Parents Sue School Over Son’s ‘WiFi Allergy’

[HuckleB]

A Massachusetts family is suing their son’s school because, they say, he has a condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity. The thing making him sick, they claim? The school’s WiFi.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/14/parents-sue-school-over-son-s-wifi-allergy.html

"In the spring of 2013, a young boy at a prestigious Massachusetts grade school began coming home with headaches, itchy skin, and a rash. It was a mild start to a mystery illness that would later bring serious symptoms—prompting his parents to sue the school over what, they believe, is making him ill: WiFi.

According to the 45-page complaint filed this summer, G’s* symptoms always emerged during school hours, then slowly disappeared once he got home. On weekends and holidays, they were all but nonexistent; but as soon as he’d get back in the classroom, they would return. In 2014, they started to get worse. Headaches and itchy skin gave way to nosebleeds, dizziness, heart palpitations, and nausea.

When his condition stumped doctors, his parents “commenced research” of their own. According to the complaint, The Fay School, where G had been a student since 2009, had installed a stronger wireless Internet service in the spring of 2013—the same time he showed symptoms. After linking the two, his mother concluded that he had “electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS),” a host of symptoms allegedly caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields. Fay’s sophisticated WiFi system, she decided, was making him sick.

G’s parents say Fay should switch to Ethernet or find a way to lower emissions in order to accommodate his EHS, which they argue is a disability. The case is unprecedented, not simply because two parents are suing a school over WiFi, but that the condition at the crux of their case (EHS) remains, largely, a mystery. The decision has implications not just for New England schools’ Internet procedures, but the rest of America’s too.

..."



Umm.

Excuse for a moment.



OK. I think I'm better.

No, wait.



OK, then.

[Archae]

1. Why am I not surprised?

They should try an experiment.
Announce that the school's WiFi will be shut off for a repair job.

But secretly NOT shut it off.

Then watch the kid.

[underpants]

7. Ha!

Check the tuitions below

[tammywammy]

9. From the article:

In a 2010 paper published in the journal Bioelectromagnetics, Dr. James Rubin performed a systematic review of 46 different blind or double blind studies on 1,175 individuals who self-diagnosed as having EHS. He found “no evidence” that exposure to electromagnetic fields alone was the cause. Instead, due to similar reactions that occurred when participants thought they were being exposed but were not, he hypothesizes that the problem may be more closely aligned with mental health. “As sham exposure was sufficient to trigger severe symptoms in some participants, psychological factors may have an important role in causing this condition,” he writes.

[Archae]

11. Figures.

[Blus4u]

35. Wasn't this illness....

....what was afflicting Saul's older brother in "Better Call Saul", hence the tin foil blanket?

Peace

[pnwmom]

44. They used to think asthma was psychosomatic, before medicine had advanced enough

to know that it was a disease of inflammation.

It's unfortunate that when doctors don't know a logical reason for physical symptoms, they so often decide it must be imaginary.

"Sham exposure" caused severe symptoms in some participants. What about the others? Maybe there is something in the building that was also changed at the same time they changed the WIFI. Or maybe the building has just gotten moldier over time.

[betsuni]

46. Totally agree.

When I was in my late teens I had all sorts of symptoms: indigestion, bloating, fatigue, skin rash, headaches, feeling sort of depressed -- classic allergy symptoms that today would be instantly recognized (I hope). Back then the doctors I saw said it was all in my head, one told me probably all I needed was a boyfriend. Finally went to naturopath who took a blood test and told me what not to eat. A couple of weeks later and symptoms completely gone, it changed my life. If I hadn't had that blood test I might've spent my life feeling shitty and taking anti-depressants. But doctors knew best, right.

[pnwmom]

47. Yeah, I had that kind of thing, too. And my sister did, and the doctor called it "nervous stomach."

Turned out gluten intolerance runs through our family, some people with Celiac, some with Crohn's, some with rashes, lots of people reacting to gluten in different ways.

No more "nervous stomachs" or rashes.

[betsuni]

49. My sister has the gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance, which wouldn't be a problem ...

except she has NO self control. Her symptom is an instant runny rose, so then you have to hear sniffing for the next several hours after she can't resist taking a bite of your pizza. And the food she's intolerant of makes her lose her appetite, she gets really skinny. Food I'm intolerant of makes me bloat. If I've been bad about my diet and see someone I haven't seen for awhile, they tell me I've gained weight. If I've been good, they tell me I've lost weight. I'm a shape shifter! Even my face looks different. It's interesting how each human body reacts differently.

[pnwmom]

52. Yes -- all our bodies are different, which makes "medical science" a very difficult science.

If you're one of the outliers, forget it. . . .

[Thor_MN]

15. Better yet, shut it off without telling him.

His symptoms are likely due to the stress of being at a boarding school. If he does not know the WiFi is off and he still has symptoms, the WiFi is not to blame. Only problem is keeping him from knowing, as they probably all have laptops connected to WiFi. My question is why the parents think that their home WiFi (assuming they have it) is somehow different.

[BigDemVoter]

41. Good Point

And good luck to him finding too many places that don't have WiFi nowadays. It's in airports, cafes, etc. . . . . If he's "alllergic", how can they determine that it's the school's WiFi doing the damage?

This will be interesting to watch!

[yeoman6987]

54. Would you do the same with a person with a peanut allergy?

Sounds cruel to me. Why do you think he's lying. I know people used to laugh at all kinds of people with different ailments until the populous grew up and took them seriously.

[Thor_MN]

69. Would I remove peanuts from an area without telling a peanut allergy sufferer?

Last edited Tue Sep 15, 2015, 07:59 PM - Edit history (1)

well, yeah, I would. There is no harm with no "allergen" present.


But that not the point.

Peanut allergies are real.

WiFi allergies?

The simplest answer is the kid is stressed out by boarding school, or a real allergen that is present.

Should be simple enough to test in a medical facility. Put him in with a router case that has nothing but blinking leds. See if there are any symptoms. If there is a reaction, its psychosomatic. If there is no reaction, place him in a room with a real router. He will be experiencing EMF up to thousands of times higher than what he sees at school. If there is a reaction, you have a smoking gun. If not, it points to either psychosomatic, or a real allergen at the school. Of course, the kid, his parents, the medical personnel can't know which is the real router or fake.

[HuckleB]

70. That doesn't mean everyone who makes up an "ailment" should be taken seriously.

[underpants]

2. They can claim he's disabled but until he meets the classification criteria he ain't disabled

Tuition at The Fay School

Day Students
Pre-Kindergarten (Half Day) $13,500
Pre-Kindergarten (Full Day) $21,900
Kindergarten $23,400
Grade 1 $25,500
Grade 2 $27,650
Grades 3 and 4 $30,000
Grades 5 and 6 $34,410
Grades 7 and 8 $36,550
Grade 9 $38,290

Domestic Boarding Students (7-Day)
Grades 7 and 8 $61,660
Grade 9 $63,400

Domestic Boarding Students (5-Day)
Grades 7 and 8 $55,450
Grade 9 $57,190

International Boarding Students
Grades 7 and 8 $64,520
Grade 9 $66,260

International Boarding Students - ESL
Grades 7 and 8 $67,780
Grade 9 $69,520

[HuckleB]

8. Wow!

The food better be dang good!

[underpants]

19. Yeah

$23k for kindergarten

I've learned about a private school here in Richmond. All girls. 80 students grades 5-8th - that's 20 each. $16k a year. Amazing.

[madinmaryland]

22. Sounds like a frivolous lawsuit to me. Must be a repuke filing it.

[Eleanors38]

71. Yeah, whatever happened to "tort reform?"

[reformist2]

33. With those tuitions, that school ought to do pretty much whatever the parents want!

[yeoman6987]

74. DC pays 16,809 per student

They definitely don't listen to parents

[beam me up scottie]

2. Better call Saul.

[Heeeeers Johnny]

10. First thing I thought of.

[img][/img]

[beam me up scottie]

12. I can't wait for the second season to start.

It broke my heart when I had to say goodbye to Breaking Bad.

[Heeeeers Johnny]

13. But!... At least the producers had the wisdom to write in Mike Ehrmantraut.

He was my favorite character in BB and BCS.

[img][/img]

[beam me up scottie]

18. Yes!

It was good to learn the back story on him.

[PasadenaTrudy]

51. Mike is the man! N/t

[Chiyo-chichi]

61. If Jonathan Banks doesn't win an Emmy this weekend, something is seriously wrong.

His performance in the episode that focused on Mike was the best acting I've seen anywhere in a long time.

[mainstreetonce]

21. Yep

First thing I thought of

[beam me up scottie]

56. Great show.

AMC hit another one out of the ballpark.

[PasadenaTrudy]

53. Me too!

Chuck McGill!

[Warren DeMontague]

55. Yep.

[beam me up scottie]

57. Did you leave your phone and watch in the mailbox?

[sharp_stick]

4. It was probably the chemtrails

wifi is harmless until activated by chemtrails. Nutjobs to the left of me, nutjobs to the right.

[mike_c]

5. lemme have some of that, too....

[tammywammy]

6. Sued after the school brought in an independent party the parents recommended.

In a letter on the school’s website, Rob Gustavson, the head of Fay, refutes the claim that nothing was done—writing that the school brought in an independent technology firm called Isotrope (recommended by G’s parents), to test the school. Isotrope concluded that Fay’s WiFi emissions were “substantially less than one ten-thousandth of the applicable safety limits (federal and state).”

[cloudbase]

14. We are bombarded by EM radiation,

both natural and man-made pretty much continuously.

[hobbit709]

16. Sounds like my neighbor and her gluten problem.

Her chiropractor told her she had a gluten allergy and later it developed into full blown celiac disease.
She believes anything that quack tells her. He also strapped this box on her arm and the digital readout told her what toxins she needed to remove from her body.

[Scootaloo]

17. "Exposure to electomagnetic fields"?

Knowing what I do of physical sciences... uh...

[hifiguy]

72. Indeed.

LIGHT is electromagnetic radiation, as are all the countless radio waves around us and the entire planet. In fact the overwhelming majority of free energy (that not confined in matter) in the universe is em radiation.

I think a physics prof needs to bring a little common sense science to this.

[irisblue]

20. anyone swab an airvent to look for wifi activated cooties?

sorta snarky

[justhanginon]

23. Yeah Doc, I really have been trying to lose weight

and watch what I eat like you said but this damn WiFi I have at home ...........

[riderinthestorm]

24. Sounds more like a mold problem.

Kid is sick at school.

Kid not sick when away from school.

Some toxic element at school is revving up his allergy.

Or it's just psychosomatic.

My niece would literally have an asthma attack, a panic attack and/or diarrhea every day before school for years. The stress of a large public HS created a host of stress related ailments. (And yes, I know asthma has other factors than stress but she'd cycle through "shortness of breath", wheezing, severe coughing etc too regularly for it to not be included).

[petronius]

26. That's my first guess - school just really stresses this kid out

I wonder if he gets these symptoms in all the other places that often have strong wireless networks--hotels, airports, cafes, libraries, etc--that he (and his parents) may not be aware of at the time...

[riderinthestorm]

27. Yup. Pull him out and homeschool or private tutor

since it seems these folks have tons of cash to burn ...

[petronius]

28. Yep. Although in this case I wouldn't be surprised if some/much/all of the school stress

is generated at home; a diagnosis of demanding-helicopter-parentitis*. Wonder how often he's reminded that his performance now will decide his college, career, and everything of value? Or of how much this school is costing and what a great opportunity it is?


* Of course, this is all a complete WAG born of my own biases and unfounded assumptions.

[riderinthestorm]

31. Empirically they need to explore all options

they've fixated on a wifi allergy but have they actually tried keeping him away from that environment AND continuing to school him?

I hope they tried that and it failed because school anxiety is a proven psych problem. The chances this is a wifi allergy are so remote...

[Blus4u]

36. Kid probably doesn't have

the cool book bag or shoes and can't stand the stress.

Peace

[jmowreader]

58. Not likely, Blue

Your standard New England prep school has a dress code that makes one long for the relaxed garbing and grooming standards of Marine Corps boot camp.

[groundloop]

25. Hmmmm...... I get sick every morning when I get to work and don't feel better 'til I leave....

Maybe I can sue my employer for the mental stress of my job (in combination with wi-fi of course) making me ill.

[RKP5637]

29. Don't forget the cell phones too! LOL!!!

[KentuckyWoman]

30. The Fay Schools's response to the lawsuit.

Snip

In 2014, the parents of a Fay student indicated that they believed their child’s health was being negatively affected by our Wi-Fi network. Since we take all student health issues seriously, we addressed the concerns raised by the parents in this instance as we would any other parental concern.

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring the health, safety, and wellbeing of all members of the Fay campus community, the School sought a professional, objective assessment to ensure that our campus complies with all federal and state regulations regarding exposure to ambient radio frequency energy (RFE). To conduct this assessment, we engaged the services of Isotrope, LLC, which specializes in measurement and analysis of radio communication signals and evaluation of emissions safety compliance. Isotrope was one of the firms recommended as an expert source by the parents who raised the concern.

Isotrope’s assessment, completed in January 2015, measured levels of the entire radio frequency at once, as well as levels at locations where individual emissions were strongest, most of which were Wi-Fi access points located in buildings on campus. Isotrope found that the combined levels of access point emissions, broadcast radio and television signals, and other RFE emissions on campus comply with federal and state safety limits by a wide margin. Their report stated that “levels of Access Point emissions, inside the School and on the grounds, were substantially less than one ten-thousandth (1/10,000th) of the applicable safety limits (federal and state).”

The Isotrope report further concluded that “RFE emissions measured on Site were substantially below the applicable safety limits. Moreover, even if the more restrictive safety limits adopted in certain countries, such as Italy, were applied, the RFE emissions at the School would still be compliant by a substantial margin.” This conclusion was consistent with Fay’s prior assessments of the safety of our wireless infrastructure, and it re-affirmed the safety of our campus.

Snip

http://www.fayschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=988347&bl=/default.aspx&rc=0

[Travis_0004]

32. I hear west virginia is nice this time of year

Tell them to move there. The US radio quiet zone is 13000 square miles without wifi, cell phones or anything like that.

[reformist2]

34. Don't tell the parents about all the radio waves bouncing around! Eeek!!

[niyad]

37. I thought it was the repukes and fundies making me sick--turns out it is just all the wifi around

here.

[Initech]

38. Um.... are they also allergic to air?

[Yavin4]

39. This was a theme on the spin-off show, "Better Call Saul"

You should check it out.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

40. If such hypersensitivity is real

If such hypersensitivity is real, then there are pills at Placebo Mart that can help. Seriously.

[X_Digger]

42. Oh fer fuck's sake. n/t

[Recursion]

43. Easy fix: dress him in foil (nt)

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

45. Don't forget the hat! nt

[Waldorf]

48. Would be funny has hell to find out if they were doing all their research at home

using WiFi. Pretty much all the home gateways for the internet have WiFi.

[lonestarnot]

50. Are you fucking kidding me?

[jmowreader]

59. What grade was he in the year this started happening?

Could it be that Mumsy's precious snowflake suddenly got buried under work he's not capable of handling, he started bringing home bad report cards (which caused Mumsy and Daddy to start leaving brochures for military schools around the house to suggest what will happen to Snowflake if he doesn't suddenly start bringing home straight A's) and the headaches, itchy skin and rash started at that time?

[gollygee]

60. There are wifi networks so many places

Almost every public place. (It shouldn't make a difference to his allergy whether he has the password - even private ones would bother him.) He wouldn't just have this experience at school.

[Orrex]

62. I blame Monsanto.

[LanternWaste]

66. I blame irrelevancies.

I blame irrelevancies.

[MineralMan]

63. Simple Solution: Transfer the kid to an inner city public school.

They don't have wi-fi, or any other modern technology, due to selective funding. Problem solved.

[HuckleB]

67. +1

Of course, here in Portland, Oregon, we had a guy running for the school board with his main position being the elimination of that dangerous wifi from all schools.

[Major Nikon]

64. Better Call Saul

[snooper2]

65. I wish the posters that think this is possible or real would show up

PLEASE!

[Orrex]

68. They would, but their allergies prevent them from logging in.

[workinclasszero]

73. hahaha