An Ontario private school has removed its wireless Internet system due to potential health concerns associated to it. Pretty River Academy, located north of Toronto in Collingwood, is a private kindergarten to Grade 12 school with just under 150 students. Officials have switched to a hard-wire Internet system.

In May, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified radio frequency emitted by wireless devices as possibly carcinogenic.

The school's principal Roberta Murray Hirst said the new system was fairly effortless to install and the school wanted to choose the safest Internet option.

Dr. Magda Havas, who studies environmental contaminants at Trent University, hopes other schools will move towards this model. "This is a much better way of connecting kids to the Internet, it's not nearly as dangerous as wireless," Havas said.

There have been no short or long term studies done on the impact of Wi-Fi, though some researchers believe children may absorb more radiation than adults.

Students and teachers at a number of Canadian schools have raised concerns about dizziness, headaches and other side effects they believed are linked to wireless exposure.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario is set to review wireless Internet in schools after educators raised health concerns and voted on the issue during the summer.

However, Health Canada insists Wi-Fi is not a big cause for concern. "As long as RF energy levels remain below Health Canada's RF safety guidelines, current scientific evidence supports the assertion that RF energy emissions from Wi-Fi devices are not harmful," the department said in a statement Thursday.

(By Kristy Kirkup, Parliamentary Bureau / Toronto Sun, 08/09/2011)