Founded in 1965 as a non-profit medical association, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) is an international organization of physicians and scientists interested in the complex relationships between the environment and health. For forty years the Academy has trained Physicians to treat the most difficult, complex patients who are often left behind by our medical system, because their illness, rather than stemming from traditionally understood factors, is related to underlying environmental causes, including (bio)chemical or radiation exposures. AAEM physicians, and physicians world-wide, are treating patients who report adverse, debilitating health effects associated with exposure to radiofrequency energy (RF).
The AAEM strongly supports the use of wired Internet connections, and encourages avoidance of radiofrequency such as from WiFi, cellular and mobile phones and towers, and “smart meters.”
The peer reviewed, scientific literature demonstrates the correlation between RF exposure and neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary disease as well as reproductive and developmental disorders, immune dysfunction, cancer and other health conditions. The evidence is irrefutable. Despite this research, claims have been made that studies correlating emissions from WiFi, phones, smart meters, etc. with adverse health effects do not exist.
In May 2011 the World Health Organization elevated exposure to wireless radiation, including WiFi, into the Class 2b list of Carcinogens; recent research strengthens the level of evidence regarding carcinogenicity.
There is consistent, emerging science that shows people, especially children who are more vulnerable due to developing brains and thinner skulls, are being affected by the increasing exposure to wireless radiation. In September 2010, the Journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine-Fertility and Sterility, reported that only four hours of exposure to a standard laptop using WiFi caused DNA damage to human sperm.
In December 2012 the American Academy of Pediatrics, representing 60,000 pediatricians, wrote to Congress requesting that it update the safety levels of microwave radiation exposure especially for children and pregnant women. With WiFi in public facilities as well as schools, children would be exposed to WiFi for unprecedented periods of time, for their entire childhood. Some of these signals will be much more powerful than would be received at home, due to the need for the signals to go through thick walls and to serve many computers simultaneously. Signals in institutions are dozens of times more powerful than café and restaurant systems.
To install WiFi in schools plus public spaces risks a widespread public health hazard that the medical system is not yet prepared to address. Statistics show that you can expect to see an immediate reaction in 3% and delayed effects in 30% of citizens of all ages. It is better to exercise caution and substitute with a safe alternate such as a wired connection.
While more research is being conducted, children must be protected. Wired technology is not only safer, it also stronger and more secure. While the debate ensues about the dangers of RF, it is the doctors who must deal with the after effects. Until we can determine why some get sick and others do not, and some are debilitated for indeterminate amounts of time, we implore you to not take the risk, particularly with the health of so many children with whose safety you have been entrusted.
Avoidance will always be the best policy. It should be reflected by minimizing RF exposures in public spaces.
Respectfully,
The Board of Directors of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine
