A WOMAN who is allergic to wifi is calling on the Government to recognise her condition as a disability.

Mary Coales said she suffers from electromagnetic hyper- sensitivity syndrome (EHS), meaning she is made ill by electromagnetic fields from things such as phones, masts and Wi-Fi signals.

The 65-year-old experiences a sharp pain in her mouth whenever she is near laptops, mobiles, TV screens and even some light bulbs.

Miss Coales, of Sidlesham, near Chichester, said: “EHS is increasing vastly and people have been trying for years to get recognition for people affected by this and haven’t succeeded. It’s absolutely disgraceful and I’m willing to be tested.

“It needs to be recognised by the Government, so hospitals and other public places provide safe zones where people can go without Wi-Fi hitting them in these places.”

The former civil servant’s life has been blighted by electronic devices ever since she developed hypersensitivity to electronic devices in 2012, so much so she moved from her house in London to the West Sussex countryside.

Places such as theatres, restaurants, cinemas and supermarkets are off limits for the Cambridge University graduate.

She said: “In the proximity of my partner’s laptop, I suddenly started receiving pain in the mouth over a period of days or weeks, and it gradually extended to mobile phones, TVs and even some of the lights in the house.

“I was looking for a chemical explanation but the lights were put on in the evening and started to make me ill. I immediately recognised it was caused by electronic devices.”

Miss Coales is among a growing number of people who suffer from EHS, which is not recognised as a medical condition in the UK.

More than three million people believe they are affected by some degree of electro-sensitivity, an allergy to the radiowaves and microwaves emitted by devices.

In the UK, EHS is not a recognised condition and there is no treatment on the NHS.

Dr Simon Mann, head of Public Health England's Radiation Dosimetry Department, said:

“Public Health England is aware that some people report that they have symptoms that are brought on or made worse by exposure to electro-magnetic fields, so-called electrical sensitivity.

“The overall scientific evidence does not support the suggestion that such exposure causes acute symptoms or that some people are able to detect radiofrequency fields.

“Nevertheless effective treatments need to be found for these symptoms.”

Miss Coales hopes the Government will start to take note of the swathes of people who claim to have the condition with no access to NHS treatment.

She added: “My symptoms are not typical of EHS but some people get debilitating migranes and are unable to move. People have lost jobs and been driven from their homes due to this.”