Some Parents Are Suing Their Son's School Because They Think the Wi-Fi Is Making Him Sick

The parents of a 12-year-old student in Southborough, Massachusetts, are suing his private school, The Fay School, over the institution's Wi-Fi. The suit claims the student suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome, which causes symptoms like headaches, rashes, fatigue, nausea, and other discomfort from proximity to electromagnetic fields. The parents claim the Wi-Fi worsens their son's symptoms.

According to the Telegram & Gazette, a local newspaper, the student was diagnosed with electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome after the school installed a more powerful Wi-Fi connection in 2013. While there's little medical research on electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome, its existence was tepidly acknowledged by the World Health Organization in 2005. An entire community of people suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome has formed in Green Bank, West Virginia, a town without any type of Wi-Fi, cell phone signal, or modern technology, due to a high-tech radio telescope that operates there as part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

In a statement released yesterday, the Fay School said it hired a company in January to analyze its radio communication signals and emissions. That company found that their levels of access point emissions, broadcast radio and television signals, and other RFE emissions on campus were substantially less than the Federal Communication Commission's safety limits.

Still, the family's lawsuit aims to force the school to either weaken the Wi-Fi signal or switch to using Ethernet cables. The family is also seeking $250,000 in damages.