A top UK watchdog has barked for an investigation into using wireless communication networks in schools.

According to the The Independent on Sunday, Sir William Stewart, the chairman of the Health Protection Agency, wants pupils to be monitored for ill effects from Wi-Fi.

Sir William is a former chief scientific adviser to the Government, and has chaired two official inquiries into the hazards of mobile phones.

He fears that Wi-Fi could cause cancer and premature senility. Several European provincial governments are banning or limiting Wi-Fi use in the classroom.

No studies have been carried out into Wi-Fi's effects on pupils, but it gives off radiation similar to emissions from mobile phones and phone masts.

Char Aznable wrote:

Well, if this is true, then the router 15 feet away from me is pumping death into my body every second.

Sweet hi-speed broadband death...

UPDATE:

THE RADIATION LEVELS emitted by Wi-Fi networks in some schools is three times as high as that emitted by the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts, a Panorama investigation claimed tonight.
The BBC's Panorama team, which recently featured in a screaming match with scientologists on Youtube, has undertaken research which indicates that Wi-Fi technologies may be emitting harmfully high levels of radiation.

Although the radiation emitted by Wi-Fi networks is said to be similar to that from mobile phone masts, there have been no studies into the impact of such technology on our health, a report on the BBC website says.

Wi-Fi technology is currently being used in seven out of 10 British secondary schools and in half of all primary schools.

The findings are particularly significant because children's skulls, which are still developing, are thinner than adults' skulls, and tests have revealed they absorb more radiation than adults, it said.

Although the readings were well below the government's safety limits – as much as 600 times below – some scientists told the programme they believe current safety limits should be revised.

Both the government and World Health Organisation say that Wi-Fi does not fry bains.