Just before the beginning of the 2010 fall semester, Professor David Fancy, head of Brock University’s drama department, sent out a mass email to more than 2,000 colleagues warning them of the dangers of the wireless Internet installed at the university.

His concerns echo those of other schools across Ontario.

Fancy, who said he has no formal scientific background, was a member of Brock’s joint health and safety committee from 2007 to 2009.

He said the committee’s responsibility was to inform the university administration of potential health risks at the school.

Health Canada was not being “forthcoming about the reality of the research that does exist” on the dangers of Wi-Fi, Fancy said in an email. He cited a BBC report on a European Union study which found that “after being exposed to electromagnetic fields, the cells showed a significant increase in DNA damage which could not always be repaired by the cell,” though the damage wasn’t significant enough to cause serious harm to humans.

“It also became clear to me that Health Canada is most likely criminally negligent on this topic as they are using largely industry-funded research on the subject,” Fancy said.

According to a Health Canada statement released in August, Health Canada maintains that wireless is not responsible for any health problems, and “based on scientific evidence, Health Canada has determined that exposure to low-level radiofrequency energy, such as that from Wi-Fi equipment, is not dangerous to the public.”

All Wi-Fi equipment in public areas is supposed to be kept under a certain level of radiofrequency energy set by Health Canada and based upon “thousands of published peer-reviewed scientific studies on the health impacts of radiofrequency energy,” the release said.

Despite Health Canada’s reassurances, some groups still have safety concerns about Wi-Fi.  Lakehead University chose to not install wireless internet in 2006. Their Wi-Fi and Cellular Antennae Policy, posted on the university website, aims “to limit wireless connectivity based on the ‘precautionary principle’ as there are numerous scientific studies that demonstrate a basis for concern that continuous or frequent long-term exposure to the non-ionizing radiation of electromagnetic fields could have adverse health effects.”

Some parents in Barrie, Ont., are demand in the Simcoe County District School Board shut off its wireless Internet after their children have become ill with symptoms that disappear only when not in school, and began only after wireless internet was installed at the schools, the Globe and Mail reported.

David Fancy said he isn’t deterred by the lack of action from Brock.

He said he believes Ontario Chief Medical Officer Arlene King “has been making false and misleading statements to the effect that wireless poses no health risk for the population, which is patently untrue,” misleading the staff and students at Brock.

Fancy said he still has hope for the recognition of wireless Internet as a harmful and dangerous technology.

“We are with wireless and cell phones where we were with cigarettes, asbestos and thalidomide in the 1950s,” he said.