David Morrison’s activist journey began the moment he first saw that cell tower in the bucolic setting of his daughter’s private school and has grown into an all-encompassing mission to protect students from harm by seeing that Wi-Fi is removed.
When I went to meet Morrison in a busy coffee house in Southeast Portland in January, I had no trouble spotting him in the crowd: he was the sole customer in the buzzing room without a laptop, iPad or cell phone in front of him.
After he points out that we are surrounded by the backs of computers through which the greatest number of Wi-Fi waves flow, I gladly move to the fringes of the dining area with him.
A youthful-looking dark-haired man in his mid-60s, Morrison speaks softly as he shares the experience of immersing himself for the past five years into the study of Wi-Fi — its creation, its uses and its impact on humans.
“I intuitively felt dread seeing that tower and wrote a letter to the principal,” he began. “I asked her, what information made her think it was safe to install it?”
In reply she quoted the American Cancer Society on the safety of Wi-Fi.
“Organizations like that,” Morrison insisted, shaking his head, “the more money they receive, the more corrupt they are. It’s like in the tobacco industry; they kept saying studies were inconclusive, inconsistent, need more time.”
According to Morrison’s research, the telecommunications industry was aware of the dangers of Wi-Fi at the time it was being ubiquitously installed in public buildings and homes. The horrific genetic effects and increased cancer risk from radiation were officially recognized by Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Mutter back in 1927. “Industry knew all along,” Morrison says with indignation.
He began to collect and disseminate information from scientific reports coming out of Europe that pointed to the dangers of electromagnetic fields generated by Wi-Fi: studies showed that plants died, brains shrank, and tumors grew in accordance with their proximity to cell towers and microwaves.
Sensing my struggle to understand him, Morrison explains that Wi-Fi is the catchall term for the pulsed information carried by microwaves when people talk on their cell phones, or download information, or interact with their devices. The danger is that the microwaves batter and damage human cells.
Although it was difficult for his daughter, Morrison felt he needed to remove her from the school for her own protection. He felt that she, along with her classmates, were involuntarily being bombarded by harmful radiation. He transferred her to a Portland Public School (PPS) not realizing that it, too, was already Wi-Fi enabled.
He attempted to discuss his concerns about Wi-Fi with the PPS Board, but after many fruitless queries, they still would not meet with him. Rebuffed and frustrated, he finally sued PPS for endangering the life of his daughter.
“It is shameful,” he said. “Portland Public Schools spent over $200,000 instead of talking with me.” He had hoped that they would consider his idea for mitigating the dangers of Wi-Fi by shutting off their routers when they were not being used. “As of now, individual PPS schools have no ability to locally adjust their own Wi-Fi.”
In court, PPS maintained that their vendor, SISCO (Systems Integration Specialists Company) was charged with testing the safety of the technology.
In 2012, Morrison’s lawsuit was heard and dismissed in Federal Court by U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman. Judge Mosman did not address the merits of the lawsuit; instead he found that the lawsuit was actually challenging safety standards set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and ruled that only the FCC has the authority to hear complaints regarding its rules.
Morrison was stymied in pursuing the lawsuit further by a lack of funds, but he was also concerned that the FCC might not be required to respond to his complaint.
In 2013 he ran for the PPS Board as a single-issue candidate to bring awareness of the health impacts of Wi-Fi signals to students in Wi-Fi enabled schools. The point was not to win the seat, but to get the information into the voters’ pamphlet. Nevertheless, Morrison was pleased to win 17 percent of the votes (17,644) in a single- issue campaign. Clearly, he was reaching an audience.
Morrison is most concerned about the use of cell phones by students. Some statistics back up his warnings that smart phones, when used against the ear, are adding to the incidence of brain tumors.
Morrison added that cell phones in pockets, as well as iPads and computers used on our lap have been shown to reduce fertility and sperm count.
A realist, Morrison understands that any negative information about the use of cell phones and other electronic devices will not be enough to eliminate their popularity. Morrison describes his mission as a balancing act, “quietly educating doubters without disturbing them.”
Like his school board campaign, his PPS lawsuit was not for personal gain but a means of engaging the public in understanding the dangers of Wi-Fi.
“There is a disconnect where people don’t want to hear about it,” Morrison said.
Recently, however, Morrison has felt some encouragement: not only have some people listened to the research, but are beginning to act on it. He is gratified to report that the Waldorf School in Milwaukie,has removed Wi-Fi from its building serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Although Pacific Crest, his daughter’s current private alternative school does have Wi-Fi, unlike PPS, Pacific Crest is in charge of regulating its own routers.
Morrison’s tireless networking has paid off in attaining some supporters who have the credibility to make changes in the current status of Wi-Fi. Inspired by Rep. Alyssa Keny-Guyer (D-Portland) and her research and legislation to inhibit toxic spills, Morrison emailed information to her validating his concerns about Wi-Fi dangers.
He described her response as “awesome.” Keny-Guyer arranged a meeting with two local scientists to present Morrison’s information to skeptical members of the House of Representatives. Following that presentation, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, presented the same information to the Senate Health Committee, which she
chairs.
The goal was that a bill would require retailers to provide consumer literature listing the specific dangers from each product. “I anticipate that legislation will be introduced to hand out warning information with each cell phone sale in the state,” said Morrison.
He is also pleased with Keny-Guyer’s plan for a statewide inquiry and study of health hazards of Wi-Fi in schools.
I left our interview and the coffeehouse with a notebook full of references about microwaves causing an increase in cancers, autism, Alzheimer’s, insomnia and sterility.
Walking along the street, I was careful to not put my cell phone in my pocket. I didn’t bring my iPad to bed with me to play Words With Friends.
Instead, the next day I called my two adult sons to warn them about placing electronic devices next to their head or groin.
“Everything we like to do is bad for us,” my oldest son responded. My younger son suggested I had merely been victimized by a crazy person with a conspiracy theory complex.
In fact, since I met with Morrison earlier this year, the international community has begun to pay attention: At the end of January, France’s parliament passed a law governing public exposure to wireless technology (relay antennas, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) and banning Wi-Fi altogether in day care centers. In February, Taiwan made it illegal for parents to let children under two use electronic gadgets. In March, The Daily Mail, UK’s second biggest-selling daily, ran a major story on the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) which has called for classroom wireless networks to be suspended immediately until research has properly considered the threat to health.
During May, the alarm also sounded across the United States. The Los Angeles CBS station affiliate aired a program questioning the risks of Wi-Fi; Mother Jones ran an article titled “Scores of Scientists Raise Alarm About the Long-Term Health Effects of Cellphones,” and the Berkeley, Calif., City Council voted to require electronics retailers to warn customers about the potential health risks from radiation emitted by cellphones, thereby becoming the first city in the country to implement a cellphone “right to know” law.
However, Morrison still encounters skeptics when he talks in Portland about the harmful effects of Wi-Fi.
Now that I see what Morrison is up against, I admire him even more.
The following sites have information about Wi-Fi and its impacts: www.antennasearch.com, www.safeinschool.org, www.bioinitiative.org, www.weepinitiative.org, www.microwavenews.com