January 2015
 

Dear (name of recipient):

The National Association for Children and Safe Technology (NACST) is an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the health impacts of wireless radiation on children as well as advancing policies that safeguard children’s health and well-being.

We kindly ask your organization, (organization name here), to make the issue of children’s health and exposure to wireless radiation in educational settings an immediate priority for 2015.  

 
The State of the Science: The Debate Is Over

Wireless radiation, also known as radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF), can damage neurological, immune, and reproductive systems in addition to increasing cancer risks.  These adverse health impacts have been proven to occur at very low levels considered “safe” by our current government standards.  Cell phone towers, wireless routers and devices such as tablets, laptops, baby monitors and cell phones all emit this type of radiation.

Evidence of harm is no longer a question, but adequately documented and firmly established, as stated by Dr. Martha Herbert, PhD, MD, pediatric neurologist and neuroscientist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School:

 “In fact, there are thousands of papers that have accumulated over the decades - and are now accumulating at an accelerating pace …that document adverse health and neurological impacts of RF-EMF”  [i]

Professor of Oncology Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD and Statistician Michael Carlberg of Orebro University Hospital, Sweden published their peer-reviewed study recently in Pathophysiology (October 2014); they connected long-term cell phone use with increased risk for glioma in the temporal lobe.  Hardell and Carlberg state the evidence has accumulated enough to consider RF-EMF “as carcinogenic, requiring urgent revision of current exposure guidelines.” [ii]   Very significant was the finding that patients who first used mobile or cordless phones before the age of 20 had the highest risk.  

Calls to Action

In response to the accumulation of research showing harmful effects from wireless radiation, a growing number of experts and organizations are taking action to protect children’s health:

• Dr. Joel Moskowitz, University of California, Berkeley, Center For Family and Community Health issued “Some Tips to Reduce Your Exposure to Wireless Radiation.”  [iii] 
  

• The BabySafe Project, supported by over 50 signatories, including Dr. Hugh Taylor, Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale University, is calling for pregnant women to reduce exposures to wireless radiation because of potential damage to the baby’s developing brain shown by several experimental studies. [iv]
  

• Doctors For Safer Schools released the Protecting Children’s Health in the Digital Age brochure.  [v]
  

• Cindy Sage and Dr. David O. Carpenter, Co-Editors of the Bioinitiative Report, in September 2014, wrote a letter to the executives of major corporations in response to their position advocating wireless networks in schools: “To promote wireless technologies in schools is to deliberately and knowingly disregard current health warnings from international science and public health experts.”  [vi]
  

• Dr. Erica Mallery-Blythe, MD recommends, “ASAP withdraw all RF Emissions” in order to ensure the health and safety of children, from her November 2014 presentation on children and electromagnetic fields.  [vii]
  

The Implications of Wireless Networks in Schools

Wireless technology networks in schools and other educational settings pose a unique and serious threat to children’s health and wellbeing.  These classrooms typically have industrial strength routers and 30+ handheld devices or laptops which all emit radiation.  This environment is becoming increasingly commonplace, as there has been a national movement to digitalize learning in our schools.  Much to our dismay, this represents an unprecedented health risk to the children in schools across the nation who are now being exposed 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, for their entire school careers. 

Wired technology infrastructure in schools is known to be fast, reliable, secure and cost effective compared to wireless alternatives.  Hardwiring within classrooms allows schools to safely connect to the Internet, achieving educational goals without harming students or staff.

Children are not little adults and the impacts of chronic exposure to wireless radiation are more profound.  Their bodies are developing rapidly and research shows they absorb up to ten times more radiation than adults.  As well, no medical organization has stated wireless radiation is safe for the reason that safe limits for children have never been established.  We simply cannot afford to go down the same road as tobacco or asbestos when it comes to wireless radiation exposures and our children. This issue requires immediate attention, as today’s children will bear the cost of our inaction.  They are being exposed now; the time for action is now.

The NACST Turn It Off 4 Kids Initiative

Recognizing the immediacy of this health issue, we are announcing the Turn It Off 4 Kids Initiative and invite your organization to join us in taking the following actions: 

 1. Call for all new school technology to be hardwired.

 2. Call to replace existing wireless technology systems with hardwired systems.

 3. Call for the implementation of primary prevention efforts such as educating the public about simple steps to reduce exposure, especially in regards to children and pregnant women.

 4. Educate your organization’s members and audience on this issue by emails, informational web pages, updated materials, and all other means possible.

Turn It Off 4 Kids Endorsements

It is a pleasure for us to acknowledge the following scientists, doctors and wireless safety advocates who have endorsed NACST’s Turn It Off 4 Kids Initiative so far:

David O. Carpenter, M.D. | Director, Institute for Health and the Environment University at Albany, Rensselaer, NY

William Lee Cowden, MD, MD (H) | Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board, Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine

Kerry Crofton, PhD | Co-founder & Executive Director, Doctors for Safer Schools

Victoria L. Dunckley, MD | Integrative Child, Adolecent & Adult Psychiatrist, West Los Angeles; Board Member, Doctor for Safer Schools

Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD | Oncologist and Cancer Researcher, Department of Oncology, University Hospital, Orebro, Sweden

Olle Johansson, PhD | Associate Professor, Karolinska Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Stockholm, Sweden

Elizabeth Kelley, MA | Director, Electromagnetic Safety Alliance, Inc.

Dariusz Leszczynski, PhD, DSc | Adjunct Professor (pro bono), Department of Biosciences, Division of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Finland

Ellen (Ellie) Marks | Director, California Brain Tumor Association

Anthony B. Miller, MD, FRCP | Professor Emeritus, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Javad  SMJ Mortazavi, Ph.D | Professor of Medical Physics, Ionizing and Non-ionizing Radiation Protection Research Center (INIRPRC), Shiraz University Of Medical Sciences

Sarah Starkey, BSc, MSc, PhD | Neuroscientist, WiFi in Schools UK

We are sincerely interested in the actions health organizations will take to protect the most vulnerable of our population, the children.  NACST has established a webpage to recognize the efforts made by those to whom we are reaching out, and will share updates with our members and the general public; accordingly, please inform us of your organization’s commitment to the Turn It Off 4 Kids Initiative.  

Please send all correspondence to

The NACST Turn It Off 4 Kids Initiative webpage, including a comprehensive list of signatories can be found at:  http://nacst.org/nacst-turn-it-off-4-kids.html

Thank you for considering our request and we hope you will participate with us in this most important endeavor for our children.

Sincerely,

Co-founder
National Association for Children and Safe Technology 
NACST.org

NACST Turn It Off 4 Kids Letter to Organizations

Back to Turn It Off 4 Kids organizations page.

Back to Turn It Off 4 Kids organizations page.

Back to Turn It Off 4 Kids main page.

The National Association for Children and Safe Technology

NACST.org

 [i] Letter from Dr. Martha Herbert to Los Angeles Unified School District dated Feb. 8, 2013:  http://www.wifiinschools.com/lausd-testimony.html

[ii] Mobile phone and cordless phone use and the risk for glioma – Analysis of pooled case-control studies in Sweden, 1997–2003 and 2007–2009:  http://www.pathophysiologyjournal.com/article/S0928-4680%2814%2900064-9/abstract

[iii] “Some Tips to Reduce Your Exposure to Wireless Radiation”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14R6QNkmaXuT1o0aDhWRERmYlE/edit?pli=1

[iv]  The BabySafe Project:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14R6QNkmaXuT1o0aDhWRERmYlE/edit?pli=1

[v]  Doctors For Safer Schools:  http://doctorsforsaferschools.org

[vi]  Letter to corporate CEOs by co-editors of the BioInitiative Report 2012:   http://www.bioinitiative.org/ceo-wireless-letter/

[vii]  Dr.  Erica Mallery-Blythe – Electromagnetic Radiation, Health and Children 2014:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNFdZVeXw7M

This is theTurn It Off 4 Kids letter we have sent out to organizations whose mission supports children's health and well being.  For the sake of the children, we hope to get many positive responses as soon as possible. 

Back to Turn It Off 4 Kids main page.