The Times of London's Joanna Bale reports today that parents and teachers are forcing some schools to dismantle their Wi-Fi networks for health reasons -- though the UK's DfES (Department for Education and Skills) is allowing each school to make its own decisions on the matter.

At Chichester's Prebendal School, a group of parents lobbied Tim Cannell, the headteacher, to remove the school's wireless network last month. "We listened to the parents' views and they were obviously very concerned," Cannell says. "We also did a lot of research. The authorities say it's safe, but there have been no long-term studies to prove this. We had been having problems with the reliability of it anyway, so we decided to exchange it for a conventional cabled system."

Ysgol Pantycelyn in Wales decided to do the same in response to parents' concerns. Parent Judith Davies explains, "Many people campaign against mobile phone masts near schools, but there is a great deal of ignorance about wireless computer networks. Yet they are like having a phone mast in the classroom and the transmitters are placed very close to the children."

Stowe School decided to remove part of its wireless network after teacher Michael Bevington became ill. "Bevington, a classics teacher for 28 years at the school, said that he had such a violent reaction to the network that he was too ill to teach," Bale writes.

"I felt a steadily widening range of unpleasant effects whenever I was in the classroom," Bevington says. "First came a thick headache, then pains throughout the body, sudden flushes, pressure behind the eyes, sudden skin pains and burning sensations, along with bouts of nausea. Over the weekend, away from the classroom, I felt completely normal."

In response, The Inquirer is, well, a little skeptical. "There is no evidence that Wi-Fi nets have any effect on human health, but if the mummies and daddies are worried about piddly little Wi-Fi systems, they'd better start thinking about WiMax beams, which they won't be able to avoid unless they kit their kids out with tin foil hats," the article states. "And they'd better not take little Johnny or Jane into Soho, where Wi-Fi nets are way more pervasive than ladies of the night."