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Dear MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith- Time to Protect Students Not Promote Pollution

Dear Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith, I am writing to you on an important issue regarding our children’s hea...

Friday, April 24, 2015

Wi-Fi In Schools: The Santa Clara County Medical Association Bulletin Article

WiFi In Schools
Are We Playing It Safe With Our Kids? 
The Santa Clara County Medical Association Bulletin 
March/April 2015



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Thousands of Doctors recommend that children reduce exposure to cell phones and wireless.

Our children deserve a safe and healthy environment. Safe Tech for Schools has additional articles that are wonderful to share. Please contact us for these at safetechforschoolsmaryland@gmail.com.


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Dear Google, Dell, Apple, Adobe, eBay, Facebook and George Lucas


"To promote wireless technologies in schools is to deliberately and knowingly disregard current health warnings from international science 
and public health experts."


BioInitiative Letter to Education Super Highway CEOs



Dear Google, Dell, Apple, Adobe, eBay, Facebook and George Lucas,

On behalf of the BioInitative Working Group, we are writing to express our concern about the views expressed by CEOs from Google, Dell, Apple, Adobe, eBay, Facebook, the George Lucas Educational Foundation and others to the FCC supporting wireless technologies in schools. 

Your letter to the FCC dated July 7, 2014 titled Education Superhighway, states: “Today, we are writing to you to urge swift bi-partisan action at your July 11, 2014 meeting to adopt the E-Rate modernization proposal set forth by Chairman Wheeler.” “By responsibly investing $2 billion of unused funds and providing predictable ongoing support for Wi-Fi, the plan will make dramatic progress in bringing high-speed connectivity to our classrooms.”

No one denies that bringing high-speed connectivity to our classrooms is important. But it can be a wired connection and does not have to be WiFi. It does not reflect well on the ethics of your corporations to encourage the FCC to provide $2 billion dollars for new wireless classroom infrastructure and devices for school children, knowing that wireless emissions have been classified as a Possible Human Carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (2011).

To promote wireless technologies in schools is to deliberately and knowingly disregard current health warnings from international science and public health experts. 

Saturating schools with wireless technology will likely create unnecessary liability for municipalities and result in a loss of public trust and confidence in the corporations that push their wireless products with a blind eye toward health concerns.

 Epidemiological studies show links between radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure and cancers, neurological disorders, hormonal changes, symptoms of electrical hypersensitivity (EHS) and more. Laboratory studies show that RFR exposure increases risk of cancer, abnormal sperm, learning and memory deficits, and heart irregularities. Fetal exposures in both animal and human studies result in altered brain development in the young offspring, with disruption in learning, memory and behavior. The brain development of a fetus can be impaired by in-utero exposure to a pregnant woman. The evidence for these statements is based on hundreds of published, peerreviewed scientific studies that report adverse effects at levels much lower than current FCC public safety limits. WiFi is schools, in contrast to wired internet connections, will increase risk of neurologic impairment and long-term risk of cancer in students. Corporations cannot avoid responsibility simply by asserting compliance with existing legal, but outdated and inadequate FCC public safety limits.

Today, corporations that deal with educational technology should be looking forward and helping school administrators and municipal leaders to access safe, wired solutions. Your corporations can reasonably foresee and offer alternatives to potentially hazardous exposures to wireless radiation by choosing to support wired educational technologies.

Thank you for your attention to this letter.
Cindy Sage, MA,
David O. Carpenter, MD,
Co-Editors, BioInitiative 2012 Report For the BioInitiative Working Group

Copies: CEOs signing Education Superhighway letter to the FCC Federal Communications Commission The White House, President Obama US Secretary of Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Contributing Authors of the the 2007 and 2012 BioInitiative Working Groups
 Jitendra Behari, PhD,
 India Carlo V. Bellieni, MD,
Italy Igor Belyaev, Dr.Sc., Slovak Republic
Carl F. Blackman, PhD, USA
Martin Blank, PhD, USA
Michael Carlberg, MSc, Sweden
David O Carpenter, MD, USA
Zoreh Davanipour, DVM, PhD USA
Adamantia F. Fragopoulou, PhD, Greece
 David Gee, Denmark
Yuri Grigoriev, MD, Russia
Kjell Hansson Mild, PhD, Sweden
Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD, Sweden
Martha Herbert, PhD, MD, USA
Paul Héroux, PhD, Canada
Michael Kundi, PhD, Austria
Henry Lai, PhD, USA
Ying Li, PhD, Canada
Abraham R. Liboff, PhD, USA
Lukas H. Margaritis, PhD, Greece
 Henrietta Nittby, MD, PhD, Sweden
Gerd Oberfeld, MD, Austria
Bertil R. Persson, PhD, MD, Sweden
 Iole Pinto, PhD, Italy Paulraj Rajamani, PhD, India
 Cindy Sage, MA, USA
 Leif Salford, MD, PhD, Sweden
Eugene Sobel, PhD, USA
Amy Thomsen, MPH, MSPAS, USA

Download the letter here http://nebula.wsimg.com/23b7e54a0802664cf537716517c784e1?AccessKeyId=045114F8E0676B9465FB&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

Read the BioInitiative Report HERE

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Friday, April 17, 2015

Dear Dana Tofig, Do Not Deny Again Our Public Information Request on Wireless Radiation

Public Information Request Denied
WiFi Radiation Locations Considered a Safety Risk if Public? 
Is the information system more protected than our children?

Email sent April 17, 2015
Dear Mr. Dana Tofig, 

I am writing in response to your letter that you would not provide me with my Public Information Request for copies of Wi-Fi Router Maps as making this public “creates safety and data privacy  concerns” for students and thus may be exempted from disclosure under the MPIA. "

It is because of our children's safety that we are requesting this information. 

You cited this § 4-338. SECURITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMSbelow as one reason MCPS will not make public this information. 

§ 4-338. SECURITY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
A custodian shall deny inspection of the part of a public record that contains information
about the security of an information system. 

I ask "Is the information system more protected than our children?" 

Parents in those schools want the information because they are shocked, dismayed, and angry that -rather then keeping kids safe, MCPS is putting children in hot spots with excessive radiation.  The information we requested will help the parents know if their child is in a room with an access point so they can ask to move their children across the room- away from the router. 

Please note that MCPS has already published online several school floor plans.  We easily found online floor plans for over a dozen MCPS Schools with a quick google search. 

You also wrote that the floor plans could create safety concerns and cited possible attacks on the school. 

We have removed floor plans per your request. 
You requested we take down the floor plans with router locations from our blog. Your actions and concerns are based on the possibility that someone may use this floor plan to attack the school. A Possible Risk. A Serious Possible Risk. You are using the Precautionary Principle and deciding not to take such a risk because the harm could be devastating. Yet you have no proof that anyone is planning such an event. I understand 100%. When something could be life threatening, you take protective action even if it is not proven. This is why Doctors are calling for the Precautionary Principal when it comes to Wi-Fi. They recommend reducing exposure because our children's healthy future is at stake.

April 16/2015 Breaking News: CDC Expert Calls For Precaution:  
"The Precautionary Principle Should be Invoked for RF-EMF (Wireless)," will be detailed by Christopher Portier at the June BioEM2015 Conference, Mr. Portier is former Director of the National Center for Environmental Health and the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at CDC. Prior to his work at CDC, Dr. Portier was the Associate Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at NIH and Associate Director of the National Toxicology Program. Dr. Portier served as the CDC expert on the 31-member IARC expert working group that declared radiofrequency radiation "possibly carcinogenic" to humans in 2011 based on increased brain cancer risk.  Read More 

Christopher Portier is an example of a US expert in Toxicology calling for Precaution. He is not alone. Shouldn't MCPS consider wireless a safety threat if CDC officials with expertise in wireless radiation are taking a stand? 

The Information We Need:
We simply want the wireless antennae locations for parents. We have no need for full floor plans.  We ask that you provide us with:

1. Classroom numbers for the schools on our list.
2. Detail if it has a router or access point and what model and signal strength. 
3. Detail the location of the router in the room in full. 

This way parents can find out of their child is in a room with a radiating antennae and if so- where in the room the transmitter is located.  Pregnant teachers may choose to sit in decreased radiation areas as recommended by our countries leading Doctors. 

Please note that in the US- Districts such as Suffolk County New York are already enacting legislation to put warning signs on Wi-Fi routers. (Learn More) Router location should public information. 

Why in your follow up email  to me yesterday did you state I may come to your office and look at the floor plans but I may not share information on router location publicly and that I must write a letter to you to this effect (your words "You must agree to that in writing -via email or written letter)- before you will be granted access to the records".) How is it public information then? 

We do not want to jeopardize the safety of any student or staff. 
We do not need floor plans but we do need the  information detailed above made available to us in writing, scanned, copied and sent to us and it should be allowed to be publicly posted.  If you are unable to provide this information,  then please provide in writing a statement as to why you are officially denying me my Public Information Request. 

Our concern is the health and safety of our children.  Radiation exposure is closest near the access point in the classroom (see pic below). We believe all parents have a right to know this information. MCPS should be 100% transparent on the location of these high powered radiation devices in classrooms. 

Thank you, 
Thea Scarato 


This picture is from https://3.bp.blogspot.com Please click on this link to see how radiation is emitted  from a router or access point

Please email anytime at safetechforschoolsmaryland@gmail.com
Learn why we are concerned at http://safetechforschoolsmaryland.blogspot.com/2015/02/bells-mills-radiation-levels-in.html

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Andrea McCarren of WUSA9  broke the story of Maryland parents concerned about the health risk of WiFi in Schools. Please watch it at http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/maryland/2015/03/07/montgomery-county-parents-concerned-about-impact-on-children/24509945/



Thursday, April 16, 2015

Wi-Fi In School FAQs

Check out our new flyer!
Wi-Fi in Schools FAQ
Click Here to Download a PDF of Side 1
Click Here to Download a PDF of Side 2
We will mail you color copies if you email us safetechforschoolsmaryland@gmail.com

Scroll Down to see the flyer. 

Schools have a duty of care towards the children in their charge, the first priority of which should be their health. 













Click Here to Download a PDF of Side 1
Click Here to Download a PDF of Side 2
We will mail you color copies if you email us safetechforschoolsmaryland@gmail.com


Please email anytime at safetechforschoolsmaryland@gmail.com
Learn why we are concerned at http://safetechforschoolsmaryland.blogspot.com/2015/02/bells-mills-radiation-levels-in.html

Please join our Facebook Page at Safe Tech For Schools Maryland 


Andrea McCarren of WUSA9  broke the story of Maryland parents concerned about the health risk of WiFi in Schools. Please watch it at http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/maryland/2015/03/07/montgomery-county-parents-concerned-about-impact-on-children/24509945/

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Guidelines for Safer Use of Wireless Technology in Classrooms Published

Teachers are Urged to Avoid Prolonged Contact to Wireless 
and Turn Off Wireless Functions When Possible


"We have enough evidence to justify taking action and we are not willing to wait until our members, their children and the students suffer health consequences from not doing anything,

-Paul Pecorale, Vice President of New York State United Teachers Union.



Grassroots Environmental Education, Virtual Strategy Magazine, Mar 24, 2015 


An environmental health non-profit organization has issued a set of science-based guidelines for school teachers and administrators who are using wireless technologies in school classrooms. Based on peer-reviewed studies that link wireless radiation with neurological symptoms Guidelines urge teachers to limit exposures in classrooms to wireless radiation from routers, tablets and laptops. The Guidelines were delivered to a meeting of the Health and Safety Conference of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. on March 14th.

"There's a rush to make every classroom in America a wireless classroom, on the presumption that wireless radiation is completely safe," says Patricia Wood, Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education, which created the Guidelines based on input from researchers, medical professionals and radiation experts. "But the weight of scientific evidence pointing to potential health impacts, not only for students, but for teachers, especially pregnant teachers, should compel us to take a precautionary approach.  It's just common sense."

Recent studies at Yale University and other institutions around the world have demonstrated significant biological effects from exposure to wireless radiation. In one recent study, pregnant mice exposed to radiation from a cell phone had offspring that exhibited symptoms similar to ADHD in children. Many other studies have also reported behavioral abnormalities resulting from exposure to wireless radiation.

"A growing body of science is indicating links between exposure to wireless radiation and health impacts including neurological deficits and neurobehavioral disorders," says Joel Moskowitz, Director and Principal Investigator of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley.  "These guidelines will help reduce microwave radiation exposure among students and teachers. I recommend every teacher in the nation pay attention to them."

"We have enough evidence to justify taking action and we are not willing to wait until our members, their children and the students suffer health consequences from not doing anything," says Paul Pecorale, Vice President of NYSUT. "The history of occupational disease shows the devastating consequences of doing just that. We think that following these simple, common-sense Guidelines makes sense for schools districts, their staff and students."


The Guidelines can be accessed at http://grassrootsinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Safer-Guidelines.pdf

http://bit.ly/1FTr0q


Q: What Do Unions State About Wireless?
A: A lot!
Read it All HERE. 


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