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EMFacts Blog

    • 11 JUL 16

    change.org’s petition on ABC’s removal of the Wi-fried Catalyst program

    From change.org:

    Stop Media Censorship by ABC – Unfair Attack on Catalyst and Producer Dr. Maryanne Demasi

    We, Australian citizens are appalled by the action taken by the ABC to retract the Catalyst episode that investigated potential health risks of wireless devices, titled “Wi-Fired?” and suspend the talented science journalist Dr. Maryanne Demasi.
    ABC’s Audience & Consumer Affairs report is bogus. It has distorted facts to unfairly condemn the Catalyst program. The report clearly reveals that it was the mobile and wireless industry that has put pressure on the ABC (Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, AMTA). Heavily industry-funded researcher University of Wollongong psychologist Prof. Rodney Croft and sociologist Prof. Simon Chapman also led a media campaign to unfairly discredit Dr. Demasi and this episode of Catalyst.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 10 JUL 16

    FCC under industry control now pushes for ubiquitous 5G coverage throughout America

    In May 2013 President Barack Obama, as “payback” appointed Tom Wheeler, an industry lobbyist and top campaign fundraiser and former leader of wireless- and cable-industry groups, to head the U.S. FCC. An example of Washington’s “revolving door” between government agencies and corporate America, Wheeler’s appointment was helped on by his fundraising investment on behalf on Obama’s re-election campaign. AS a result the FCC operates not as a regulator but essentially as a promotor of wireless technology free of regulatory limits. Currently we have the FCC pushing 5G for ubiquitous coverage throughout America. Read about the latest on the proposed 5G rollout from Katie Singer:

    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 06 JUL 16

    Science Censorship in Australia: The retraction of the ABC TV Catalyst “Wi-Fried?”

    Excerpt

    From the blog of Dariusz Leszczynski, Between a Rock and A Hard Place:

    Excerpt:

    As there are no perfect scientific studies, there are no perfect TV science programs. Every scientific study could be improved and every TV science program could be improved, too.

    The Australian ‘Catalyst’ program tackled the very controversial science dealing with the possible health effects of wi-fi and cell phones, in a provocatively entitled “Wi-Fried?”, broadcasted on February 16, 2016 by the ABC TV.

    Many of the viewers agreed with the opinions presented in the “Wi-Fried?” and many disagreed. Those who disagreed pressured the ABC TV to retract the “Wi-Fried?” and they succeeded. As of the July 5, 2016, by the decision of the Director of Television, Richard Finlayson, the program was retracted and is no longer available on the Catalyst’s website.

    While I personally do not agree with several statements made in the “Wi-Fried?” program, I think the retraction of the program and suspension of the journalist, Maryanne Demasi, are too harsh actions. It appears that the ABC TV was possibly “pressured” to act and “scapegoats” were to be found and “retracted and suspended”. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 06 JUL 16

    ABC bows to “vested interests” pressure and retracts the Catalyst WI-Fried program and suspends producer

    Excerpt

    Bowing to a barrage of criticism, the ABC has retracted the Wi-Fried program that aired in February 2016 on ABC TV Australia, i.e. it has been removed from the website and it is no longer available.

    ABC has issued a statement on the website here:
    http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4494933.htm

    On 16 February 2016, Catalyst aired ‘Wi-Fried?’, a program about the safety of wireless devices such as mobile phones.

    The ABC’s independent Audience & Consumer Affairs (A&CA) unit investigated complaints about the program and found that it breached the ABC’s impartiality standards by unduly favouring the unorthodox perspective that wireless devices and Wi-Fi pose significant health risks.

    Read more →
    • 03 JUL 16

    “5G” Rollout Worries Wi-Fi Health Advocates

    “5G” Rollout Worries Wi-Fi Health Advocates
    By Jack O’Dwyer

    Excerpt

    FCC chair Tom Wheeler is pushing for adoption of 5G Wi-Fi router technology July 14 which need millions of mini cell towers potentially in every home and every room.

    Alarmed health advocates say Wheeler has provided no time for public comments or hearings. He described 5G at the National Press Club June 20, saying it is “a national priority.” It was not mentioned on the FCC main page.

    Smartgridawareness.org says high-frequency 5G signals travel much faster but over shorter distances and cannot easily penetrate walls.

    “That means thousands–perhaps millions–of mini cell towers, or ‘small cells’ would be needed on top of every lamp post, every building, inside every home and potentially every room,” it said.

    June 20 was celebrated as the inaugural “World Wi-Fi Day.”

    5G Is New “Global Platform”

    It will be “a global platform to recognize and celebrate the significant role Wi-Fi is playing in getting cities and communities around the world connected,” said Wheeler. “It will champion exciting and innovative solutions to help bridge the digital divide, with Connected City initiatives and new service launches at its core.”

    Smartgridawareness says “The drive towards 5G could make smart meter emissions look like almost nothing in comparison. We have no idea what the health consequences of 5G might be like but yet no one in industry or government seems concerned about that, not even a little bit.” SNIP

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    • 14 JUN 16

    The WHO’s EHC for RF and the EC on endocrine-disrupting chemicals: will industry win the day?

    Dariusz Leszczynski reports in his blog Between a Rock and A Hard Place the current status of the WHO’s next Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) for telecommunications frequencies (RF/MW). This criteria, once written and ratified, will form the basis for RF/MW regulations for years to come – so for the Telco industry a lot is riding on the outcome. I recommend a read of Leszczynski’s WHO analysis then consider the scandal unfolding with the European Commissions criteria for identifying and regulating endocrine-disrupting chemicals – a huge concern for the chemical industry.

    Will industry influence rule the day for both?
    Read on….

    Read more →
    • 11 JUN 16

    Anti-Choice Groups Use Smartphone Surveillance to Target ‘Abortion-Minded Women’ During Clinic Visits

    May 25, 2016, 6:52pm
    Sharona Coutts

    Women who have visited almost any abortion clinic in the United States have seen anti-choice protesters outside, wielding placards and chanting abuse. A Boston advertiser’s technology, when deployed by anti-choice groups, allows those groups to send propaganda directly to a woman’s phone while she is in a clinic waiting room.

    Excerpts:

    Last year, an enterprising advertising executive based in Boston, Massachusetts, had an idea: Instead of using his sophisticated mobile surveillance techniques to figure out which consumers might be interested in buying shoes, cars, or any of the other products typically advertised online, what if he used the same technology to figure out which women were potentially contemplating abortion, and send them ads on behalf of anti-choice organizations? SNIP Flynn’s targeting of women seeking abortion presents a serious threat to the privacy and safety of women exercising their right to choose, as well as to abortion providers and their staff, a Rewire investigation has found. But due to weak and patchwork laws governing privacy and data collection in the United States, the conduct appears to be perfectly legal. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 09 JUN 16

    Technology is making us blind: The dangerous complacency of the iPhone era

    Following is an oldie (2014) but goodie from Salon.com which is quite relevant to recent postings on “A Brave New World”.
    Don

    *********************

    The rise of smartphones and social media has ushered in a new age of techno-optimism. And that’s a big problem
    Charles Howarth
    Nov 30, 2014

    Excerpt

    The technology pages of news media can make for scary reading these days. From new evidence of government surveillance to the personal data collection capabilities of new devices, to the latest leaks of personal information, we hear almost daily of new threats to personal privacy. It’s difficult to overstate the implications of this: The separation of the private and public that’s the cornerstone of liberal thought, not to mention the American Constitution, is being rapidly eroded, with potentially profound consequences for our freedom.

    As much as we may register a certain level of dismay at this, in practice, our reaction is often indifference. How many of us have taken to the streets in protest, started a petition, canvassed a politician, or even changed our relationship with our smartphone, tablet or smartwatch? The question is why are we so unconcerned?

    We could say that it’s simply a matter of habit, that we have become so used to using devices in such a way that we cannot imagine using them any differently. Or we could, for example, invoke a tragic fate in which we simply have no option but to accept the erosion of our privacy because of our powerlessness against corporations and governments.

    These are, however, retrospective justifications that miss the kernel of the truth. To reach this kernel, we have to excavate the substratum of culture to uncover the ideas that shape our relationship with technology. Only here can we see that the cause is a profound ideological shift in this relationship.
    READ ON….

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    • 06 JUN 16

    Elon Musk’s Brave New World: Become cyborgs or risk humans being turned into robots’ pets

    Elon Musk envisions a future “Brave New World” where, in order to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, future humans (those who can afford it that is) will have to have a “neural lace”, embedded within their brains, becoming cyborgs, or super humans, in order to keep pace with the technology. An interesting concept worthy of the best of SiFi writers but consider that such technology would not come cheap. No coverage through medical insurance, ensuring that only the elites of the world will be able to afford having a neural lace implanted within their brains.

    Essentially what Musk is envisioning is an Olympian super race – part human/part AI, essentially populated by only those who can afford it – the 1 % of the world’s population who now owns half the world’s wealth. As for all those who cannot afford joining the lofty Olympians with all their neural lace emplants, what future for them? A high-tech serfdom perhaps?
    Read on…,

    Read more →
    • 04 JUN 16

    The Pentagon’s Mad Scientists Are Working on Mind Control

    The Pentagon’s Mad Scientists Are Working on Mind Control
    Let’s go inside DARPA’s secretive world

    by MATTHEW GAULT

    The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has an incredible reputation for a group of super-scientists who create potentially world-ending weapons and technology.

    The Pentagon’s mad scientists helped create the Internet, GPS and stealth fighters. Now they’re working on self driving cars, artificial intelligence and brain-computer interfaces. If you’ve read about in a science-fiction novel, there’s a good chance DARPA it trying to do it.

    The powerful military organization operates behind a wall of secrecy and often the gulf between what it says it’s working on and what it’s actually working on is enormous. Today on War College, we sit down with author and journalist Annie Jacobsen to talk about her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book The Pentagon’s Brain.

    Jacobsen spent years researching DARPA, interviewing its scientists and digging through its histories. Not an easy task for an organization so intent on staying private. What she discovered is both exciting … and terrifying. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 03 JUN 16

    New paper: The WHO EMF Project: Legitimating the Imaginary of Global Harmonization of EMF Safety Standards

    NOTE: David Mercer, the author of this paper was my supervisor at Wollongong University for my thesis The Procrustean Approach.This is well worth a read!
    Don

    The WHO EMF Project: Legitimating the Imaginary of Global Harmonization of EMF Safety Standards
    DAVID MERCER
    UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG
    Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 2 (2016), 88-105

    Abstract (excerpt)

    An important topic for studies of STS and globalization are the ways “global” institutions create
    and attempt to implement health guidelines and safety standards to address risks associated with
    new technologies. In the following discussion this topic is examined through a case study of the
    activities of the World Health Organization’s Electric and Magnetic Field Project (WHO EMF
    Project). EMF exposures are associated with telecommunications and electrical infrastructure,
    most notably high voltage power-lines, radio and cell towers and the use of mobile telephones.
    The controversy over setting international safety standards and health guidelines has simmered
    for a number of decades. The mainstream “regulatory science” position has been that it is
    unlikely EMF’s constitute a significant health risk and therefore minimal regulatory intervention
    or significant precautionary considerations are required. A small but persistent stream of
    scientific studies nevertheless have continued to raise significant health concerns and have led to
    calls for regulators to build stronger precautionary approaches into EMF standards and
    guidelines. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 02 JUN 16

    Microwave News: One Type of Brain Tumor IS Going Up, the Deadliest Kind

    Excerpt

    Media on NTP Cancer Study: It’s Hype
    One Type of Brain Tumor IS Going Up, the Deadliest Kind

    Senior managers at the National Toxicology Program (NTP) released the preliminary results of their cell phone radiation study late last week. They were so concerned about the elevated rates of two types of cancer among exposed rats that they felt an immediate public alert was warranted. They considered it unwise to wait for the results to wend their way into a journal sometime next year. Not surprisingly, the NTP report generated worldwide media attention….The New York Times gave the NTP report zero credibility, arguing it can’t mean much because brain tumor rates are not going up. Actually, however, the deadliest and most virulent type of brain tumor, GBMs, is increasing. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 01 JUN 16

    Telstra takes over Australia’s new National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR)

    In its 2004 Annual Report, Australia’s Telstra corporation stated, under the heading “Risk factors”, that “the establishment of a link between adverse health effects and electromagnetic energy (EME) could expose us to liability or negatively affect our operations”. This concern is understandable for Telstra – for if a clear trend emerges in cancer statistics that there may be a connection between telecommunications technology and cancer, such as brain cancers from mobile phone use, it would be bad news indeed for Telstra.

    Could this be a factor in Telstra going after control of Australia’s new National Cancer Screening Register, which the government has said “will ensure Australia remained a world-leader in cancer research, prevention and treatment”.

    Will we see the register later enlarged to include brain cancers as well? If this were to be the case then it is not inconceivable that ‘inconvenient’ cancer data could be easily and quietly ‘massaged’ or hidden for the benefit of Telstra’s corporate interests.

    Of course Telstra would never do such a thing would they? LOL!

    The other BIG question is why has the government selected Telstra over far more experienced organizations to take control over the NCSR?

    It will be interesting just who Telstra selects to run the NCSR….the usual suspects perhaps? READ ON.

    Read more →
    • 01 JUN 16

    Advisors to the International EMF Scientist Appeal call for a precautionary approach in light of the NTP study

    Statement on the U.S. National Toxicology Program that reports cell phones cause cancer by the Advisors to the International EMF Scientist Appeal

    This $25 million study, executed by the U.S. government, provides support for what we are stating in the ‘International EMF Scientist Appeal’, that a precautionary approach should be exercised and lower electromagnetic field exposure guidelines should be set.

    Visit the home page of the International EMF Scientist Appeal here.

    Read more →
    • 30 MAY 16

    Views on the NTP cell phone cancer study

    Understandably the recently released NTP study has generated many opinions (some expert and some far from it) on what the study means for mobile phone users. The official audio download from Friday’s teleconference is now available online and in addition the NTP now has a new webpage titled “Cell Phones”

    (the 74-page report of partial findings and the same audio are also linked at the bottom of it)

    Following are some of the articles on the study. Please take special note at the last entry below, from the Australian Science Media Centre’s (AusSMC) SIMEX blog posting which quotes Dr Rodney Croft’s expert analysis of the NTP study. Dr. Croft has this amazing gift of being able to take a complex issue, such as the NTP study and simply boil it down to a brief reassuring statement for the media to unquestionably digest and regurgitate in their news stories.

    Never mind the science such as the IARC classification of “mobile phone-like exposure” as a possible human carcinogen which is backed up by Professor Bruce Armstrong’s statement in the same SIMEX blog, immediately above Croft’s, that “This report supports the IARC monograph’s conclusion that RF is possibly carcinogenic to humans”. – Rodney simply and predictably avoids this and concludes that “the NTP report does not provide reason to move from the current scientific consensus that mobile phone-like exposure does not impact health.”

    Just who’s scientific consensus does he follow?

    Read more →
    • 26 MAY 16

    Cell Phone Radiation Boosts Cancer Rates in Animals

    From Microwave News

    U.S. Government Expected To Advise Public of Tumor Risk
    The cell phone cancer controversy will never be the same again.

    The U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) is expected to issue a public announcement that cell phone radiation presents a cancer risk for humans. The move comes soon after its recently completed study showed statistically significant increases in cancer among rats that had been exposed to GSM or CDMA signals for two-years.

    Discussions are currently underway among federal agencies on how to inform the public about the new findings. NTP senior managers believe that these results should be released as soon as possible because just about everyone is exposed to wireless radiation all the time and therefore everyone is potentially at risk.
    To read our exclusive story, click here.

    Read more →
    • 22 MAY 16

    Stop Untested Microwave Radiation of Children’s Brains and Eyes EHT Scientists Urge Google

    Excerpt

    From the Environmental Health Trust

    Excerpt

    Scientific imaging shows how children absorb radiation from Smartphones in Virtual reality cardboard positions.

    Environmental Health Trust (EHT) scientists are calling on Google to stop the spread into schools of wireless virtual reality system Global Expeditions Pioneer Program where middle-school children hold a cell phone encased in a cardboard box in front of their eyes to take virtual expeditions to Mars, the moon, and other special places.

    “Two-way microwave radiation transceivers, in the form of Smartphones, should not be used directly in front of children’s eyes and brains,” cautions University of Utah Distinguished Prof. Om Gandhi, who is one of the original developers of testing to evaluate wireless radiation from cellphones and is a Senior Advisor to EHT.

    Prof. Gandhi added, “We have never tested microwave radiating devices directly in front of the young developing eye. The absence of proof of harm at this point does not mean that we have evidence of safety.”
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 21 MAY 16

    Cindy Sage, the Bioinitiative reports co-editor on smart phone virtual shopping

    From Cindy Sage. A letter sent to the New York Times:

    Dear New York Times people,

    I have received your gift of a Google Cardboard viewer thanking me for being a loyal subscriber to the Times.

    What a hilarious debacle in the name of ‘gifting’ and thanking your customers. I read and respect the NY Times, but this is a real mistake in judgment.

    What you didn’t tell me is that this is a distinct health hazard to the very loyal subscribers like myself whom you are trying to thank with this gift. This would not be approvable under any Institutional Review Board as a scientific experiment on humans, without informed consent from them for exposing them to a classified Possible Human Carcinogen (WHO IARC Group 2B). No IRB would or could approve it.

    Putting a cell phone at your forehead is ridiculously risky. Where are the health warnings?

    Please see www.bioinitiative.org or any of the other 1000 or so scientific studies
    on the risks of cell phone radiation.

    Thanks but no thanks. Looking for the quick demise of this ill-conceived customer relations program.

    Cindy Sage, MA
    Sage Associates
    Co-Editor, BioInitiative Reports

    Read more →
    • 20 MAY 16

    Ebay / Myer’s new virtual reality shopping store ignores possible eye damage to the user

    In a world’s first partnership between Ebay and Myer’s department store a virtual reality shopping mall now allows the user to access to thousands of items simply by downloading the eBay Virtual Reality Department Store app on their smart phone. What is also required is a foldout smart phone holder headset (called SHOPTICALS) for your phone which allows you to place the phone immediately in front of your eyes and start shopping.

    As clearly seen, this places the smart phone about 2 inches from the user’s eyes, which will be exposing the eyes to the phone’s light and microwave emissions when using the headset. This should be of concern to both Ebay and Myer, not only because it might harm their customers but also because of the existing evidence (below) that their technology poses a possible risk of eye damage to the user. If this turns out to be the case it exposes these corporations to a class-action litigation risk.

    It is a disgrace that so many of the myriad of new devices being marketed are developed and sold without the slightest consideration of possible long term harm other than thermal (see last message).

    Read on…..

    Read more →
    • 19 MAY 16

    EMR Aware Newsletter now available online

    From the folks at the EMR Aware Newsletter

    Excerpt

    May – June 2016

    This free occasional newsletter is published by EMR Aware, a group of concerned citizens based in Northern NSW Australia. It is intended to help provide up-to-date information on the health, environmental and social impacts of modern electro-technologies. This is done in the pubic interest to assist a fair and balanced discussion of the topics at hand. Particular attention is given to content that may not otherwise be made available or openly acknowledged by industry and their government regulators.

    We invite readers to consider the scientific evidence and trending opinion on this page and throughout prior editions of our newsletter. There seems little doubt a tobacco-style cover-up of the adverse effects of EMR is underway by those reliant upon its profitability or surveillance potential. You can help reddress this situation by forwarding the link to this web page to as many interested persons and organisations as possible. Anyone wishing to receive our newsletter regularly do so by sending an email with the word “subscribe”. Thank you for visiting.

    – See more at: http://www.emraware.com/newsletter_may_june_2016.html#sthash.PUlaFh1V.dpuf

    Read more →