Tag Archives: risks of wireless technology

REPORT: USAF – RF/Microwave Radiation Biological Effects (1994)

Posted: September 6, 2014
Telecom tower

In 1994, the US Air Force published a 32-page report titled: “Radiofrequency/Microwave Radiation Biological Effects and Safety Standards: A Review,” authored by Scott M. Bolen. The supervising agency was Rome Laboratory at Griffiss Air Force Base in New York. 

Read and download the complete 32-page report here: USAF Report 1994 Biological-Effects .

To this day, many if not most governmental agencies and scientists in North America and abroad maintain the position that RF and microwave radiation are only damaging to the human body at power densities high enough to cause a heating effect (a so-called “thermal effect”), like a microwave oven. The position, while completely unsupported by fact, is very convenient for the multi-billion-dollar telecommunications industry (cell phones, WiFi) as well as the military’s own use of these same technologies—technologies whose radiation is, for the most part nonthermal, in nature. 

In fact, the serious bio-toxic consequences of nonthermal RF and microwave radiation have been know for decades by our governments and the military. This 1994 USAF report states on page 2, under the heading of Biological Effects: 

“Nonthermal responses can be less noticeable and are often more difficult to explain than thermal effects. These responses are related to the disturbances in the tissue not caused by heating. Electromagnetic fields can interact with the bioelectric functions of the irradiated human tissue. Research conducted in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe suggests that the human body may be more sensitive to the nonthermal effects of RF/MW radiation.”

And from page 18 of the report:

“Nonthermal disruptions have been observed to occur at power densities that are much lower than are necessary to induce thermal effects. Soviet researchers have attributed alterations in the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system to the nonthermal effect of low level RF/MW radiation exposure.”

And from the report’s Conclusion, also on page 18:

“Experimental evidence has shown that exposure to low intensity radiation can have a profound effect on biological processes. The nonthermal effects of RF/MW radiation exposure are becoming important measures of biological interaction with EM fields… Adherence to the ANSI Standard should provide protection against harmful thermal effects and help to minimize the interaction of EM fields with the biological processes of the human body.”

In other words, this USAF report from 1994 all but states that the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Standard of the day was insufficient for protecting the public from the nonthermal effects of RF/MW radiation.

At the time this report was written, that Standard for exposure was set at 50,000 mW/m2 (5 mW/cm2 ) for for frequencies between 1,500 MHz to 100,000 MHz. Today, the maximum exposure limit set by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for RF radiation in the 850-2400 MHz range (smart meters and other wireless devices) is 10,000 mW/m2. However, that level is more than one million times higher than the exposure limits set out in the 2012 BioInitiative Report. The BioInitiative Report caps exposure to RF radiation at 0.006 mW/m.

The point being: the “safe” levels for RF/MW exposure that are laid out in this 1994 USAF report, as well as in current “safe” levels stipulated by North American governments (such as Canada’s Safety Code 6 and the FCC in the US) only address thermal effects of RF/MW radiation and have no bearing whatsoever on the far more serious nonthermal effects that unequivocally exist. The public is simply not being protected.

Kim Goldberg

REPORT: DIA – Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation (1976)

Posted: September 4, 2014

Radio FreqIn March 1976, the US Defense Intelligence Agency published an astounding report titled “Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation (Radiowaves and Microwaves) – Eurasian Communist Countries.” The 34-page report analyzes numerous Soviet and Eastern bloc research studies that demonstrate a wide range of adverse biological effects caused by exposure to radio frequency radiation and microwaves. In its Summary on page vii, the report states:

“If the more advanced nations of the West are strict in the enforcement of stringent exposure standards, there could be unfavorable effects on industrial output and military functions.” 

The above statement and the entire report quite clearly reveal what the government knew and when it knew it. This also reveals WHY Western governments have subsequently been unwilling to acknowledge the bio-toxic effects of wireless systems or the legitimacy of Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), and why “safe limits” of exposure have been raised in subsequent years when, in fact, they need to be lowered. 

Read and download the full 34-page report here: DIA Report-1976

-Kim Goldberg

PHOTOS: Anti-Smart Meter Rally in Nanaimo

By Kim Goldberg

June 15, 2014

© Kim GoldbergMore than 75 people turned out for Nanaimo’s rally against smart meters yesterday, on the sidewalk in front of MLA Leonard Krog’s office downtown. The event was part of a multi-city Day of Action Against Smart Meters occurring across British Columbia and Quebec.

Speakers described the risks of fire, surveillance, and illness associated with wireless smart meters. And some described their own personal health ordeal triggered by the installation of a smart meter on their home—from headaches, to heart arrhythmia, to loss of vision.

Attendees and passers-by on the busy street corner were encouraged to join the class action lawsuit currently underway against BC Hydro over the risks associated with smart meters.

Story and images © Kim Goldberg

Norm Abbey (© Kim Goldberg)

Jim Stachow dons his 'tinfoil hat' to take the stage. (Photo © Kim Goldberg)

Jim Stachow dons his ‘tinfoil hat’ to take the stage. (Photo © Kim Goldberg)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Kim Goldberg

© Kim Goldberg

June 14, 2014 Anti-Smart Meter rally in Nanaimo. (Photo © Kim Goldberg)

© Kim Goldberg

Solar: The Only Smart Grid (Photo © Kim Goldberg)

Save the Bees, Foil your Smart Meter (photo © Kim Goldberg)

Save the Bees, Foil your Smart Meter (photo © Kim Goldberg)

Wireless Radiation Turns Our Protons into Radio Transmitters

By Kim Goldberg

May 21, 2014

RadiofrequencyToolkit_v4_06132013In 2013, the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control issued a 377-page report titled “Radiofrequency Toolkit for Environmental Health Practitioners.”

The entire document can be viewed and downloaded here.

The weighty tome appears to be primarily a government whitewash of the wireless industry, in an effort to allay legitimate public concern about the biotoxic nature of RF radiation from cell phones, cordless phones, wi-fi, and (most significantly to the BC government) smart meters.

The report drowns us in “science” designed to make any reader feel that if she can’t wade through dozens of mathematical equations using long strings of Greek letters, then she isn’t qualified to speak out about RF hazards.

The report trots out all the predictable faulty logic and false analogies such as telling us on page 25 that our own bodies are constantly emitting EMF in the 31,000 GHz range (i.e., our infra-red heat signature). So why worry about the lower frequencies of our wireless devices, seems to be the implied question/statement.

“MRI Scanner” courtesy of onlinedocturs, Flickr (CC BY)

“MRI Scanner” courtesy of onlinedocturs, Flickr (CC BY)

But then on page 31, something interesting pops up. While describing the purportedly benign Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines used in hospital radiology, the report tells us that “RF fields of 10-400 MHz [are used] to excite the protons in the body and cause them to emit radio waves for the acquisition of anatomical images.”

(For a more detailed description of this phenomenon of proton excitation by radio frequencies, see the British Medical Journal article on Magnetic Resonance Imaging.)

Thanks so much for making my case for me.

Yes, it can certainly be medically useful (at times) to have those MRI images. But the relevant take-away here is that our protons are perpetually being turned into RF transmitters by our daily exposure to wireless RF radiation from smart meters, cell phones, wi-fi, and more.

And that particular transformation of our bodies at a sub-atomic level is one that nobody signed on for and most people would reject if they knew it was happening to them.

Article © Kim Goldberg, 2014

 

Steve Weller: Dispelling Misconceptions about EHS

By Kim Goldberg

May 13, 2014

Steve Weller, Vice President of Stop Smart Meters Australia, and author of the report: “Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS): A Personal Case Study”.

Steve Weller, Vice President of Stop Smart Meters Australia, and author of the report: “Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS): A Personal Case Study”.

Australian Steve Weller was 32 years old when he first determined in 2001 that he was sensitive to wireless radiation. He had used computers his entire adult life. He also worked in the IT (Information Technology) industry, and describes himself as an early adopter of technology.

“I was looking forward to the freedom [wireless technology] would afford me,” Steve recalls. “No more wires cluttering the desk, free to do my work on my laptop at the kitchen table while I had breakfast.”

Being technically savvy, Steve decided to buy the most powerful Wi-Fi router that was available at the time. His subsequent discovery that he was being sickened by the hardware of his life and work was not easy news to absorb. But he could not ignore the alarming effects this technology was having on his body.

“On first using my wireless router, I began to feel pressure in my head, pressure in my chest, and tingling sensations in my hands and face within a few minutes of use,” Steve says. “I also noted (and so did my wife) that my temperament changed from my normally relaxed manner to being more agitated and short tempered when using my Wi-Fi enabled router.”

With more prolonged use, Steve’s symptoms expanded to include a burning sensation in his intestines, chest pressure, irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) followed by thumping heartbeats “like my heart was trying to jump out of my chest,” Steve recalls.

“I soon realised that a consistent pattern was developing when using my wireless router… It was at this point that I made a conscious decision to not use a wireless network to connect to the internet,” he says.

Today, 13 years later, Steve still uses computers, he still works in IT, and he is still electrosensitive. But he has, through much research and reading (and relocation), learned how to reduce his exposure and thereby keep the worst of his symptoms at bay—at least until wireless smart meters were introduced to his neighbourhood in 2011.

Although Steve managed to keep a smart meter off his own home in Melbourne, he was severely affected by his neighbours’ two smart meters that were installed three meters away from his bedroom.

“I found I was waking at specific times every night,” Steve recounts. “It felt like someone had taken a long, sharp needle and quickly pushed it into my head.” Steve found he could no longer use the front areas of his house that received the biggest dose from his neighbours’ smart meters. He has recently moved from Melbourne to Queensland, a city that has not been fitted up with smart meters.

Since moving from Melbourne to Queensland, where there are no wireless smart meters yet,  Steve Weller now has a safe haven in his backyard... for the time being.

Since moving from Melbourne to Queensland, where there are no wireless smart meters yet, Steve Weller now has a safe haven in his backyard… for the time being.

Steve, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology from Monash University in Australia, is now the Vice President of Stop Smart Meters Australia.

And in an effort to educate politicians, scientists, and the general public on the under-recognized health crisis of electrosensitivity, Steve has documented his own case, along with much scientific research, in an 18-page brief titled “Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS): A Personal Case Study”.

Read and download Steve Weller’s complete case study here: Steve Weller Case Study. 

What needs to happen next…

From the final pages of Steve Weller’s well-researched and thoroughly annotated brief on EHS:

“First and foremost, governments need to recognise that EHS is real and can be a serious health impairment, like Sweden does. Furthermore, medical professionals need to be educated on what EHS is, how to diagnose it and how to treat it. Education programs need to be established at Universities that cover this topic. The public also needs to be educated and informed of the risks of using wireless devices clearly and without prejudice or unwanted influence from those who market these devices. The media often portrays those who are suffering in a poor light, leading to hurtful comments and ridicule from uninformed members of the public. This needs to change. Scientists often weigh in on the argument, suggesting that EHS is a psychosomatic illness based on what I believe to be faulty scientific studies that use only the provocation test as the basis for their claims. Further research maybe required, but those who are suffering should not be held hostage by wrangling scientists and politicians as they argue the validity of EHS and testing techniques. The symptomology and causative factors of EHS are known and have been known for years.”

September 21, 2014 Update: Steve is now exploring the possibility of creating a safe haven somewhere in Australia for people with EHS. He has written a summary outlining some of the many logistical considerations for bringing a community of electrosensitive people together for this purpose. It is a document that may be useful to other people elsewhere who are trying to establish EHS refuges. 

Read and download Steve’s Safe Haven Brief here: Safe Haven Brief by Steve Weller.

 

Nanaimo Author Gets Grant To Research Wi-Fi Sickness

Media Release – April 17, 2013

Kim GoldbergNanaimo author Kim Goldberg has been awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to write a book about people who are physically sickened by their exposure to wireless technology.

“I was thrilled to learn that this project will be supported,” says Goldberg, who holds a degree in biology and has no wireless devices in her own home. “It will require a huge amount of time and work because the problem is literally global in scope.”

Goldberg says people are already contacting her with their stories of debilitating illness, job loss, critically sick children in Wi-Fi’ed classrooms, relocation to remote settings, sleeping in homemade Faraday cages—all due to their exposure to some form of electromagnetic radiation, usually wireless.

“Where do you go when an invisible matrix spanning the globe is making you sick?” Goldberg asks.

“I have been shocked by the number and intensity of the stories flooding in to me. We seem to be witnessing a growing electroplague,” she says. “I think these electro-sensitive people, and the special sanctuaries cropping up around the world to keep them safe, may be harbingers of a future we are all hurtling toward.”

Goldberg maintains that Canada and the United States lag far behind Europe in recognizing the risks and protecting the public from constant exposure to wireless transmissions from cell phones and towers, Internet Wi-Fi and other sources.

“In England, many people afflicted with electro-sensitivity were first diagnosed by their own doctors,” says Goldberg. “Here in Canada, you would be hard-pressed to find a doctor who even believes electro-sensitivity is medically valid, let alone knows how to diagnose it.”

Goldberg has written extensively on environmental topics for newspapers and magazines in Canada and abroad. She is the author of four nonfiction books and two collections of poetry.

You can follow her progress online at https://electroplague.com/