Fw: Concerns about wireless networking

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Friday, February 24, 2006 8:51 AM

Concerns about wireless networking

 

 

 

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http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006022402t.htm

 

 

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Friday, February 24, 2006

 

 

Canadian University Bans Wireless Networking, Citing Health Concerns

By ANDREA L. FOSTER

 

 

The president of Lakehead University, in southwestern Ontario, says that he will

not allow the institution to deploy a wireless network on the campus out of

concern that the electromagnetic frequencies such systems emit could endanger

students' health.

 

The president, Frederick F. Gilbert, became concerned about the health effects

of wireless networks after reading studies done by scientists for the California

Public Utilities Commission, said Marla Tomlinson, a spokeswoman at Lakehead, a

7,000-student institution in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The California scientists

concluded that people exposed to electromagnetic wavelengths might be at risk of

developing cancer and recommended further investigation.

 

Wireless networking uses radio frequencies instead of cable lines to allow

computers to communicate with one another, and the transmitters for such systems

generate electromagnetic fields, known as EMF.

 

Mr. Gilbert was unavailable for comment on Thursday, but Ms. Tomlinson said he

would elaborate on his views on Monday. He has served as president of Lakehead

since July 1998, and the university's Board of Governors recently extended his

contract through May 2010. He holds a doctorate in zoology from the University

of Guelph, in Ontario, and is interested in wildlife management, environmental

studies, and natural resources.

 

The university appears to be the first to cite health concerns in deciding

against wireless networking.

 

Many technology experts, however, discount the idea that wireless networks pose

serious health risks.

Seavey, director of publications at the American Council on Science and

Health, said that the health risks, if any, from being exposed to the

electromagnetic field from a wireless network would be minuscule.

 

" There are a tiny handful of scientists who claim that EMF can cause harm, but

they're way out of the mainstream, " Mr. Seavey said in an interview on Thursday.

" They've been relegated to their own obscure journals. "

 

The council, based in New York City, is made up of scientists who believe that

health and environmental public-policy decisions are too often based on

unsubstantiated scientific claims. Mr. Seavey expressed his opinion on the issue

on Thursday on a council blog called HealthFactsAndFears.

 

Despite Lakehead's policy on wireless networks, the institution encourages

students to use the Internet via hard-wired connections at cafes and other

settings on the campus.

 

Lakehead is " completely connected to the World Wide Web through a comprehensive

fiber-optic network, " Eleanor S. Abaya, Lakehead's director of communications,

said in a written statement. " Computer labs are located throughout the campus. "

 

" The university will continue to monitor research on wireless technology on an

ongoing basis and, at an appropriate time, re-evaluate the university's current

position on the issue, " the statement said.

 

At least one other professor has raised similar concerns about wireless

networking. Paul C. Engelking, a chemistry professor at the University of

Oregon, is proposing that his institution allow instructors to turn off wireless

access in lecture halls, in part, because of health concerns (The Wired Campus,

January 25).

 

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Engelking likened students' exposure to

electromagnetic fields in lecture halls -- particularly large ones where 300 to

500 students might be using their laptop computer's wireless connection -- to

the way meat is cooked in a microwave oven.

 

" In those conditions you would be having 300 to 500 watts of microwave power in

that lecture hall, " Mr. Engelking said. " You would be essentially sitting in a

microwave oven at low power. "

 

But Mr. Engelking acknowledged that he originally wanted the university to adopt

his proposal because students with laptops were too often distracted in class by

personal online activities -- like gambling -- to engage in class discussions.

 

 

 

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2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

 

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