Give it up for Earth Day and Your Health

April 22, 2012 - Earth Day: A day without wireless

Wireless devices damage the environment in many different ways.

Wireless devices are energy hogs. For instance, it takes three times as much energy to make a simple phone call on a cellphone compared to a landline (http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/06/embodied-energy-of-digital-technology.html#more). Wireless internet access requires far more energy than fiber optic internet access. Fiber optic internet access to the premises is the state-of-the-art gold standard in broadband. Used with hardwired modems, it is the most energy efficient, highest speed, highest capacity, and most reliable option for broadband. Furthermore, it is safe and secure.

Use of energy-wasting wireless devices, therefore, accelerates the environmental damage caused by mountaintop removal coal mining (http://ilovemountains.org/), tar sands oil extraction (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text), and fracking (http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/) because of their higher demand for electricity production.

As if this were not bad enough, the pulsed modulated microwave radiation utilized by wireless devices to communicate interferes with the navigational abilities of bees, birds, bats, and a variety of other creatures (http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/nature.php?id=bees). One study linked nest proximity to cell phone antennas to significantly poorer reproductive success for white storks, including incomplete nest construction, absence of chicks, and increased chick death (http://www.livingplanet.be/Balmori_EBM_2005.pdf). Laboratory studies show it causes various developmental abnormalities and decreases fertility, suggesting other species likely experience decreased reproductive success (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19264463).

Microwave radiation from wireless devices has been implicated in the disappearance of house sparrows (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/study-indicates-big-decline-in-house-sparrow-numbers-in-urban-areas-669631.html) and bees (http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/06/if-cell-phones-are-behind-the-bee-decline-what-are-they-doing-to-humans/58994/). The pulsed modulated microwave radiation from wireless transmitting antennas (base stations) is defoliating and killing trees (http://www.revistaecosistemas.net/index_frame.asp?pagina=http%3A/www.revistaecosistemas.net/articulo.asp%3FId%3D%2029%26Id%20Categoria%3D1%26tipo%3Dotros%20contenidos).

It’s not just the rest of the planet that regrets the human love affair with wireless. Many humans are experiencing health problems from exposure to the pulsed modulated microwave radiation utilized by cellphones, WiFi, baby monitors, and utility smart meters (a.k.a. AMR or transmitting meters) etc.

Many humans experience dizziness, heart arrhythmias, headaches, poor sleep, low energy, inability to concentrate, short-term memory problems, facial flushing and skin rash when exposed to radiation from wireless devices (http://www.magdahavas.com/?s=bradycardia) . These are just a few of the symptoms of radiofrequency sickness (http://www.electricalpollution.com). Radiofrequency sickness develops when people are over-exposed to radiofrequency radiation, which includes the pulsed modulated microwave radiation inherent in wireless devices.

Exposure to radiofrequency radiation has also been linked to an increased risk for cancer, including lymphoma, leukemia, brain tumor (cellphones), melanoma, parotid gland tumors, and breast cancer (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20693976). In fact, in spite of incredible industry pressure, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) recently classified radiofrequency radiation as a class 2B possible human carcinogen (http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf). Had the IARC panel been allowed to consider all the evidence, Dr. Franz Adlkofer, former executive director of the VERUM Foundation for Behavior and Environment stated that, “the classification likely would have changed from ‘possibly’ carcinogenic to ‘probably.’”, in an October 2011 presentation at the Harvard Law School (http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2011/11/18_safra-center-cellphone-radiation-corruption.html).

The use of wireless devices has increased markedly in recent years and so have the resultant radiation exposures. The pulsed modulated microwave signal utilized by wireless devices is extremely biologically active, intrinsically unnatural, and not regulated to prevent biological effects (http://www.emrpolicy.org/litigation/case_law/docs/noi_epa_response.pdf) These ubiquitous consumer devices have never been safety tested for animals or humans and no post-market surveillance is in place.

Show respect for the Earth. Take Earth Day to turn off your wireless devices to save energy and out of consideration for animals, plants, and fellow humans.

Additional information at:

http://www.emrpolicy.org/science/forum/index.htm

www.electricalpollution.com

Cell Phones, Other EMF Exposure and Your Health

UPDATE: 17 May -

Longterm study links cellular use with cancer and more to review

MAY IS ELECTROSENSITIVITY MONTH, many states are promoting this as a health education event.

Cell Phone Radiation Levels

FCC Consumer Resources: Wireless Devices

Even though some people who submit comments seem to assume that I am not aware of the physics and mechanics of transmission from cell towers (http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2010/04/parents-stop-palm-tree-cell-tower.html) The opposite is true.

I venture to guess that the anonymous poster isn't as aware as the cell phone companies who include the risks in their patents, or the work of Dr. Neil Cherry.

Now the FCC admits the cancer link, something I've been reporting for more than a decade -
-"Mobile phones could cause cancer, government agencies admit" 28 April 2010

The possible health hazards from long-term use of mobile phones are finally being taken seriously by agencies in the UK and USA after years of denials that there was any risk. In the USA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is now recommending that people use an earpiece or headset with a cell (mobile) phone following reports that "wireless device use can be linked to cancer and other illnesses", while the UK is starting a major study of health problems from long-term use. The FCC's latest set of guidelines represents a huge shift, and for the first time acknowledges that there could be a health danger in using a cell phone. Apart from using an earpiece or headset, it recommends that users should keep phones away from the body, and should not attach them to a belt or leave them in a pocket that's next to the body; users should use the speaker option so that the phone is kept further away from the head.

To make it simple, the transmission of the microwave energy used to make your cell phone or other device work is because of communication between the device and the antenna.  Inside a building the energy required to make this connection occur is greater.

The array of emissions from the antenna is not a lineal beam (vertical or horizontal) because the pattern of the array emitted from the antenna (or more than one which is usual) takes on the from of similarity to an open umbrella.

Another consideration is the SAR level of the device and if you do a modicum of research you find that as the 3G and 4G devises proliferate the SAR levels increase.

The point is it requires a circle of no less than 6 feet in diameter  from you if you are on a cell phone or using wifi to protect another person from the radiation your device is emitting.  This is your choice if you want to have this exposure but don't think that other people, a baby you are carrying, or a small child wants the same risk.

And please do not listen to the cellular company propaganda, do your own thorough and definitive research.

Now You Don't See It, Yet It Sees You

Here is a writer that is addressing health issues he believes will be up and coming in the next five years.

I've been writing and teaching about these same issues for more than ten years and of course have been ridiculed many times for my thinking on the health risks of EMF and WIFI/microwave.

Things are most likely to get worse after mandated digital TV debuts next February, and its likely your ER doc or health provider isn't aware of how to diagnose or evaluate your symptoms. Or better yet, won't be able to help you treat it or recover.

You´ll Never See It Coming By Alex Richards

In the next five years you may see your health decline. It may start with fatigue and stress. You will awaken un-refreshed. Perhaps you´ll have headaches and find it difficult to concentrate. Out of nowhere will come blue moments and panic attacks. You´ll blame it on your lifestyle. You´re getting older. You will probably never consider the subtle fact: our environment has fundamentally changed..

The US has become increasingly filled with radiation from radio-frequency fields and microwaves. These radio waves create electromagnetic fields (EMF) from cell phones, satellites, military and airport radar, WiFi, security alarms, baby monitors and even remote control toys. Until the late 1980´s these radio waves were mostly generated by commercial or military sources. But then we began to bring microwave transmitters like cell phones, WiFi and microwave ovens right into our lives. Our environment, once filled with only thousands of distant fixed transmitters now has become an environment filled with millions of mobile transmitters, many of which beam EMF into our homes. What was once solely a commercial/military source of microwaves, has given way to the "dark side" of the consumer wireless revolution.

Most of us never noticed. These waves are invisible. We can´t feel, taste, or sense them. But their effects can be observed and measured. While measurements show that the intensity of radio waves in our environment has risen between 50-150 times in the last decade, in an eerie parallel, science has been tracking the explosion of unexplained health impacts.

Scientists have already linked biological effects, symptoms and disease with low-levels of electromagnetic radiation (www.BioInitiative.org). Over 600 studies connect EMF with Cancer, Alzheimer´s, depression, suicide, Autism, Leukemia, DNA damage, heart disease, strokes, chromosome damage, migraines, permeation of the blood brain barrier, activation of stress hormones, decreases in melatonin/ serotonin and immune system suppression (www.marinproject.org). Other studies help explain the list of unexplained stress symptoms you may be already be feeling: fatigue, memory loss, anxiety, concentration issues, chronic joint/muscle pain, sleep disturbances and heat or ringing in your ears.

The Freiburger Appeal (www.WirelessStress.com) with nearly 30,000 signatures by European physicians links cell phones, cordless phones and cell towers with these unexplained stress symptoms. Along with the growth of wireless since the mid-1980´s, there has been a parallel growth of illnesses without a known cause, so-called mystery illnesses and an emergence of dozens of `new age´ diseases, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, Gulf War Syndrome and Electrohypersensitivity, all of which share the same primary symptoms as the stress symptoms listed above. The link between wireless technologies and the three tiers of health impacts is astonishing: unexplained stress symptoms; "mystery illnesses" and the explosion of "new age" illness.

When you begin to see these stress symptoms coming, you may receive plenty of advice from your family physicians. You will probably fill prescriptions for sleep, pain and maybe even depression. You will gain a sense of management of the symptoms, but they will persist. You will come to accept it.

You will never make the connection to an invisible world of electropollution that has silently exploded around you. You will never suspect that the cell phone in your pocket, or the wireless router that brings you WiFi, could be stealing your health. You´ll go on filling your prescription and explaining the nagging symptoms away. You´ll never see it coming.

and from Sean Arthur Joyce: January 17th, 2008

The Bioinitiatives Working Group of the University of Albany, New York, has undertaken a review of 2000 studies related to bio-effects of electromagnetic fields and has concluded that current safety standards for protecting the public against exposure to EMF are inadequate.

Dr. George Carlo, who was hired by the US telecommunications industry to do the first major study on the issue, had 200 scientists at his disposal in his $28 million study. It was only when his scientific results contradicted the industry’s pre-supposed position of no harm at non-thermal levels of power output that he was marginalized by them and forced to quit.

It was through the industry’s ‘low power exclusion’ that telecom corporations achieved the rare feat of having a consumer product introduced into the North American marketplace with NO pre-market testing!

Brain cancer has risen by 300% worldwide during the past 20 years, roughly concurrent with the widespread use of wireless communications.

And just because we’ve had radio frequency waves in our environment for 100 years doesn’t of itself mean they’ve caused no harm. Cancer in general has soared during the past century.

The World Health Organization has recently admitted (after 30 years of studies to this effect) that children living near high-voltage power lines have a substantially greater risk of developing leukemia.

In any case, it’s up to industry to first prove beyond any reasonable doubt their products are safe, not up to the public to prove otherwise.