logo

EMFacts Blog

    • 17 MAY 16

    Will Massey University’s research on the potential health impacts of 5G devices be limited to thermal effects only?

    Excerpt
    Note: It appears that the below research effort may be limited to investigating thermal effects only and not other effects below the existing RF thermal limits (ICNIRP, etc). It is concerning that lead investigator, Dr Hasan from the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology at Massey mentions that 5G technology may bring us dangerously close to exceeding the pre-defined (thermal effects only)limits and so the study findings will be compared against the existing thresholds that have been set aside by a number of regulatory bodies. In other words, if their measurements of these devices conform to ICNIRP thermal limits all is well.

    If this be the case this whole blinkered research effort will fail to give any answers to the question of possible biological hazards of 5G technology other than an assurance that at lease the devices will not cook you……
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 14 MAY 16

    Joel Moskowitz comments in Medscape on Simon Chapman’s study.

    Joel’s comments: This study seems designed to serve as propaganda for the public debate about whether cell phone radiation is a cancer risk factor. The study’s lead author, Simon Chapman, published an opinion piece online (see below) in which he accused Devra Davis of being an “alarmist” for her position in this debate.

    Yesterday, Medscape, a website that “offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other health professionals the Web’s most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools,” published a story about the study. The article cited Simon Chapman and John Boice, Jr. who supported the study’s conclusions, and Lennart Hardell who raised concerns. Since I have concerns about the study and do not believe the Medscape article was balanced, I sent Medscape my comments. See the Medscape article which appears below along with my comments in red. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 11 MAY 16

    ICNIRP’s meeting at Capetown, South Africa

    Excerpt

    Press release issued by the Electromagnetic Radiation Research Foundation of South Africa.
    https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mobilfunk_newsletter/0VYr4Y1ScS8
    As the world’s radiation protection agency meets in Cape Town, scientists call for the retraction of a study from a top industry researcher claiming that children are not at higher risk from mobile phones

    May 9, 2016

    The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) is a self-appointed body that sets the safety guidelines used by the World Health Organisation to cover all radiation from electrical and electronic apparatus, including power lines, smartphones, wifi, and telecoms masts.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 10 MAY 16

    Dariusz Leszczynski on Simon Chapman’s mobile phone ‘all-clear study.

    Excerpt

    From Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog Between A Rock and A Hard Place.

    May 10, 2016
    EXCERPT

    Professor Simon Chapman responds…
    Gallery
    Posted on May 10, 2016

    Recent epidemiological study from Australia, on cell phones and brain cancer, made headline news: Chapman S, Azizi L, Luo Q, Sitas F. Has the incidence of brain cancer risen in Australia since the introduction of mobile phones 29 years ago? Cancer Epidemiology, 2016 May 4.

    Reason for this global interest is simple, the authors claim to have proven that cell phones do not cause brain cancer and the issue should be put to rest. The study analyzed the 29 year history of cell phone use in Australia and compared it with the numbers of brain cancer reported to cancer registry.

    However, I think the authors greatly overstated significance of their results leading to misinformation of the readers and the general public at large. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 08 MAY 16

    Commentaries: Prof Simon Chapman finds no link between mobile phone use and brain cancer. Good epidemiology or spin?

    This post is about Simon Chapman’s recent epidemiological study which did not find any link between mobile phone use and the incidence of brain cancer. Also are comments on this study by Lloyd Morgan and Katherine Smith.

    Read more →
    • 06 MAY 16

    Latest info on ICNIRP and BEMS from Dariusz Lesczcynski

    Note that I have had knee surgery three weeks ago and and now in rehab – learning how to walk again! For that reason I will be largely silent for some weeks.

    However, please see Lesczcynski’s recent postings on ICNIRP and BEMS on his “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” blog . Well worth a read!

    Posts:

    *Somewhat “happy” ending to the election scandal at BEMS
    *What next, after the election scandal at BEMS?
    *Election scandal at BEMS – election by-laws were violated
    *Election scandal at the Bioelectromagnetics Society
    *Is ICNIRP reliable enough to dictate meaning of science to the governmental risk regulators?
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 12 APR 16

    Endocrine disruptors’ link to infertility confirmed (but what is more important?)

    The emerging danger to future human generations from our exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals which are found in plastics is becoming a major concern in the US and Europe. For example in 2009 ,testing in the US found more than 200 Chemicals in newborn umbilical cord blood. In Sweden in the 1990’s Research supported by the Karolinska Institute found that since 1972 there have been significant annual increases of brominated flame retardants (related to PCBs) in human breast milk.

    Despite the clear scientific evidence that endocrine disruptors pose a substantial risk to public health, the European Commission has refrained from introducing firm measures that would finally limit their use. This is a result of the continuing campaign of maintaining scientific uncertainty from the European chemical/plastics industry sector who argue that it is unscientific to legislate any precautions without first having absolute scientific certainty that harm exists.(Sound familiar?). This viewpoint is clearly seen in the concluding sentence of the following article from Euractive.com.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 09 APR 16

    Science for Sale: US Senators seek better conflict disclosures for scientific articles

    Excerpt

    From the Center for Public Integrity

    March 31, 2016

    Excerpt

    Citing a recent Center investigation, lawmakers express ‘growing concerns about objectivity’ of research in a letter to the National Institutes of Health

    Citing the Center for Public Integrity’s recent “Science for Sale” series, a group of U.S. senators has asked the National Institutes of Health to make it easier to tell who funds research published in scientific journals.

    Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, on Wednesday released a letter sent to NIH Director Francis Collins asking that the National Library of Medicine make changes to its public database of 25 million journal articles, called PubMed, to reveal conflicts of interest in research.

    “With industry now employing more scientists than nonprofits, universities and the government combined, and industry funding the research of many independent researchers, there are growing concerns about objectivity in numerous scientific disciplines – including nutrition science and research on health risk from chemicals,” the letter said.

    The letter also cited a New York Times story about Coca-Cola Co. quietly funding academic researchers who blamed lack of exercise, rather than soft drinks and fast food, for the epidemic of obesity and diabetics.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 09 APR 16

    More on ICNIRP from Dariusz Lesczcynski

    As written by DL on Between A Rock and A Hard Place on April 8, 2016

    Is ICNIRP reliable enough to dictate meaning of science to the governmental risk regulators?

    Excerpt

    This post is a follow up to my posts published on April 4 and April 5.

    *****

    In my two last blog posts, last two blog posts ‘ICNIRP did it again…’ and ‘Mike Repacholi responds to ICNIRP did it again…’, I presented several reasons why the current modus operandi of ICNIRP is prone to provide unreliable and skewed evaluation of the scientific evidence on EMF and health.

    I was strongly opposed by Mike Repacholi, Chairman Emeritus of the ICNIRP, scientist who is responsible for the “birth” of this organization.

    In my opinion the major problems of ICNIRP are: SNIP

    Read more →
    • 06 APR 16

    Mike Repacholi responds to “ICNIRP did it again…” (recommended reading!)

    My comment to the below blog from Dariusz Lesczcynski:

    Mike Repacholi’s response to Dariusz Lesczcynski’s blog posting on ICNIRP is clear evidence of the international influence that Dariusz’s blog is having. Repacholi does not like criticism of the creature (ICNIRP) he created in order to maintain the disingenuous paradigm that the only hazardous biological effect of radiofrequency/microwave EMR is thermal. I note that Repacholi states that “ICNIRP Main Commission members are selected for their scientific integrity, no industry conflict of interest, range of expertise to cover all scientific disciplines to review EMF research, as well as excellent and reliable scientific publications themselves.” The current commission members are here: http://www.icnirp.org/en/activities/news/news-article/membership-2016-2020.html

    Repacholi’s definition of “scientific integrity” means a firm adherence to ICNIRP’s orthodoxy as well as a viewpoint that all the claimed health effects of exposure are psychosomatic, a chant which ICNIRP Main Commission member Rodney Croft knows all too well. As for “no industry conflict of interest”, perhaps Repacholi hopes that if he repeats that falsehood often enough it somehow transmogrifies into being true.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 02 APR 16

    The Mullumbimby Steiner School on EMR safety

    Excerpt

    From the newsletter of the Shearwater Mullumbimby Steiner School, located in New South Wales, Australia.

    EMR Safety

    WIRELESS RADIATION EXPERT and health researcher Priyanka Bandara, Advisor to the Environmental Health Trust USA and Doctors for Safer Schools, visited Shearwater last week for a series of presentations, to High School students, staff and the wider community, on the documented health effects associated with prolonged exposure to wireless radiation, emitted by devices such as mobile phones, Wi-Fi enabled computers and wireless routers.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 29 MAR 16

    Smart Meter Fires: Burning meters, burning questions, shocking answers (video)

    Excerpt
    Excerpt:
    This new video from Brian Thiesen is quite literally explosive information which every homeowner needs to know.

    So-called “smart” meters have caused thousands of fires and explosions – such as this fire on Wednesday in Ontario. But corrupt politics and money have swept the whole thing under the rug.

    Brian explains how and why this is all occurring, including reams of evidence and court documents. This is exactly what your utility does not want you to see. Watch now:
    Video topics include:
    Court documents,
    Whistleblower evidence,
    High voltage surges (the removal of the surge arrestors designed to protect your home),
    Lower voltage surges,
    Thinner blades on “smart” meters,
    Remote disconnect issues,
    Bad installations, and
    Installing under load
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 21 MAR 16

    The Sydney Morning Herald on smart phone addiction

    Excerpt
    Smartphones are ruling our lives and killing our imaginations

    March 18, 2016
    Kim Arlington

    Excerpt

    It wasn’t too long ago that smartphones were a novelty, something the ardent tech-heads would queue up in the street to buy. But now we must go to the ends of the earth to escape them.

    When Suzie Blackwell hiked through the mountains of Patagonia, she stayed at a camp with no Wi-Fi. “It was really noticeable how friendly people were,” she says. “Everyone was very open and approachable, and really engaged when you sat down and talked.”

    Blackwell, who uses a work mobile as well as her own smartphone at home in Sydney, found it liberating. With no prospect of connecting to the internet, people made personal connections the priority.

    Since Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, smartphones have saturated society. More than 80 per cent of Australians have one; only 4 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds don’t.
    Advertisement

    We use them to email, take photos, check social media, listen to music, surf the internet, find directions, watch movies. We even use our smartphones to use our smartphones less, installing apps that monitor and limit our activity….. The pressure to be constantly available and responsive on social media can cause depression, anxiety and decrease sleep quality for teenagers, according to University of Glasgow researchers.

    It’s not just teens feeling that way. Thirty per cent of those surveyed for the latest EY Digital Australia: State of the Nation report said their smartphone or tablet negatively affected their sleep or stress. Thirty-one per cent felt “addicted” to their device – a figure that rose to 46 per cent among 18 to 34-year-olds. They are a major contributor to the breakdown of the work/life divide; one study found working from smartphones and tablets adds two hours to the average working day.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 21 MAR 16

    ABC’s The Weekly on smart phone addiction.

    The ABC’s The Weekly satirical news program has done a segment on smart phone addiction. This is well worth a look. It starts about halfway in the program.

    Link
    http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/weekly-with-charlie-pickering/LE1509V007S00#playing

    Read more →
    • 19 MAR 16

    A Brave New World Part III: Google’s Surveillance Capitalism

    Excerpy
    The Secrets of Surveillance Capitalism

    Governmental control is nothing compared to what Google is up to. The company is creating a wholly new genus of capitalism, a systemic coherent new logic of accumulation we should call surveillance capitalism. Is there nothing we can do?
    Google surpassed Apple as the world’s most highly valued company in January for the first time since 2010. (Back then each company was worth less than 200 billion. Now each is valued at well over 500 billion.) WhileGoogle’s new lead lasted only a few days, the company’s success has implications for everyone who lives within the reach of the Internet. Why? Because Google is ground zero for a wholly new subspecies of capitalism in which profits derive from the unilateral surveillance and modification of human behavior. This is a new surveillance capitalism that is unimaginable outside the inscrutable high velocity circuits of Google’s digital universe, whose signature feature is the Internet and its successors. While the world is riveted by the showdown between Apple and the FBI, the real truth is that the surveillance capabilities being developed by surveillance capitalists are the envy of every state security agency. What are the secrets of this new capitalism, how do they produce such staggering wealth, and how can we protect ourselves from its invasive power?
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 18 MAR 16

    A Brave New World Part II: Wi-Fi Aware

    Excerpt

    WI-Fi Aware, sounds like an activist group but far from it. It is essentially a concept of social engineering where the corporations designing and building the Internet of Things (IoT) are creating a social order where humans will be totally immersed in a microwave saturated virtual IoT matrix, unable to function outside of it and perhaps with everyone implanted with a RFID chip to always stay connected, even without a smart phone. As Google has said, people who attempt to opt-out will be viewed with suspicion and will need “special attention”.

    But at least we will have all these wonderful toys to play with, at least to the IoT becomes self aware…. Interesting reading here is from the IT tech online magazine: Information Age: Insight and analysis for IT leaders The autonomous Internet of Things: how the IoT will become context-aware and self-sufficient….. Wi-Fi Aware, sometimes shortened to just Aware, is the culmination of a lot of research and development by some of the biggest companies around the world. We’re talking Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Cisco, and all the other participating members of the Wi-Fi Alliance….. It’s a refined example of the Internet of Things, an idea that describes a network of interconnected devices where all the devices are constantly sending information back and forth without any human involvement.
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 15 MAR 16

    A rapid smart meter rollout in NSW and the Greens support it!

    Excerpt:
    I was forwarded a letter today from New South Wales energy provider AGL announcing a digital meter (smart) roll-out to all its customers. AGL has given less than two weeks notice for people to respond if they do not want a smart meter upgrade.
    Quoting from the AGL brochure:

    “The technology in your electricity meter is over 100 years old. So it’s time for an upgrade. That’s why we’re replacing your old meter with a new digital electricity meter.”

    “AGL is upgrading your electricity meter free of charge. Then, you will no longer need to worry about manual meter reads or estimated bills.”

    “If you would prefer not to be upgraded, simply call us on 1300 669 245 any time before 21 March or visit agl.com.au/upgrade”

    Interestingly the website mentioned on the brochure is incorrect. SNIP

    Read more →
    • 14 MAR 16

    A Brave New World: The Internet of Things (IoT)

    In Aldous Huxley’s classic 1931 SciFi novel Brave New World he envisions a dystopian society where human life has been almost entirely industrialized – controlled by a few people at the top of a World State. A future where human beings are socially conditioned (or programmed) according to the society’s strict caste system, an antiseptic and dehumanized society.

    And now consider another brave new world as envisioned by Google’s Eric Schmidt(1) and Jared Cohen (2) in The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business

    (1) executive chairman of Google
    (2) director of Google Ideas
    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 11 MAR 16

    Amateurish radiation protection

    This posting is not about the Australian Radiation Protection & Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) nor the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (ACEBR) but it could well be considering the consistent spin inherent in their information and advice…..
    Don

    The following is from Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog; Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

    Säteilyturvakeskus (STUK) in Finland: Amateurish radiation protection

    Excerpt:

    In the past, on several occasions, I wrote about the amateurish conduct of STUK experts, those responsible for protecting Finns from the dangers of radiation, any radiation. Links to these posts are here:

    STUK in Finland: How trustworthy is information on smart phones and… nuclear power plants…
    August 10, 2015 – Finland’s STUK is hiding important radiation exposure information from the general public, the Government and the Parliament. What else is being hidden by the arbitrary decisions of STUK staff? How comprehensive and trustworthy is the information we, the general public, … SNIP

    Untruthful statement from Director General of Finland’s STUK: Scientific arrogance or incompetence?
    April 20, 2015 – On June 18, 2014, was posted BRHP blog “STUK in Finland misinforms the Government, Parliamentarians and the general public”. In this posts I criticized STUK for providing false information on radiation exposures caused by the ‘smart’ phones: “The experts form … SNIP
    STUK in Finland misinforms the Government, Parliamentarians and the general public

    SNIP

    Read more →
    • 10 MAR 16

    The Swedish No-Risk project (new link on my home page)

    Excerpts
    During the mid 1990s while I was doing research for the Australian Democrats Senator Robert Bell I was communicating with researchers from Swedish Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry (SiF). They were investigating a range of health hazards being found in modern IT office-places and were looking for international partnerships with other trade unions who were interested in this issue. Fortunately they sent me a number of English-language SiF publications on their “No-Risk in the IT environment” project which are now available on my website.

    Background

    During the 1990’s the Swedish Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry (SiF) instigated research into reports of ill-health from workers in the modern information technology (IT) workplace. The research team at SiF were concerned that the modern IT workplace may be creating new and serious risks to health, as a result SiF initiated the No-Risk project which aimed at addressing possible health hazards in the modern office-place. In 1999 SiF initiated the “Healthy Office project” in partnership with the Luleå University of Technology (LTU). However due to corporate and government concerns that the SiF No-Risk and the Healthy Office projects were a threat to the introduction of new technology, the projects were totally closed down with people sacked and all publications withdrawn from circulation and destroyed. For all intents and purposes the SiF No Risk /Healthy Office projects were as if they never happened – replaced a new trade union focus on “psycho-social” issues. Meaning: If you get sick in the workplace and its not an obvious illness such as the flu, you just might be suffering from a psychosomatic illness.

    SNIP

    Read more →