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EMFacts Blog

    • 30 APR 14

    Wireless technology: The dark side of convenience

    From Olle Johansson

    Excerpt

    Fri. Apr. 18, 2014 by Ron Gordon

    Wireless Technology Warnings(NaturalHealth365) The ancient Romans became sickened by seemingly safe lead pipes bringing drinking water. Today, the story repeats with wireless. Something new is in the air. You can’t see it, hear it, smell it or feel it, but the cells in your body can. It’s called wireless technology. Are we slowly cooking humanity to death? Wireless fills the air around us with an invisible electrosmog of microwave radiation used for communication by devices like cell phones, mobile computers, and smart (utility) meters. The wireless age has revolutionized the way we live our lives – with smartphones tapping into our ancient human need to communicate and belong. Many of us have willingly succumbed to the addiction of these modern conveniences handed to us by government and industry… but how many of us have stopped to ask: is this safe? How does this stuff really work? Are we so desperately attached to our mobile devices that we no longer care to know the truth? Behind the lure of convenience there is something industry would rather we not know: people are getting sick from wireless; there is a trail of ignored studies going back to WW2 showing stark dangers; our industry skewed safety ‘guidelines’ are obsolete and largely deceptive; and there is no proof that this technology is safe.
    SNIP

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    • 30 APR 14

    Even wi-fi baby monitors can be hacked

    Mother Heather Schreck said she only discovered an intruder had hacked into her baby monitor when she was awoken in the middle of night by the sound of a voice. “I was just absolutely shocked to see that somebody could get into my house so easily,” she said. Picking up her mobile phone, which was streaming the baby monitor, she noticed the images were moving erratically as if someone was changing the viewing position of the camera. “About the time I saw it moving, I also heard a voice again start screaming at my daughter. He was screaming ‘wake up baby, wake up baby’,” Ms Schreck said. Her partner, Adam Schreck, said he was deeply disturbed by the discovery. “You kind of do feel violated in a way,” he said.

    SNIP

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    • 29 APR 14

    BioInitiative Working Group exposes SCENIHR process irregularities

    The BioInitiative Working Group has reviewed the Preliminary Opinion on Potential Health Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) dated November 29, 2013. We have submitted detailed comments and suggested revisions. We hope these suggested revisions will be incorporated in the Final Opinion.

    Further, we are aware that one of our BioInitiative Working Group members, Dr. Kjell Hansson Mild, is also a member of the SCENIHR Advisory Group. It has come to our attention that Dr. Mild’s name has been used by you to give the impression that the process has been balanced and transparent, and that his participation is legitimizing the opinions expressed within that preliminary Opinion.

    In fact, Dr. Hansson Mild has substantial disagreement with the process to date. He has told the Committee (Dr. Schuz in particular) that several key papers on which he is co-author have been systematically disregarded. These papers were within the timeframe for review, and are relevant. They provide evidence that the link between mobile phone use and glioma and acoustic neuroma are strengthened, not weakened as the preliminary Opinion concludes. That conclusion is possible only by excluding key evidence, and Dr. Hansson Mild has brought this to the attention of the Committee. We hope you will look into this matter, and provide counsel to the Committee to make this situation right.

    SNIP

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    • 24 APR 14

    Microwave News on the Canadian Conflict of Interest Follies

    As Dariusz Leszczynski pointed out in the previous post, the telcos are getting desperate. This is also seen with the Royal Society of Canada’s RF panel. Read on….

    Don

    From Louis Slesin, Editor, Microwave News:

    Earlier this month, a panel of the Royal Society of Canada released a report on Health Canada’s proposal to revise its RF exposure limits. The original chairman of the RSC panel, Daniel Krewski of the University of Ottawa, resigned last summer in the midst of a controversy over his and other panel members’ possible conflicts of interest. We looked into what happened. One lesson to be drawn is that when it comes to such conflicts, anything goes except non-disclosure.

    Read our new story at:
    http://microwavenews.com/news-center/rsc-sc6

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    • 23 APR 14

    Is the telecom industry so desperate that it calls for desperate measures?

    From Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog, Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    Excerpt

    In my previous blog I criticized ‘Letter to the Editor’ published in Bioelectromagnetics journal. In it the authors bluntly attacked the IARC Working Group experts for their incompetence. Significantly, one of the co-authors of this ‘Letter to the Editor’ is Dr. Mike Repacholi, former Head of the WHO EMF Project and Chairman Emeritus of the ICNIRP.

    Somewhat simultaneously, with the publication in Bioelectromagnetics, was published in ‘The Indian Express’ an interview with Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. The title of this interview-story is “No link between mobile phone radiation and cancer, says Padma awardee doctor“.

    In this interview Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee calls for an unprecedented action by IARC – to remove cell phone radiation from the list of human carcinogens. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is not calling for new review of the scientific evidence, he is bluntly calling to trash the work of IARC Working Group. It is again, as in Bioelectromagnetics journal but this time in daily news journal, calling the IARC selected experts – incompetent.

    SNIP

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    • 22 APR 14

    Recommended viewing: Neurosurgeon Charlie Teo on brain tumours and smart phone use

    From Aaron Leibovich

    Please see Dr. Charlie Teo this morning on Today show channel 9

    April 21, 2014: Neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo is on a mission to lower the number of children who die of brain cancer every year and improve treatments.

    http://today.ninemsn.com.au/videoindex.aspx?uuid=3489243856001

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    • 21 APR 14

    Infants ‘unable to use toy building blocks’ due to iPad addiction

    Rising numbers of infants lack the motor skills needed to play with building blocks because of an “addiction” to tablet computers and smartphones, according to teachers. Many children aged just three or four can “swipe a screen” but have little or no dexterity in their fingers after spending hours glued to iPads, it was claimed. Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers also warned how some older children were unable to complete traditional pen and paper exams because their memory had been eroded by overexposure to screen-based technology.They called on parents to crackdown on tablet computer use and even turn off wi-fi at night to address the problem. The comments were made after Ofcom figures showed the proportion of households with tablet computers more than doubled from 20 to 51 per cent last year.
    SNIP

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    • 21 APR 14

    The Health Argument Against Wireless Smart Meters

    From SkyVision Solutions:

    Excerpt

    [Editor Note: This blog article highlights a document authored by Ronald M. Powell, Ph.D. The document makes a strong case against the use of wireless smart meters and for replacing them with safe metering technology. Although specific mention is made in this well-written document to the state of Maryland, reference to any state or province could easily be substituted, as applicable, when electric or other utility companies have been allowed to move forward with wireless smart meter deployments.]

    The Health Argument for Replacing Wireless Smart Meters with a Safe Metering Technology in Maryland

    by Ronald M. Powell, Ph.D. [1], April 16, 2014

    “The electric power companies of Maryland made a dreadful mistake when they elected to install Wireless Smart Meters to measure electrical power. Wherever these meters are installed, they threaten the health of all residents in the community, violate their privacy, increase the cyber vulnerability of the supply of electricity to their homes, decrease their personal security and safety, and threaten property values in the community. And Wireless Smart Meters do all of this without any persuasive evidence of any financial benefit to the customers.”
    SNIP

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    • 20 APR 14

    Nine Reasons Why Today’s Smart Meter Systems Are a Mistake

    Posted on SkyVision Solutions, April 18, 2014.

    [Editor Note: This blog article consists of a document authored by Richard H. Conrad, Ph.D., intended as a letter addressed to a utility company that may be considering the installation of smart meters.]

    NINE REASONS WHY TODAY’S SMART METER SYSTEMS ARE A MISTAKE

    by Richard H. Conrad, Ph.D. biochemist

    Excerpt

    INTRODUCTION

    Smart electric meters and smart grid systems track and record details of customers’ energy usage, and transmit the information to utilities wirelessly at microwave frequencies. Authorities are attempting to make smart meters mandatory. They are usually installed without permission and sometimes against the wishes of homeowners. Smart meters fill homes with pulsed microwave radiation 24/7 without consent, and infringe on the privacy, security, safety and health of residents.

    For the above reasons there is world-wide opposition to smart meters. Fifty-seven jurisdictions in the US are opposed to mandatory smart meters. Fifteen jurisdictions in California have made smart meter installations illegal. More than half of the States in the US have wireless smart meter opposition groups. The opposition is growing and is persistent.

    SNIP

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    • 19 APR 14

    Industry attack on IARC RF classification: and they dare call it science!

    From Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog, Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

    ‘Letter to Editor’ of Bioelectromagnetics journal: A travesty of science

    Bioelectromagnetics, a peer-review journal of the Bioelectromagnetics Society and the European Bioelectromagnetics Association has just published a ‘Letter to the Editor‘:

    Wiedemann PM, Boerner FU, Repacholi MH. Do people understand IARC’s 2B categorization of RF fields from cell phones? Bioelectromagnetics. 2014 Apr 15. doi: 10.1002/bem.21851

    This publication is the clear attempt to discredit the work of IARC’s invited experts who, as members of the Working Group, classified in May 2011 cell phone radiation as a possible human carcinogen.

    This is not any new situation. Classification of the cell phone radiation as a possible human carcinogen was criticized, right from the start, by ICNIRP and by the industry. Immediately after the classification was made public, ICNIRP’s epidemiologists published contra-opinion saying that the IARC classification is not supported by the epidemiological evidence. The industry had its share of dismissive opinions in attempt to neutralize impact of the classification on the future health policies:

    SNIP

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    • 16 APR 14

    A personal Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) case study

    From Steve Weller:

    Introduction:

    My name is Steven Weller and I wrote this Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) case study that is included with this covering statement with the hope it may be of benefit to those who either find themselves in a similar position to me, or, maybe just interested in a getting a better understanding of what EHS is and the likely cause.

    The study documents my personal journey towards self-diagnosis as being EHS, the ensuing questions it raised, along with information which might assist fellow sufferers to better cope with a condition which, until relatively recently, was unknown on our planet.
    SNIP

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    • 15 APR 14

    Two Scientists Break Silence on “Major Flaws” in Royal Society’s Recent Report on Safety of Cell Phones and Towers, Smart Meters and Wi-Fi

    OTTAWA, April 14, 2014 /CNW/ – Two peer reviewers involved in this month’s Royal Society report on wireless safety say the results cannot be trusted, because the Panel ignored evidence that wireless radiation is harmful to humans.

    The scientific reviewers also said key panelists were in conflict of interest as they regularly accept funding from wireless and energy companies. One of the reviewers, Dr. Martin Blank, holds two PhD’s and has published more than 200 papers at Columbia University on the health effects of wireless radiation. The other reviewer, Dr. Anthony Miller MD, is Professor Emeritus at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Both say the Royal Society panel ignored scientific evidence published over the past five years. As peer reviewers, they noted some panelists were conflicted and others lacked sufficient expertise.
    SNIP

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    • 15 APR 14

    Critique of the supposedly ‘new’ ARPANSA RF review

    From Dariusz Leszczynski’s blog, Between a Rock and a Hard Place:

    Excerpt

    ARPANSA Report: No epiphany, just déj vu, all over again
    Gallery
    Posted on April 14, 2014

    From time to time are published new reports, reviewing scientific evidence on possible health risks of cell phone and cell-phone-like radiation. Reading them, I do not experience epiphany feeling but, often, I experience déj vu feeling. I often have the feeling that the authors of new reports use extensively texts and opinions of earlier reports. It means that instead of duly reviewing also older original studies they rely on the opinions of others.

    This is not a good development. Reading older original studies and evaluating them in the context of new original studies, it may together bring this very welcome feeling of epiphany. Instead, authors of new review reports bring us, readers, often the feeling of déj vu.

    The just published ARPANSA report is no exception. No epiphany, just déj vu.

    SNIP

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    • 10 APR 14

    Is Science Being Hidden from the Public?

    Eileen O’Connor, Director, Radiation Research Trust

    500 million citizens are relying on SCENIHR: Is Science Being Hidden from the Public?

    9 April 2014

    The European Commission in collaboration with the Greek Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) under the auspices of the EU Council Greek Presidency organised a major workshop in Athens on EMF electromagnetic fields and health effects with a focus on public awareness, conciliating scientific findings and uncertainties in policy making. The event took place on 27th & 28 March 2014 at Cotsen Hall, Athens, Greece and included presenters from various parties from the European Commission, WHO, public authorities, industry, operators, environmental and consumer associations and academia. The goal of the conference was to reach a common approach for the future in order to respond to public concerns about electromagnetic fields, to enhance information dissemination and discuss new studies and scientific evidence in relation to EMF, and to identify knowledge gaps needed for sound policy making. In this context, the new SCENIHR draft opinion on EMF and potential health effects was presented.
    SNIP

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    • 07 APR 14

    Conclusions of the Canadian report confirm that EHS research, and its review, are polluted by the bad science

    From the blog of Dariusz Lesczcynski: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    Excerpt

    Recent publication of the Canadian report on Safety Code 6 (RF-EMF and health) brought again to limelight the problem of electromagnetic hypersensitivity – EHS.

    Yet again, scientists and lay audiences were fed with the standard mantra in the Canadian report: “The symptoms are real, but what causes them is a mystery”. The same mantra is propagated by WHO, ICNIRP and numerous expert committees.

    I have the feeling that this mantra was introduced to the EMF research area few years ago for the sole purpose to “get the EHS people off our backs”. Designers of this mantra assumed that by showing compassion for the suffering of EHS people they will alleviate tensions that exist between EHS sufferers and decision-makers.

    They were mistaken. The mantra did not alleviate tensions and EHS sufferers more and more forcefully demand solution to their problem. Simple admission that their symptoms and suffering are real is not enough. What is needed is both, precautionary approach and a serious research effort to find out what and how causes EHS.

    Unfortunately the arena of EHS research is polluted with bad science. Badly designed studies waste money and produce bad conclusions. This status quo is perpetuated and new funding is granted for new badly designed studies. Are scientists gone mad? Don’t they understand what they are doing?

    SNIP

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    • 03 APR 14

    Canadian “Expert” Panel Presents Disappointing and Biased Review of Current RF Exposure Limits

    From SkyVision Solutions:

    Excerpt

    An expert panel of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) released a report on April 1, 2014, entitled “A Review of Safety Code 6 (2013): Health Canada’s Safety Limits for Exposure to Radiofrequency Fields.” Although the report is comprehensive at 165 pages in length, it clearly presents a disappointing and biased account of the current state of science on RF exposure effects and what to do in response to those effects.

    As summarized by one Toronto new source regarding the new report, “Federal guidelines that spell out safe exposure levels of radiofrequency waves emitted by cellphones and other wireless devices appear to be mostly adequate, but research to clarify the potential risk of cancer should be aggressively pursued, an expert panel recommends.”

    In other words, there is some evidence that RF exposure might be harmful, but we need more studies to quantify the possible risk. Where have we heard that before?
    SNIP

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    • 02 APR 14

    FEATURED EXPOSÉ – WHO Knew: The Elephant in the Room

    A shocking exposé on corruption within World Health Organization ranks, relating to scientific causality of harm from electromagnetic radiation (EMR) Just WHO are they working for? Is the World Health Organization complicit in an unprecedented coverup of skewed science and conflicts of interest?

    An uncomfortable shift could be felt in the room. The Advisor asked one final question: “Would Drs. Wild and Stewart have a problem with people of all ages being exposed to RF radiation 24/7?” Dr. Stewart voiced his opinion in a professorial fashion,“I would have no problem at all.”
    SNIP

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    • 01 APR 14

    Swiss teleco acknowledges RF dangers in 2003 patent application

    The below document was discovered by New Zealand Lawyer Sue Grey during a document search. I do not have a url for the document yet but can send subscribers Sue’s document if requested. Sue Grey states: “Possibly a good invention but look what Swisscom (a SwissTelco) admits in terms of the biological and genotoxic effects of RF EMR (at least to the patents office, if not to the public generally).” Here’s the translation of the Swiss Telecom patient application for an invention to reduce radiation levels. It dates from 2003.
    Excerpt:

    The influence of electrosmog on the human body is a known problem. The health risk from mobile radio transmitters, handys and DECT telephones has been an explosive subject among the general public at least since the enormous breakthrough in mobile radio technology in the 1990s. To meet the concerns of science from the legislative side, the permissible limit values have thus been lowered several times, and technology has been increasingly focused on this problem. The risk of damage to health through electrosmog has also become better understood as a result of more recent and improved studies. When, for example, human blood cells are irradiated with electromagnetic fields, clear damage to hereditary material has been demonstrated and there have been indications of an increased cancer risk.
    SNIP
    These findings indicate that the genotoxic effect of electromagnetic radiation is elicited via a non-thermal pathway. Moreover aneuploidy is to be considered as a known phenomenon in the increase of cancer risk.Thus it has been possible to show that mobile radio radiation can cause damage to genetic material, in particular in human white blood cells, whereby both the DNA itself is damaged and the number of chromosomes changed. This mutation can consequently lead to increased cancer risk.
    SNIP

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    • 01 APR 14

    A very sad story: A teenager with ovarian cancer and her need to always be connected.

    The implication of the below story is all to obvious. Where did Sancia carry her phone, which she cannot bear to be separated from? Perhaps in her jeans pocket only inches from her ovaries?

    I have made comment to this story, perhaps others might also.

    Don

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

    Courageous Sancia keeps on inspiring

    JENNIFER CRAWLEY
    Mercury
    April 01, 2014 12:00AM

    A BEAUTIFUL, brave, young girl this week heads to Melbourne for life-saving surgery.

    Sancia Fenton captured the hearts of Tasmania and the nation when she shared her story of ovarian cancer six weeks ago. She decided to go public to let others know the disease affects young girls, not just older women. Since her diagnosis on Christmas Eve, the Glenorchy schoolgirl has turned 14 and is about to embark on what she hopes is the final chapter in her cancer story – surgery. Two weeks after her story broke, the normally stoic teenager found herself very emotional and hid under the blankets crying. “ I still have little moments when I cry myself to sleep – I’ve got to accept the burden,’’ she said. After extensive chemotherapy, the mass around her ovary has shrunk from football size to baseball size and now to softball size – small enough for surgeons to remove at the Royal Children’s Hospital. She has a huge folder of homework to take with her, and plans to do some shopping with mum Joanne in the two-week recuperation period. And like other girls her age, she insists she will not be parted from her mobile phone, even trying to think of a way to sneak it into surgery.
    SNIP

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    • 31 MAR 14

    Five reasons disconnecting ain’t so dumb

    Tosh Szatow & Damien Moyse

    *This is the second part of a two-part series. The first part – When will people unplug? – was published Friday.

    In part one of our series, we outlined findings from research released in January by the clean energy social enterprise Energy for the People and the not-for-profit Alternative Technology Association. Entitled What Happens When We Un-Plug: Exploring the Consumer and Market Implications of Viable Off-Grid Energy Supply, the research found that many Victorians could unplug from the grid by 2020 – using stand-alone power systems combining the use of solar power and battery storage technologies.

    Here, we offer our take on the common arguments for why unplugging from the grid is a dumb idea.
    SNIP

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