Case #5: Willow Wood School, Toronto, Canada

A study conducted at Willow Wood School in Toronto (January/March 2003) demonstrated that teachers and students responded to improved power quality. This was a single blind study that lasted 6 weeks (3 weeks with filters and 3 weeks without) (see Havas et al. 2004

for details). The Stetzerizer^TM microsurge meter was not yet available when this study was done so the power quality was measured with a Fluke 79 III meter connected to a Graham Ubiquitous Filter (to remove 60-Hz frequencies) and values are expressed as mV (rms) rather than GS units (Table 1). The fluke meter measures frequencies up to 20 kHz while the G/S filter removes frequencies up to 100 kHz, hence the Fluke meter underestimates what was actually removed.

Fifty filters were installed in Willow Wood School and the dirty electricity (for frequencies

up to 20 kHz) was reduced by 43% from 23 mV (range 13-101 mV) to 13 mV (range 8-24

mV) (Table 1). A school of this size requires 150 filters or more to reduce the microsurges produced by computers, photocopy machines, fluorescent lightly etc. Even though values were not as low as recommended, significant improvements were noted among teachers and in some classes.

While G/S filters were installed at Willow Wood School, teachers were less tired, less frustrated, less irritable (Figure 7). They had less pain and fewer headaches. They had a greater sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. If these improvements are a sign of electrical hypersensitivity, then 55% of the teachers at WW School may be electrically hypersensitive. This is a much larger percentage than the two percent for self-reported EHS

as documented by Hillert et al. (2002). Our results are similar to those reported by Arnetz et

al. (1997, as cited in Levallois 1999) for 133 employees of an insurance company who all worked in the same building. More than 50% of those who worked with computers reported that they had health symptoms induced by VDU-related work. The checklist of symptoms

were typical of EHS and included musculoskeletal, respiratory, dermatological, gastrointestinal, neurological and memory problems.

If teaches in Willow Wood School were asked if they were electrically hypersensitive, very few would have answered in the affirmative. Indeed, after the study when we presented our results to the teachers, we learned that the concept of electrical hypersensitive was new to them.

Student behavior at Willow Wood School also improved while the filters were installed, especially in grades 1 to 6 as compared with middle school (grades 7-9) and high school (grades 10-12) (see Havas et al. 2004). Students were more active and were better able to focus on their lessons (Figure 8). There was less "inappropriate" classroom noise and class time was used more productively. Teaches spent less time dealing with disruptions or repeating instructions.

Our results suggest that dirty electricity may be interfering with teacher performance and student education. Other schools that have installed G/S filters have also reported improvements among their students and staff. At one school, Melrose-Mindoro in Wisconsin, the District Nurse (Char Sbraggia, R.N.) reported that after the G/S filters were installed teachers were less tired and students also seemed to have more energy. Several staff with allergies were taking less medication since they were experiencing fewer symptoms. But perhaps the most striking result was for students with asthma. Of the 37 students using inhalers, only three continue to use them and only for exercise-induced asthma before their physical education classes (www.electricalpollution.com). At Willow Wood School we had

no reported cases of asthma among teachers and did not obtain health information about students.

More and more children are being diagnosed with and medicated for attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADD is the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood. Estimates of its prevalence range from 2% to

18% of school-aged children depending on type of diagnosed (University of Maryland Medicine 2002). In the US, the diagnosis of ADHD in children increased from 950 thousand children in 1990 to 2.4 million by 1996. Attention Deficit Disorder is a neurobiological condition characterized by developmentally inappropriate level of attention, concentration, activity, distractibility, and impulsivity (University of Maryland Medicine 2002).

Some of the symptoms associated with these disabilities (such as inability to focus, disruptive classroom behavior, need for repeated instructions, inability to actively participate in lessons)

are the symptoms that were reduced after the G/S filters were installed, which raises questions about the relationship between ADD and power quality. Children are exposed to more dirty electricity because they are now spending more time then ever in front of computers (at home and at school) and television sets and have, for the first time, ready access to cell phones (radio frequency radiation). Both computers and television sets generate electromagnetic frequencies within the kHz and MHz range and these frequencies

are not filtered at the set and thus travel along electrical wiring3. Studies testing the relationship between ADD/ADHD and dirty electricity (and radio frequency radiation) are urgently needed.