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EMFacts Blog

    • 09 DEC 13

    Can’t Sleep? This Is How Our Gadgets Are Keeping Us Awake. You’re not the only one up at night.

    Published on Mobiledia

    By Kat Ascharya | November 26, 2013
    Excerpt

    My name is Kat Ascharya, and I am a recovering insomniac. I say that somewhat flippantly, like how people introduce themselves at a 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program, but I’m serious: I’ve had problems with sleep my whole adult life, and chronic sleep deprivation has compromised my mental equanimity, physical health and quality of life.

    I’m not alone, either.

    The National Sleep Foundation, or NSF, estimates that 60 percent of adults have trouble sleeping at least a few nights a week, according to the New York Times. With nearly 95 percent of all respondent reporting they browse the Internet, text or watch TV a couple of nights before trying to sleep, the NSF reported, all signs point to a potential link between a growing use of gadgets and sleep-related fatigue.

    “[An LED screen] could be giving you an alert stimulus at a time that will frustrate your body’s ability to go to sleep later,” Dr. Brainard told the New York Times. “When you turn it off, it doesn’t mean that instantly the alerting effects go away. There’s an underlying biology that’s stimulated.”

    When we’re exposed to artificial light, between dusk and bedtime, our bodies are blocked from being able to recognize day from night, according to the New York Times, and that suppresses the release of sleep-promoting hormone, melatonin, pushing our circadian rhythms to a later hour. And that glow from our gadgets, even a mere hour before bedtime – a pivotal moment when we transition from the day’s activities to nighttime relaxation – can keep us awake long into the night, and affect the quality of sleep we get when our heads finally hit the pillows.

    SNIP

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    • 08 DEC 13

    The main force behind the push for a global smart grid: Maintaining corporate market share

    In a just released paper by Prof. Damien Ernst from the University of Liege (December 2013) he argues that the the main force behind the creation of a global electricity grid is to be able to incorporate renewable energy thereby lessening our reliance on fossil fuels. Among other things, Ernst sees the transition towards a global grid as an inevitability but that the globalisation of the electricity commodity will give rise to serious challenges to national power industries. Ernst concludes with the warning that countries relying too much on the global grid for their electricity supply may experience very adverse effects.

    Ernst may be right in the original concept for a need for a global electricity grid: incorporating renewable energy sources, but I would argue that the overriding global push for the smart grid (Ernst doesn’t mention the smart grid – but it would likely be an integral part of his envisioned global grid) has little to do with renewable energy or ‘sustainability’ but all to do with corporations seizing the opportunity to improve their market share (and profits). This is achieved by endlessly creating and marketing new smart appliances / gadgets – and then convincing the consuming public that they really do need all these wondrous things.
    SNIP

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    • 07 DEC 13

    Scientists pledge to boycott Elsevier

    ISIS – Institute of Science in Society

    5th December 2013

    Following the retraction of the Seralini et al scientific paper which found health damage to rats fed on GM corn, over 100 scientists have pledged in this Open Letter to boycott Elsevier, publisher of the Journal responsible.

    To: Wallace Hayes, Editor in Chief, Food and Chemical Toxicology; Elsevier

    Re: “Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize”, by G E Séralini et al, published in Food and Chemical Toxicology 2012, 50(11), 4221-31.

    Your decision to retract the paper is in clear violation of the international ethical norms as laid down by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), of which FCT is a member. According to COPE, the only grounds for retraction are clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct or honest error,plagiarism or redundant publication, or unethical research.

    You have already acknowledged that the paper of Séralini et al (2012) contains none of those faults.

    This arbitrary, groundless retraction of a published, thoroughly peer-reviewed paper is without precedent in the history of scientific publishing, and raises grave concerns over the integrity and impartiality of science. These concerns are heightened by a sequence of events surrounding the retraction:

    * the appointment of ex-Monsanto employee Richard Goodman to the newly created post of associate editor for biotechnology at FCT
    * the retraction of another study finding potentially harmful effects from GMOs (which almost immediately appeared in another journal)
    * the failure to retract a paper published by Monsanto scientists in the same journal in 2004, for which a gross error has been identified.

    The retraction is erasing from the public record results that are potentially of very great importance for public health. It is censorship of scientific research, knowledge, and understanding, an abuse of science striking at the very heart of science and democracy, and science for the public good.
    SNIP

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    • 05 DEC 13

    Australia vs Big Tobacco: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

    From Oliver MacColl – Avaaz.org

    Dear friends across Australia,

    Australia has the strongest anti-smoking laws in the world. They’re so successful that other countries want to do the same. But Big Tobacco isn’t happy about this — and the Australian government is about to agree to a deal that lets them trample all over us whenever they want.

    The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a US-driven trade pact that that could let companies sue us to get rid of whichever of our hard-fought protections they don’t like. The whole deal is being negotiated in secret, and this weekend Trade Minister Robb is set to agree to rules none of us had a say in.

    But opposition is building in Australia and other countries. The ALP and The Greens have just joined together to demand transparency. Abbott’s team is on the ropes from the Indonesian spying scandal, let’s use this crucial opportunity to stall the talks and stand up for our health…

    SNIP

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    • 05 DEC 13

    Boosting sleep ‘may slow memory rot’: Think of the implications for nightime smart meter RF exposure

    Boosting sleep ‘may slow memory rot’
    By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News

    It may be possible to slow the decline in memory and learning as we age by tackling poor sleep, researchers hope. Their study, in the journal Nature Neuroscience, has revealed an intimate relationship between an ageing brain, sleep and memory. Experiments showed that changes in the ageing brain damaged the quality of deep sleep, this in turn hampered the ability to store memories. Scientists want to test ways of boosting sleep to halt memory decline. Wisdom may come with age, but both the brain and the body take the strain of time. Many people will be aware that both their memory and sleep are not as good as in their earlier years. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, said it was unknown whether changes in the brain, sleep and memory were all separate signs of ageing or deeply connected. They performed a series of experiments on 36 people – an even split of those in their twenties and their seventies.
    SNIP

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    • 04 DEC 13

    The too frequent use of digital media reduces the mental capacity of our children

    Psychiatrist and brain researcher Manfred Spitzer warns parents and educators
    by Dr Rudolf Hänsel, qualified psychologist, Lindau/Germany

    The neuroscientist and medical director of the Psychiatric University Hospital Ulm, Professor Manfred Spitzer, met with intense press coverage about his new best-seller “Digitale Demenz. Wie wir uns und unsere Kinder um den Verstand bringen” (Digital dementia. How we drive us and our children mad) and his trenchant theses. Referring to many neurological findings and supplementing new findings Spitzer reinforces in his book previous research of reputable media experts saying that the too frequent use of the Internet can make people dumb. He never denigrated juvenile and adult Internet users however. Reacting to the spiteful attacks by the press, he said in an interview: “I do not pathologize but I state: Where there are effects there are also risks and side effects.”1 However, Spitzer does not just express warnings; he also shows what parents, teachers and politicians can do to protect our youth.

    SNIP

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    • 02 DEC 13

    The Energy Networks Association to publish a web-based brochure on the smart meter health controversy

    On November 12th just before my trip to New Zealand I send out a post saying that I would be unable to attend the ACEBR Science & Wireless 2013 seminar in Melbourne on November 27
    I noted the smart meter presentation to be given at the ACEBR event by Richard Hoy, representing the Energy Networks Association (ENA) and wondered if the ENA presentation would address the smart meter health effects issue.

    According to several people who attended the event, Mr. Hoy mentioned a number of places that now have smart meter opt outs “with hindsight” and that sometimes consumers had to pay extra for this. As for health effects a variety of statements were made such as “basically everybody is pretty much in agreement” that there are no effects, and that there is “no scientific basis” for electrosensitivity (EHS), whilst mentioning provocation studies. Mr. Hoy did mention at the end of his presentation however, that “some research could be worthwhile”.

    Apparently Hoy’s big announcement was that ENA is formalizing a web-based brochure on smart meters and their possible health effects.
    SNIP

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    • 01 DEC 13

    New Zealand smart electricity grid presentation now available on-line

    The pdf of my recent Powerpoint presentation examining problems with the smart grid is now available at http://www.emfacts.com/download/New_Zealand_pres.pdf

    Titled “The Smart Electricity Grid, Claims, Pitfalls, and Unintended
    Consequences”     the 90 minute presentation (including question time) was given at public meetings in Christchurch NZ on November 26th and Auckland on 28 Nov.

    Don

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    • 12 NOV 13

    So, Google/Motorola wants to tattoo a smartphone receiver on your neck!

    Why do my thoughts keep drifting back to that dystopian world of George Orwell’s 1984 whenever I read of many of the new “advances” of the so-called ‘smart’ world? I suppose the folk at ACEBR would say that I was just a paranoid Luddite. Perhaps so, but consider the wondrous Google/Motorola electronic tattoo that can be placed on a smart phone user’s neck and which could interface with a number of smart gadgets and also function as a built in lie detector? (Below). A handy thing to have tattoed on the public’s necks for the current ruling corporatocracy. In 1984 thoughtcrime is the criminal act of holding unspoken beliefs or doubts that oppose or question the ruling party. In the book, the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the very thoughts of its subjects. To entertain unacceptable thought is also known as crimethink in Newspeak, the ideologically purified dialect of the party. Google/Motorola’s electronic tattoo would fit in very well with the fictional world of 1984.

    Can we trust Google not to go overboard on this type of technology? Hardly

    SNIP

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    • 11 NOV 13

    ELECTRICAL SENSITIVITIES and the ELECTRICAL ENVIRONMENT

    Cyril W. Smith, Ph.D.

    A shortened and edited version of notes written for and in cooperation with The Breakspear Hospital, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4FD, U.K. The writer has been helping their electrically hypersensitive patients since 1982.

    What are Electrical Sensitivities?
    Many persons suffer from sensitivities to certain foods and environmental chemicals which cause them discomfort, or even in extreme cases prevent them from functioning in any effective manner. Even the most minute amounts of these substances may on occasions ‘trigger’ reactions which are specific to each individual. Warnings regarding nuts, peanuts or gluten are commonly found displayed on food products. When a sensitivity reaction occurs, some regulatory system within the body has ceased to function properly and gives alarm signals, calling for an unjustified panic reaction. Usually, it is the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which is the first to become compromised in this way. This system controls all the involuntary body functions. Thus, any part or function of the body might become affected by the same allergen acting in different people which is why such effects do not show up in medical statistics.
    SNIP

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    • 11 NOV 13

    Radio interview: How to deal with Smart Meter authorities legally in Victoria.

    Australian Radio Interview 3mdr 97.1fm – Thurs. 14 November 9.30 a.m.

    Independent Media Broadcast Journalist Judy-Ann Steed Interviews Darryl O’Brien from the Law Resources Group On her current affair program,
    Judy-Ann & Company on 3mdr 97.1fm,

    This Thursday14 November 9.30 a.m.
    live to air & streaming Thursdays 9 till 11 a.m.

    Darryl will discuss how to deal with Smart Meter authorities legally.

    Some contractors and Electricity companies are using bullying tactics, coercing and generally putting fear into people who don’t want smart meters by threatening to have their power cut disconnected if they refuse to have the meter installed. So far those submitting medical evidence about their health concerns or refusal have been met with a resounding rebuff from authorities, responsible for implementing smart meter roll out.

    Judy-Ann has also been told she ‘must’ have a smart meter and is one of the estimated more than 44,000 households who have voiced their opposition to having a smart meter installed, whether invasion of privacy, hacking, health and/ or Electromagnetic Frequency concerns.

    If you miss the interview, log on to 3mdr.com to programs, then to Judy-Ann & Company Thursday, where
    you can listen to get some legal pointers.

    Judy-Ann Steed
    3mdr 97.1fm
    Broadcast Journalist & Advocate
    Live & Streaming online
    Thursdays 9 till 11 a.m.

    Ph: 03 5968 1139
    Mobile: 0418 37 4776
    Email: jas@judyanns.com
    Web: judyanns.com

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    • 09 NOV 13

    Wireless Smart Meter Case Studies in Victoria, Australia

    Founded in 1965 as a non-profit medical association, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) is an international organization of physician and scientists interested in the complex relationship between the environment and health.

    AAEM physicians and physicians world-wide are treating patients who report adverse, debilitating health effects following the installation of smart meters,which emit electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radiofrequencies (RF).

    The peer reviewed, scientific literature demonstrates the correlation between EMF/RF exposure and neurological, cardiac, and pulmonary disease as well as reproductive disorders, immune dysfunction, cancer and other health conditions. The evidence is irrefutable. Despite this research, claims have been made that studies correlating smart meter emissions with adverse health effects do not exist.

    The AAEM has received a case series submitted by Dr. Federica Lamech, MBBS, Self-Reporting of Symptom Development from Exposure to Wireless Smart Meters’ Radiofrequency Fields in Victoria. AAEM supports this research. It is a well documented 92 case series that is scientifically valid. It clearly demonstrates adverse health effects in the human population from smart meter emissions.

    SNIP

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    • 07 NOV 13

    New French documentary: Mobile phones and harmfulness or “the manufacture of falsehood”

    Internet translation by Babylon with a tidyup

    From Iris Atzmon:

    With their documentary Mobile phones and harmfulness or “the manufacture of falsehood”, the journalist Nancy of Meritens and the filmmaker Jean Hêches show how the mobile phone industry creates doubt on the harmfulness of their product.

    Dangerous or not, the waves of mobile phones, antennas relay, wireless phones, Wi-Fi , 3G and 4G?

    When Breitenbach valley (Munster) residents refused an antenna near their homes, the mayor assured his countrymen that there was no problem in view of the formal research. The village doctor has documented however that “the waves can alter the functioning of cells, induce cancers,” which he explained to the villagers.

    Among them, Jean Hèches a documentary filmmaker, wondered “why so much controversy”? To find out why, he set to work with journalist Nancy Meritens. For two years they recorded scientific conferences , interviewed many experts in France , Germany, Switzerland , Sweden, decrypted and verified masses of information . A long investigative work that allows them to explain ” the defense strategy of products” already used by the tobacco industry , asbestos … They show how public health agencies and the WHO ( World Health Organization health ) are infiltrated by “scientific mercenaries” paid by the industry to demonstrate that there is no risk , “to fabricate lies ” to denigrate studies that interfere to produce ” studies designed to do find anything ” …
    In Sweden they have testimony from a couple of electrosensitives, a former engineer of the mobile industry and his wife suffering to the point of not being able to live in the city . “Sweden has fifteen years ahead of France in the implementation of these new technologies. Electrosmog is permanent , they said. This will probably be the next big public health scandal because everyone is exposed. It is important that each user takes precautions to be taught to young people to use these techniques with sense. ”

    See “waves , science and intrigue”, at national premiere at the opening of the film festival, Wednesday, November 6 to 19 h 30 , living cultural complex CAP – up Blue Devils in Saint -Amarin , debate with Nancy Meritens journalist .

    Full program SURFER Film Festival engaged on the website: http://dureveaureveil.blogspot.fr
    http://www.lalsace.fr/actualite/2013/11/05/telephone-mobile-et-nocivite-ou-la-fabrication-du-mensonge

    film festival
    http://dureveaureveil.blogspot.fr/

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    • 05 NOV 13

    Doctor Reports That Wireless Smart Meters Cause Illness

    From TheTruthAboutSmartGrids.org

    According to Dr. Amy Dean, “The claim has been made that smart meters are safe and that no health risks exist. However, [the] industry has not conducted independent studies or investigations to verify that claim.”

    Dr. Dean is an Ann Arbor, Michigan, physician and the most recent past president for the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM).

    “Recently, the AAEM received a 92-case series from outside the United States for review regarding smart meter health effects,” Dean said. “Based on this research, it appears that there is a direct correlation between smart meter installation and the development of health conditions such as insomnia, fatigue, headaches, cognitive disturbance and other symptoms. Many of these are the same symptoms correlated with EMF and RF exposure found in the scientific literature.”

    “It was clear to me when reviewing the scientific literature that these fields have a definite impact on the human body and can cause disease,” Dean said.

    SNIP

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    • 05 NOV 13

    Smart Phones and Kids

    From Dariusz Lesczcynski

    Parents, be smart: Do not give your child a smart phone

    HELSINKI, Finland, November 3, 2013 – Very young children, when they go to school, get cell phones. Nowadays it is often a smart phone.

    The main reason for parents to give cell phones to their children is safety. A cell phone is a safety device for a child.

    However, what kind of cell phone is suitable for small children and preadolescents, kids roughly five to 14 years of age?

    Children at school compare cell phones and are smart enough to figure out who has the better functioning, more expensive gadget. These comparisons lead to asking parents for better phones because of peer pressure. Unfortunately, parents often surrender to kids’ demands and provide them with better and more expensive smart phones that can do much more than just calling or texting. Parents want the best for their children at whatever the monetary cost.

    Small children and preadolescents are developing both physically and mentally. They need physical exercise in open air and they need mental stimulation appropriate to their age. Smart phones hamper both of these needs.

    SNIP

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    • 31 OCT 13

    UN Ruling on public participation on environmental issues has implications for the smart meter rollout in Europe

    Article 7 of the UN Aarhus Convention requires full and effective public participation on all environmental issues and demands that citizens are given the right to participate in the process and achieve justice on environmental matters. As of 2 April 2013, there were 46 Parties to the Convention. This takes in most of Western Europe and many of the former Eastern European former Soviet bloc nations.

    Considering that the UK and Ireland are two of the signatories to this convention, while smart meters are being rolled out in these countries with no consultation or input from the public, perhaps this could also be considered a violation of Article 7? Australia is not a signatory to the convention but at least it can be said that the current Victorian forced smart meter rollout is in contravention with a UN Convention on human rights.
    SNIP

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    • 31 OCT 13

    Did the Newly Appointed FCC Chair Subvert Research Showing Harm From Cell Phone Radiation?

    From Joel M. Moskowitz

    The Senate just confirmed Tom Wheeler’s nomination to be the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Hence, my press release from May 28th of this year about Mr. Wheeler has greater import now.

    The press release cites allegations of misbehavior made by a major wireless industry publication about Mr. Wheeler when he was president of the industry association, the CTIA, from 1992 to 2004. More specifically, it alleged that he suppressed and biased the research from the nation’s largest mobile phone health research project.

    The appointment of Mr. Wheeler at this time is particularly troubling because the FCC is under pressure from the industry to change the cell phone radiation limits in the U.S. to the international limits which provide less protection to cell phone users. However, the toxicologic and epidemiologic research now strongly suggests that the current radiation limits are inadequate and must be strengthened, not weakened.

    SNIP

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    • 30 OCT 13

    Does Swinburne University have a conflict of interest in smart meter sleep reserarch?

    It is perhaps inevitable that sooner or later some of that $5 million set aside for RF research in Australia will be used to investigate the alleged health problems now being widely reported by people after a smart meter was installed on their homes, especially when it is near a bedroom.

    I have previously questioned on this list the suitability of ACRBR to do this research. But what about the Bioelectromagnetics Research Group, part of Swinbourne University’s Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre? They certainly have the expertise and facilities to do such research.

    If such research was undertaken and an adverse effect on sleep quality is found and replicated, the implications would be profound and the very possibility of such findings would be seen as a definite threat to the multi-$$$ billion global development of the smart grid and all that it entails. Perhaps this is the real reason why this research has not yet been done.

    It states on the Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre: “Our research staff are actively involved in teaching and engaged with industry and the community”. Therefore, what would happen if the interests of the community and industry collide, which may be the case with smart meter sleep research?

    Does Swinbourne University have a vested interest in smart energy technology that could bias its research outcomes?

    Read on……..

    Read more →
    • 29 OCT 13

    Sleep ‘cleans’ the brain of toxins: Implications for smart meter exposures

    The brain uses sleep to wash away the waste toxins built up during a hard day’s thinking, researchers have shown.

    The US team believe the “waste removal system” is one of the fundamental reasons for sleep.

    Their study, in the journal Science, showed brain cells shrink during sleep to open up the gaps between neurons and allow fluid to wash the brain clean.

    They also suggest that failing to clear away some toxic proteins may play a role in brain disorders.

    One big question for sleep researchers is why do animals sleep at all when it leaves them vulnerable to predators?

    It has been shown to have a big role in the fixing of memories in the brain and learning, but a team at the University of Rochester Medical Centre believe that “housework” may be one of the primary reasons for sleep.

    “The brain only has limited energy at its disposal and it appears that it must choose between two different functional states – awake and aware or asleep and cleaning up,” said researcher Dr Maiken Nedergaard.

    “You can think of it like having a house party. You can either entertain the guests or clean up the house, but you can’t really do both at the same time.”

    SNIP

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    • 29 OCT 13

    Docs Urge Limits on Kids’ Texts, Tweets

    From Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D.

    Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press, Oct 28, 2013

    Doctors 2 parents: Limit kids’ tweeting, texting & keep smartphones, laptops out of bedrooms. [goodluckwiththat].

    The recommendations are bound to prompt eye-rolling and LOLs from many teens but an influential pediatricians group says parents need to know that unrestricted media use can have serious consequences.

    It’s been linked with violence, cyberbullying, school woes, obesity, lack of sleep and a host of other problems. It’s not a major cause of these troubles, but “many parents are clueless” about the profound impact media exposure can have on their children, said Dr. Victor Strasburger, lead author of the new American Academy of Pediatrics policy

    “This is the 21st century and they need to get with it,” said Strasburger, a University of New Mexico adolescent medicine specialist.

    The policy is aimed at all kids, including those who use smartphones, computers and other Internet-connected devices. It expands the academy’s longstanding recommendations on banning televisions from children’s and teens’ bedrooms and limiting entertainment screen time to no more than two hours daily.

    Under the new policy, those two hours include using the Internet for entertainment, including Facebook, Twitter, TV and movies; online homework is an exception.

    The policy statement cites a 2010 report that found U.S. children aged 8 to 18 spend an average of more than seven hours daily using some kind of entertainment media. Many kids now watch TV online and many send text messages from their bedrooms after “lights out,” including sexually explicit images by cellphone or Internet, yet few parents set rules about media use, the policy says.

    “I guarantee you that if you have a 14-year-old boy and he has an Internet connection in his bedroom, he is looking at pornography,” Strasburger said.

    SNIP

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