Wireless devices are a permanent part of our world. Phones, laptops, and iPads are used just about everyone just about everywhere.
But for Patti Wood, they represent an omnipresent health risk due to their radiation, especially to expecting mothers.
“It’s an emerging threat because the technology is changing very rapidly and unfortunately, with many health exposures, the technology gets way in front of the science,” she said. “We get at least 24 calls a week from people just in Port… who are affected by this in a negative way.”
The Port Washington resident’s work on educating the public about radiation and other environmental efforts earned her the Trailblazer Award, given to her by Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove). The award is given by legislators to a woman who has gone above and beyond with her volunteer or professional efforts.
“It was really an honor,” she said. “DeRiggi-Whitton felt that environmental health should be highlighted and we were really happy it happened.”
Though the award is given once a year, Wood has been working much longer to protect the environment. Born and raised in Port Washington, she said she first started getting involved with environmental issues when she was raising her children 30 years ago.
“I was always concerned about environmental issues, but when I had young children, it became an interest, something that I actually started getting involved in on community and island-wide level,” she said.
Through her organization Grassroots Environmental Education, which she co-founded with her husband Doug, she has tackled a variety of issues that have affected Port Washington and Long Island: pesticides on school fields, the use of wastewater from fracking, and radiation from wireless devices.
Grassroots teamed up with the Environmental Health Trust five years ago to start the Babysafe Project, which educates pregnant women about how they can reduce their child’s exposure to radiation.
Wood said more than 250 doctors have signed a statement acknowledging the risk, and that informational brochures have been sent to OBGYNs, midwives and prenatal care centers around the country.
At the local level, Wood worked with DeRiggi-Whitton to draft legislation requiring all Nassau County buildings to put up signs alerting people to nearby wireless modems.
“Sometimes routers can be in the wall or ceiling, so it’s important to make their locations known,” she said. “That way, people can move their desks so they are not directly underneath it.”
Wood stressed that she was not opposed to wireless technology.
“We’re not Luddites,” she said. “We want people to use it but use it safely. We’re letting people know the risks so they can make better choices.”
Wood and her husband were named 2014 Citizens of the Year by the Community Chest of Port Washington for their push to ban pesticides at Port Washington School District, making it the first in the state to do so.
Recently, Grassroots has opposed the installation of synthetic turf at schools, which Wood said posed a health risk.
Wood had also worked with DeRiggi-Whitton before to ban the use of fracking wastewater, a mix of chemicals used to mine natural gas, to melt snow on Long Island.
The law was adopted “almost verbatim” by New York City, according to a press release from DeRiggi-Whitton’s office.
“This would have been a disaster because we drink water from underground aquifers, and these chemicals would be able to seep down into that water source,” Wood said.
Although she won the Trailblazer Award, she said Grassroots’ success should not be credited to her.
“I don’t take that award for myself,” she said. “It’s for the staff. They are hardworking people who pull a tremendous weight.”
