EMF World News

Please note, this page has not been added to since 2014.  Some links to stories are now unavailable, but many are still good. updated 6/5/2021.

10/2014 Wall Street Journal Cellphone Boom Spurs Antenna Safety Worries One in 10 cell towers violates FCC safety rules, according to six engineers who
tested 5,000+ sites. ” Insurers are becoming concerned.

“Jimmy Crespo complained to federal labor regulators in 2011 that he became disabled with cognitive issues after working more than 300 times on heating and cooling systems for antennas for Johnson Controls Inc., a Sprint Corp. contractor. “I had no training, no monitoring devices and no warning from my employer,” Mr.Crespo said.

“The risk is often transferred to ‘unsuspecting’ property owners,” Roger Egan, executive chairman of Risk Strategies Co.,
told the FCC.”
“Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.  and A.M. Best Co., the
insurance-rating agency, have flagged RF as an emerging risk. Swiss Re  wrote in a 2013
report that if RF radiation is linked to health problems it “could ultimately lead to
large losses.”

8/2014 Say What CDC Flip Flops on Cell Phone Danger
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently became the first federal agency to acknowledge health risks from cell phone use. Then, without any explanation, the agency suddenly backtracked on its findings.

4/2014 Findings Show Radiation Emissions from Wireless Phones are Class 1 Carcinogens Two important new papers show mobile phone use as a cause of increased brain tumors. Any wireless phone, i.e. cell phone or cordless phone, emits radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) when it is in use.  One paper shows that RF-EMF exposure from mobile (and cordless) phones should be regarded as an IARC class 1 human carcinogen (cancel causing agent). Current guidelines for exposure urgently need to be revised.

4/2014 The Swiss flats where smoking, painting and mobile phones are banned  (Switzerland) – No smoking, no perfume, no mobile phone use — the list of rules at a newly opened apartment building on the outskirts of Zurich is long.  For a reason: the structure has been purpose built for people who say exposure to everyday products like perfume, hand lotion or wireless devices make them so sick they cannot function.

1/2014 Huffington Post  “…we say that there really is no time better than now to embrace home phones. Yep, I’m siding with your mother and grandmother on this one… Here’s why” 11 Reasons To Bring Back Landlines In 2014 (Seriously)

2/1/2014 Student’s iPhone catches fire in pocket  An 8th grade girl from Maine was sitting down in her French class when a pop was heard and her pants started smoking- the iphone she was carrying in her pocket caught on fire! She suffered second degree burns.

12/2013 Dr Anthony Miller from the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health presents to Toronto Council that RF exposure should be classified as a 2A (probable carcinogen), not a 2B (possible carcinogen)

The Bottom Line on iPhones vs. Refrigerators “When everything in the ICT ecosystem is accounted for, one finds that a single iPhone or tablet can easily use – or more properly, cause to be used – at least 400 kWh per year. That’s roughly the same as a high-efficiency residential refrigerator.” The full report: http://www.tech-pundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Cloud_Begins_With_Coal.pdf

1/2014  Ex-Fla. cop accused in fatal shooting over texting  “An argument over texting in a Florida movie theater Monday triggered a retired Tampa police captain to fatally shoot a man sitting in front of him, as about 25 horrified moviegoers looked on, sheriff’s officials said.”

11/2013 Radio interview: Dr Hildegard Staninger and Curtis Bennett EMF/WIFI/SMART GRID/CELL PHONES.  It is very informative. Bennett is an expert on wireless technology.

11/2013 Ukrainian town dismantles cell sites over cancer fears   “A town council in Ukraine had local cell sites removed, leaving the place with almost no mobile communications. The decision was made, following residents’ complaints over health problems and increased number of cancer diagnoses blamed on the equipment.”

10/15/2013  French safety watchdog recommends limiting exposure to radiofrequencies for children and intensive users    The National Agency for Health, Food and Environmental Safety (Anses) said it would make a recommendation to limit exposure to the devices, with heavy use defined as 40 minutes of conversation a day.

The report was issued by a panel of 16 experts, who looked at more than 300 scientific studies that have been published since 2009, when the recommendations were last assessed.  The panel noted some studies that have suggested a higher long-term risk of brain cancer for heavy users of mobile phones, Anses said.

Foul-mouthed hacker hijacks baby’s monitor Houston Texas:  “An unknown hacker apparently gained access to a 2-year-old girl’s baby monitor, calling her by name and harassing her, and her parents, with insults and profanity. The parents heard a strange voice, coming from the web camera in their children’s bedroom.  That voice said, “Wake up Allyson, you little slut”  He also called the mom a bitch and the dad a stupid moron.  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/14/tech/web/hacked-baby-monitor

Showdown at the Airport Body Scanner
By NATHANIEL RICH
“As long as there’s the slightest chance of getting cancer from airport body scanners, I’m not walking through them.”

Australian government ordered to compensate worker with electromagnetic hypersensitivity “…The Tribunal found that Dr Alexander McDonald suffered a workplace injury when his alleged sensitivity to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) from office equipment, was made worse after the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) required him to trial the use of specially designed office equipment – such as a computer enclosed in a faraday cage – in a number of attempts to allow him to work in an modern office environment.” “In this case the perceptions, if any, of Dr McDonald are that the disorder (and therefore the ailment) from which he suffers is caused by exposure to EMF and that the aggravation of the disorder was caused by his exposure to EMF during the trials carried out by his employer,” Mr JW. Constance ruled.

“For these reasons I determine that Dr McDonald has suffered an aggravation of an ailment that was contributed to, to a significant degree, by his employment by CSIRO.”

I Was a Paid Internet Shill: How Shadowy Groups Manipulate Internet Opinion and Debate   “…This is my confession… Shills exist. They are real.”  This confession by a paid insider illustrates that industry hires people to  write comments on articles online to try to appear as if what the industry is promoting is what common people believe.

May 2013 Peevey’s Priority: Senate Hearing or Napa Winery?  “The embattled president of the California Public Utilities Commission recently ignored the call to answer tough questions by state senators in Sacramento and instead decided to attend a conference at an exclusive Napa resort and a reception at an upscale winery in St. Helena, both of which were captured on hidden camera by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit.”

Opinion: Cell Phone Health Risk?  Security concerns during the Cold War may have led to the generation of misinformation on the physiological effects of microwave radiation from mobile phones.- Allan H. Frey, The Scientist, September 25, 2012

Cell Phone Carriers & the FCC: Cozy & Colluding   An Industry Insider Speaks Out “The carriers and the FCC have an extremely cozy relationship,” said the engineer. “Whenever there’s a problem, someone in the FCC’s RF safety office warns the carrier and the company then puts the ‘fire’ out.”

3/30/2013 President’s Cancer Panel: Environmentally caused cancers are ‘grossly underestimated’ and ‘needlessly devastate American lives.’ — Environmental Health News

“Two Children May Have Died for You to Have Your Mobile Phone”  “It’s possible that two children died so that you could have that mobile phone,” says Jean-Bertin, a 34-year-old Congolese activist who wants to end the “absolute silence” around the crimes committed in his country to exploit strategic raw materials like coltan.

Your Phone vs. Your Heart  NY Times: “CAN you remember the last time you were in a public space in America and didn’t notice that half the people around you were bent over a digital screen, thumbing a connection to somewhere else?”

3/23/2013 Woman Shocked in Shower by Stray Voltage Wins $4 Million Lawsuit “A California woman who sustained repeated electrical shocks while showering won a $4 million lawsuit against her power company Wednesday. Simona Wilson, 34, a single mother of three boys, has suffered from major medical problems as a result of “stray voltage” from a nearby substation.”

3/21/2013 FCC chairman announces resignation – The Washington Post  “Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and friend of the president, announced his resignation Friday.

He will be leaving the FCC after a mixed tenure that has disappointed some of the consumer groups that were his earliest supporters, but that also sketched a plan to bring Americans more access to broadband Internet for years ahead.”…

Mar. 6, 2013 Israeli scientists find possible link between cellphone use, thyroid cancer  Findings are ‘first evidence of changes in thyroid cells in response to electromagnetic radiation’ says researcher, ‘but drawing sweeping conclusions … is still far off.’

Belgium: Cell phone sales and advertising ban to protect children There will no longer be advertising specifically targeting children younger than 14 years of age. Sellers will be obliged to inform their customers of the “specific absorption rate” of mobile phones, that is, the level of radiation of the device. The sale of mobile phones specifically designed for young children up to age 7 will be banned in Belgium.

Cindy Sage : Our Wireless World: A Commercial Bonanza for Big Business, A Train Wreck for the Health of the Consumer

Is Your Cell Phone Making You a Jerk? “Researchers from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business found that after a short period of cell phone use, people were less likely to partake in “prosocial” behavior — actions that are intended to help another person or society — compared with a control group. For example, after using a cell phone, study participants were more likely to turn down volunteer opportunities and were less persistent in completing word problems, even though they knew their answers would provide money for charity.

The same drop in prosocial tendencies occurred even when participants were simply asked draw a picture of their cell phones and think about using them.”

SPECIAL REPORT: Keeping cell phone in bra may lead to breast cancer KTVU News

The Perils of Texting While Parenting: (Wall Street Journal) Are too many parents distracted by mobile devices when they should be watching their kids? A recent rise in injuries, reversing the longstanding trend, has doctors worried that the answer is yes.

10/02/2012 Allan Frey Opinion: Cell Phone Health Risk? The Scientist “Security concerns during the Cold War may have led to the generation of misinformation on the physiological effects of microwave radiation from mobile phones….”

“…This suppression of research has now made hundreds of millions of people subjects in a grand experiment that may involve their health, without their informed consent, and the outcome of which can have substantial medical, legal, and economic consequences.”…

The author Allan H. Frey is one of the major pioneers in researching the health effects of exposure to low-energy microwave radiation. For a brief bio: http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/?page_id=594

9/27/2012  Olvera, Spain, is First Town to Become “Electromagnetic Pollution-Free” by Unanimous Approval of its City Council “The Councillor for the Environment, James Steward, has confirmed that the City Council of Olvera (population 8,585), in the province of Cadiz, Spain, has unanimously approved declaration of the town as an “Electromagnetic Pollution-Free Municipality”.  All political parties united to vote for ensuring a safe and healthy environment for the villagers.”

From The Ecologist: Is your smartphone damaging your health? Excerpts: ” Behind the profit-fuelled rise of smartphones and tablets, microwave pollution is a serious assault on health.

Known for their beauty, aspens have been in decline across North America, with some dramatic losses in recent years. Aware of the rapid growth of radiofrequency (RF) radiation, particularly from mobile-phone ‘towers’, Colorado researcher Katie Haggerty had an inspiration: she planted three test plots of aspen seedlings. Carefully matched in all other respects, one plot was shielded from a nearby town’s RF radiation, one was ‘mock’ shielded, and the other was left unprotected. The difference, recorded in the International Journal of Forestry Research, was startling: the fully shielded saplings were vigorous and healthy, but both the ‘mock’ shielded and the exposed plants were small, lacked pigments, and had sickly leaves.

Such studies are but whispers on the wind compared to the billion-pound clamour of marketing campaigns telling us: “You must have smartphones!” (Must we?) “You can’t live without them!” (Really?)

Across the Atlantic, Spanish biologist Alfonso Balmori of the Institute for the Environment (Consejería de Medio Ambiente) in Castilla y León was conducting a sensitive study of tadpoles. Sited 140m from a set of phone masts, those shielded from its radiation developed normally and in sync; but the unshielded tadpoles grew unevenly, and only 10% survived….”

5/04/2012  Electrical pollution: Are we being poisoned? Fueled in part by studies that show children exposed to heavy levels of electromagnetic fields have a greater chance of developing leukemia, several countries in the European Union have established strict safety thresholds – limits far below what’s commonplace in the United States. Houston KRIV TV, Texas.

3/1/2012 Knesset (Israel) backs bill requiring cell phones to bear health hazard warning  The labels will read ‘Warning – the Health Ministry cautions that heavy use and carrying the device next to the body may increase the risk of cancer, especially among children.’ A bill requiring all cellphones sold in Israel to bear a health-hazard warning label passed its first of three readings into law on Wednesday.

2/3/2012 Would you give your child the keys to the car or a shot of whiskey just because she really wanted it? Why iPads and iPhones are Not Kids’ Toys

1/23/2012 EMF Health damage from sick apartment Living with magnetic fields from bad wiring under the floor, swollen feet and ankles, rotting toe nails and gaping leg sores…

1/14/2012 Could Internet Addiction Disrupt Brain’s Connections? “A small Chinese study suggests that the brains of teenagers who are seemingly addicted to the Internet have abnormal “white matter,” the biological insulation that surrounds the wiring between neurons.”

12/14/2011  U.S. Safety Board Urges Cellphone Ban for Drivers

11/26/2011 Wifi computer study: significant decrease in progressive sperm motility and an increase in sperm DNA fragmentation.

11/19/2011 Dr Andrew Goldsworthy on WI-FI in Schools

Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners Used at U.S. Airports

11/08/2011  Japanese engineer calling for a life without electricity

11/3/2011  The Danish Cohort Study: The Politics and Economics of Bias

10/18/2011 Kids Absorb More Radiation From Cellphones Than Adults, Report Says

10/05/2011 Cellphone usage limits urged by Health Canada “Parents should encourage kids under 18 to limit the time they spend talking on cellphones, Health Canada said Tuesday in new advice on mobile phone usage.”

9/16/2011 ‘Wi-fi refugees’ shelter in West Virginia mountains

8/14/2011 Our addiction to technology trumps caffeine, chocolate and alcohol – latimes.com

8/1/2011 Prenatal Exposure to Weak Magnetic Fields Leads to Childhood Asthma First Prospective EMF Epidemiological Study Ever Done

7/25/2011 Protecting children from mobile radiation Kevin S O’Neill, Neurosurgeon

7/08/2011 Study downplaying cellphone risks funded by manufacturers OTTAWA – An international study which debunks research linking cellphones to cancer risks received major funding from wireless manufacturers.

7/03/2011 Wired but tired: is modern life draining your energy? The Ecologist

7/1/2011 EPIC has filed a lawsuit to suspend the deployment of body scanners at US airports

6/21/2011 Childhood autism spikes in geek heartlands

6/19/2011 Danger in the Air?

6/18/2011 Trouble with cell phone radiation standard

Women’s Health Alert It’s not just cell phones that cause cancer Nan Fuchs, PhD

Be Aware: These Cell Phones Can Emit 28 Times More Radiation

6/14/2011 Tests Prove Wireless Network Could Jam GPS Systems

6/5/2011 Cell phone study raises profile on safety lawsuits- Reuters

5/31/2011 Cellphone Radiation May Cause Cancer, Advisory Panel Says- NY Times.com

5/30/2011 Woozy from wifi? ‘Electrosensitive’ say modern life makes them ill Today Show

5/25/2011 Researchers Say New Studies Confirm Cell Phone Hazards, “Stunning proof” ignored in North America, scientists say– Consumer Affairs.com

5/23/2011 Cell Phone Towers: The 3 am Alarm Clock- Townsend Letter

5//20/2011 Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs The potential dangers of electromagnetic fields and their effect on the environment

From the summary: “While electrical and electromagnetic fields in certain frequency bands have fully beneficial effects which are applied in medicine, other non-ionising frequencies, be they sourced from extremely low frequencies, power lines or certain high frequency waves used in the fields of radar, telecommunications and mobile telephony, appear to have more or less potentially harmful, non-thermal, biological effects on plants, insects and animals, as well as the human body when exposed to levels that are below the official threshold values.”

5/10/2011 Cell Phone Radiation? Text, Don’t Talk, advises FCC– Forbes

4/18/2011 Chinese Put Cancer of the Parotid Gland Tumor on Center Stage
2/2011 JerusalemRadiation Effect Must be Checked before 4G System is OK’ed

“The Health and Environmental Protection ministries told the Communications Ministry on Sunday that they will oppose the expansion of cellular phone infrastructure to accommodate “fourth-generation”

(4G) devices, at least until any health effects from the radiation are examined in depth.”

The Flaw in Obama’s Wireless Plan (Business Week) “The bottom line: To harness broadband Internet for job creation and economic growth, Obama should stress fiber networks over wireless broadband.”

Oregon Considers Cell Phone Radiation Label

12/2010 Study links cellphones to child misbehavior

8/2010 New Book Release: Samuel Milham’sDirty Electricity: Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization

8/2010 Protect yourself from high tech pickpockets

7/23/2010 CTIA Sues to stop SF from posting cell phone radiation emissions

5/2010New Zealand Green Party- Warnings on Mobile Phones Needed “The Green Party is calling for health warnings on mobile phone packaging in the light of findings from the Interphone Study which shows extended use of mobile phones may increase the risk of brain tumours”

5/2010Ghana Bans Telecom Masts “The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) has banned the mounting of telecommunications masts in the country until further notice.”

5/2010 NY Times: Opponents of New Cellphone Towers try a Change in Tack

5/2010 Scientists work to keep hackers out of implanted medical devices“Researchers say it is possible for hackers to access and remotely control medical devices like insulin pumps, pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators, all of which emit wireless signals.” Science report http://www.secure-medicine.org/public/publications/icd-study.pdf

3/2010 Huffington Post The Little Red Schoolhouse is HOT “We are living, it seems, in a sea of invisible smog of electronic radiation called EMF. And the health risk to schoolchildren is getting worse. Why? Since 1997 and the passage of the Telecomunications Act, more and more cellular antennas have been placed in neighborhoods around the world to support an ever growing number of cell phone users.”

3/2010 The Man Who Was Allergic to Radio Waves Popular Science

1/23/2010 GQ Magazine February: “WARNING: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous To Your Health” online and on news stands now. The author of this article spent an entire year researching the subject.

12//11/09  Is Dirty Electricity Making You Sick? Prevention

11/18/09: Are Cell Phones, Grid the next cigarettes?

11/16/09: Complaints Grow about PGE Smart meters: PGE’s rollout  of smart meters has generated a flurry of complaints.. read more

*NEW* Coming Soon MOVIE! fullsignalmovie.com

10/09 FCC Chairman Addresses Wireless Industry The FCC Safety Standard is the benchmark the wireless industry uses to defend the safety of RF technology. Here is a talk by the new FCC Chairman who addresses the CTIA:http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-293891A1.pdf

Highlights we should be very concerned about:  “We at the FCC understand the many challenges operators face in standing up networks. We are ready to help you cut through red tape and overcome these hurdles.   On the issue of tower siting, we have heard your call. This issue is ripe for action. I have consulted with my fellow Commissioners, and in the near future we are going to move forward with a shot-clock proposal designed to speed the process, while taking into account the legitimate concerns of local authorities.