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EMFacts Blog

    • 02 MAY 17

    Admit it, mums and dads, you’re addicted

    Excerpt

    From the Canberra Times

    Admit it, mums and dads, you’re addicted

    Allison Pearson

    My name is Allison and I’m an addict. There, I’ve said it. If I’m honest, the symptoms have been evident for some time. Tell-tale irritability, even anger, if I couldn’t get my hands on my drug. It was the first thing I reached for when I woke up and the last before I fell asleep. Then, over the Easter weekend, things came to a head.

    Himself and I had gone to see A Quiet Passion, a film about the poet Emily Dickinson. I love Dickinson’s poetry so why wasn’t I enjoying the movie more? OK, Terence Davies isn’t a director to throw in a car chase when the camera can dwell lovingly on a begonia or a recently expired corpse. Scenes set in the Dickinson family’s parlour in Massachusetts were as solemn and airless as they would have been in 1880, although Cynthia Nixon gives a performance of furious incandescence as the thwarted poet. She wasn’t the only one who was frustrated. Around us in the cinema little windows of light started to open. People were checking their phones. I just about contained the urge to join them. SNIP…

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    • 30 APR 17

    Cell Phones Exceed Canada’s Radiation Exposure Limits – CBC Investigation

    Excerpt

    As Commonly Used, Cell Phones Exceed Canada’s Radiation Exposure Limits – CBC Investigation
    Canadians Await Government Action As Cancer Connections Strengthen

    March 31, 2017

    For Immediate Release

    Ottawa – A CBC investigation revealed that cell phones exceed maximum permitted exposures during normal use, and expose Canadians to three to four times more radiofrequency energy than measured during testing per regulations. Since 81% of Canadians are unaware of fine print warnings in the phone or manual, they naturally hold cell phones against ears and carry phones in pockets. Few people distance wireless devices from the body by at least 5 to 20 mm for phones and 20+ cm for tablets.

    In response to CBC, the federal government alleges that phones are still “safe” when exposure standards are exceeded….SNIP

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    • 29 APR 17

    Dariusz Leszczynski: Where science and big money collide…

    From the blog: Between a Rock and a Hard place

    April 28, 2017
    Excerpt

    Where science and big money collide, we enter a strange “twilight zone” of science politics, where various methods are applied to neutralize “inconvenient” science.

    One of the examples of such collision between science and big money is presented in, as always, a very good story from Louis Slesin: ‘Peer Review in the Raw’. From his long-time perspective as Editor of the ‘Microwave News’ Louis is showing, yet again, that science and politics in EMF are a “toxic mix” for science.

    The story of Henry Lai and N.P. Singh reminded me of my first publication in EMF arena.

    In 2002 my research group published article that made worldwide headlines: ‘Non-thermal activation of the hsp27/p38MAPK stress pathway by mobile phone radiation in human endothelial cells: molecular mechanism for cancer- and blood-brain barrier-related effects.’ by Leszczynski D, Joenväärä S, Reivinen J, Kuokka R; Differentiation. 2002 May; 70(2-3):120-9…. SNIP

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    • 28 APR 17

    Important reading: Peer Review in the Raw (Microwave News)

    From Louis Slesin, Microwave News

    This story was 20 years in the making.

    If you want to know what it has been like to do research on the potential health effects of cell phone radiation, please read this story. I hope it will change the way you think about the peer review process and the power of entrenched interests to manipulate what gets published in the scientific literature –and, ultimately, shape public opinion.

    This story should also help you understand how EMF/EMR research has come to be falsely portrayed as junk science. SNIP

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    • 27 APR 17

    Acoustic Neuroma and Cell Phone Use

    From Joel Moskowitz

    Excerpt

    Acoustic Neuroma and Cell Phone Use

    The Associated Press recently reported that two courts in Italy, including the Italian Supreme Court, have awarded compensation to individuals who suffered from acoustic neuroma from heavy cell phone use.
    SNIP

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    • 26 APR 17

    Are the floodgates opening: Another Italian brain tumour court win

    From the not so smart AI Google Translator:

    CORRIERE DELLA SERA

    Damage to cell phone use: Another sentence in Florence

    [Explore the meaning of the term: Inail condemned to compensate a worker suffering from neurons: he used the phone for 2-3 hours a day for 10 years. Testimony speaks of “high probability between cell phone use and sickness”] Inail condemned to compensate a worker suffering from neurone: he used the phone for 2-3 hours a day for 10 years. Expertise speaks of “high probability between cell phone use and malignant disease” … SNIP

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    • 26 APR 17

    Smart electricity meters on homes provide ample hacking opportunities, expert warns

    ABC News Australia

    Excerpt

    Smart electricity meters carry vulnerabilities that could assist burglars and compromise privacy, but Australian households are not being warned of the risks, a leading cyber-security expert has warned.

    Nigel Phair from the University of Canberra’s Centre for Internet Safety compiled a report on the risks of smart meters, which send data on a home’s utility use back to providers remotely rather than being read manually by an inspector.

    The report said some smart meters, mostly used for gas and water, only sent information one way and were safe.

    However, risks were particularly evident when a connection between the meter and provider sent information both ways – as is generally the case with smart electricity meters.

    “It can mean anything from malicious software being pushed to that device, and amongst a smart-connected house, pushed to other devices,” SNIP

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    • 23 APR 17

    Italian court rules mobile phone use caused brain tumour

    The Guardian
    Excerpt
    An Italian court has ruled that excessive, work-related use of a mobile phone caused an executive to develop a benign brain tumour.

    In what could become a landmark ruling, the court in the northern town of Ivrea awarded the plaintiff a state-funded pension.

    The judgment, which was handed own on 11 April but only made public on Thursday, is subject to a possible appeal.

    Roberto Romeo, 57, had testified that his work duties obliged him to use his mobile for three to four hours of each working day for 15 years. SNIP

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    • 19 APR 17

    Elon Musk: Robots will take your jobs, government will have to pay your wage

    According to Elon Musk, as a result of the loss of human jobs as a result of automation’ “people will have time to do other things, more complex things, more interesting things,” He added that these people will have “certainly more leisure time” and “will be sustained by payments from the government”. Well, just where will this money come from? Perhaps the robots will have to chip in and pay taxes? But robots don’t get wages so what then?

    Sorry but the numbers simply do not stack up….SNIP

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    • 19 APR 17

    The UK snap election: Theresa May’s anti-human hi-tech policy

    The UK’s unemployment statistics are about to get far worse with Theresa May’s high tech industrial policy (below). This policy promotes: (1) a nation-wide rollout of 5G which is necessary for the Internet of Things (IoT); (2) smart grids and smart meters; and (3) artificial intelligence/robotics. Putting aside the issues around 5G and the smart grid, the rise of the age of robots inherent in May’s policy stands to replace the jobs of millions of UK workers with robotics according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report found in part that: …SNIP

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    • 09 APR 17

    Australia’s NH&MRC accused of bias and misleading the public

    In the below press release from the Australian Hom”opathic Association, they make the allegation that the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC)has misled the public over the effectiveness of homeopathic medicine and has systematic conflicts of interest in its scientific evaluation. Well, if proven, that is nothing new. For example see Professor Martin Brian’s 1986 paper; Bias in awarding research grants, published in British Medical Journal…
    SNIP
    In the above light, perhaps the NH&MRC can be considered more of a “captured agency” firmly binded to government and industry policy, ignoring inconvenient evidence….

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    • 09 APR 17

    The RSI and Overuse Injury Association of ACT raises device concerns

    From the Canberra Times, April 8 2017

    Emily Baker

    Excerpt

    Increasing numbers of Canberra parents are reaching out for help with their child’s neck, back and arm pain as more schools implement “bring your own device” policies.

    The RSI and Overuse Injury Association of the ACT has raised concerns about how the use of iPads and laptops in classrooms could impact on mental and physical health.

    Association director Ann Thomson said more parents were getting in contact with the organisation for help addressing their teenagers’ injuries.

    “We’re concerned about the use of notebooks and iPads in schools because of the lack of adjustability and a separate keyboard and mouse, and also the fact that child is holding them with one hand while using them with the other, so that’s placing a lot of strain on the arms, neck and hands,” she said…..SNIP

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    • 06 APR 17

    Poster presentation on ElectroHyperSensitivity (Recommended)

    Mary Redmayne PhD has just sent in her digital poster presentation given at the 15th World Congress on Public Health.

    Mary Redmayne PhD, is from Monash University, Melbourne and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

    Titled: Past, present and future ElectroHyperSensitivity: History, definition and proposed diagnostic criteria.

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    • 06 APR 17

    Screenagers the movie: Growing up in the digital age

    Award-winning SCREENAGERS probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including the director’s own, and depicts messy struggles, over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through surprising insights from authors and brain scientists solutions emerge on how we can empower kids to best navigate the digital world…. I have been very concerned about this issue and as I’m a geneticist I’m very interested in the science behind it. The film is REMARKABLE: thoughtful, provocative and beautifully filmed and edited.” – Beth T., Geneticist at UCSF Children’s Hospital

    “Screenagers is a very balanced, sympathetic and sane look at the way millions of teens are struggling with phones and games and technology in general. In part by letting the teens themselves speak about their own concerns and solutions. Screenagers is deeply affecting, too.” SNIP

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    • 04 APR 17

    What Screen Time and Screen Media Do To Your Child’s Brain and Sensory Processing Ability March 28, 2017

    Excerpt

    It’s a scene we’re sure you’ve witnessed again and again:

    A family is sitting in a restaurant having dinner. The four year old is clearly fed up with sitting, and starts to complain, jump on her seat or run around. But a few moments later, she’s quietly in her seat again, enabling her parents and older siblings to enjoy a peaceful meal and conversation for the next 30 minutes.

    What happened?

    Her father handed her his iPhone.

    It’s a scene we see repeated in doctors’ waiting rooms, supermarkets, public transportation… and while we entirely understand it, it also saddens us.

    So many caring, well-meaning parents are unaware of the developmental damage caused to their children by exposure to screen time and screen media. SNIP………….

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    • 04 APR 17

    Internet of Things security: What happens when every device is smart and you don’t even know it?

    Excerpt:

    Billions more everyday items are set to be connected to the internet in the next few years, especially as chips get cheaper and cheaper to produce — and crucially, small enough to fit into even the smallest product.

    Potentially, any standard household item could become connected to the internet, even if there’s no reason for the manufacturers to do so.

    Eventually that processors needed to power an IoT device will become effectively free, making it possible to turn anything into a internet-enabled device…..

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    • 03 APR 17

    Swedish employees agree to free microchip implants designed for office work

    Excerpt

    ABC News, Australia
    By By Nick Grimm
    April 3, 2017

    Would you agree to have a microchip implanted in you by your workplace that could potentially monitor your toilet breaks and how many hours you worked?

    A Swedish firm in Stockholm – Epicenter – has offered to inject its staff with microchips for free, and around 150 of the company’s young workforce have so far taken up the offer.

    The RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips are roughly the size of a grain of rice, and are implanted using a syringe into the fleshy part of the recipient’s hand.
    SNIP

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    • 01 APR 17

    University Study Exposes Smart Meters Inflating Power Consumption Readings

    Excerpt

    University Study Exposes Smart Meters Inflating Power Consumption Readings
    Posted on March 31, 2017 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

    Smart meters overcharge consumers by up to 582% while at the same time collecting owner’s data which is then sold to third parties for further profit, according to the first major university study into the controversial technology.

    The University of Twente (UT) in the Netherlands, in collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) published the results of a major study into the nine most popular smart meters used in the United States and United Kingdom, with the conclusion that smart meters routinely overcharge consumers, often by staggering amount.

    “In the experiments (which were entirely reproducible), five of the nine smart meters gave readings that were much higher than the actual amount of power consumed. Indeed, in some setups, these were up to 582 percent higher.” SNIP

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    • 29 MAR 17

    Internet privacy to go under Trump

    Published in the Washington Post online

    Excerpt

    The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

    By Brian Fung March 28 at 5:58 PM

    The sharply partisan vote led by Republicans is a sweeping rebuke of Internet policies enacted under the Obama administration and marks a pivot toward allowing Internet providers to collect and sell their customers’ Web browsing history, location information, health data and other personal details. The measure now heads to the White House, where President Trump is expected to sign it. SNIP

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    • 28 MAR 17

    Cellphones, wifi and cancer: Will Trump’s budget cuts zap vital ‘electrosmog’ research?

    From Paul Mobbs writing in The Ecologist

    27th March 2017

    Excerpt

    Just as long term research into the health impacts of the ‘electrosmog’ created by wifi and mobile phones is yielding its first results, it’s at risk of sudden termination from President Trump’s budget cuts, writes Paul Mobbs. But the cuts have little to do with saving money – and a lot to do with protecting corporate profit and economic growth from harsh truths, including evidence that electrosmog causes cancer in laboratory rats, and maybe humans too.

    Amidst concern over President Trump’s emasculation of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and cuts to the USA’s climate research, other ground-breaking areas of environmental research are being ignored.

    For well-over a decade, at a cost of $25 million, a US National Toxicology Program study has been assessing the links between the use of mobile phones and rare, though increasing forms of cancer….SNIP

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