Rescuing Childhood

Wi-fi and the potential health risks

Monday, May 21st, 2007

When Ben was about four months old he became poorly. As the months passed and he failed to thrive we considered every possible cause while the hospital continued to test him without any success. I had been using the internet while I breastfed and it crossed my mind, fleetingly, that the wi-fi in our house might be a suspect in causing his failure to thrive so I stopped using my laptop. Because, you know, I felt so hopeless about the fact that the hospital could find no underlying cause. And I felt a bit desperate.Then Ben was diagnosed with IgA deficiency of his blood, which is, in itself, minor but has some potentially serious long-term consequences. In researching his IgA deficiency I was contacted by a couple of people who found that when they removed their exposure to wi-fi their IgA deficiency disappeared. Normally a sceptic about things like this it nevertheless got me thinking about our exposure to wi-fi.

Then there were stories in the media about wi-fi exposure and the lack of research into long-term effects from exposure to it, particularly as wi-fi technology was being increasingly put into our schools. Even though the World Health Organisation says it is safe, with Harry being homeschooled and using the laptop at home more I felt increasingly concerned about his exposure to wi-fi.

On Friday we took a backwards step in our technological setup at home and got rid of our broadband wireless router and replaced it with a standard, wired router.

Tonight’s Panorama on the BBC is looking at the potential effects of wi-fi, particularly the use of wi-fi technology in our primary schools. As the programme says:

Readings taken for the programme showed the height of the signal strength to be three times higher in the school classroom using Wi-Fi than the main beam of radiation intensity from a mobile phone mast.

The findings are particularly significant because children’s skulls are thinner and still forming and tests have shown they absorb more radiation than adults.

Whatever research in the future may show, I am concerned enough now to adopt the precautionary principle, at least in our home. So we are no longer wi-fi. Having a wire connecting me to the wall when I’m surfing the net seems a small price to pay until I know whether there are actually any long-term health consequences from wi-fi.

And I will be getting Ben re-tested for his IgA deficiency in a few months in the (admittedly unlikely, I know) hope that he will no longer be IgA deficient. Because us mothers, we like to fix things for our children. And I so wish I could fix this for him.