Canadian University Bans Wireless Networking, Citing Health Concerns

[Tim Campbell]

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.
Todd 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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Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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