The British
organization Power Watch, founded by Alasdair Philips, is committed
to uncovering the specific details of how electromagnetic fields
(EMFs) affect your health and how you can practically protect
yourself against detrimental effects
While the
international safety standard for power fields, such as those
emitted from overhead power lines, is set at 1,000 milliGauss,
more than 20 studies have linked exposure at a mere 4 milliGauss
to childhood leukemia
Certain
home appliances are particularly troublesome, in terms of the
EMF emitted, such as electric heaters, electric stove rings, microwave
ovens, electric blankets, and hair dryers
Under current
guidelines, we are now allowed to expose ourselves to one billion-billion-billion-fold
more energy within a particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum
than our ancestors were exposed to 100 years ago. Therefore, it
is prudent to reduce your EMF exposure as much as you can, particularly
where you sleep, and to try to make your home into an “EMF safe
zone” to allow your body to rest and restore from the daily assault
of radiation
By
Dr. Mercola
Alasdair Philips
is qualified in both Electrical- and Electronic Engineering, as
well as Agricultural Engineering.
In 1998, he
started the British organization Power
Watch, which is committed to uncovering the specific details
of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect our health and how we
can practically protect ourselves against detrimental effects.
Another early
group he became involved with was called Electronics and Computing
for Peace.
In the 1980s,
they were asked to go to Greenham Common Airbase, where a group
of women claimed the American military were "zapping" them.
"We went
down and we measured, basically, early non-lethal microwave weapons
working at the same sort of frequencies that cell phones operate
at (about 1800-1900 MHz) [which were being] pulsed at the women...
That's
what got me interested in the biological effects of electromagnetic
waves," Mr. Philips says.
"... Ten
years or so later, I was invited to talk a lot about the first mobile
phones and other health concerns, through a series of international
[industry] conferences in the late 1990s. I was the token outsider
saying, 'Yes, I think there is a problem.'"
The Similarities
between Cell Phones and Non-Lethal Weapons
Going back
to the women at the Greenham Common Airbase for a moment, Mr. Philips
claims they believe there was evidence of biological impact from
these microwave weapons, which were being pulsed at the same frequency
today's cell phones operate at. These effects included:
Sweating
Headaches
Confusion
Ringing
in the ears
Today, both
the U.S. military and the UK military admit to having these types
of non-lethal microwave weapons.
"The Pentagon
has actually demonstrated the big ones mounted on Humvees," Philips
says. "They can down somebody at like 1,000 meters. But at a
lower power, closer by, it disrupts you; it disrupts your headspace."
According to
Philips, the technology for these types of pulsed microwave weapons
is very similar to that used for cell phone transmission. The pulse
rate is different between the two, but it's still quite similar,
particularly with the second generation GSM and the PCS cell phones,
which are still widely used.
"Even if
you have a third generation UMTS 3G phone, a lot of the time it
reverts back to the old method because there is more base stations
out there still to handle your call," Philips says. "Those
pulse in a very similar way. They turn on and off in bursts right
next to your head."
Indisputable
Links Between Power Lines and Leukemia
Cell phones
and other wireless technologies are really just the latest sources
of harmful EMF's. Power lines have long been associated with ill
health effects, particularly childhood leukemia. Unfortunately,
these associations have been largely ignored worldwide, as addressing
these concerns would cause major societal disruptions... Still,
we have to at least question whether it's really worth the risk.
"There
is without doubt an approximate doubling in the incidence of childhood
leukemia with magnetic fields above 4 milliGauss, or 0.4 microTesla
in U.S. units," Philips says. "It's been confirmed in over
20 studies. Most of the studies are showing a doubling at a level
between 3 and 4 milliGauss."
This is a
tiny fraction of the international standard, set at 1,000 milliGauss
(100 microTesla). They know acute effects may occur at twice the
standard limit, at 2,000 milliGauss, but to think the current standard
actually protects health is a grave mistake... Unfortunately, according
to Mr. Philips, no progress at all has been made in changing the
standards for power frequencies to take into account the effects
on biological health.
Housewares
to Use with Caution
But overhead
or underground power lines aren't the only source of potentially
hazardous EMFs. In your home, the following items are particularly
troublesome and should be used with care:
Electric
storage radiators (heaters)
Electric
stove ring
Microwave
ovens
Electric
blankets
Hair dryers
As for hair
dryers, Mr. Philips brought up a surprising point, and that is that
hair dryers are most dangerous when used later in the evening, as
the magnetic field produced near your head is enough to shut down
your brain's production of melatonin, which has been acknowledged
as a radioprotective anticancer agent. Short-term, it can also disrupt
your sleep cycle.
And with respect
to microwaves; standing a foot away from your microwave oven while
it's running can expose you to upwards of 400 milliGauss, and remember,
a mere 4 milliGauss has been firmly linked to leukemia. It would
certainly be wise to avoid letting your children stand near the
microwave when it's running, and avoid it yourself as much as possible – especially
if you're pregnant.
"We recommend
you put your microwave oven either in the far corner of your kitchen
or ideally in the utility area where you can just go through and
put it in and go back a few minutes later. You don't actually use
it right next to where you're working on the work surface,"
Mr. Philips says.
Electric Fields
and Electrosensitivity
Over the years,
an increasing number of people have begun reporting electrosensitivity
issues, which can range from bothersome to debilitating. (For more
information aboutElectromagnetic Hypersensitivity
Syndrome (EHS), please see this
previous article.) Fortunately, there's been some progress in
raising awareness about this problem, and certain companies have
stepped forward offering various counter-technologies to reduce
ambient electric field exposure. Unfortunately, there are probably
more misses than hits in this field...
"Safety" Gadgets – the
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Many of the
gadgets promising to shield you from harmful radiation and electromagnetic
fields don't live up to their promise, such as:
Special
Resonance Technology, typically in the form of stick-on stickers
and pendants do NOT affect the levels of microwaves you're exposed
to from your cell phone or any other source of radiation
Some stick-on
patches claim to modify your phone's antennae, thereby reducing
the amount of radiation you're exposed to. However, there's no
telling whether this will make it better – it could potentially
make it worse, according to Philips
That said,
there are some products and techniques that can indeed help.
"There
are some devices made in Germany which turn off your lighting and
other circuits when you're not using power," Philips says.
"They are quite effective. We [also] recommend, for new building
wiring, that people put in screened wiring... You can get mains
wire with a screen built into it. That stops the electric fields."
Another technology
known as EMX Technology, originally discovered by the Walter Reed
Army Institute, is said to mitigate against radiation effects. By
breaking up the coherent, regularly pulsing fields with noise ODC,
which is part of our cellular process, chemical processes were not
disrupted. However, according to Philips:
"If you
have a 1 milliGauss field that is giving you problems, you need
to add the same amount of random field to cancel it out. So you
need another milliGauss of EMF coming from this device, and then
it does seem to mitigate the effects. But it doesn't strike me as
a good way forward..."
On Creating
a Safe Haven to Protect Your Health...
As the 1990s
went on, Mr. Philips became increasingly aware of the health concerns
posed by cell phones and cordless house phones. He also began feeling
the effects of them himself.
"I have
met a lot of people that are far more electricity sensitive than
I am," he says, "but it gives me brain fog. I can't think
properly. I can't concentrate properly. It gives me headaches. If
I'm exposed at night it significantly disrupts my sleep. That was
really when we started moving over and looking at those sort of
devices."
Part of why
we don't notice obvious huge increases in health problems that can
be directly attributed to EMFs and microwaves from wireless technology
is due to the fact that entire societies are inundated with electromagnetic
fields. Since everyone is exposed on a chronic basis, you
don't see a big jump in risk odds between those who are regularly
exposed versus those who are not – quite simply, there are virtually
no groups of people who are completely unexposed anymore, and this
effectively hides the effects. But there's little doubt that there
ARE health effects...
"... [W]here
VHF radio, TV, and cell phones fit in the electromagnetic spectrum
[used to be] the "cosmic quiet spot," Philips says. "We
are now allowed under [current] guidelines to expose ourselves to
10 to the 18th [power]. That's a billion-billion-billion-fold
more energy in that part of the electromagnetic spectrum than our
ancestors were exposed to 100 years ago! We have no idea what that's
doing to us, but it is a phenomenal change in the electromagnetic
environment in populated areas of the Earth...
In my opinion
it's good to reduce our exposure where we can, and have places – particularly
where we sleep – where we are minimally exposed."
... I'm
actually speaking to you in a place in Scotland where actually I
can't get a cell phone signal in any network by choice. It doesn't
stop me from going to London and Brussels and other places for meetings
and doing what I need to do, but I think our bodies need somewhere
to recover. We need some place where the pressure is off, and the
obvious one is the home. I think the first thing everybody can do...
is [to have] a healthy lifestyle; diet, exercise, good night's sleep,
no bright light late at night... A good healthy lifestyle... is
an enormous protective factor."
How to Reduce
EMF Exposure in Your Home
Philips recommends
the following common-sense strategies to reduce your exposure to
harmful radiation in your home:
Turn the
brightness on your computer monitor down as low as possible if
you have to use the computer in the evening
Avoid using
a cordless phone unless you absolutely have to. Use a wired home
phone instead
Do not keep
cell phone chargers, or worse, your cordless phone base, in or
near your bedroom
Make sure
you only use and store your cell phone in areas where reception
is good, and don't make the mistake of artificially reducing the
signal strength, which forces the phone to crank up the power
to reach the base station. Many teens, for example, will place
their cell phones beneath their pillow or underneath their bed,
not realizing that as the cell phone cannot easily get a signal
out, it significantly increases its power output!
Avoid using
Wi-Fi routers in your home. Instead, install cable or Ethernet
cable. If you need portability, you can use a dLAN
device that allows you to access your Ethernet without laying
extra wires or irradiating yourself with pulsing microwaves from
a router.
"I
did a BBC Panorama program a few years ago on Wi-Fi... We were
comparing Wi-Fi levels with the levels you get 100 meters from
a cell phone tower. They're roughly the same! If you're a yard
away from a Wi-Fi router, or sitting next to a Wi-Fi laptop,
it's about the same as what's coming from a mast 200 yards away.
The UK government gave the UK Health Protection Agency 300,000
pounds sterling to go and do the work to just prove us wrong.
Actually they found slightly higher levels than we reported
on the Panorama program..."
How to Reconfigure
Your Wi-Fi Router to Minimize Unnecessary Transmission
Most wireless
access points (APs) and routers automatically transmit their service
set identifier (SSID or network name) into open air every few seconds.
This feature of Wi-Fi network protocols is intended to allow users
to dynamically discover and roam between WLANs / WiFi Access Points.
But in private Wi-Fi networks, such as your home, roaming is largely
unnecessary and the SSID broadcast feature serves no useful purpose
apart from continuously irradiating the area with pulsed microwaves,
and also making it easier for hackers to gain access.
Philips strongly
recommends disabling the SSID broadcast feature to prevent 24-7
microwave pulsing and also improve the security of your network.
Once your portable
PCs, etc, are manually configured with the right SSID, they no longer
require these background broadcast messages.
A service set
identifier, or SSID, is a name used to identify the particular 802.11
wireless LANs to which a user wants to attach. Configure your WiFi
router so that it won't broadcast your SSID.
As most manufacturers
ship their routers with same generic SSID, Philips suggests you
also increase your security by changing the SSID (e.g. to a name
unique to you). That new SSID then needs to be added in the wireless
set-up for your laptop and any other wireless devices that you use.
(Note: it is not essential to change the SSID in the WLAN and laptop
but is recommended for security.)
Is there Such
a Thing as a Safe Cell Phone?
I've previously
reported that GSM
phones are far more dangerous because they emit 28 times more
radiation than CDMA phones. Opting for a GSM phone is certainly
advisable; however it's NOT a guarantee of safety.
Neither should
you mistake the SAR (specific absorption rate) value on your phone
as being indicative of its safety. Buying a low SAR phone is a false
sense of security, because the SAR rating has nothing to
do with the non-ionizing radiation emitted and only is gauge of
the intensity of the heating effect, and simply comparing one phone
to another.
A major hurdle
we have to face is the fact that we still do not know exactly what
the biologically active part, or parts, of the wireless signal is.
We're getting closer, and some researchers, such as Dr.
Martin Blank, can now explain at least a few of the mechanisms of
harm on the cellular and DNA level. But we're also dealing with
a very rapidly changing field, so researchers investigating the
potential impact of new technology certainly have their hands full
trying to keep up, and they're always behind since they're investigating
technology after its been released.
"George
Carlo, who... ran the 27 million dollar CTIA program in the 90s
on cell phones [to determine if] it was causing harm... says it's
information-carrying radio waves; it's how you get the information
modulated on to the radio waves. But we don't know whether it's
the pulsing, the pulse rate, the type of modulation [or something
else]," Philips says.
"The trouble
is the industry tries to get more bandwidth... and everything is
changing the way this is done year by year.
We don't
know whether GSM cellphones, the second generation cellphones are
worse or not. The third generation, if you are broadcasting video
or you are streaming from your camera, then there is a lot of power
coming out of your camera and you drain the battery quite quickly.
So you can have higher power from them but actually, if you're in
a good area and you're just using a voice call, then they irradiate
you less than the older cellphones. However, we don't know if that's
safer. We just don't know."
How to Protect
Yourself from EMF
We're still
in the infancy of EMF science as it relates to understanding the
mechanism of the human health effects, but there is enough solid
evidence to show that there are very real risks apparent.
It is time to exercise the precautionary principle, but keep in
mind that completely eliminating exposure is close to impossible.
Even if you
don't use a cell phone and your home is wireless-free, you can be
exposed to microwave radiation from your neighbor's wireless devices
or while visiting "hot spots" or traveling near cell phone towers.
That said, there's still plenty you can do to minimize your exposure
and help safeguard your children's health:
Children
Should Never Use Cell Phones: Barring a life-threatening
emergency, children should not use a cell phone, or a wireless
device of any type. Children are far more vulnerable to cell phone
radiation than adults, because of their thinner skull bones, and
still developing immune and neurological systems.
Reduce
Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone off more often.
Reserve it for emergencies or important matters. As long as your
cell phone is on, it emits radiation intermittently, even when
you are not actually making a call.
Leave an
outgoing message on your phone stating your cell phone policy
so others know not to call you on it except in emergencies.
Use
a Land Line at Home and at Work: Although more and more
people are switching to using cell phones as their exclusive phone
contact, it is a dangerous trend and you can choose to opt out
of the madness.
Reduce
or Eliminate Your Use of Other Wireless Devices: You
would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with
cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you
really need to use them every single time.
If you must use a portable home phone, use the older kind that
operates at 900 MHz. They are no safer during calls, but at least
some of them do not broadcast constantly even when no call is
being made. Note the only way to truly be sure if there is an
exposure from your cordless phone is to measure with an electrosmog
meter, and it must be one that goes up to the frequency of your
portable phone (so old meters won't help much). As many portable
phones are 5.8 Gigahertz, we recommend you look for RF meters
that go up to 8 Gigahertz, the highest range now available in
a meter suitable for consumers.
Alternatively you can be very careful with the base station placement
as that causes the bulk of the problem since it transmits signals
24/7, even when you aren't talking. So if you can keep the base
station at least three rooms away from where you spend most of
your time, and especially your bedroom, it may not be as damaging
to your health.
Ideally it would be helpful to turn off or disconnect your base
station every night before you go to bed. Levels of microwave
radiation from portable phones can be extraordinarily high.
You can find RF meters at www.emfsafetystore.com.
But you can pretty much be sure your portable phone is a problem
if the technology is labeled DECT, or digitally enhanced cordless
technology.
Limit
Your Cell Phone Use to Where Reception is Good: The weaker
the reception, the more power your phone must use to transmit,
and the more power it uses, the more radiation it emits, and the
deeper the dangerous radio waves penetrate into your body. Ideally,
you should only use your phone with full bars and good reception.
Also seek to avoid carrying your phone on your body as that merely
maximizes any potential exposure. Ideally put it in your purse
or carrying bag. Placing a cell phone in a shirt pocket over the
heart is asking for trouble, as is placing it in a man's pocket
if he seeks to preserve his fertility.
Don't
Assume One Cell Phone is Safer than Another. There's
no such thing as a "safe" cell phone, and do not rely on the SAR
value to evaluate the safety of your phone. Always seek CDMA carriers
over GSM as they have far lower radiation in their signaling technology.
And remember, eliminating cell phone use, or greatly lowering
cell phone use from phones of all kinds, is where true prevention
begins.
Keep
Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On: The
most dangerous place to be, in terms of radiation exposure, is
within about six inches of the emitting antenna. You do not want
any part of your body within that area.
Respect
Others Who are More Sensitive: Some people who have become
sensitive can feel the effects of others' cell phones in the same
room, even when it is on but not being used. If you are in a meeting,
on public transportation, in a courtroom or other public places,
such as a doctor's office, keep your cell phone turned off out
of consideration for the 'second hand radiation' effects. Children
are also more vulnerable, so please avoid using your cell phone
near children.
Use
Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will certainly
allow you to keep the cell phone farther away from your body.
However, if a wired headset is not well-shielded the wire itself
acts as an antenna attracting ambient information carrying radio
waves and transmitting radiation directly to your brain. Make
sure that the wire used to transmit the signal to your ear is
shielded.
The best
kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube
headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the
information to your head as an actual sound wave; although there
are wires that still must be shielded, there is no wire that
goes all the way up to your head.
More Information
Alasdair Philips
has been active in this field for 23 years now, and has compiled
quite a bit of resources during that time. The
Power Watch website is a great resource, although he apologizes
that the organization hasn't had the resources to maintain it quite
as well as they'd like. Still, you can find a wealth of articles
in the library. Access only requires free registration with the
site. They have articles relating to all aspects of EMF,
from cancer risks to how to properly wire your home to reduce EMF.
