Month: November 2013

Students demonstrate wireless hazards at Science Faire

Two young scientists researched and studied wireless health risks for science fair projects. One student was interested in the controversy surrounding wi-fi and whether it should be in schools or not. She found fruit flies exposed to industrial wi-fi had genome mutations. Another student researched mobile phone radiation and warns about brain cancer, insomnia and other health problems.

In May of 2013 a team of Danish 9th grade girls did a science study on wi-fi and found watercress seeds would not grow near a wi-fi router.

The students placed six trays filled with water cress in a room without radiation, and six trays in another room next to two wi-fi routers. Over the next 12 days, the girls observed, measured, weighed and photographed their results. The cress seeds placed near the routers had not grown, whereas the cress seeds in the other room, away from the routers, thrived.

watercress_wifi studyThe experiment earned the girls top honors in a regional science competition and the interest of scientists around the world. Full story here: Student Science Experiment Finds Plants won’t Grow near Wi-Fi Router

What is that smartphone really costing you and your family?

By Amy O’Hair

Lovers☠ It’s costing you irreplaceable, meaningful time with your kids—or your date—or your lover—or even with yourself. LA Times

☠ It’s costing you relaxation and rest: now your boss expects more from you, 24/7. Business Week

☠ It’s costing you the real pleasures of travel and adventure. Huffington Post

☠ It’s costing your health in the long term. You wouldn’t volunteer to suck on a tailpipe or lick lead paint or drink pesticide, but those are all in the same cancer-making category as the RF radiation from your phone. “Five Ways Your Cell Phone is Harming You”

☠ It’s costing your brain: 4G cellphone radiation alters your brain activity in clearly measurable ways. There was never any long-term testing on the safety of your phone or the cell network. Radiation affects brain activity

☠ It’s costing your health in so many ways: you’re at risk for future cognitive impairment, immune disorders, neurological damage, stress response, disrupted sleep, fertility and reproductive problems, DNA damage, and finally tumors and cancers. New York Open Center

☠ It’s costing you high-quality, health-giving sleep—even hours after you get away from the screen.  Huffington Post

☠ It’s costing your child’s normal mental development. ” Washington Times: Parents be smart”

☠ It’s costing your child his health, now and into the future: Huffington Post and  Electromagnetic Radiation Safety

☠ It’s costing your teen her well-being. Environmental Health Journal

☠ It’s costing your baby a normal neurological development during pregnancy. Dr. Mercola and Electromagnetic Health

☠ It’s costing your fertility—or that of your child, in the future. There are many studies showing how RF radiation damages sperm and testicles, and fetuses during pregnancy. Here’s just one. Read the science

☠ It’s costing you and your child a sense of empathy and connection. Bill Moyers interviews Sherry Turkle on being alone together

☠ It’s costing you your common sense: Are you one of the many who “couldn’t live without their phone”? Do you like that? Business Week

☠ It’s costing all of us the environment: that vaunted “cloud” is a greenhouse-gaseous energy-sucking behemoth. Electronics News

☠ It’s costing all of us basic public safety and awareness: a whole train full of device-entranced people don’t even notice a man waving a gun—till he shoots someone. SF Gate

☠ It can cost you the phone itself. Half of all robberies include a smartphone … thieves take phones like taking candy from a stupefied baby. A candidate, returning from meeting about community crime, distracted by a call, is robbed of his phone at gunpoint, in front of his own home. East Bay Express

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

How you can make your phone less costly to your health and to your life:

  • Use it less. Turn it off. Can’t get simpler than that.
  • [Better yet, use it for emergencies only!- admin]
  • Need more? Environmental Working Group: Speakerphone or earpiece. Text, text, text. Hold it away from body during use. Only when signal is strong. NOT in your pocket, not under your pillow, ever.

Physicians group says smart meters effect health: “The evidence is irrefutable.”

aaemAn international organization of physicians and scientists recognize smart meters are harming people’s health.  They say, “The evidence is irrefutable.” and call for further research, accommodations and avoidance of smart meters.  This new statement is based on a review of cases by Dr. Lamech in Australia. Here’s their recently adopted statement: Smart Meter Case Series

“Founded in 1965 as a non-profit medical association, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) is an international organization of physicians and scientists interested in the complex relationship between the environment and health.

AAEM physicians and physicians world wide are treating patients who report adverse, debilitating health effects following the installation of smart meters, which emit electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radiofrequencies (RF).

The peer reviewed, scientific literature demonstrates the correlation between EMF/RF exposure and neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary disease as well as reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, cancer and other health conditions. The evidence is irrefutable. Despite this research, claims have been made that studies correlating smart meter emissions with adverse health effects do not exist.

The AAEM has received a case series submitted by Dr. Federica Lamech, MBBS, Self- Reporting of Symptom Development from Exposure to Wireless Smart Meters’ Radiofrequency Fields in Victoria.  AAEM supports this research. It is a well documented 92 case series that is scientifically valid. It clearly demonstrates adverse health effects in the human population from smart meter emissions.

The symptoms reported in this case series closely correlate not only with the clinical findings of environmental physicians, but also with the scientific literature. Many of the symptoms reported including fatigue, headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness and other symptoms have been shown to be triggered by electromagnetic field exposure under double blind, placebo controlled conditions.  Symptoms in this case series also correlate with the Austrian Medical Association’s Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of EMF Related Health Problems.

It is critically important to note that the data in this case series indicates that the “vast majority of cases” were not electromagnetically hypersensitive until after installation of smart meters. Dr. Lamech concludes that smart meters “may have unique characteristics that lower people’s threshold for symptom development”.

This research is the first of its kind, clearly demonstrating the correlation between smart meters and adverse health effects.

Based on the findings of this case series, AAEM calls for:

  • Further research regarding smart meter health effects
  • Accommodation for health considerations regarding smart meters.
  • Avoidance of smart meter EMF/RF emissions based on health considerations, including the option to maintain analog meters.
  • A moratorium on smart meters and implementation of safer technology
  • Physicians and health care providers to consider the role of EMF and RF in the disease process, diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Passed by the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine October 23, 2013

Update:

Self-reporting of symptom development from exposure to radiofrequency fields of wireless smart meters in Victoria, Australia: a case series: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25478801

See also: Dr. Ron Powell’s “Symptoms after Exposure to Smart Meter Radiation”: http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Symptoms-after-Exposure-to-Smart-Meter-Radiation.pdf