Some teachers and parents are convinced that dirty electricity could be the reason their schools have sick building syndrome.

Schools are tested for asbestos and other chemicals when a group of teachers or students get sick, but they are rarely tested for dirty electricity.
Magda Havas, a professor in environmental and resource studies at Canada’s Trent University, said dirty electricity is a power quality problem that likely is present in most schools due to fluorescent lights, computers and other electronic equipment that generate electrical pollution.

Havas was asked to conduct a study in a Toronto private school for students with learning disabilities and found high levels of dirty electricity.

“I was unaware of studies showing dirty electricity was harmful to human health, and I was skeptical that filters would do anything,” Havas said. “But after filtering the school, the health of teachers and students improved to my surprise. Student behavior improved especially in those with attention deficit disorder.”

Havas repeated the study at three Minnesota schools in 2005 when a microsurge meter developed by Martin Graham at the University of California-Berkeley and Dave Stetzer of Blair, Wis., became available. The health of many teachers improved, as did the behavior of elementary students, she said.

She said the levels of dirty electricity in schools often are high due to outdated wiring and the large number of computers and other electronics.

“I am convinced that dirty electricity is contributing to the ill health of staff and students,” Havas said. “Elementary-aged students are the most sensitive, and that this form of pollution may be significantly compromising the learning and working environment in schools.”

Officials from the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union, met with Havas and Stetzer, who has measured dirty electricity and treated homes and buildings with filters.

Mike McNett, director of collective bargaining and research for WEAC, said he was personally interested and curious about dirty electricity because of complaints the union had received from some teachers.

McNett said finding unbiased information about dirty electricity is difficult, and WEAC could not reach a conclusion about the issue.

“We’re not actively engaged in looking at it,” he said. Teachers and staff who want to address dirty electricity could contact the council’s legislative committee, he said.

The Bangor, Wis., school district decided to place filters in two school buildings during 2004 because some teachers and staff were concerned about dirty electricity. People had some health problems and concerns about dirty electricity and brought them to the school board, said Roger Foegen, superintendent of Bangor schools.

Foegen, who was high school principal at the time, said the filters didn’t make a difference in absenteeism rates. “We couldn’t find any trends or anything changed by the filters,” he said.

Filters were installed at Blair-Taylor schools because Superintendent Guy Leavitt said staff were concerned about health problems and electronic equipment failures.

The number of children and employees with migraines was reduced after the installation, and electronic failures were nearly eliminated, Leavitt said.

“We realized savings in the thousands of dollars,” he said.

He had been dealing with chronic back pain and saw a chiropractor regularly before the filters were installed. “I can count the number of times on my hand that I’ve seen a chiropractor since,” Leavitt said. “I also put the filters in my home.”

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