bavaria, Germany’s Parliament recommends against Wi-Fi in schools. Read More

2007 Australian Democrats: The “explosion in wireless communications technology” is causing widespread illness. Read More

2007: European Environmental Agency, Europe’s top environmental watchdog, calls for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. Read More

2008: International Commission on Electromagnetic Safety (comprised of scientists from 16 nations): Recommends limiting cell phone use by children, teenagers, pregnant women and the elderly. Read More

2007: Therold, Ontario closes down its citywide Wi-Fi pilot scheme. Read More

2008: Lakehead University, Ontario bans Wi-Fi on campus. Read More

2008: Madhya Pradesh, India: Bans cell phones in schools by both students and teachers. Read More

2008: National Library of France: Removes Wi-Fi because of health concerns and limits installation to cable connections. Read More

2008: Paris, France removes Wi-Fi from four public libraries because of health concerns. Read More

2008 Sainte-Geneviève University, Paris: Removes Wi-Fi from its library because of health concerns. Read More

2008: Progressive Librarians Guild recommends against wireless technology in libraries. Read More

2008: Russian National Committee for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection warns that cell phones are unsafe even for short conversations. Children under 16, pregnant women, epileptics, and people with memory loss, sleep disorders and neurological diseases should never use cell phones. Read More

2008 Sebastopol, California: Reneges on its contract to install city-wide Wi-Fi. Read More

2008: University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute: Children should never use a cell phone except in an emergency. Read More

2008: Voice (UK Teachers Union) calls for a ban on Wi-Fi in schools. Read More

2009: Hérouville Saint-Clair, France: Bans Wi-Fi in public schools. Read More

2009: Irish Doctors Environmental Association: Warns that current safety guidelines are “not appropriate.” Read More

2009: Karnataka State, India: Bans cell phones in all schools and pre-university colleges. Read More

May 2009: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urges Congress to focus on the potential connection between electromagnetic fields and “Bee Colony Collapse”. Read More

December, 2010: French Parliament passes a law prohibiting advertising cell phones to children under 14; prohibits children up to age 14 from using cell phones in pre-schools and public schools; requires cell phones to be labeled with SAR values and a recommendation to use headsets. Read More

May 27, 2011: Council of Europe passes a resolution recommending wired Internet connections in schools, and the creation of radiation-free zones to protect electrosensitive people. Read More.

August 30, 2011: The Israeli Ministry of Education publishes guidelines strictly limiting the use of mobile phones on all school grounds, citing children’s and youths’ increased risk of malignant tumors and the “passive exposure” experienced by children who do not use phones.
Read More

September 8, 2011: Pretty River Academy in Collingwood, Ontario removes WiFi from campus as a precaution, joining Roots and Wings Montessori school in Surrey, British Columbia. Read More; Read More

Feb 13, 2012: Citing safety concerns, the Ontario English Catholic Teacher’s Association representing 45,000 teachers, is calling for a ban on new Wi-Fi installations in the province’s 1,400-plus Catholic schools and advocating that computers in all new schools should be hardwired as well. Read More

March, 2012: the Austrian Medical Association (ÖAK) releases guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of health problems caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Read More

June 19, 2012: The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection has officially recommended that WiFi not be used in schools. Read More.

25 Aug 2012: Israeli Minister of Health Rabi Yaakov Litzman states that he supports calls to action for a ban on Wi-Fi in schools. Read More

5 July 2013: Supreme Court of India upholds a decision of the High Court of the State of Rajasthan to remove all cell towers from the vicinity of schools, colleges, hospitals and playgrounds because of radiation “hazardous to life.”  The over 200-page November 27, 2012 Rajasthan decision reviews worldwide evidence that cell towers are harming human beings and wildlife.  Read More

15 Aug 2013: Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, representing 76,000 teachers, recommends that cell phones be turned off in classrooms, and that all WiFi transmitters be labeled as part of a hazard control program.  Read More

16 Sept 2013: City of Mumbai, India adopts a policy prohibiting cell towers on schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, and juvenile correction homes; prohibiting nearby antennas from being directed toward such buildings; and requiring that antennas on such buildings be removed.  The policy also requires the approval of 70% of the residents of an apartment or condominium building, and the approval of 100% of the residents of the top floor, before antennas are installed on the roof.  Read More

4 Jan 2014: High Court of West Bengal, India ordered a cell tower removed because “The radiation of the said tower is dangerous to the life of human beings and also flora and fauna causing severe imbalance to the wholesome environment which is emancipated as one of the basic fundamental rights included with right to life as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India.”

20 April 2016: City of Haifa, Israel bans WiFi in schools. WiFi is ordered immediately removed from all kindergartens and schools in the city to protect the children from radiation. A wired internet system is being installed in all schools.

September 2018: Cell phones to be banned in primary and middle schools in France. As of the beginning of the 2018 school year, cell phones will be banned not only in classrooms but at breaks, lunch times and between lessons “as a matter of public health.”