Wi-Fi in School ADA Federal Complaint Against School After Child Fell Sick From Wireless Installation

Breaking: 8/12/2015 Federal complaint seeks injunctive relief for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and damages for breach of contract and negligence. 

Parents Call For the Removal of the Wi-Fi System at Massachusetts School. 

Please Download the Filed Complaint HERE. 

After more robust School Wi-Fi was installed in Spring 2013, a 12 year old boy started to experience troubling symptoms, which he reported to his parents when he came home from school. These included severe headaches, itchy skin, and rashes. The school nurse indicated that various children in the same classes were reporting increased headaches, dizziness, nausea and chest pressure. The symptoms were present whenever he was at school. 



Key Points in the Complaint: 

The child was diagnosed with Electrical Hypersensitivity (EHS) after several tests. The complaint cites the symptoms of EHS from wireless exposure as "severe headaches, fatigue, stress, sleep disturbances, skin symptoms such as prickling, burning sensations and rashes, muscle aches, nausea, nose bleeds, dizziness and heart palpitations. Parents brought the issue to the schools attention. 

The school instructed the nurse that legally they are not obligated to be concerned about Wi-Fi radiation even though other children were having similar symptoms.

According to the the United States Access Board  "Measures taken to improve indoor environmental quality, such as reducing air pollution, noise and electromagnetic fields in buildings, will increase their accessibility for people with asthma and/or electromagnetic sensitivities, as well as provide a more healthful environment for all building occupants."

The complaint states that the school has failed to provide reasonable accommodations for the child as required by the ADA. 

“According to the Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability laws, public and commercial buildings are required to provide reasonable accommodations for those disabled by chemical and/or electromagnetic sensitivities.”

The parents offered to pay themselves for non-disruptive accommodations such as hardwiring the internet with ethernet connections  and the school declined. 

The school insisted that the Wi-Fi system complies with Federal Communication Commission (“FCC”) radiofrequency radiation guidelines adopted in 1996 despite the EPA clarifying that such regulations do not apply to long-term Wi-Fi exposures in schools. 

The Fay Board of Trustees received four letters  from scientific experts in electromagnetic fields.

"I must, as a public health physician, advise minimizing these exposures as much as possible. Indications are that cell phones and wireless technologies may turn out to be a serious public health issue, comparable to tobacco, asbestos, DDT, PCBs, pesticides and lead paint, or possibly worse given the ubiquitous nature of the exposures."
-Dr. Carpentar, Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, University of Albany

Compliance with FCC guidelines, thus, unfortunately, is not in any way an assurance of safety today, as the guidelines are fundamentally flawed. Until the guidelines and
advisories in the U.S. are updated, the intelligent thing for your Board of Trustees to do is to exercise the Precautionary Principle and hard wire all internet connections.
- Dr.  Martin Blank, Columbia University  
  

"We know that the heart is sensitive to and can be adversely affected by the same frequency used for Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) at levels a fraction of federal guidelines (less than1%) and at levels that have been recorded in two Ontario schools with Wi-Fi technology. "

-Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra, Cardiologist. M.D., F.A.C.C, F.A.C.N., C.N.S 

"Radiation of the kind emitted by WiFi transmitters impacts attention, memory, perception, learningcapacity, energy, emotions andsocial skills. Thereisalsodiminished reactiontime, decreased motor function, increased distraction, hyperactivity, and inability to focus on complex and long-term tasks. In some situations, children experience cardiac difficulties. "

-Dr. Olle Johansson, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute,  

Download letters HERE. 

Local and International Press coverage 
School's Wi-Fi Making Son Sick, Parents Say In Lawsuit - CBS Local 
Family sues Fay School in Southboro, claims Wi-Fi made son ill- Telegram
Parents Sue School, Claim Wi-Fi Makes Son Sick -Yahoo Parenting
Parents sue elite private school where they say the Wi-Fi signal is making their son, 9, seriously ill - Daily Mail 

Sept 1- 2015 Breaking NEWS Update: Preliminary agreement reached in Southborough Wi-Fi lawsuit - WCVB, 27th August 2015

Woman Wins Disability Payout for WiFi ‘Sensitivity'

Please Download the Filed Complaint HERE to Read it in Full. 

Watch The Recent Massachuttsetts State House Briefing on Wireless Radiation Children

Right To Know - An Environmental Health Briefing from Grassroots Environmental Ed on Vimeo.

Read More about Electrical Sensitivity and watch videos of  people around the world talk about their symptoms HERE. 
Read Ten Facts About Wi-Fi in Schools Every Parent Should Know. 
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