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Hidden Dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation from Communication Towers, Power Lines and Cellphones
Commissioned by Ralph Ross, Chairman, and Terry Wilkinson, Committee, Member of Christchurch Combined Residents Assn.
The frogs stopped
croaking
dead fish lay
floating
no more ladybirds
on the grass
damn and blast the
microwave mast
platelets lessening
heart pump quaking
technological advancement
human contaminant
radiated toys for boys
in my head the
high pitched noise
this land I carved with
flowers of joy
is this the kiwi
money curse
must some dear souls
drop dead first
will I see Val��s
auricula
Burnt Butterscotch
bloom by fall
do human beings
count at all?
by Jenny Barrer
(Who lives 100 metres from the microwave tower)
http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/ouruhia/
By Penny Hargreaves
& Denise Ward
Recommendations by
Dr Neil Cherry
Health Database Contact
Diana Pennell
Email dp.emr@hotmail.com
Contents
Index to
Christchurch
Residents were invited to attend meetings, in 1999, organised by the
Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Environment to evaluate the
Discussion Document on Guidelines for Electromagnetic Emissions.
Similar meetings were held in Auckland. Dr Gledhill, Dr Bates,
and Isobel Stout were there as advisers to these meetings. These
three people have represented the communication industry at hearings
and are therefore not Independent.
Dr Cherry was
there, as representative for the Protection of Children Trust and Public
representative on the Standards Committee.
The Officers
of the Ministries outlined the required outcomes as set out in Government
Cabinet Minutes. This included making the situation easier and
cheaper for the Telecommunication Industry and local bodies, harmonizing
the health guidelines with International Guidelines i.e. International
Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), and allaying
public fears about possible health effects.
The Christchurch
Community groups challenged this at the outset, but our concerns were
ignored. The whole consultation process was biased, predetermined and
therefore, we believe, flawed and inappropriate.
Submissions
were invited on this discussion document by the Ministries. Although
the public were not adequately notified, more than 80 people put in
submissions. In April 2000, the Ministries notified communities
that submissions had been received, but apart from wording changes there
were no obvious concerns included.
In December
2000 the combined Ministries accepted the ICNIRP Standard as a safe
level of exposure in New Zealand.
Sue Kedgely
(Green Party MP) and Tim Barnett (Labour MP) obtained the submissions
for us under the Information Act. More than 50% expressed concerns with
the process, and had doubts as to the safety of people exposed to EMR
emissions to levels within the New Zealand Standard. Truthfulness
and public welfare had once again been ignored.
The Combined
Residents Associations is working to achieve balanced public representation
on the New Zealand Standards Committee. The Standards Committee
is not independent, most of the members are industry related representatives.
There is no Independent Body to monitor EMR emissions or to protect
people. The National Radiation Laboratory, is an arm of the Ministry
of Health, but also represents industry interests at Communication Hearings,
and therefore does not provide an independent opinion or independent
monitoring facility.
The Christchurch
Combined Residents (consisting of more than 80 neighbourhood groups)
represented by Ralph Ross, Chairman of the combined residents group,
and Terry Wilkinson, President of the Ouruhia Association, have commissioned,
Penny Hargreaves, Denise Ward, (lives near Philpotts Rd aerial) to:-
1. Compile
case stories from affected residents living near communication sites.
2. Collate
International Scientific Research information on health effects found
within the ICNIRP Standard, both in the laboratories and near communication
sites.
3. Access
expert opinions on safer alternative technology.
4. Communicate
this information to responsible people in our Government, research scientists
and to other interested or affected parties.
Recently Retired
Senior Electrical Engineering Lecturer at Canterbury University who
has worked in Industry, Vassilos Kerdemelidis, comments on the Discussion
Document ��New Zealand Guidelines for Radio Frequency Emissions (1999).
Chapter 1 paragraph 1.
Scope of
guidelines. "address how to manage the effects.��
A rather unfortunate but accurate choice of words. What comes
to mind are: ��managing the news, managing opinions.��
Chapter 2
I take strong
exception to the constant differentiation between ��ionising�� vs.
��non-ionising�� radiation. I find it as a device that naturally
implies that ��non-ionising�� radiation is SAFE. But, in fact,
the 3-D molecular structures are affected by EM fields regardless of
their frequency. This makes ��non-ionising�� fields just as
hazardous when the 3-D form is important in biota.
Chapter 3
Understanding
Science. The ��Standards�� are set by technological requirements
and, health effects (long-term, especially) are only secondary and,
really, an afterthought. Because of the variability of human physiology
and its reaction to fields and field levels, only epidemiological studies,
for the most part, are presently used. These studies are difficult
to reproduce due to the statistical nature of the variables. Until
now, any reported positive findings are quickly discredited by a determined
opposition. This does not imply that there is no correlation between
cause and effects - it��s just (as) easy to cast doubt by setting up
an experiment or study with the purpose of discrediting the positive
findings.
Throughout
the (discussion document) the same themes resound; Some of the lines
are: -
1. ��Non-Ionising
Radiation�� - This term is supposed to, automatically make EM fields
safe. The fact remains that RF and any time varying EM field will
affect the 3-D structure of biological molecules and hence present an
unknown biohazard.
2. Non-polluting��
nature of RF fields. Since both ionising and non-ionising
radiation��s affect structures of air molecules just as easily as any
other physical or biological object, this term is only legalistic and
semantic cover for space pollution.
3. ��Dose
related effects.�� This is the position taken by industrial and
��standard�� setting bodies. The approach ignores the facts
that resonances in systems both animal and inanimate occur at certain
frequencies and field levels. Not necessarily at the highest fields.
4. Biological
effects vs. known mechanisms of interaction. This is a well-worn
line taken by parties intending on spreading transmitters in communities.
As we have no known/established mechanism for interaction between EM
fields and living organisms, there is no hazard (except for the obvious
heating effects). In real life, there are numerous confirmed hazards
that have no known or agreed mechanisms.
The extra radiation
contributed by the new transmitter is a small addition to the
already crowded spectrum. One may, perhaps, be reminded of the
poor camel and the ��Last Straw.�� Every bit hurts / counts.
Some general
comments on the guidelines on RF transmitters.
One only needs
to read the ��Executive Summary�� to note the tone of the publication.
Briefly, it��s apparent intent is to provide an easy, fussless and
cheap way for the telecom companies to install transmitters at any location
and at any time without bothering with the local communities�� concerns.
These ��guidelines��,
in fact, take away the power of the communities and urban authorities
to decide what is best for them. I was under the impression that
the trend from Wellington was to devolve power and allow communities
to take charge of own affairs and decide if they wished to proceed with
the new technologies.
Finally, I
fail to see any redeeming points in the guidelines, as it seems to be
anti community oriented.��
December 2001.
The Ministry
of Health and Ministry of the Environment adopted the higher International
Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection Standard. (ICNIRP)
In the Ministries
booklet ��National Guidelines for Managing the Effects of Radio-frequency
Transmitters�� they attempt to justify the new standard.
Extracts from
Chapter 4:- ��The ICNIRP guidelines have been incorporated into the
1999 New Zealand Standard. In addition, the Standard includes practical
advice on the implementation of the guidelines (for example in demonstrating
compliance)
Therefore,
as the basis for controlling exposures to radiofrequency fields, the
Ministry of Health recommends strict application of the exposure limits
in the New Zealand Standard. The recommendation is based on the following;
Authors note :- Christchurch Residents�� experiences contradict the above claims and demonstrate serious health effects from Exposure to Electromagnetic radiation levels within the ICNIRP Standard.
1. The ICNIRP
studies have used animals in their studies, mainly rodents. Rodents
have a number of anatomical, physiological, metabolic, and behavioural
dissimilarities when compared with humans (Oser 1981). It
is possible that these differences may limit the utility of the experimental
data or complicate the interpretation of the data. An anatomic
difference that may have some bearing on RF absorption in rodents is
that they are fur bearing. More important rodents do not sweat, a major
thermo-physiological cooling mechanism in human beings.
The experiments
are trying to model an RF induced thermal response in human beings by
extrapolation from the rodent. Most studies were short term and
evaluated acute effects at a single frequency and single SAR. There
have been relatively few long term experiments.
2. The
Russian Standard was achieved by identifying effects on nervous system
and behaviour effects. Unlike the ICNIRP studies many of the Russian
studies were undertaken from human exposure at communication sites and
those that were undertaken in laboratories were very thorough.
Microwaves
news, November 1985 report, does not support ICNIRP��s claim ��of
lack of defined rationale:�� It says�� Dr Bill Guy, of the University
of Washington, and Dr Don Justesen, of Kansas��s City��s VA hospital
visited various laboratories in the Soviet Union in October 1985. The
visiting scientists reported that the Russians work in large interdisciplinary
teams, with no skimping on equipment. Both admitted envy at what
they saw and compared the obviously flourishing Soviet bio-electro-magnetics
programme with the faltering American one.��
3. In 2001 an
American Researcher believes ICNIRP is not up to date:- Dr George
Carlo, a medical Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Scientist
was employed by the Wireless Industry in 1993 to head a $25million research
and surveillance program that in the words of the industry ��would
assure the public that cell phones were safe.��
One by one
alarming signs appeared in Dr Carlo��s research: that cell phones interfere
with heart pace makers; that the developing
skulls of children are penetrated deeply by the energy emitted by a
cell phone. The blood brain barrier which prevents invasion of
the brain by toxins, can be compromised by cell phone radiation: and
most startlingly, that radio frequency radiation creates micro nuclei
in human blood cells, a type of genetic damage know to be a diagnostic
marker for cancer.
As Dr Carlo
continued turning up scientific findings that cell phones may pose health
risks, the industry responded by not renewing his research funding,
and sought to discredit him personally among reporters and other scientists.
Undeterred, he redoubled his efforts to learn the truth and discover
what critical safeguards can still be devised to protect the public
health
In 2001 he
published ��Cell phones – Invisible hazards in the wireless age,
and insiders alarming discoveries about cancer and genetic damage��:-
He says
��THE OLD
STANDARD WAS BASED UPON OLD DATA, OLD SCIENCE AND OLD
THEORIES THAT ARE INVALID, PERHAPS DANGEROUSLY SO.��
We hope
the information presented here will encourage the Australian and New
Zealand governments to thoroughly investigate health concerns, to abandon
the ICNIRP out of date standard, and to adopt the new Salzburg Guidelines
of O.1W/cm. This is lower than that of
Russia, China, Switzerland, Italy etc. who are already 1000 times lower
than ICNIRP.
Do these countries
value their peoples�� health more than the governments of Australia
and New Zealand?
Salzburg officials
began working on cell tower radiation in 1997, and over the following
two years developed a ��precautionary�� proposal.
��It��s a
classic issue for public health officials�� said Dr Gerd Oberfield
of the Salzburg��s Public Health Department at an international
meeting sponsored by Salzburg officials to showcase their new draft
limits. Oberfield explained that the new standard is based on
a study of effects on sleep, by Dr Klaus Mann and Joachim Roschke of
Germany��s University of Maine.
(Microwave
News, J94 and J98) On March 29th Salzburg officially
asked the Austrian Government to adopt the limit nationwide.
Those who support
the World Health Organisation��s (WHO), EMF project, and favour the
ICNIRP exposure standards were in the minority at the Salzburg meeting.
Although WHO��s
Dr Michael Repacholi and ICNIRP members were invited, none of them attended.
��WHO is deaf
in one ear and blind in one eye�� said Dr Christoph Konig of the Salzburg
Public Health Department. ��How do they justify not coming?��
��WHO is very industry friendly�� said Seigfried Zwere of Germany��s
Burgerwelle (Citizens Wave) a leading activist group.��
(Microwave
News, 2000,July /Aug) Belgians favour precautionary limits
for tower radiation (Microwave News, 2000, Sept/Oct). The
Regional Government of Brussels is moving towards a 3V/M standard for
radiation exposures from telecom towers.
This would
be even lower than comparable rules in Italy and Switzerland, currently
the strictest in Europe.
All of these
countries continue to utilise modern technology within their more conservative,
precautionary guidelines for radiofrequency emissions.
As you can see from the above map New
Zealand has now increased the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) levels
people can be exposed to in their daily lives. Russia has undertaken
intensive and thorough research and their exposure levels are 1000 times
lower than New Zealand. Italy, Switzerland and China are also
operating at those lower, safer, level.
G.J.Hyland
(Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Conventry, England) writes
that
��The importance
of ensuring compatibility between activated electronic instrumentation
of various kinds and the pulsed microwave radiation currently used in
GSM mobile telephony is well recognised and generally accepted.�� (Editorial,
New Scientist Journal, 2000, 4th November) ��Prohibition
of the use of cellular phones in aircraft and in hospitals, on the grounds
that their emissions might adversely interfere with the operation of
sensitive electronic equipment, is familiar. Their possible deleterious
effect on personal medical devices such as heart
pacemakers, defibrillators and insulin pumps has been the subject of
a number of published scientific studies in recent years. Given that,
it is inconceivable - at least in the case of aviational and hospital
equipment - that the interference could arise from the heating effect
of the radiation, some other non thermal influence of the radiation,
must here (at least tacitly) be considered to be responsible.
��Unfortunately,
however the same considerations do not currently extend to the alive
human organism, which is generally considered to be immune from adverse
influences of GSM radiation on account of its intensity being far too
low to cause any deleterious degree of body tissue heating (as quantified
through the so – called specific absorption rate, (or SAR). For, contrary
to case of electronic instrumentation, it is generally accepted that
for humans, adverse effects can arise only from excessive heating. Indeed
this belief is reflected in the relative leniency of the ICNIRP Safety
Guidelines which permit us to be exposed to electric fields that are
over ten times stronger than the limit of 3V/m limit that is applicable
to all electronic goods offered for sale in the EU under current legislation
on Electromagnetic Compatibility(EMC)..��
A good example
of the prevailing disregard for what might be termed ��electromagnetic
bio incompatibility�� is the development of the Trans European/Terrestrial
Enhanced Trunked Radio Access (TETRA) which operates at somewhat higher
powers than does GSM, and over a much wider range of microwave carrier
frequencies. Most disturbing, however, is the fact that the at basic
frame repetition rate is here 17.6 Hz.
For this frequency
(which lies in the range of beta brain-wave activity) is close both
to that at which a flashing visible light can provoke seizures in people
with photosensitive epilepsy, and to the modulation frequency at which
there is a maximum in the expression of calcium ions from brain cells
when they are irradiated with pulsed, low intensity electromagnetic
radiation over a wide range of carrier frequencies.
It should be
remembered that these ions play a crucial role in inter–cellular communication,
any interference with which could well undermine the integrity of the
whole nervous system, although the extent to which this actually occurs
is at present uncertain, owing to a lack of necessary research.
Furthermore, in consequence of the lower frequency band assigned to
the emergency services (9380MHZ – 400MHz) the penetration of the radiation
is here much greater than it is with GSM, facilitating its deeper access
into the brain directly through the skull.
Indications of Non Thermal Influences Hyland continues
��The popular
belief that adverse health effects can be induced only by the heating
effect of GSM radiation is, however, a fallacy. Firstly there is rather
consistent empirical, anecdotal evidence from many countries that the
health of some people is adversely affected in various ways, (see below)
when they are exposed to this kind of radiation, despite its intensity
being well below existing standard limits based on SAR values. Secondly,
whilst it is, of course, perfectly true that the occurrence of a non-thermal
influence does not necessarily entail any adverse consequence for human
health, there is, nevertheless, an undeniable consistency that cannot
be ignored.
The nature
of many of these reported adverse health effects and the extensive portfolio
of non-thermal effects that have been published in the peer reviewed,
scientific literature during the last 30 years, (indicate that) the
kind of radiation now used in GSM telephony can and does
affect live organisms in various non thermal ways, in accordance with
the quite general (non-equilibrium) predictions of modern, non linear
bio physics.
Thirdly there
is documented evidence that long term (involuntary) exposure to microwave
radiation of an intensity intermediate between that realised near an
active hand set, and that found in the vicinity of an Base station (but
at slightly higher carrier frequencies than used in GSM) does cause
serious illness such as leukaemia and lymphoma, in certain exposed people.
Partly responsible
for the reluctance to accept the reality of non thermal effects is not
only their often counter-intuitive nature, as exemplified, for instance,
by the fact that they often become more marked as the strength of the
irradiating field decreases – but also the difficulties
sometimes experienced in the attempts to replicate them.
On the other
hand, the equal reluctance to accept that they can provoke adverse health
reactions in some people can be attributed - at least in part - to a
general lack of appreciation that electromagnetic fields are not alien
to an alive organism, but actually play a rather fundamental and integral
role in its organisation and control. (This occurs) from the cellular
level upwards i.e. that an alive organism in itself is an electromagnetic
instrument of great and exquisite sensitivity. As such, (it) is just
as vulnerable to being deleteriously interfered with (non thermally)
by external electromagnetic fields as is an activated piece of electronic
equipment, (although in the latter case the influence of a given field
is always the same, unlike the situation with an alive organism.)
The hypersensitivity
of the alive human organism to ultra weak microwave radiation is amply
borne out by the way in which this kind of radiation has been found
to affect a wide variety of brain functions - such as electrical activity
(EEG) electrochemistry, and the permeability of the brain barrier and
to degrade the immune system. Although the precise way in which these
influences actually provoke adverse health reactions is at present unclear,
there is, as already noted, an undeniable consistency between some of
these non-thermal influences and the nature of many of the health problems
reported such as headache, sleep disruption, impairment of short term
memory, and, more seriously significant increases in the frequency of
seizures in some epileptic children when exposed to base station radiation
and of brain tumours amongst users of mobile phones.
Thus, for example,
the reports of headaches are consistent with the fact that microwaves
are known to non –thermally affect the dopamine-opiate system of the
brain and to increase the permeability of the blood brain barrier, since
both of these have been medically connected with headache. The
reports of sleep disruption, on the other hand, are consistent with
the effect of GSM radiation on rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and on
melatonin levels- the latter being found also epidemiologically, in
the case of RF exposure- whilst memory impairment is consistent with
the finding that the microwave radiation targets the hippocampus. Furthermore,
since there is no reason to suppose the seizure inducing ability of
a flashing visible light does not extend to (invisible) microwave radiation
(which can access the brain directly through the skull), flashing at
a similarly low frequency, together with the fact that exposure to this
kind of radiation is known to induce epileptic activity in certain animals,
reports of increased seizure activity in some children, that already
suffer from epilepsy are perhaps not surprising.
Finally, the
statistically significant increase (by a factor of between 2 and 3)
amongst users of mobile phones in the incidence of a rather rare kind
of tumour (epithelial neuroma) in the periphery of the brain (where
the radiation has the greatest access) the laterality of which correlates
with cell phone use, which has been found in a nation-wide epidemiological
study in the USA as part of the Wireless Technology Research (WTR) program.
The Way
Forward: It is clear that whilst the question of precisely how
adverse health effects can be provoked by non-thermal influences of
the pulsed microwave radiation currently employed in GSM telecommunication
is far from resolved, the circumstantial evidence consistent with this
possibility suggests at least two ways in which bio-compatibility with
this technology could be enhanced.
To appeal to
the (alleged) absence of health problems (from) higher power density
electromagnetic fields associated with radio/TV transmissions, in an
attempt to justify the retention of the present level of emission from
GSM base stations, is untenable on at least two accounts.
The authors
of this history, Penny Hargreaves and Denise Ward, can verify the debilitating
consequences of exposure to Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from radio
transmissions. The symptoms suffered from are similar to those
experienced by residents near an AM transmitter at Schwarzenberg, Berne,
Switzerland, who fought for 5 years for a health study. An intensive
study was finally conducted in the area and at the conclusion the antenna
was relocated. The electromagnetic levels Schwarzenberg people
were exposed to were similar to those found at Ouruhia, Philpott��s
Rd, Southshore, and Victoria Park communication sites.
Case stories
have been compiled from people living near the above communication
(transmitter) sites in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Most of them had enjoyed good health prior to exposure. Many
of their previously healthy animals experienced similar adverse health
problems.
95% of these
people experienced problems with their home electronic equipment at
the same time as the illnesses developed. For example, radio transmissions
from the local transmission aerial coming down the telephone and, in
some cases TV. Light bulbs continuously blowing, problems with
automatic doors, computer interference etc.
Dr Hyland discussed
the implications of EMR exposure and the effects on sensitive electronic
equipment and raises the issue that the same consideration does not
currently extend to the alive human organism which is generally considered
to be immune from GSM radiation on account of its intensity being far
too low to cause any deleterious degree of body tissue heating, for
contrary to cases of electronic instrumentation it is generally accepted
that for humans adverse effects can arise only from excessive heating.
Our evidence
demonstrates where there is electronic interference from radio emissions
people have suddenly become ill with symptoms of radiation sickness,
suicide, cancer, heart problems etc.
In all but
three of the Case Stories, people were exposed to Electromagnetic Radiation
(EMR) , monitored at levels within the (ICNIRP), and the New Zealand
Standard.
The symptoms
experienced by those exposed to EMR fields higher than the standard
for a minimum of three hours a day, are similar to those exposed for
24 hours a day at levels within the New Zealand Standard. Two of the
people exposed for more than six years to the higher levels have not
recovered and have ongoing health problems. Several of the case
stories, of those no longer exposed, also show ongoing health problems,
which they believe have been caused by many years of exposure to the
FM/AM transmissions at levels within the New Zealand Standard.
The indications
are that the ICNIRP Standard for emissions is too high, and that due
attention has not been given to long-term accumulated effects.
Our experiences,
and international research, also indicate that it is not just the intensity
of the transmissions, but also the specific frequency, which is causing
the adverse effects.
Electro Magnetic
Field Researcher, Professor W. Adey. Veterans Administration Medical
Centre and University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California.
Bioeffects
of Mobile Communication Fields---Possible mechanisms for Cumulative
dose. (1996).
He says ��there are important biomedical considerations associated with longer term exposure to any environmental factor capable of tissue interactions. These include effects specifically attributable to intermittency of exposure, frequency of current exposure, interactions involving simultaneous exposure to multiple factors, age of exposure, and at onset even considerations of ethnicity that may determine individual susceptibility. Moreover these RF technologies continue to evolve with new products differing significantly in the same application from one continent to another, as well as on a National basis.
RF Frequencies
strongly influence field coupling to the human body. Many instances
of specificity in tissue interactions appear related to certain patterns
of amplitude or pulse modulation in ELF frequencies. With threshold
phenomena based on sensitivity to modulation frequencies much laboratory
evidence is consistent with ATHERMAL models
For five years, the authors of this history,have lobbied both the New Zealand National, and Labour Governments, for health studies to investigate the adverse effects experienced near transmitter towers in Christchurch. There are no other towers in New Zealand close to populations transmitting AM/FM from low lying, marshy sites, as we have in the North East of Christchurch. Ouruhia, Philpotts Rd and Hills Rd transmitters are all located within 5 kilometres of each other and the interlinking of frequencies has not been allowed for. This would not be permitted in Italy where towers are not allowed to be built where frequencies can overlap.
The answer, from The Ministry of Health, has always been:-
��We have been advised that no adverse health effects have ever been found directly attributable to radio-frequency radiations, but that, on the other hand, research had not proved conclusively that there are no possible adverse health effects.
The Ministry of Health is maintaining its involvement in the international project established by the World Health Organisation, WHO, which is carefully analysing and reporting on effects of radio-frequency radiations and exposure guidelines.��(EoQ)
Salzburg Public Health Department experiences demonstrates that WHO is not investigating reports of adverse effects. The World Health Organisation has not investigated the adverse effects experienced from the Christchurch transmitters.
If adverse
health effects are not investigated The World Health Organisation can
continue to support ICNIRP claims that there are no health
effects from electromagnetic emission levels within their Standard.
Penny and Denise are not scientists or university researchers. They are two ordinary New Zealanders whose lives have been torn asunder�� by the detrimental effects of these emissions. They have spent hundreds of hours reading and documenting research which endorses the links between EMR exposure and the illnesses people are suffering from after exposure to EMR fields.. They have talked to affected people near transmission sites, scientists, officers from Departments of Commerce, Health and the Environment, and Members of Parliament. They have found:-
a. there is no independent body to advise the Ministry of Health or to protect the people.
b. The National Radiation Laboratory(NRL) is an arm of the Ministry of Health but also represents communication companies at hearings and is therefore not independent.
c. The Committee responsible for setting the Standard is predominantly Industry representatives and again is not independent.
When adversely affected people have asked the authorities for help the Government has responded that they are advised ��there are no effects from EMR exposure within the NZ Standard.�� NRL and representatives of the Standard Committee acts as government advisers, however their recommendations hardly independent of industry.
Dr Robert O.
Becker, is a United States pioneering researcher, and National authority
in Biological Electricity and Regeneration. He is a full professor
at the State University of New York, Upstate Medical Centre, and Louisiana
State University and Medical Centre.
In his book ��Crosscurrents ��Dr Becker endorses our grave concerns.;- In 1963 I was asked to write an article reviewing the scientific literature on the biological effects of magnetic fields. I was able to list a total of 44 published papers. The volume of reports has now grown to a point in which more than a thousand scientific papers on this topic are published each year.
He writes:- ��The Hazards are real - All abnormal man made electromagnetic fields regardless of their frequencies produce the same biological effects. These effects which deviate from normal functions and are actually or potentially harmful are the following:
These bio-effects interrelate to influence the clinical state of a human being who is chronically exposed to any abnormal field. For example the stress effect results in a number of stress related diseases. If prolonged this decreases the efficiency of the immune system resulting in an increased incidence of infectious diseases and cancers.
He says ��Our
ability to generate the entire spectrum of electromagnetic fields is
a two edged sword. With no understanding of the relationships
of these fields to living organisms we have produced a global environment
alteration that has profound implications for human health. Now that
we have finally become aware of the serious consequences of this
mistake we have the responsibility to take actions to reduce this threat
to future generations. At the same time as we learn more about subtleties
of the relationships between electromagnetic energy and living organisms
we will acquire increased knowledge of how living things function. This
knowledge will better enable us to electro-magnetic energy in our social
and economic affairs and in our medical care systems. The new
paradigm of life energy and medicine has the capacity to produce a better
world for our children if we act wisely - and quickly����
INDUSTRY��S VIEW AND CITIZEN ACTION. Risk Benefit analysis.
Dr Becker
continues(page 292- 293)
��There are
two types of scientists who become involved in the issue of electromagnetic
–field health risks. First are the experts on the biological effects
of electromagnetic fields, who often take diametrically opposite views.
Some emphatically insist that no harmful effects can occur while others
are adamant real hazards already exist. Some can be tempted to shade
their opinions for certain considerations. It is quite possible to slant
a presentation by ignoring positive data indicating risk or to require
of such data a much higher standard of scientific rigor than for negative
data. The usual recommendation from this type of expert consultant is
that some risk may be present, but that it requires more study in order
to be clarified, and in any event it is not significant enough to prevent
an installation being constructed.
The citizens
group in opposition to the planned construction generally lack the resources
to hire scientific experts who share their concerns. Having been
involved in such situations more times than I would like, I am of the
opinion that legal steps should be taken to require that industry, or
governmental agency involved in such a situation, correct the inequality
by providing the same amount of dollars that the industry, or agency,
itself spends on expert testimony.
Some corrective measures are urgently needed in this entire process, not only in regard to electromagnetic field producing installations but also to the entire range of technological innovations that impinge on the general environment. Until appropriate measures are taken by the responsible government agencies, it is up to individuals to make their own risk/benefit analysis and to take those steps that they feel are prudent to protect their health and the health of their children.��
Page 299
Crosscurrents My work on electrical control systems and the
bio-effects of electromagnetic fields involved me in this controversy
early in the 1970s. It quickly became apparent to me that evidence for
Non-thermal effects was viewed as a threat to national security.
This view led
to the policy of denying non thermal effects from any electromagnetic
usage, whether military or civilian. To accomplish this policy
objective several specific actions were taken as follows.
Control over
the scientific establishment was maintained by allocating research funds
in such a way as to ensure that only ��approved�� projects—that
is projects that would not challenge the thermal-effects standard –
would be undertaken. The formal scientific establishments of the
United States were mobilized.
When serious
challenges to the thermal effects standards were raised publicly, eminent
scientific boards, associations, or foundations were provided with lucrative
contracts to evaluate the state of knowledge of bio-effects of electromagnetic
fields. These investigations resulted in the production of voluminous
��reports��.
All
of these reports shared certain characteristics. Scientific data
indicating non thermal effects were either ignored or subjected to extensive
and destructive review. Scientists who reported the existence
of non thermal effects were ridiculed and were being portrayed as being
outside the main stream.
A group of
��manufactured�� experts was produced to serve as spokesmen and expert
witnesses. These were people with few qualifications for research
in this (or any) scientific field, who were provided with large research
grants placed on many committees, boards and international governmental
commissions dealing with the bio-effects of electromagnetic energy.
These ��experts�� were and still are, used to testify in legal proceedings
dealing with civilian installations such as power lines and micro-wave
relay systems.
Page 300)
Scientists who persisted in publicly raising the issue of harmful effects
from any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum were discredited
and their research grants were taken away.
Despite the
application of these measures, the question of harmful effects did not
go away but instead increased in intensity. The position of the government
has thus been forced to change. Their initial complete denial of any
non thermal effects was followed by acceptance of some non-thermal effects,
although these were characterised as being unimportant and transient.
At present the official position is that while there are some non thermal
effects that may be harmful, further study is required before any sudden
action is taken. These studies are going on, but all are under
the aegis of either the Defence Department or the industry involved.��
Andrew A. Marino,is Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Louisiana State University Medical School in Shreveport. Formerly he was research Biophysicist for many years at the Syracuse Veterans Administration Hospital in New York, and Faculty member at the State University of New York Up State Medical Centre in Syracuse. Dr Marino is editor of the Journal of Bioelectricity and co -author of the Electric Wilderness and Electromagnetism and Life. And Editor of Modern Bio-Electricity Currently serving as president of the International Society for Bioelectricity, Dr Marino has written many articles on the subject of Electromagnetic Radiation. He received the B.S. degree from St Joseph��s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and PhD. and J.D. degrees in biophysics and law, respectively, from Syracuse University in New York.
In ��Modern
Bio Electricity�� Summary of the Effects of Electromagnetic
Energy, Chapter 27.Andrew Marino says
��Chronic
exposure to a biological stressor is a risk factor for disease. Laboratory
studies show that electromagnetic fields can be biological stressors.
Such fields, when present in the environment, are therefore risk factors
for disease. The emergence of direct evidence of a link between electromagnetic
fields and one class of diseases-----cancer----has been facilitated
by the availability of cancer demographic data, and does not imply that
electromagnetic fields have a particular propensity to promote cancer
as opposed to heart disease, psychiatric disorders or other maladies.
Controversy,
or at the least the appearance of controversy, regarding the health
risks associated with environmental electromagnetic fields has developed
because the emerging scientific picture runs counter to the long standing
interests of some industries and government agencies in unbridled use
of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
The existence
of a link between electromagnetic fields in environment and disease
has been established despite the fact that many important details regarding
it remain undiscovered.��
Dr Gerald Hyland has similar observations.
Observer Newspaper
London
As a biophysicist,
his interest is in the human body, which is itself ��an electromagnetic
instrument of great and exquisite sensitivity�� For this reason, he
says, serious questions arise about the effects of things like mobile
telephones, transmission masts, VDUs, microwave ovens and radar.
��If by unlucky chance one of the these microwave pollutants matched
one of the key microwave patterns of the human body, then the result
may be quite dangerous.
In Russia,
where biophysics is more widely understood, manufacturers of microwave
emitting devices have safety precautions 1000 times more stringent than
those in the UK and US.
Hyland says
��there is world wide consistency in the symptoms reported by people
who live near mobile phone transmission masts---fatigue, sleeplessness,
short term memory loss, anxiety and damage to the immune system. Heating
is commonly believed to be the only effect which microwave radiation
can have. But the intensity of the radiation from these masts
is far lower than anything that could cause heating.
The persistent
reports of neurological effects indicate that some more subtle influence
is at work.�� The key factor he suggest is that, like all living systems
the human body is sensitive to not just the intensity of radiation but
also its frequency, or colour. And the problem is that safety
regulations are designed to limit intensity alone. ��In my view this
is why we are getting constant reports of neurological health effects.
Symptoms reported by people living in the vicinity of mobile phone masts
are often relegated to the realms of neurosis. Yet they are entirely
consistent with the known effects of this kind of radiation�� The important
difference between natural and artificial radiation is that the artificial
kind is more orderly, or ��coherent�� with all the waves in step with
each other. This is the quality that gives lasers their particular
potency, and the reason why artificial radiation has greater potential
to interfere with our bodies.��
He is concerned
that microwave signals in the latest digital phone systems are pulsed
�� The potential risk to health is illustrated by the way regular
flashing lights can induce epileptic seizures. It is the regularity
of the flashes rather than their brightness that causes the problem.
Since light and microwave radiation are both electromagnetic waves,
we cannot dismiss the possibility that exposure to pulsed microwaves
might trigger other pathological conditions. ��For this reason,��
he argues,�� that microwave field strength be reduced, that safety
regulations cover frequency as well as intensity, and that digital frequencies
be kept outside the range of human brainwaves��
DR BECKER
SAYS ��WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE��
��Crosscurrents��
page 266. �� At a time when cancers of many types are increasing
in incidence and virulence; the number of children born with developmental
defects is increasing; 50% of the population below the age of
45 have serious mental problems; major neurological degenerative diseases
are found in both the very young and the very old with increasing frequency,
and we have no effective treatments for any of these conditions.
What will be the effect upon our institutions and culture, if these trends continue to increase in extent? Clearly we are facing a crisis of major proportions, one that is all the more critical because it has not been recognised as such by the agencies responsible for dealing with it.
The Public MUST play a major role in resolving this problem. Without a public that is educated as to the real extent of the crisis and that demands effective action of its officials, NOTHING WILL BE DONE until the situation becomes so critical that remedial actions may be impossible. In addition to the environmental situation, people also have responsibilities for their own personal health and safety. None of these responsibilities can be delegated to others.��
Christchurch in 1997 had the highest suicide rate per person in New Zealand. Waitakere was second. Both these areas have been battling for years to have health studies conducted at local transmitter sites. Christchurch is the only city in NZ with several AM/FM transmitters situated in close proximity to each other at low lying sites, in a populated area. FM is normally on hill sites. International research links cancer clusters etc. with some frequencies more than 5 kilometres from the source. Christchurch has an increased incidence of cancer and respiratory problems and one school with three leukaemia cases. This is in an area within 3 kilometres of three AM and FM transmitters, and several cell phone towers.
Is there a connection here? Only research will give us the answers.
Italian authorities will not permit two antenna be built on the same site. Their limits for EMR emissions are breached if two antennas are built within 15 to 40 miles of each other as no overlapping of the transmitting range is allowed.
The majority of Christchurch population is within 5 kilometres of the Hills Rd. Philpott Rd, Southshore, and Ouruhia radio towers. Do we have more illness/ death where the cell phone tower emissions are interlinking with other transmissions or power lines?
Professor Abelin, currently World President for Preventive Medicine, and responsible for the Schwarzenberg research was funded by the Ouruhia residents to visit NZ. He was concerned with the siting of the Philpotts Rd radio tower in such a heavily populated area and. recommended a health study. The case stories compiled from that area indicate serious health problems when the FM transmission was added to the tower. The manager of the Philpott��s Rd radio tower has found a new site away from houses. However the Radio Rhema committee do not wish to move transmissions until adverse health effects are proven.
IGEF-expert
won case against mobile communications company as per verdict of the
High Court of Justice (Federal Court) of Austria.
Mr.Wulf Dietrich
Rose, expert in mobile communications, of Kitzb��hel, Austria, internationally
known for his research works in this field, won his court case for the
third time against Max Mobil as per the verdict of the High Austrian
Court of Justice (Federal Court) (Az 6 Ob 69/01t; verdict of 26 April
2001).
He proved through
his studies and researches that mobile radiation represents serious
health risks to the nearby living population like cancer, brain tumours,
genetic problems, and deformity of newly born.
In Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, Mr. Rose, IGEF has affected several measurements
and specific radiation studies and due to his expertise obtained that
already constructed mobile stations in residential areas were dismantled
or constructions were simply postponed. Example: Max Mobil (a daughter
company of German Telekom) could not increase the construction program
of their intended network system.
This positive
verdict by the High Court of Austria plus the repeated successes of
cases looked after by Mr. Rose, proved that his researches and studies
offer a solid legal base to request the transfer of already constructed
mobile emission stations, or the postponement of same, out of residential
areas in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or any other country, even if
the indicated norms and guidelines are rigorously respected by the mobile
communication companies.
Numerous studies
prove that the electromagnetic fields of mobile communications, reduces
the activity of the brain (including EEG), disrupts the sleep, changes
the time of reaction, increases the possibility of brain haemorrhage,
provokes lack of concentration, headaches, fatigue, nausea, loss of
memory, reduction of sperm and melatonin, change of DNA, increases blood
pressure, cellular perforation, risks of cancer, mainly brain tumour,
and influences the good functioning of pace-makers.
To continue
installing this technology, which is already well known for its health
risks, and against the resistance of already ill people, is not only
criminal but a real "mafia mentality", comments Mr. Rose.
Very interesting too: The High Court of Austria cited the decision of the International Court for Human Rights in Strassburg in the case of Dr. Hertel 1998 and said, national courts have to respect this decision for the future. That means, thanks to Dr. Hertel and his fight we are allowed to say and publish what we are thinking without fear to be punished.
Cell-phone
makers already fighting personal-injury lawsuits filed by a neurologist
claiming his mobile phone caused his brain cancer now will face a Baltimore
attorney who achieved legal fame with victories over asbestos manufacturers
and tobacco companies
Peter Angelos
filed class action lawsuits against Motorola, Verizon Wireless, and
23 other wireless companies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
New York , charging that the companies knew of health risks, including
the possibility of brain tumours, to cell-phone users, but failed to
warn them.
An extract from one of the submissions sent to the NZ Ministries by Australian Communication Giant, Telstra
TELSTRA ENCOURAGES ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO TRUTHFULLY
1. Declare all their interests.
2. Acknowledge their limitations in understanding the science
3. Acknowledge the wider public interest impacts of dealings within this issue beyond their own immediate interests.
IF THESE THREE POINTS WERE ACCEPTED THIS WOULD BE A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR DISCUSSING IMPORTANT ISSUES AND SETTING A SAFE NEW STANDARD FOR AUSTRALASIAN ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GUIDELINES.
WE REQUEST:-
Data Base.
We are interested
in collecting and collating relevant information from local people,
which is made available to us. We are especially interested in hearing
from those who have health problems which they think may be connected
with electro-magnetic transmissions. We seek information about:
* experiences/stories of peoples' individual/family/community
* responses from personal, expert, interested parties
* research articles/reports which we might have missed
* information
which could improve our understanding of this issue
Please send information to:
Di Pennell, SRN,CMB(Part I), BA, PGDHeal.Sc.
PO Box 5411, Papanui, Christchurch.
E-mail: dp.emr@hotmail.com
We also
need to adopt the other Australian recommendations listed below.
Media release
(4 May, 2001) from the Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) Alliance, in
Australia states:
��The Electromagnetic
Radiation Alliance of Australia (EMRAA) supports the recommendations
of the report released today by the Chair of the Senate Inquiry into
EMR, recommending:-
1 Precautionary measures for the placement of power lines
2 Information advising parents and children of the risk of mobile phone use
3 Testing, Labelling and regulation of protective devices for mobile phones
4 Changes to the Low Impact Determination that would require all mobile phone base stations to be subject to Council approval
5 A centralised registry to record reports of health problems from mobile phones and related technology
6 Additional funding for independent research into the safety of mobile phone technology
7 Establishment of a specialised EMR research unit at the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
8 No increases
to exposure levels in the new standard.
EMRAA welcomes
the report and encourages the relevant federal agencies to implement
the recommendations as soon as possible.��
"In light of the scientific evidence of risk and the symptoms that are being experienced by many members of the community, adopting such precautions to limit exposure is the only prudent course of action," said Lyn McLean, Secretary of the Alliance.
The full report ��Hidden Dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation from Communication Towers, Power Lines and Cellphones�� is available at cost from the Christchurch Green Party office ph (03) 372-1375 and from our website http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/ouruhia/ along with Full information on International Electromagnetic Research.
For weekly update view EM Facts Consultancy Web: http://www.taddie.net.au/emfacts/
We have
collected important evidence of athermal effects experienced by people
living near communication (transmitter) sites in Christchurch, New Zealand
– Victoria Park, Oruhia, Philpott��s Road, South Shore towers. We
enclose their case stories in this submission. Most of them had
enjoyed good health prior to exposure. Many of their previously healthy
animals experienced similar adverse health problems.
95% of these
people experienced problems with their home electronic equipment at
the same time as the illnesses developed. For example, radio transmissions
from the local transmission aerial coming down the telephone and, in
some cases TV. Light bulbs continuously blowing, problems with automatic
doors, computer interference etc.
Dr Hyland
discussed the implications of EMR exposure and the effects on sensitive
electronic equipment and raises the issue that the same consideration
does not currently extend to the alive human organism. Our evidence
demonstrates where there is electronic interference from radio emissions
people have become ill with symptoms of radiation sickness, suicide,
cancer, or heart problems.
In all but
three of the Case Stories, people were exposed to Electromagnetic Radiation
(EMR) , monitored at levels within the International Commission on Non
Ionizing Radiation Protection, (ICNIRP), and the New Zealand Standard.
The
symptoms experienced by those exposed to EMR fields higher than the
standard for a minimum of three hours a day, are similar to those exposed
for 24 hours a day at levels within the New Zealand Standard. Two of
the people exposed for more than six years to the higher levels have
not recovered and have ongoing health problems. Several of the
case stories, of those no longer exposed, show ongoing health problems,
which they believe have been caused by many years of exposure to the
FM/AM transmissions at levels within the New Zealand Standard.
The indications are that the ICNIRP Standard for emissions is too high, and that due attention has not been given to long-term accumulated effects.
Our experiences
also indicate that it is not just the intensity of
the transmissions, but also the specific frequency, which is causing
the adverse effects.
Built in 1984, situated 100 metres from the home, and 20 metres from Jenny��s garden.
I have lived
in this area, Cashmere, all my life and come from a healthy, outgoing,
creative family who were keen mountaineers and loved the outdoors.
Four generations of my family have developed our Barrer Lane property
in the Port Hills of Canterbury. David Harrowfield wrote of it
��I felt totally at peace there was a distinct spirituality about the
place. Shafts of sunlight filtered through the New Zealand trees
planted as a tribute to the great Maori leader, John Rangihau.�� My
family are this land��s tangata whenua.
The Victoria
Park micro-wave tower, built in 1984, is situated 100 metres from my
house and 20 metres from one of my boundaries. There was no notification
to residents before its erection (a small radio station for Post Office
services was gazetted in 1946, at which time no building was allowed
above the Sign of the Takahe). A petition on behalf of
300 residents in the immediate area failed to halt construction of the
tower, though it achieved a reduction in its height. Financial
advantage was the only reason this Cashmere site was chosen over the
much higher, isolated site at Marleys Hill. The trees between
my property and the tower had been trimmed, thus exposing us to its
��clear line of site�� as it was described at that time.
In 1986 Boffa Miskell of the Post Office, recommended that a ��comprehensive planting plan and management plan�� should ��screen the proposal from the Barrer property��. No such plan was ever received - his advice was ignored. So were the residents�� numerous submissions, letters of objection, and expressed feelings of extreme disquiet. In February 2001 I expressed this again, yet the line of mature pine trees was cut to the ground, so exposing my property utterly, and removing my only protection from the radio-frequency emissions.
Since 1985,
residents of the area have become all too aware that their health has
become adversely affected by some element within the immediate environment.
I give details of these life-threatening conditions below. The
steadily rising number of human and animal retrospective statistical
studies since that time, support suspicions of these residents that
the tower is linked with their experiences.
Dr. RE
Rowland, of Massey University (or Neil Pearce Ph D., Senior Research
Fellow, Well. Sch. Med., University of Otago, 1992) has
written, ��Given the increasing concern about power line frequency
fields, there certainly is some reason for concern that analogous effects
might exist for radio-frequency exposures.��
I wrote, on
behalf of these residents, in 1995, to the Christchurch City Council
about the Resource Management Act 1991. It states (Sections 15
and 17) that every person has a duty to ��avoid, remedy or mitigate��
adverse effects in the environment, where a contaminant is discharged,
and where social, economical, aesthetic and cultural conditions affect
people and their communities (P1.S2, subsection D, p.11). No effort
has been made in my view for this to happen. I feel completely
betrayed by the Council, they did not tell me the truth about topping
the trees, what they are doing is destructive of our environment.
There was equally no consultation when the extra dish was added at the
end of 2000. The aesthetic value of this area has been spoiled.
In 1985 I was
a very healthy 45-year-old woman involved in many different activities.
Since then my health has changed. I began to experience problems
with my ears, especially my left ear that became very painful and sensitive
to noise. Parts of my body became covered in skin rashes, which
were extremely itchy. These became so bad my doctor at the time
considered hospitalisation. In the late 1980s I experienced sudden,
unexplained, high rises in blood pressure (hypertension). I also
had heart palpitations. I had loss
of balance and dizziness. At times I felt as if my whole body
was shuddering.
I realised
there was something strange happening when I talked with my neighbours.
One family (later shifted because of their experiences) told me of ��ear
problems��, ��getting rashes��, ��feeling yuck��, and had blood
changes suggestive of ��a blood disorder��. In another family
there were problems with the garage doors opening and shutting, (the
woman from this house died of a brain tumour soon after they moved house.)
and in several homes light bulbs ��popped�� more often than usual.
A third couple
both experienced cardiovascular problems;
and the people in three other houses also experienced skin rashes, blood
disorders, a sudden unexplained hypertension attack, and several had
similar sensitivity to noises in their ears. Three of us had similar
(multiple) symptoms. All these neighbours moved away within a
short time. Three of my close neighbours currently have cancers.
I have the distinct impression that there is a lot of cancer in this
area, e.g. breast tumours.
From 1993 –
1999 I worked at the Christchurch School of Medicine, training medical
students in doctor/patient communication skills. I was awarded
a prestigious Churchill Scholarship for my work. When I was away
from home for several weeks I felt completely different. The pain
in my ears went, as did my skin rash, and no heart
palpitations occurred, although I still had mild hypertension.
When I returned home the first thing I noticed was losing my balance
again and feeling dizzy. Sometimes I needed to ��hold something,
to stand up��. There was loss of concentration, a gritty feeling
in my eyes, and a feeling of pressure behind them. Sometimes I
felt as if I had a raised temperature, but did not. I had no strength
in my muscles, my ears hurt badly, and I felt disorientated. The
pain (in my ears) can be too great to hold the telephone to my ear.
Since I gave up my work I have spent more time at my home and my health has deteriorated. Here are excerpts from my diary, where most of these experiences happened repeatedly:
May 1998
One of my sons
returned home – he experienced loud noises, felt awful, had painful
ears.
26 July 1998
Interminable
interference, Saturday afternoon. At 9.30 pm: terrible interference
on TV1.
15/1/99
I put my hands
over my ears and feel funny inside – lasted I minute.
3/7/99 Awake (again), between 3.30 and 6 am - pulsing in ears. Also short pain in heart – which was racing. I felt cold outside but hot inside, and sore bones. I put blankets over my head. There was for about 10 seconds a sound coming from the M/W station.
7/7/99
��My right
ear suddenly gets a pain, then it is hard to focus with my eyes –
this is when my heart goes fast.��
15/7/99
Three light
bulbs put in which aren��t supposed to pop – they��ve popped.
21/9/99
Awoken: felt
very cold like a vibration, did not feel good, funny taste, dry mouth,
drained.
23/9/99
Very high-pitched
annoying sound from M/W station. Most annoying.
29/9/99
Woke, face
very cold. Warm night – 3.50am on kitchen clock. Heart
pouncing. Wearing nightie, dressing gown, and socks in bed.
Sheet, blanket, and duvet – wearing all clothing in bed as (is) usual
(on these occasions). Ridiculous! A kind of shivery feeling.
Aching joints, disturbed sleep. Doctor says white blood cells
upset, lipids too – what��s happening? (Since this time I become
dizzy on particular places on my land.)
December/2000
I have now
developed cardiovascular problems with
a sudden rise in blood pressure of 220/110, and was hospitalised first
in November 2000, and again four days before Christmas. Something
(has) affected me drastically. I had a breakdown of my immunity
system and 'limped' to the doctor, very, very ill, pulses faint (hospital
visit). I am now under-going further tests. I find I am
very fatigued by the middle of the afternoon, and too tired to go out
at night.
1/01
Since the trees
were cut down, both my 24 year old son (who has recently moved in with
me) and I have developed abnormal sweating, nausea, and disturbed sleep.
8/2/01
Awoke with
a start, 2am, noise in air, heart-vibrating.
21/2/01
Loud noise
from M/W tower, approx. 1.20 minutes, loudest noise ever apart
from times when alarm went off – a few times. Often as I walk
around the corner of my house a dizzy feeling hits me. We used
to have a frog chorus – don��t have them now.
Sometimes the
pain comes when my head is on the pillow. My health has steadily
deteriorated with the above symptoms. Now I can feel freezing
cold on the outside, and boiling hot on the inside of my body.
Even on a hot day my feet are freezing. I have a constantly bloated
stomach. The knuckles of my hands are sore and seem swollen.
I suffered at opne time from hair loss.
I have become
hypersensitive to certain electric lights. Once, when I approached
the X-ray machine to have a mammogram, I became very dizzy and fell
over.
Sometimes when
I get up at night I see little sparks around me as if I am electrified.
All of this despite the fact that in my home I have no computer, cellphone,
microwave oven, electric blanket, digital clocks.
Two of the
doctors looking after me have said that the major cause of my health
breakdown is living in close proximity to the emissions from the microwave
tower. My immune, endocrine, and lymphatic and circulatory systems
have been badly affected by this exposure, and I have blood clotting
problems with lowered platelet levels, as indicated by tests before
Christmas, 2000.
Sometimes we can hear the workmen on the microwave tower talking down our stereo. On one occasion a film crew visiting, identified M/W interference and their equipment would not work properly. When I have requested Ministry of Health representatives come and see the situation for themselves, they have declined. (When suggested they might come at a later date, they said they would not have time.) An Inspector told me, in 1992, that there was I Watt of power at the transmitter and 100 Watts at the masthead of the Cashmere structure
Authors comment-
We refer
to The ICNIRP Guideline Studies which produces similar effects as those
experienced by Case Story 1
1. ICNIRP Studies:-
Laboratory
Studies: The following paragraphs provide a summary and critical
evaluation of laboratory studies on the biological effects of electric
and magnetic fields with frequencies below 100kHz. There are separate
discussions on results obtained in studies of volunteers exposed under
controlled conditions and in laboratory studies on cellular, tissue
and animals systems. (page 4).
Volunteer
Studies. Exposure to a time varying electric field can result
in perception of the field as a result of the alternating electric charge
induced on the body surface, which causes the body hairs to vibrate.
Several studies have shown that the majority of people can perceive
50/60Hz electric fields stronger than 20kV m-¹, and that a small minority
can perceive fields below 5kV m-¹ (UNEP/WHO/IRPA 1984, in Tenforde,
1991).
Small changes
in cardiac function occurred in human volunteers exposed to combined
60Hz electric fields and magnetic fields (9kV m¹ 20µT) (Cook et al,
1992; Graham et al 1994) Resting heart rate
was slightly but significantly, reduced (by 3-5 beats per minute) during
or immediately after exposure. This response was absent on exposure
to stronger (12kV m¹ 30µT) or weaker 6kVm-¹, 10µT) fields and reduced
if the subject was mentally alert.
2.
��Time varying magnetic fields that induce current densities above
1 A m-² in tissue lead to neural excitation and are capable of producing
irreversible biological effects such as cardiac fibrillation�� (Tenforde
and Kaune 1987; Reilly 1989) ��The duration of the magnetic stimulus
has also been found to be an important parameter in stimulation of excitable
tissues����.��
��Many studies
have reported that volunteers experienced faint flickering visual sensations,
known as magnetic phosphenes, during exposure to ELF fields above 3-5
mT�� (Silny, 1986). ��These visual effects can also be induced
by the direct application of weak electric currents to the head.��
��Cellular
and Animal studies: Despite the large number of studies undertaken
to detect biological effects of ELF electric and magnetic fields, few
systematic studies have defined the threshold field characteristics
that produce significant perturbations of biological functions.
It is well established that induced electric current can stimulate nerve
and muscle tissue directly once the induced current density exceeds
threshold values.�� (UNEP/WHO/IRPA 1987) Berhardt 1992; Tenforde 1996)
��Current
densities that are unable to stimulate excitable tissues directly may
nevertheless affect ongoing electrical activity and influence neuronal
excitability. The action of the central nervous system is known
to be sensitive to the endogenous electric fields generated by the action
of adjacent nerve cells, at levels below those required for direct stimulation.��
Case Story
1 has experienced deterioration of health with long term exposure to
EMR. When she leaves the area she improves, when she returns home
the symptoms reoccur. Since she has given up her work and now
spends more time at her home the severity of her symptoms has increased,
especially the cardiac effects.
The ICNIRP
Committee has not carried out long term laboratory studies. They
have not carried out long term human studies. The comment that
resting heart rate was slightly but significantly,
reduced (by 3-5 beats per minute) during and immediately after exposure
is very significant to people who are permanently exposed for years
at a time to electromagnetic field. Even more relevant is the
fact that it was resting heart rate, not
taken when under any physical duress. The ICNIRP guideline accepts
that duration of the magnetic stimulus is an important parameter in
stimulation of excitable tissues, but does not allow for that long term
exposure effect in setting the Standard.
Case stories
2-9 refer to the area around this tower. In 1980 permission was
given to transmit two AM only from the Ouruhia tower. In 1989, however,
a small testing tower was erected without consent. In 1990 - FM
began transmission without consent. 1993 FM was added, and was
later removed. In 1995 FM was added
– it was removed in 1999. One FM and two AM are currently transmitting
from a 350ft tower, and the nearest house is 250 metres away.
The health
of the people of Ouruhia deteriorated with the addition of FM to the
AM tower in 1990, and deteriorated again with the addition of another
FM in 1995. Clusters of ill health have been experienced more
than 3 kilometres from the aerial. These people all experienced interference
on their telephones, and also their animals became ill with similar
symptoms at the same time.
Three of
these people were diagnosed by their doctors with low iron, but not
anaemia. Their symptoms, described as
��pseudo-iron-deficiency�� in Ouruhia, and those reported at Fishpond,
England also under power lines, are markedly similar to those investigated
by Dr Hachulla..
I was exposed
to Electro Magnetic Fields at levels monitored outside the NZ Standard
from a combined FM/ AM radio transmitter for ten years. My health
has been adversely affected since this exposure. I am documenting
my experiences to help authorities understand the detrimental effects
of exposure to high levels of EMR for a limited time daily.
In 1986 I was
a VERY healthy, active 25-year-old woman with a family history of healthy
longevity and no inherited medical conditions. By 1992 my health
had deteriorated dramatically and I was forced to cease work.
During that time I had been grazing my horse at a property, which incorporated
leasehold land underneath a radio mast. Initially my horse was
grazing approximately 800 metres from the mast. At that time only
AM was transmitting. In the late 1980s my horse moved into the
paddock containing the aerial and from that time on there was a gradual
decline in both my and my horse��s energy levels. At that time
I was in a wonderful relationship, owned my own home, financially comfortable
and no reason to feel stressed and exhausted.
From 1990 I
experienced gradual symptoms of muscle weakness and trembling and the
least exertion made me feel physically exhausted. Upon rising
from a bed or chair my legs would not hold me up and I would collapse,
as my muscles were so weak. I suffered from heart
palpitations. I had ECGs and no cause could be found for my tachycardia.
Dizzy/ light-headed, very tired/ lethargic could not run and would collapse
if tried. I suffered from shortness of breath, dry hollow cough,
(non-smoker) occasional joint pains, numbness, intermittent pins and
needles in my hands.
Headaches,
painful neck, some low abdominal and back pain. Problems with
ears feeling blocked, hearing reduced with tinnitus but doctor said,
��both ears appeared normal.�� My monthly cycle gradually changed
pattern and was much heavier, like a haemorrhage, and occurred more
frequently. I had a low iron count.
I suffered from difficulty in concentrating, and short-term memory loss,
irritability and agitation. Doctor said ��looked pale��.
The only medical diagnosis made was chronic fatigue syndrome and doctors
could not give me an explanation for my symptoms or a cure.
I resigned
myself to ignoring my symptoms as best I could and living life within
my now limited physical capabilities. At the time I lived in a
town house and enjoyed spending as much time as possible in the attractive
rural area where my horse was grazing. Because I was physically
unable to ride as much I spent more time grooming and just being with
my horse. I became pregnant in 1994 and often when I was tired
I would sit with my back to the safety fence, which was, situated 2
metres from the radio tower. The horses used this area for shelter
in the winter. We later learned that this area was monitored outside
the NZ Standard and a safety fence has now been erected to stop people
being there. I spent between one and five hours daily (usually
more than less) in this area. The farthest perimeter of the paddock
would be approximately 100 metres from the aerial.
In late 1996
local residents informed me that the Radio Network had been transmitting
FM without consent on the AM tower. The first FM started transmitting
in 1990 and a second FM was added in June 1995. This greatly increased
the power levels I was exposed to. The National Radiation Laboratory
had monitored my grazing area in August 1996 and the levels were outside
the NZ Standard. I and others with horses in the area, were not
notified of the dangerous levels of Electromagnetic Field we were exposing
ourselves each time we visited the paddock.
My son was
born in June 1995 with a urinary tract defect. There has been
a study Li et al, that has linked urinary tract defects to EMR exposure.
The problem has now corrected itself. While the baby was small
I did not have as much time to spend with my horse. Occasionally
my husband and baby would accompany me to the paddock and lie on a rug
metres from the mast while I exercised my horse around the perimeter.
When I was able I began exercising the horse again but due to my restricted
time I would usually exercise in the paddock and spent less time doing
paddock chores.
A new symptom
appeared at this time, which was dry, gritty eyes and dry raspy feeling
in my throat. My armpits ached, my hollow dry cough became worse
and I developed sores in my nose. High up in each nostril they
alternated between healing, and scabbing and being raw and sore.
I lost my libido and felt as if I was prematurely aging. Within
a week of moving my horse from the tower paddock (Nov 1996) the nose
sores disappeared and have never occurred again.
In 1998 I participated
in a small pilot study conducted by Dr Hocking, who has completed research
on health effects near Sydney communication towers. He diagnosed
my symptoms as those of microwave sickness. I have since had treatment
for EMR exposure by a qualified GP/homeopath. I had positive results
from his treatment. One example being since 199 I no longer suffered
from colds or flu, and after my treatment I experienced my first proper
cold in years. Since then I have colds and flu like normal people.
Since I moved
to the country near Greenpark, March 1999 my health has improved greatly
although if I return to Philpotts Rd (AM) aerial area or to the Ouruhia
area I experience a shortened monthly (menstruation) cycle and a recurrence
of the heavy bleeding. However I do not think my energy and health
will ever be the same as prior to my EMR exposure.
While my horse
was living under the radio tower he became lethargic which was out of
character. At that time he was in his prime at 9 years old.
He has been with me all his life and I noticed the great difference
in his energy level. His paddock mate, a mare has also experienced
health problems particularly with her hooves. Her hooves became
very hot and she was reluctant to move around much. She suffered
from erratic heartbeat while there. Both horses developed swollen
thyroid glands. When I moved the horses in March 1998 to another farm,
(which we felt would be better as further from the aerial,) their health
did not improve and my normally placid horse became very aggressive.
The mares eyes became dull and sunken, she suffered loss of co-ordination
and hair loss.
Dr Cliff McGrouther,
veterinarian and researcher took blood tests from several horses, my
own included, located within 2 kilometres of the Ouruhia aerial and
all showed unusual lymphocytes.
He wished to develop his testing to include enzymes but funding was
not available. Dr McGrouther blood tested my horse and the mare,
3 months after we moved them to my new home and found differences in
the blood from when he tested at Ouruhia. The blood now seemed
more normal. My horse reverted to his non-aggressive temperament,
and both horses thyroid gland swelling returned to normal when we moved
house to Greenpark. The mares heart
returned to normal but her steel shod hooves never recovered.
Words are insufficient
to describe how angry I feel towards the communication company. The
FM transmissions were added without Resource Consent or notification
to the City Council or local residents. People grazing animals
under the radio tower were not notified of the dangerously high increase
in electro magnetic field that they were exposed to. Technicians
saw us there almost daily, were aware of my pregnancy, and that children
were sometimes present in the area. When the National Radiation
Laboratory monitored levels outside the NZ Standard in August 1996,
we were not informed of the danger.
WHY WAS I NOT
WARNED OF THE HIGH EMR LEVELS I WAS EXPOSED TO FOR SO LONG? WHO IS THERE
TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM OPERATORS LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY AND NEGLIGENCE?
Authors
comment:-We have research showing similar health effects to those experienced
by Case Story 2
1..
French Study, changes in pseudo iron The following study
(Hachulla, M.T., Caulier-Leleu, O., Fontaine, L., Mehianoui, P., &
Pelerin. E., (2000), The European Journal of Internal Medicine,
11: 6: 352-352) may prove to be a very important milestone in the EMF
issue .
The reported
��pseudo iron deficiency�� in the following French study appears
to be a biological marker for excessive 50 Hz exposure, and it was seen
at 2Mg plus level.
��Current
findings: Dr Hachulla originally became involved ��by chance�� on
1994 - 1995. Working in a hospital in Lille he noticed that several
patients who came for blood analysis had very unusual parameters - and
they were all living in Coutiches under power lines. Eventually a thorough
follow up study was financed, on 15 men and 13 women, plus 31 male and
34 female controls. There was repeated blood analysis, myelograms,
isotopic explorations (and of course measurements of the field levels).
The results, despite individual variations showed clearly that most
of the people living under the line have a ��iron pseudo deficiency��
i.e. they have low iron levels in the blood, but no symptoms of
anaemia and no decrease of ferritin, which normally goes with iron deficiency.��
Dr Hachulla
concluded with speculation that EMF��s may modify iron metabolism in
populations subjected to 2 micro Teslas (2mG) or more, with a high bone
marrow incorporation of the iron (that would explain the low iron level)
and a rapid metabolic utilization of haemoglobin, sometimes without
incorporation of (39)Fe in the liver.
Dr Hachulla
commented ��that this peculiar syndrome is unknown in medical records,
and that one does not know at this point what are the consequences on
health and whether this effect could be detrimental or lead to other
symptoms linked with EMF exposure. But it is apparently the first time
that an ��objective�� measurable bio-chemical effect is clearly and
unmistakably shown in people living under high tension lines.�� From
1991 residents had 6 monthly medical check ups, financed by Electricite
de France, the National Power Company.
In the first
published findings (1994), iron deficiency was found from regular blood
analysis. More recent research with more precise and thorough
analysis, shows it is a ��pseudo deficiency��. Symptoms reported
were: ��general tiredness, (chronic fatigue) headaches, insomnia, (especially
children) hyper-nervosity, hypotension, iron deficiency, 2 cases of
severe anxio-depression, one resident died from bone marrow cancer,
nausea and dizziness, vision and ocular troubles. ��
2.
��Medical Report points to hazards of work on broadcast towers��
(Microwave News, 2000, July/August), Dr Chris Schilling,
Occupational Health Consultant based in London, states that people who
work on broadcast towers risk serious and lingering health problems.
��In 1995,
a 4-man crew serviced a tower near Glasgow, which was used for FM and
UHV, TV. All 4 men became sick during the three-month job.
Their symptoms included headaches- often severe- numbness, tingling
or pain in the back or extremities, dizziness, diarrhoea, nausea and
fatigue. Similar problems were reported in 1996 by two members
of a six-man crew that spent seventeen days installing a UHV antenna
on a tower in Cornwall. The tower was also home to FM radio and mobile
telephone antennas. None of these men were able to return to tower
work in less than two months. Those who had been closest to operation
antennas had still not recovered when Schilling conducted follow up
interviews in 1999.��
Schilling suggested
that whole-body resonances might have made the work more hazardous.
Such resonances, he told Microwave news ��may result in a several-fold
increase in exposure of certain organs and tissues��. He said government
funding to study the phenomenon was being sought.
In surveys
before the work began, some exposure limits were above the occupational
limits set by the National Radiation Protection Board (NRPB) but most
were below these limits according to Schilling. Transmitter power
levels were reduced at both locations. Schilling said ��it is
possible that NRPB limits do not give adequate protection.��
3.
Isobel Stout, Christchurch City Council Officer who represented Telecom
at the Shirley Environment Court case against the City Council, and
also represented Radio Network in the Ouruhia hearing, wrote an article
under her maiden name of Smith, for Environmental Health�� (1995)
titled ��Electromagnetic radiation and Health Risks��.
Regarding accidental
over-exposures of humans she wrote that ��there have been several surveys
and reports of brief exposures to radiation levels above the recommended
safety limits. The reported health effects include severe anxiety,
hypertension, headache, nausea and fatigue.��
The symptoms
reported by the antenna workmen and those reported by Isobel Stout are
similar to those experienced by Case Story 2.
In 1987 I was
a fit active 22-year-old woman, who was exposed to electro-magnetic
fields at levels monitored to be outside the NZ Standard. My health
has been adversely affected since exposure to a combined FM/AM radio
transmitter over a period of 8 years. I am documenting my experiences
to help authorities understand the detrimental effects of exposure to
high levels of EMR for a limited time each day – 2-3 hours.
At that time I was extremely energetic, participated in running and
aerobics – regularly, and was of average slim build. Apart from
the odd migraine headache I had very good health.
In late 1987
I began grazing my horse at a property which incorporated leasehold
land underneath a radio mast. Initially my horse was grazing approximately
800 metres from the mast. At that time only AM was transmitting.
From that time on there was a gradual decline in my horse��s energy
levels, and in my own.
In June 1988
I was taken to the hospital A and E dept. with severe abdominal pain.
This eased and I was released. In August 1989 I had a colposcopy
which showed an irregularity. Regular cervical smears were recommended.
In April 1992 I had another irregular Pap smear, and in June 1993 another
smear showed a change in cells. I underwent a Cartier Loop cauterisation,
and D and C.
In April 1991
my migraines became more frequent, and I had taken Voltaren on a regular
basis to control them. In March 1995 I saw my doctor due to deep-seated
burning pain in my right shoulder and arm, so intense that I could no
longer focus on anything other than the pain. It continued, and
by September 1995 I had pain in my middle and lower back, and was still
suffering from migraines. I also found my weight had increased
dramatically, which was unusual as I was always slim and seemed to have
a fast metabolism. My parents and sisters are also of slim to
average weight.
In August 1996
I had continuous burning shoulder pain, and underwent further specialist
treatment – physiotherapy, muscular skeletal treatment, and osteopathic
treatment in September 1998. In December 1998 I had my gallbladder removed
as I suffered a severe pain attack, and was admitted to hospital.
When removed an unusually large stone was found, and a smaller one.
Although I
left the mast area in April 1997, I have had on-going health problems,
which resulted in a diagnosis of endometriosis, after a laparoscopy,
and D and C. When my pain levels didn��t ease I was again admitted
to the hospital, and received numerous blood and urine tests, X-rays,
and internal ultra-sound tests. When discharged I had a colonoscopy,
MRI, and finally a laparotomy, which found the endometriosis had spread
to my bowel – for this I am still receiving on-going treatment.
The other symptoms
I have experienced while at Ouruhia are – tiredness, fatigue, low
energy levels, loss of libido, aching muscles, short term memory loss,
anxiety, low iron levels, and the occasional ��racing��
heart. The numerous treatments
I received for my shoulder pain never completely resolved it.
I have found I have to monitor myself, and learn to live with the pain
levels as no treatment really worked. While doing normal paddock
chores at Ouruhia near the tower, I experienced light-headedness and
dizziness – to the extent that I fainted. I had never previously
suffered from low blood pressure or fainting before.
Since leaving
the area I have found the pain levels have eased to almost nil, on most
days. My libido has returned, and my migraines have become less
frequent. I am still working full-time, and most of my work requires
data entry input.
I am extremely
angry that I was never informed of the high EMR levels my horse and
I were exposed to. If I had been made aware, I wouldn��t have
stayed in the area the length of time I did.
My horse grazed
with the horse belonging to Case Story 2 and the horses�� symptoms
are discussed in the previous story.
Wife tells
the story of her family��s change in health and suffering when they
moved near the radio tower.
We moved into
the Ouruhia area in 1986. Our home was approximately 1 km from
the aerial. My husband aged 47years (self-employed plumber) had
hardly visited a doctor in his life. Nine months later his health
had deteriorated with lack of energy so bad he found difficulty in walking
100metres. Burning tingling skin at night. Severe aching
muscles and bones. Suffered from insomnia. Gradual deterioration
of memory. Became agitated and very quick tempered. Two
years, later without warning, suffered a major heart
attack and was in intensive care for four days. A year later
had a triple bypass. I experienced unusual aching muscles.
Daughter, aged
14years, after six months in the house began experiencing severe headaches,
nausea, loss of vision, earache and skin rashes. She changed personality.
Previously had been sweet tempered and agreeable and became extremely
violent.
In 1990 we
moved to a house, which was closer to the aerial, 900metres away.
My husband after mowing his lawn (which was line of sight to the aerial)
suffered a small cut from a stone to his leg. One hour later he
was in intensive hospital care suffering from a major infection in the
blood stream. Had previously been a very quick healer and now
finds bruises easily. His immune system broke down. At night
the bone pain became excruciating but not in the joints. After
being outside he would feel as if his skin was prickling all over.
He could hear humming in the air at night. We experienced bad
interference with the radio transmission coming down our phone.
We suffered
from irritability. The bones in my forearms and thighs became
very painful. Lumpy deposits all over my body. Put on a huge amount
of weight and became very lethargic. Continuous dry hollow cough.
Daughter became
worse with violent mood swings and headaches and previous symptoms.
She worsened, and suffered a breakdown of her immune system. She
was diagnosed with depression and tried to commit suicide.
Her health deteriorated but many doctors could not find a cause.
One specialist finally diagnosed her as ��allergic to the modern day
environment�� and said there was nothing he could do. She left
home and is now in Sydney - her allergies have disappeared, her health
has improved, and she is now happy.
Our two male
fox terriers aged 6 years old, became ill when we moved closer to the
aerial. They started developing lumpy deposits throughout their bodies.
The white dog was worse than the black one. The black dog changed
personality and became snappy. The lumps, the size of a golf ball
were operated on twice, but were not malignant at that time. Became
very itchy and had rashes around their hind legs. The 5year old
cat became so itchy in the hindquarters he would draw blood scratching
himself. The vet diagnosed hormone imbalance. After two
years at the new house the cat had a fit and died from an aneurysm in
the spine.
Monitoring
was undertaken by the National Radiation Laboratory, certain areas higher
than others, but all were within the NZ Standard.
In 1997 we
moved to another area and our health has improved greatly. Husband
found prickly skin, aching muscles and bones improved immediately.
It was several months before I began to notice a difference. There
is still a lowered immune system especially with lung infections.
One dog had
cancer of the testicle and an aneurysm behind the eye, and was put to
sleep. The other had cancer lumps throughout his body and was
also destroyed at the same time.
While living
at the second property, which was part of a dairy farm, we observed
unusual behaviour with bulls and a horse. The bulls became very
violent and would charge anybody. Two were destroyed. One
horse went berserk several times and charged through fences and was
eventually destroyed. That was in a paddock closer to and in line
of sight to the aerial. One season several calves were born deformed
and many of the cows aborted.
We have wanted
to record our family��s experiences of illness, hardship and heartbreak
that we have suffered living near a radio tower because we do not want
others to have the same sad experiences because of lack of awareness
of the dangers of Electromagnetic radiation.
RADIO TOWERS
SHOULD NEVER BE BUILT NEAR HOUSES.
FM radio is
normally high up on the hills where lower power is required to transmit
because there are no buildings or trees to obstruct transmissions.
When the FM was transferred to Ouruhia from Sugarloaf the operators
requested an increase in power from 32dBWs to 48DBWs. We are told
that AM radio can also transmit far away from people. Living in
that area was our dream come true, as it was a beautiful quiet property
surrounded by farmland which we were forced to leave because of our
ill health. Our lives have been wrecked by the exposure to the
radio transmissions, and our opinion is backed by the change in our
health and well being since we have left the area.
We would like
to comment on our neighbours health at our first Ouruhia home.
One neighbour feeding hay to his stock fell under his tractor and
died, 1988. The neighbour on the other side committed suicide
in 1998. We did not have any other neighbours. The closest
neighbours at our second home sometimes experienced a humming /vibrating
noise in their home. The radio company acknowledged the noise
came from their transmission shed but could not stop the noise.
They also suffered from the radio station playing down their telephone.
The husband died of a heart attack
and his wife is now suffering from similar symptoms to ours except for
the heart problem. Previous occupant
died of liver cancer in 1993.
Authors
comments:- we have research indicating similar effects to those experienced
in Case Story 4
1. In their book Electrical Sensitivities in Allergy Patients, R.V.S. Choy. J.A. Munro, C.W.Smith writes
��some patients
with multiple allergies complain of extreme sensitivities to atmospheric
electrical conditions and to many man- made electrical, magnetic and
electronic devices and systems. Experiments confirm that there
are real and objective effects as well as subjective effects.
The sensitivities are frequency specific rather than intensity specific.
They have been
observed at patients�� specific frequencies from millihertz to gigahertz
and the most sensitive patients at field strengths approaching the theoretical
noise level limit, even in the presence of much stronger fields of other
frequencies. The term allergy used in this paper is in its original
definition by von Pirquet and it describes the state of altered reactivity
to a specific environmental exposure. The abnormal reactions due
to an electromagnetic field stimulus are consistent with their being
described as an allergic response in this widest usage of the term.��
The daughter��s
diagnosed ��allergic reaction to the modern world
��disappeared when she moved away from her country home, near the radio
tower, to Sydney
German Cow
Study near transmitter demonstrates similar animal symptoms of ill health
2.
Director Professor D.W. Loscher (Institute of Pharmacology, Toxicology
and Pharmacy at the Veterinary Faculty of Hanover), and Professor.
G Kas (Scientific Institute of Electronics and Radar at the University
of the German Federal Armed Forces) studied conspicuous behavioural
abnormalities in a dairy cowherd near a TV and Radio Transmitting antenna
(1998)
Introduction:
��Because of the ubiquitous usage of electric power and the increasing
spread of high frequency transmitters for mobile communication and TV
& radio broadcasts, humans and animals in highly industrialised
countries are these days exposed to electrical and magnetic fields to
a degree - which exceeds the natural tension levels of relevant fields
by a magnitude, and presents a new influencing quantity - in the evolutionary
history of humans and animals. (Katalyse 1994).
For a long
time the possibility of an influence of weak electrical and magnetic
fields on the well being of humans and animals has simply been ignored.
The limits were only relating to acute cases of health impairment, which
can occur at some workplaces under extremely high exposure rates.
The ever increasing
knowledge of the biological effects of even weak electrical and magnetic
fields as well as numerous epidemiological studies with the focus on
a possible increase in the risk of cancer through field exposure have,
however, led in the last ten to fifteen years to an altered discusssion
of the possible risk potential of such fields.�� (Adey, 1993,
Hendee Boteler, 1994, Katalyse, 1994 Meinert Michaelis 1996, Robert,
1993, Savitz, 1995, Shaw & Croen, 1993, Sobel et al 1996, Wertheimer
& Leeper, 1994).
��As one can
be protected from electrical fields in contrast to magnetic fields,
the effects of such fields on human and animal health are rarely the
focus of scientific research. In comparison low-frequency magnetic
fields can practically penetrate any matter without being slowed down
and high–frequency electromagnetic fields can cause biological effects
– even in greater distance from their source - which are possibly
connected to health risks.�� (Katalyse 1994).
��The question
of a possible risk of cancer which today cannot be discounted mainly
because of numerous findings based on experiments with animals (Liburdy
u Loscher 1997; Loscher u Mevissen 1994) occupies the foreground of
public debate about possible health risks through exposure to low frequency
magnetic or high frequency electromagnetic fields.��
��In addition
there are extensive indications of interaction by magnetic fields with
the hormonal balance, biorhythm, immune system, nervous system, behavioural
patterns and psychological functions. Interactions which can have
a detrimental effect on health. In this connection it is often
forgotten that not only humans but also pets and farm animals who are
exposed can suffer such impairment to their health because of field
exposure, for example in the vicinity of high tension pylons or transmitting
antennas.�� (Marks et al 1995)
��A series
of earlier studies looked at the effects of magnetic fields on farm
animals Loe et al (1997) discovered that sheep which had been grazing
in close proximity to a high-tension mast, showed an impaired immune
system. Examinations of dairy cows that had been exposed to magnetic
fields resulted in inconsistent findings which ranged from no influence
at all to a reduction in milk yield, changed milk composition and fertility
problems.�� (Algen u Hultgren 1985 1987;Amstutz u Miller 1980; Angell
et al 1990 Burchard et al 1996; Marks et al 1995 Martin et al 1986)
��The predominant share of the examinations on dairy cows was conducted
under exposure to low frequency (50 or 60Hertz fields) whereas only
a few studies deal with the effect of high frequency electromagnetic
fields, for example in the vicinity of transmitting antennas.��
��A recently
publicized study discovered a significant increase of micronuclei in
erythrocytes in the blood of cattle, grazing in a farm near a transmitting
facility. This is an indication of genotoxic effect of the exposure.��
(Balode 1996)
��In the case
described by this study a farmer asked a Veterinary department for help
after he had experienced major problems with his herd of dairy cows
since the previous year. The farm is situated in close proximity
to a transmitting tower. The problems with the herd started after
several transmitters for mobile radio communication had been added to
the already existing TV transmitting antennas. As the farmer and
his family were experiencing considerable health problems since the
additional transmitters were installed, and none of the medical tests
conducted shed any light on the source of these problems, the farmer
came to the conclusion they came from the high frequency electromagnetic
fields that were produced by these fields had to be the cause of the
problems experienced by his family and his dairy cows.��
��Many of
the biological effects and discussed health risks of electromagnetic
fields are similar to the effects of chronic stress pressure�� (Blank,
1995; Smith, 1996). Apart from apparent problems caused by stress,
such as aborting without detectable causes, frequent fertility disorders
in the form of an acyclic tendency, and reduction in milk yield - all
of which have already been observed in herds grazing in close proximity
to high tension lines.�� (Burchard et al 1996) The following abnormalities
occurred in the affected dairy herd:
After a 4 year
old cow suddenly deceased a post mortem was conducted. Result
was; Cause of death - acute coronary and circulatory failure - no underlying
cause was found.
Since the end
of the year, 1995, massed occurrences of loss and behavioural anomalies
afflicted the dairy herd that are significant and also relevant under
the Animal Protection Act. When animals were moved they recovered.
When relocated at the farm their illnesses returned.
The relocation
showed clearly that the affliction disappeared when the animals were
moved and the symptoms returned when they were bought back. This
appears to point to the electromagnetic fields measured at the property
as the sole cause for the reported behavioural anomalies as well as
the endocrinological disturbances in part with even deadly result.
Update 1998: The EMF density values at this farm have been measured to be about 300 times below allowed limits.
Accordingly
measured with 1000 nano W/sqcm = 1 micro W/sqcm as established by Professor
Kaes.
Additionally
Mr Altenwerger observed that of six swallow pairs, that nested in his
stable all had died shortly after hatchng. Not one survived.
I moved to
my farm, with my daughter, in 1992. The house and stables are
situated on rising land approximately 800 metres from the Ouruhia radio
tower. There are few trees between us, and the tower. It
took three years to find the ideal farm where we could set up an animal
and human physiotherapy , race horse training and horse centre - close
to the sea and city, with good pasture. Walnut Tree Farm was ideal
for all our requirements
I had lived
in England for 26 years where I had worked as a successful property
developer and racehorse trainer. My daughter is a qualified human
physiotherapist who has developed her skills to also treat animals.
She spent 6 months training with eminent vets and animal physiotherapists
in England. In 1992 I was a physically fit 48 year old woman,
who worked and galloped my horses myself. I was slim, well, and had
not visited a doctor since 1987.
The house was
very dilapidated, so we did not live there immediately, but I worked
on the property for 12 hours a day, fencing, working racehorses, renovating
buildings, looking after my farm and teaching riding in the paddock
next to the radio tower. My boundary is approximately 100 metres
from the tower. My daughter worked at the farm for four hours
for three days, when she was not working at her physiotherapy clinic,
and other days for 8 hours. She was mostly riding horses when
she was there or working in the stable area.
The stables
are made of corrugated iron at the back (highly reflecting for RF) and
wood at the front with narrow strips of metal around the top of the
partitions, which separate each stable. We now know these metal
strips could have been conducting higher levels of EMR as they are not
grounded. The yard has buildings on two sides and faces directly
to the tower, approximately 800 metres away. Most of the rails
are iron pipe and again not grounded. (refer research by Hagaman
in Ouruhia story)
From 1994 my
health gradually deteriorated and by December 1995 I had developed severe
bone pain and many other complaints. My skin often felt as if
it was badly sunburnt, yet it was not red, and this feeling occurred
more often on cloudy days than on sunny days. My skin became very
dry no matter how many ointments I used. My gums became dry and
shrivelled and I had sores inside my mouth, down my throat. The
roof of my mouth developed a painful crack. I was tested for thrush,
but it was negative. My tongue used to feel as if I had eaten
hot peppers - when I had eaten nothing at all. I developed lumps
under my tongue and on the tip of my tongue, and lumps on the left hand
side of my neck, and under my right arm.
During 1994 we moved out to live at the farm full time as several of my horses had died, and the vets did not know why. The police suspected foul play, and we had a police watch on us for 6 months. The symptoms they died of were similar to those investigated in the German Cow study. (see Case Story 4) We received this information in 1999 - where cows also lost condition, co-ordination, and fell over. They also experienced hoof problems, and changes in behaviour. These cows also lived near a radio transmitter.
When I was living at the farm permanently my health became much worse. My ears became very sensitive to noise, sometimes they felt gummed up as if I had water in them after swimming underwater, and I could not hear properly. At other times the slightest noise hurt my ears. Twice, at night, I awoke to find blood from my ears on my pillow. I also began to suffer from bleeding noses.
Inside my nose became very dry with no moisture at all. I developed sores high up inside, and on my nose. After I left my farm Dr Ken McDonald operated on one of these lumps, but was unable to remove it all without a major operation. It has not caused me problems except when I attended a local meeting at a local kindergarten. Five hours later my nose blew up like a clown��s nose, and was very painful for two days. I later found out there is a cell phone tower very near this school. Twice when I have been out at my farm, a few hours later, my nose has swollen, but not to the same extent as under the cell phone tower.
The sores, in and on my nose, have been where my metal glasses have rested on my nose. (See research on metal glasses conducting RF in Ouruhia) My feet became very swollen and painful, I had to buy shoes two sizes bigger as I could not fit into my old ones. I developed bony lumps on my feet. In the mornings I would hobble around like an old woman, as my feet would be so sore for an hour. The circulation seemed to have gone altogether. (Previously I would be up and running around my 70 acre farm..) If it was a wet day I would feel as if I had pins and needles prickling my feet, when in certain parts of the farm. My knees became very swollen, and I developed large fluid lumps under the knees. I developed swelling around my ankles. It was as if I had a lot of fluid in my legs and around my hips, and my body looked as if it was ��pitted��.
I felt as if I had severe pain in my bones. Not all my bones but the middle of thigh and my forearm sudden sharp pain, as if something was drilling through the bone. The pain would stop as quickly as it came. It only happened when outside. I developed small lumps in my thighs and my arms, and tiny little dark veins on the front of my thighs. My doctor tested me for arthritis but it was negative. My blood tests only showed a low iron count but I was not anaemic.
Permanently I had a painful left jaw bone. Sometimes excruciating toothache in two teeth in the left jaw, but by the time I got to the dentist the pain had always gone, and he could find nothing wrong. I developed blister like sores in my cheeks adjacent to where the amalgam fillings are in my teeth, and always had a metallic taste in my mouth.
My breasts became very shrivelled and sore. I developed lumps in the area where my wire supports are in my brassiere. This area sometimes felt as if it was burning.
While I was
living at Ouruhia I became tense and irritable for no reason.
I could not think properly, and felt permanently tired and woolly headed.
I found doing the slightest thing a great effort, and can only compare
it to very bad jet lag. I lost my concentration and had a very
bad memory, felt totally out of control of my life, and could not remember
anything. I had always enjoyed meeting new people, reading, learning
new things, work, sport, giving parties, gardening and having dinner
parties. By the end of 1995, did not want to see anyone, lost
my libido, became very depressed and in summary had a complete change
in personality. I felt dreadful, and the bone pain was so bad
by the middle of 1996 I would not go out anywhere. This did not
happen overnight, but gradually over time.
Always Thirsty:- Although
I was not eating very much I became very fat – as if I was bloated.
I was always very, very thirsty. My muscles became so weak I could
not girth up the horses properly, or carry more than half a bucket of
water at a time. I have always been strong, and this was not a
gradual lessening of strength as I grew older - it occurred very suddenly.
The jobs that normally took 15 minutes would take one hour, and I��d
have to sit down and rest when I had only walked thirty metres.
Sometimes when doing things my muscles would turn to water - had no
strength, and I would not be able to hold anything. I was loading
posts into a trailer one day and suddenly my muscles ��went�� and
I dropped a post on my right hand, crushing my finger. The top
of it had to be amputated, with an anaesthetic. A few weeks later
I developed bad oozing sores all over my mouth, and on top of my hands,
especially my left hand. The doctor changed the pain killer but
the sores stayed - for six weeks after ceasing the pain killers.
Lost Balance;-I have always had excellent balance and co-ordination - good at most sports, and competed successfully in equestrian events in Australia, NZ and Britain. In the winter of 1995 I found I would get dizzy while riding the horses, and feel as if I was going to fall off. When I dismounted I would lose my balance and fall over. My staff could not believe it, as up to then, I had always ridden the naughtiest horses, especially the ones who bucked, or pulled hard, working on the beach. Now I found it impossible to hold the quiet ones, and I stopped riding altogether. This meant that I spent even more time at the farm, and my health became worse.
I would wake in the middle
of the night feeling nausea, even dry retching; sometimes diarrhoea
and my stools would quite often have blood. I was tested for bowel
cancer - negative.
Asthma:-My chest felt as if I had a weight on it and my heart would suddenly start racing. ECGs did not show anything was wrong. I was told my heart was excellent. But the problem persisted. Developed a hard dry cough with a little phlegm. No cause nor cure could be found ��the doctor put me on medication for asthma which I��d never had before. The medication made no difference, my dry cough continued.
Changed air quality:-n 1990 people had commented on how young and fit looking I was for my age. By 1996 I looked more like 70 years old than 52. The effects of exposure are very similar to those of someone who is a heavy smoker - premature aging. In certain areas of the farm the air used to taste dirty. I believe EMR changes the oxygen levels in the air.
Cuts slow to heal, bruised easily:-The tiniest bump was agony, the smallest bruise became large and dark. Cuts and bumps were very slow to heal. Previously I would fall off horses and never notice - my bumps or cuts would heal. On sleeping, three hours later I would be awake and unable to sleep again, feeling restless and tense.
In August 1996 we discovered the illegally transmitting FM from the nearby radio tower, which had consent for two small AM stations. The first transmission had begun in 1990. Another was added and taken off, between 1990 and 1995, when a new permanent FM station was added. We experienced a great deal of interference on our telephone when we moved there. After 1995 the interference became worse, often our fax would not work, and light bulbs were continually having to be replaced. Electric powered vet equipment would not work in our stable yard.
In September 1996 I felt so ill I went to stay with my mother for a few days rest. While there I found the excruciating bone pain went away immediately. The burning skin pain also disappeared, and I was not so thirsty. When I returned home the symptoms returned.
I went to the library to see if there was any research on adverse effects from radio waves. I read Dr Becker��s Cross Currents;- ThePerils of Electropollution, The Promise of Electromedicine (1990). The unexplained symptoms we had been experiencing at my farm were the symptoms described by independent scientists researching the effects of exposure to non-ionising radiation. I found it hard to believe what you could not see, feel, hear, smell or taste could make us so ill.
In late 1996 I developed dark round marks on my arms which looked like bruises but were not - my doctor thought the radiation was the cause, and that most of my health breakdown was from exposure to the transmissions. He advised me not to live at my farm. I returned to stay with my mother.
I started to ring my neighbours�� to see if any of them had experienced ill health recently. I did not know my neighbours�� well, as we had been busy developing our farm. As I became sicker I had become hermit-like, and not wanting to see anyone. Their symptoms were similar to ours. They are all reported in the Ouruhia story.
A month later my daughter and I moved ourselves, and as many of our animals as we could, from the property. Residents had asked the Christchurch City Council to put an enforcement order on the illegally transmitting FM, and to investigate the adverse health effects. We talked to Dr Neil Cherry. As the local Regional Councillor he had been involved in the Ilam cell phone tower case, and had been disturbed by the international reports of adverse effects from EMR exposure. He had travelled overseas to meet independent scientists conducting EMR research.
The health symptoms being investigated were similar to those Ouruhia residents were suffering from - since the time the FM was added to the tower. Dr Cherry and our Member of Parliament, Mike Moore, asked the Government for a Health study in the Ouruhia area. This was refused. The Christchurch City Council would not investigate either. Instead, they asked the Radio Network to apply for Resource Consent.
My daughter, was 22years old when we moved to our farm. In 1995 she suffered from hair loss, her eyes became sunken, and her skin dry and taut over her face. She had looked very young for her age, but within a year had aged ten. She put on a lot of weight, although she did not eat much and exercised hard. She suffered from chronic fatigue symptoms, and she would fall over for no reason. Sometimes she was unable to get up immediately.
Flickering eyes:-She had bad headaches, especially after she had ridden in the tower paddock, and was unable to do her physiotherapy work. Sometimes she was quite irritable for no reason. Her eyes became very dry and burning. Then her eyes started to flicker, and she blinked three times more often than normal. Specialists could find nothing wrong. They said she did not seem to be making normal liquid in her eye. They gave her drops, which did not work. Since she has moved away her eyes have improved, though she still has problems with the blinking. Her face sometimes twitches spasmodically. (One of our horses used to do the same thing with her nose when she lived at Ouruhia. Now she has moved, she no longer does it).
My daughter is now 31 and has experienced this distressing effect since 1995. She found the affliction caused so much comment, she refused to go out without her sunglasses on – even at night. Now, in the sunlight or bright lights the symptoms reoccur. We have not lived at our farm since 1996, and since leaving her headaches have gone, she no longer loses balance, is no longer permanently exhausted (although she continues to work very long hours).
My own health since leaving my farm, has improved, although I have on going problems with my lymph system. I do not think I will ever be healthy again, as I have developed an allergic toxic reaction to most things electric. I did not have this problem prior to my living at Ouruhia. I cannot watch TV and sit by a heater at the same time. Some lights, especially fluorescent, make me feel very off colour. In a room with a burglar alarm, I feel ghastly. Cooking on an electric stove or using a hoover, I feel I have a temperature. Even eating meat that has been cooked in an oven makes me feel nauseous. Using the computer makes the scars on my hands flare up, especially my left one - my facial scars reappear, and my hands swell. After a few hours I cannot think straight. Driving in modern cars makes me feel sick, perhaps because of the computers.
All these reactions make my life very difficult. I cannot go out in the sun - in short, I am now allergic to the sun. This makes my work with animals very difficult. My relaxation has always been to garden - I can only garden at night now.
I can tell where the strongest FM and microwave emissions are anywhere in New Zealand, because my body reacts adversely when I am in these areas. When I stop and talk to Christchurch people in these areas - where I am ��hearing�� ��feeling�� the frequencies strongest - those people are usually suffering from ill health. Their illness has commenced since they have moved to that neighbourhood, or, since new FM or microwave has been beamed through their area. In many cases they are also suffering interference with electrical equipment and telephones. (refer Ouruhia story)
I have also become allergic to many foods, and very sensitive to smells of things like bleach and other chemicals. I thought I was going quite mad with all these adverse reactions, until I read a book by Dr Cyril Smith, who talked about work he had done : Electrical Sensitivities in Allergy Patients The abstract of this book states: ��Some patients with multiple allergies complain of extreme sensitivities to atmospheric conditions and to man made electrical magnetic and electronic devices and systems. Experiments confirm there are real and objective effects as well as subjective effects. The sensitivities are frequency specific rather than intensity specific.��
My health had been excellent. I did not have these problems until I was exposed for many years to the radio transmissions.. This indicates that exposure over a long period of time can cause the body to break down in many, and different, ways. (Refer to Frey��s conclusions.)
I have not lived at my farm now since October 1996,and if I do not return to the area my health improves greatly. When I return there my tongue quickly burns and becomes lumpy. If it is sunny I will usually not experience other symptoms. If there after 4.30pm I usually have adverse reactions, as it seems the power is turned up then. I had usually felt worst in the early evening (when living there).
On other days - 4 or 5 hours after leaving the farm – I��d start to feel ghastly: very disorientated, loss of balance, irritable, temperature changes, pains in my head and neck, feel as if my body is ��fizzing��, cannot sleep, lumps in my throat and legs, blurred vision and diarrhoea. I felt very thirsty, and my skin feels as if it is ��prickly�� all over. Sometimes I feel very hot inside my body, and freezing cold outside, especially my feet. These symptoms usually go by morning, but I��m exhausted for several days, and very depressed.
In the spring of 1998 I was calving my cows at Ouruhia, and I did not experience any problems until the weather became damp and misty - when the cows started losing co-ordination, falling over and were not able to rise. One of the cows died. I worked with them long hours. Coming back across the paddock late one night, suddenly, I felt a huge thump on my lower back as if someone had hit me. I could not make my right leg work, it was as if it was paralysed. I dragged myself back to my car, and 20 minutes later I could drive home, but felt awful.
As I struggled into my apartment I bumped my leg against a chair, not hard, but it was agony. Two days later the swelling from that bump had spread all around my lower leg, as it if it was haematoma, very dark coloured. I could not get my shoe on. I went to my doctor, and then for blood tests. My blood did not clot as quickly as normal. A week later I went for more tests. My blood clotted normally. I had not been to Ouruhia that week .Case Story 2 has similar effect when she visits near Philpotts Rd tower.
EMR Changes Cholesterol:- In another incident after spending several hours working outside on the farm at Ouruhia, I was driving home when I experienced a change in my vision. At first it was like shattered glass, and I thought there was something wrong with the left hand side of my windscreen. Then I realised it was my left eye. It was as if I had a diamond in my eye, glittering, sparkling and different colours. A few minutes later I lost complete vision. I went straight to my doctor and he took a blood test. My cholesterol level was high - I must immediately go on a diet. I felt the problems were from EMR exposure. I did never went on a diet, and stayed away from Ouruhia. A month later my cholesterol was nearly normal.
When we were living at Ouruhia our animals became ill, and some died in unusual circumstances. This is all reported in the Ouruhia story. Most of them have recovered their health since they have moved, although I do not think any of them will realize their full potential as racehorses, because of the stress they were exposed to from the EMR emissions. During 1995 and 1996, at Ouruhia, I had vets constantly. Often they could find no cause nor cure. Now I seldom require a vet.
My builder had been working for us, at intervals, for two years. In 1995, after he had been re-roofing the house, he had such dreadful headaches, he could not get out of bed for three days. For three months his muscles were so weak he could not lift a hammer.
In October 1996 my painter, after working on the gutters and barge boards of the house, suffered a major cardiac arrest and was in intensive care for three days. He has refused to finish the work. He had not previously been ill, although a heavy smoker.
An English friend staying with us intermittently for a year, would help out painting when she was with us. She also became ill with swollen glands, exhaustion, headaches - when she was away she became better, when she returned her health deteriorated.
After we left our farm it remained empty for four years. I had not felt it was safe to rent because people and animals became so ill when the two FM were transmitting. I did rent the land to a farmer for six months, but his bull changed personality and became very vicious. The farmer gave up his tenancy, and moved his stock.
After our appeal in the Environment Court one FM was eventually removed, and most of the people in our area had recovered their health. I had hoped, with the reduction in power, I would be able to return home. However, after working several hours a day tidying up the overgrown garden, the previous bone, lymph, vision, memory loss etc symptoms, that I had experienced when the emissions were stronger, reoccurred. I became so depressed I was suicidal. Whether it was because of my allergic reaction to the emissions, or the realization that I would never be able to live at my lovely home and farm again, I do not know.
The research detailed below explains the RF ��hearing �� effect Case Story 5, and others, experience; the loss of memory, irritability, concentration, heart problems after long term EMR exposure; and also that horses would do everything possible to avoid going into certain stables and paddocks. The loss of balance (dizziness) falling over, which people and animals experienced, is explained.
The decline in rabbits, bees, birds frogs, could be attributed either to their discomfort, and avoidance, in the areas of highest radiation, or to death caused by exposure to the emissions.
Researcher Allan H. Frey had, from early 1960��s and through the 70s, initiated and actively investigated USA research on bio effects of exposure to low-intensity RF radiation-.Modern Bio-electricity, page 786
��In 1960, while attending a conference sponsored by the General Electric Company (GE) I happened to talk to a GE technician whose job it was to monitor RF radiation in the vicinity of radars. He mentioned that he ��heard�� radars. I found this very interesting, since I, as well as everyone trained in the life sciences, had been taught that people hear acoustic energy and see, as light, electromagnetic energy. He was rather surprised when I asked if he would take me to a site and let me ��hear�� the radar. It seemed that I was the first person he had told about ��hearing�� radar who had not dismissed his statement out of hand
( p 787).��A few weeks later I went to the radar site and I ��heard�� the RF radiation. I performed a few simple tasks to assure myself it was not an artefact. I then undertook a series of experiments which resulted in the publication of a brief article about the phenomenon in 1961, and a more detailed article in 1962. I laid out the data with a variety of tests with humans. I suggested there were probably multiple mechanisms for such an effect, but there was not sufficient data to specify mechanisms ���� I assessed biological interactions with a wide portion of the electromagnetic spectrum from the infrared down to low frequency��.. After the initial exploratory work with the hearing phenomenon and concurrent with the preparation of the analytical review, I initiated further research with RF radiation.
The series of experiments I carried out in the in the 1960s centred on sensory function, as one of four major themes.
��The 3rd theme was an extension of the RF hearing research and an exploration for other sensory effects. Tactile stimulation in humans at very low frequency (VLF) carrier frequencies was found. . The in-air RF hearing thresholds for humans were determined for two carrier frequencies. Since they were quite different, a mathematical model of layers of head tissue was constructed. As RF energy passes through each layer of tissue, the absorption of the energy differs as a function of carrier frequency. Thus I sought to determine mathematically where in the head the RF energy from the two frequencies became equal. Such an equality point, the crossing of the signal strengths, would suggest where to look for the sensing mechanism. In constructing the model, all tissue electrical values were selected in advance, standard values for tissue thickness were used and first reflections were taken into consideration. ��..
The calculations
indicated that the RF energy crossing was in the fluid at the first
bone/soft tissue interface. This suggested a locus in the cochlea
or at the surface of the cerebral cortex.��
��It is clear there are a diversity of biological effects of RF radiation, effects such as those on neuro-peptides. Understanding the nature of these various effects can lead to significant advances in biology. Neuro-peptides, for example, have been shown to have behavioural and neuro-endocrine effects. Data indicating that they exert effects on immune system function is accumulating. These ligands and their receptors are abundantly distributed in areas of the brain that mediate emotion and higher cognitive functions..
As another example, consider memory and RF radiation.. Recent findings in pharmacology have led to the hypothesis that one mechanism of memory involves:-
��Brief bursts of high frequency activity, (that) cause a transient elevation of calcium in spines that activates a membrane associated calpain. This enzyme then breaks up a localised portion of the fodrin network, producing structural and chemical changes in the region of the postsynaptic membrane. As a result, previously occluded glutamate receptors are exposed, thereby increasing the size of the postsynaptic response to the released transmitter. More prolonged or repetitive bursts of activity can be expected to produce a larger calcium disturbance and more widespread activation of the calcium-dependent proteinase, events that we propose will produce alterations in the ultrastructure of the dendritic spine��.. The implications of RF radiation exposure with such memory mechanism are significant����
��The reports of Olsen and Lin (1981) indicated the existence of the requisite pressure waves in the brain (Spiegal et al, 1973), (and) demonstrated mechanical motion in the brain as a consequence of field exposure. These data provide a reason to believe that pressure pulses occur in the brain.��
��It is ironic that it is such a shear strain effect in the brain that the engineers concerned with hazards were implicitly assuming when they were trying to explain away the RF hearing effect as not being an indication of hazard. They never realised that shear-strain due to thermo-acoustic expansion in brain tissues would itself damage the brain.
I would expect this effect would be noticeable particularly in those who have had long term exposure to modulated RF radiation.��
��Experimentation was also carried out with cats, using the avoidance conditioning technique to determine if they could sense RF energy. Cats avoided the radiation and thresholds were established. In experiments with rhesus monkeys, avoidance behaviour also appeared.�� (Frey in Smith, p. 798)
��The earlier RF hearing research led to an extensive series of experiments by others, as well as several more by me�� I carried out psychophysical experiments exploring modulation effects. I also explored the use of the periodicity pitch phenomenon. The results of these indicated that the locus of the effect is in the cochlea. During this time and subsequently, RF hearing research was also done in the Soviet Union and in other laboratories in the USA. Most notable was the experimentation of Wilson and Joines which showed at low power densities the locus of the mechanism of the hearing effect is in the cochlea.
Page 799, ��The result of the experiments on the RF hearing mechanisms also clearly indicate that questions can be raised about whether RF radiation affects the labyrinthine system and implies possible effect on the balance mechanism. I carried out an experiment to assess this possibility. I exposed animals on a rotating rod and determined how quickly they fell off. I found they fell off more quickly when exposed to the radiation������
��After publication of my 1968 paper giving further details on the RF hearing phenomenon, White, a physicist, wrote to me suggesting that the hearing effect was due to conversion of the RF energy into pressure waves via a therm-acoustic conversion mechanism, possibly in the cochlea. White, had done the original work on defining the thermo-acoustic conversion phenomenon of electromagnetic energy in material a few years earlier.��
��It was immediately apparent to me that, if such conversion was taking place in the brain, damage could be caused that could account for the numerous reports of behavioural changes after long term RF exposure such as reduced attention span, memory disturbance and irritability.��
��During the 1960��s, others also reported on experiments with low intensity RF radiation. For example, Hearn (1965), explored the effect of long continued low intensity RF energy on visual acuity. He found significant differences in the flicker thresholds of irradiated as compared to non- irradiated subjects��.��
My daughter��s, distressing, flickering problem with her eyes, which occurred after long term exposure to electromagnetic field, is similar to the research results Hearn established after long term exposure to low frequency fields.
I was exposed to electro-magnetic
fields at levels monitored outside the NZ Standard from a combined FM/AM
radio transmitter. My health was adversely affected while working
in the area.
I was a very healthy child
and young woman, with a family history of longevity and without inherited
medical conditions. I was born in July 1974, and in July 1978
our family moved to a property in Turner��s Road, Christchurch.
This property was just 420 metres from the radio tower when it was installed
in 1980.
From January 1993 to May 1996 I worked at a nearby farm. I worked 6 days a week, working most hours with horses in a paddock at the end of the property next to the tower, and helping with other farm work. I kept my own horse at the farm until December 1994, which entailed another 2 hours work at the farm. From January 1995 until April 1996 I kept my horse on leasehold land underneath the radio tower.
I experienced bone pain in my forearms, and also a stabbing pain in my inner ears that the doctor had no reason for. I also had many doctor��s visits for a persistent cough, and bouts of ��flu. I experienced unusual pains in my head that were not typical headaches, and had tingling in my fingers. I became very tired especially between May 1995 and April 1996 – often falling asleep in the afternoon. I found it difficult to learn new things in the mid 1990s. After selling my horses I left for an overseas trip in May 1996, and since then gradually, all my symptoms have disappeared. I now have no problems learning new things.
I returned
to NZ, and my home, for a visit in 1997. Over that two and a half
months all my old problems returned, especially the ear pain.
I feel strongly that my horse was also affected while grazing in the
tower paddock. He suffered from loss of co-ordination, and would
fall over when in the trailer. In late 1996 while in London, I
heard by letter that the Radio Network had been transmitting from the
AM tower, without consent.
This FM transmission
started in 1990, and the second FM was added in June 1995. This
must have raised the power levels that I was exposed to. The National
Radiation Laboratory monitored the grazing area in August 1996, and
found the levels to be outside the NZ Standard.
In 1992 he
moved to the Ouruhia area. His home was approximately 1 kilometre
from the radio tower. He was 28 years old and a big, strong young
man. His health deteriorated badly over the seven years he lived
there. He said he ��experienced excruciating headaches and could
not think straight, became very confused, burning eyes and felt as if
he had grit in them. At night his eyes would run. He had
burning, tingling feeling all over his body. He had ringing in ears
like a high pitched noise. He suffered loss of balance, and would
fall off his bike for no reason. He had bleeding noses and blood
in his stools. He had loss of sexual libido. He had very
painful knees and hips, was always thirsty. His short-term memory
was shocking. He became very depressed and suicidal.��
He moved from
the area in 1999 and his health has steadily improved. He says
��sometimes when he is out he still experiences the sharp ringing noise
in his ears, particularly near cell phone towers.��
His TV turned
itself on and off for no reason. His electric light bulbs kept ��blowing.��
His cell phone would not work in the house.
Living 50 metres
from aerial. Father, born 1965, keeps good health apart from treatment
for minor injuries. In 1996, however, he was investigated for
��exertional breathlessness��, for which no definitive cause has been
found.
Mother, born
1969, previously healthy, has visited her doctor on 10 occasions since
mid 1995, with various problems including recurrent sore throat, sinus
infections and mastalgia.
Son, born 1993,
has visited his doctor 12 times since the beginning of 1995 – with
recurrent viral infections and asthma.
Son, born 1994, has visited the GP on 18 occasions since early 1995, with recurrent viral infections, asthma, and otitis media.
I am a 50-year-old
woman who lived 2 km from the Ouruhia tower, from 1973. In January
1998 I moved away from the area. My health prior to 1995 was good.
In late 1995
I began to feel unusual levels of fatigue. In 1996 I began experiencing
an irregular heartbeat, palpitations, tiredness and had difficulty
concentrating. Through 1997 I experienced, intermittently, a ��spaced
out feeling�� where I felt ��foggy�� and suffered from a general
malaise. By September of that year I had impaired peripheral vision,
and tinnitus - a pulsing hissing sound within my head. I would
have times when I felt off balance. My eyes were scratchy and
dry at times. Commencing in the latter half of 1997 I had a sensation
which I would describe as ��electric ants�� crawling on my face.
After I moved
from Ouruhia in 1998, I felt ill for about 2 more months, then started
to improve to the point where I feel as good as prior to 1995.
Dr Bruce Hocking and Dr John Greenwood both concluded that my problems
stemmed from radiation, the former through a small pilot health study
of 20 people from the Ouruhia district.
Of concern during that time period was the health of our teenage son. He had symptoms which included insomnia, muscle aches, leg aches, backache, nausea, lack of concentration, headaches and nervousness, numerous doctors failing to diagnose cause or cure. After moving from Ouruhia his health also improved dramatically.
The Philpotts
Rd Radio Tower currently transmits AM only. In 1998 the FM transmitter
was removed from this aerial back to the original hill site. The Manager
of this tower has read some of the EMR research and wishes to move this
aerial to a site away from houses. He has found a site 2 kilometres
from houses.
The Radio Rhema
Committee have indicated they do not wish to move the tower until it
is proved to them that there are adverse health effects from these emissions.
We hope the Case Stories, which demonstrate Adverse health effects and electronic interference from this aerial, will persuade the government to conduct a health study.
The alternative
is to move the aerial away from people.
Located between 3 transmitters
A 39 year old
woman, I have lived at this property in Prestons Rd for 5 years.
I spent four years in a cottage near to the new house we have built.
We are situated 1.5 kilometres, direct line of sight from Philpotts
Rd mast, one kilometre line of sight from Hills Rd, AM mast and 4 kilometres��s
from Ouruhia mast. At both houses we have had radio interference
with different stations, from all these transmitters, talking down our
telephone. Telecom has renewed my phone, but the problem still
persists. I have experienced computer /fax interference problems,
and suffer headaches when using the phone.
Before I moved
to Prestons Rd I was staying at motels near the Ouruhia radio tower,
and while there I experienced severe shoulder pain. Since I have
moved to Prestons Rd I have suffered from heart
palpitations, attributed by the Dr to chronic fatigue, and stress.
I have short-term memory loss, chronic back pain, my tongue swells,
my head goes fuzzy, and I find it hard to rationalise. My speech
becomes slurred, and I feel exhausted after a nights sleep. Sometimes
I feel as if I have blocked ears. I have itchy eyes. I have
candida, and multiple allergies. I now suffer from a stomach ulcer.
When I go away from the area for any length of time my health improves,
but when I return home my health deteriorates badly again.
I have now
become sensitive to sprays affecting my nervous system, and an allergic
skin reaction. I have been diagnosed with high levels of radiation
by a GP/homeopath.
My son developed
mild asthma as a baby but when we moved to our current property it became
much worse, and he has been hospitalised several times. Once in
a hospital ward I discovered 3 of 8 children admitted for emergency
respiratory problems were from my semi rural area.
He suffers from multiple allergies. My son now has fewer asthma
attacks, but he goes to bed feeling OK - and has coughing attacks at
around 2 AM for three or four nights, then 4am for several nights.
I believe this has something to do with the sky wave/inversion layer
coming in, and intensifying the radio frequency transmissions in the
area. Dr Ivan Beale��s study of health effects with human adults
living near 50Hz powerlines found significantly elevated cases of asthma
at higher exposure levels.)
1999 My Shetland
3year old sheepdog developed multiple allergies, and much of his hairy
coat was scratched out.
My neighbour
in her early 30s has died of virulent melanoma four months after
diagnosis. My children are at the local school, and I found many
parents are complaining about radio/telephone interference, and experiencing
similar health complaints to me. Since then I have made extensive
enquiries on current EMR research, and who is responsible for safety
and control of the communications industry, and what protection, if
any, the public has.
Similar Health problems near Hokitika Transmitter
I talked to a Hokitika couple who had featured in a newspaper article. They told me they had suddenly found difficulty in sleeping, and the wife started losing large amounts of her hair. After a few weeks they thought something must have changed in their environment. After looking around they found a transmitter had been erected on a neighbours property about 50 meters above them on a hill. Further investigation found that the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) had been granted permission to transmit on a specific frequency, from a position 1 km away from where the transmitter had been built. The local council were unable to do anything, but the MOC eventually were able to get the transmitter moved. The couple��s health improved, but the neighbour who had permitted the transmitter to be located on his property had died of a heart attack within 3 months of it transmitting.
Research Links Asthma with Electromagnetic Field Emmissions
I.L.
Beale, (PhD., Department of Psychology, University of Auckland.) N.E.Pearce,
(PhD., Department of Medicine, Wellington Medical School) & R.J.
Booth, (PhD., Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Auckland)
published ��Association of Health Problems with 50Hz magnetic fields
in Human Adults living near Power Transmission Lines.�� The abstract
reads:
Although numerous
studies of animals and cell cultures indicate effects of power-frequency
magnetic fields on immune system function, few studies have looked for
evidence of association between environmental power frequency magnetic
field exposure and immune-related illnesses in humans.
This study used a cross sectional design to examine the dose-response
relationship between magnetic field exposure of adults in their homes,
and prevalence of immune-related and other chronic illnesses. 560 adults
living near extra-high voltage transmission lines completed questionnaires
about their health and other characteristics.
Derived health
variables were related to individual estimates of time integrated magnetic
field exposure. Five of the eight health variables showed a linear dose-response
relationship with exposure. After adjustment for possible confounding,
significantly elevated odds ratios were obtained both for asthma
and combined chronic illnesses at higher exposure levels.
The results are consistent with a possible adverse effect of environmental
magnetic field exposure on immune related and other related illnesses.
The children
living within 1 kilometre of the Ouruhia radio tower all experienced
sudden onset of asthma symptoms when the second FM was added.
When the angles were raised (August 1996) the symptoms eased.
Have children
further out experienced an onset of asthma since that date? Only research
will give us the answers
This resident
has lived in her beautiful home for 16 years. It is surrounded
by well established tall trees, and is located approximately 900metres
from the Philpott��s Rd Radio (90 metre high) AM mast (From 1992 until
1998 it was also transmitting FM.) 1400 metres North is another
small mast which transmits two AM stations. 4 kilometres to the East
is the Ouruhia AM mast, which is currently transmitting one FM and two
AM. This mast transmitted two FM until early 1999 when one was
relocated to its original site on the hills.
This resident
had enjoyed good health until early 1997 when she began to suffer severe
headaches, and started finding it ��hard to cope�� with her daily
life. In June 1997 she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in the
pituitary area. She has lost the sight of one eye, and has partial sight
in the other. She was operated on the 4th of July, and her
health has improved, but her memory is poor.
Three weeks
after she came out of hospital her 3 year old terrier had an epileptic
fit, by the time they took her to the vet the dog was brain dead.
(Vets say it is very unusual for dogs to have epilepsy.) Four months
later their 8-year-old Doberman bitch had to be put down as she had
several tumours. Their present dog, a Rottweiller, is 6 years
old, and has arthritis.
For a long
time they had radio coming down their phone (including many prayers)
from the Radio Rhema tower. They also have light bulbs continually
��blowing.�� A suppressor has now been put on the phone, and the interference
has ceased. The light bulbs still ��blow�� often.
In the Royal
Society of Canada��s Review of Potential Health Risks of Radiofrequency
Fields from Wireless Telecommunication devices ( p. 100) it states that:
��Recently
another subjective symptom has been receiving increased attention -
headache. Frey (1998) speculated that ��headaches can be the canary
in the coal mine, warning of biologically significant MW-induced effects.��
Frey points out that headaches as a consequence of exposure to low intensity
MW were reported more than 30 years ago, and that recent work on the
role of blood-brain barrier and dopamine-opiate systems in headache
pathophysiology, support a potential aetio-pathogenic involvement of
MW to headache. A recent epidemiological study by Hansson and
Mild et al (1998) supports headaches as a subjective symptomatic complaint.
In 1982 I moved
to Mahars Road in Christchurch, which is ½ km from the Phillpots Rd
radio tower. I lived in a wooden house, and the living quarters
faced towards the tower. I was a 45 year old plumber, and at that
time my family all enjoyed good health. My long-lived parents
had died – my mother at age 96, my father age 89. From the late
1980s I experienced severe pain in the muscles of my leg, which progressed
up my body to my shoulders. The only ��diagnosis�� given me
was low blood sugar, and high haemoglobin levels (up to 169).
The only way to reduce this blood sugar level was to be a blood donor
every 3 months. Doctors could find no cause for these problems.
I also developed
severe tremors, with such major pain that I became suicidal.
At that point my doctor advised me to cease work, which I enjoyed, and
I was upset and frustrated that after several months of complete rest,
I remained unable to return to work. Late in 1993, a consultant
physician diagnosed ��deep-seated repressed depression��.
My wife aged
47 developed Grade II diabetes after moving to Mahars Rd, and her mild
arthritis became much worse. By 1995 it was so severe it was a
struggle for her to walk to the letterbox at the end of the drive.
She then had bilateral knee osteotomies. She also suffered from
ringing in her ears, which soon disappeared when we moved house in 1995.
Shortly after this move my haemoglobin levels dropped to (? Blood Sugar
levels? 147 mg/ml, and by the end of that year to 139 mg/ml.
In Mahars Road
our 15 year old son lived in a metally constructed sleepout – he maintained
good health.(living inside the metal sleepout may have protected him)
Suicide;-
Our daughter aged 16, however, was healthy until she moved in March
1994 to Innes Rd., and about one block from our home. She became
very depressed. In October 1994 she moved to Fortune Street, and
stopped work as an architectural draughtswoman. Her home at Fortune
St was approximately 300 metres from the Phillpott��s Rd aerial,
and her bedroom window was in line of sight of the tower. She
first attempted suicide in April 1995 by slashing her wrists.
Following treatment at Sunnyside Hospital for 3 weeks, she returned
to her Fortune St. flat. She again attempted suicide - after
her 7th attempt she succeeded in taking her
life. At that time she was living at a refuge, very
close to the cell phone tower in Columbo Street.
While living
in Mahars Rd we experienced high pitched interference on the telephone.
Light bulbs kept blowing, till I used the RS type, which do not blow
so often. Since we have moved we no longer need these.
It is of interest
that before moving to Christchurch, the family lived in Alexandra from
1961. Our home there had an electrical transformer less than 7
metres from the sleeping quarters. We experienced severe problems
with all electrical household equipment, and eventually the Power Board
came to monitor it - the voltage levels were higher than permitted levels.
During that time my wife suffered 3 miscarriages, and in 1963 our 20
month old baby died of a viral infection. Also in 1975 I suffered
right sided Bell��s (Facial) Palsy. After 7 months off work I
recovered, and by the time we moved to Grimsey��s Road in Christchurch
1980, our family��s health was good.
Research links suicide with exposure to electromagnetic field
Research was done by F.Perry, M Reictimansi, A. Marino, and R Becker (1980) which focussed on locations of suicidal deaths during 1969-76, in the West Midlands of England. �� We found a significant correlation between suicide and the measured power frequency magnetic field strength. Significantly more suicides occurred in locations of high magnetic field strength.��
��The authors
of this document have found many people have become very depressed the
longer they have lived near communication sites. All of them were
previously unaware of adverse health effects experienced by people exposed
to electromagnetic fields.��
My family,
two adults, one boy and a girl moved to a house, in Winters Rd approximately
250 metres from the Philpotts Rd Radio tower, and approximately 450
metres from the Hills Rd AM aerial, in 1974. This house was surrounded
by trees. My parents slept in the only upstairs bedroom.
In 1991 my
parents moved into a new house they had built, as the old one had to
be demolished because of a new motorway. This house was 60 metres
further away from the Philpotts Rd aerial. It did not have many
trees around it. My parents and I all slept upstairs. My
brother did not live at the new house, and he was the only one of our
family not to develop cancer.
��My mother
seemed to enjoy good health until the mid 1980s when she seemed to suffer
from continuous cold symptoms. In July, 1989 she developed pneumonia.
At that time she was 44 years old. In the early 1990s she suffered
from arthritis, which was so bad and her feet became so swollen, she
had difficulty finding shoes to wear to my wedding. Soon after
this the arthritis symptoms ceased. At that time she started a job,
which meant she was away from home most of the day. Prior to this
she had been working outside on our smallholding. In October 1995 she
was diagnosed with lung cancer, small cell carcinoma. She died in January
1999, aged 52. She was not a smoker, and her family had enjoyed longevity.
Her father died aged 85, and her mother aged 92 still enjoys good health.
My father was
in good health until November 1995 when he began getting a recurrent
sore throat. He was diagnosed with throat cancer. He had
a successful operation. He remembers while living at Winters Rd
that he had a very itchy skin, without a rash of any sort. The
doctor did not know the cause. My father moved from Winters Rd
in 1998, a year after my mother died. He is now 60, and in good
health.
I was ten years
old (born 20th Sept, ��67) when we moved to Winters Road, 25 years
old when I left. I had good health until 1985 when I began to
have patches of extremely itchy skin over various parts of my body.
It was so itchy I would make myself bleed when scratching, which dermatologists
could not explain. In 1986 I experienced extreme tiredness, and
aching bones. Blood tests showed no cause for my exhaustion.
They showed low iron count
(see Case 2 re ��pseudo-iron-deficiency��). In
1987 I experienced a huge weight gain (had been slim) and nothing I
did could remove it.
In 1990 I moved
to a flat half a kilometre away, and while there I experienced irregular
menstrual cycle, extreme tiredness, and hair loss. In August 1991
I and my fianc��e lived with my parents at our new house in Winters
Rd. In September, aged 25, I was diagnosed with gall stones and
had my gall bladder removed. In 1993 I moved to a flat in Redwood,
approximately one kilometre from Philpotts Rd tewer, and closer to the
Hills Rd aerial. I started dry coughing.
In 1994 I moved
with my husband to a small farm at West Eyreton. I was still coughing,
and soon after moving I was diagnosed with having a carcinoid tumour
on my lung – this is a fairly rare sort of cancer, and the only form
of treatment was surgery. Part of my lung was removed. Soon after
moving to our farm my skin problems disappeared. In 1995 we tried
to start a baby but it took three years for me to conceive.
My brother,
did not live at the new house in Winters Rd, but while living at the
old house he says he suffered from the following symptom - sleeplessness,
loss of co-ordination, severe headaches, irritability, burning tingling
skin on my legs, nausea, and bad diarrhoea. He went to the doctor for
all these ailments, especially the headaches, but s/he was unable to
help. His health has improved since he has left the area.
He is now 36 years old. Their first baby was stillborn (6 years
ago) due to unknown reasons.
Our dog, a
Jack Russell terrier, was born in 1987. She suffered from diarrhoea
and vomiting, sometimes containing blood, vets did not know why. She
was put to sleep in 1993 aged 6 years.
We had problems with interference on the telephone with radio coming down the line.
A family live
approximately 500 metres from the Philpotts Rd, and have had two children
suffer from leukaemia. One has died. The other child is
now is the 3rd year of remission.
The Philpott��s
Rd radio tower was transmitting FM and AM until 1998 when the FM was
relocated to a safer, less power required hill site. Is it just
co-incidence that this leukaemia sufferer has now gone into remission?
Refer to
research linking FM transmissions with child leukaemia.
This is a copy of a letter written by a concerned South Shore resident, to Mr Burns, Consents Team Leader of the Parks Unit for the Christchurch City Council. 3rd November 1998.
��The South
Shore Transmitter is located very close to adjacent houses. To
my knowledge there are numerous services operating from this tower including
the original TV repeater, FM stations and other telemetry services.
The TV and FM have a radiation pattern directed towards the Sumner,
Redcliffs area, and hence right across the Rocking Horse Rd/South shore
area.
According to licensing information, signal strengths for the various services range from as low as 16dBW (40 radiated watts) for one of the TV services, to 29dBW (800 radiated watts) for one of the FM services. I have difficulty in understanding why such a high radiated power level is justified, for ostensibly servicing an area having a distance of no more than 5 or 6 kilometres from the transmitter. Are some services being used for wider coverage area? If so, is this site being used beyond its originally intended purpose?
Possible health hazards from electromagnetic radiation are a subject of increasing study, debate and concern.
I am certainly
concerned that an innocent looking tower, unobtrusively nestled in a
quiet reserve, is emitting electromagnetic radiation at quite high levels.
Potentially, an unsuspected cause of ill health to neighbouring families.
Do the proposed conditions of consent have any provisions to limit maximum levels of emissions?
Are there any
provisions for monitoring emission levels on a regular basis? I would
like to see a safety survey carried out by a suitably qualified and
independent specialist eg. Dr Kerdemelidis.��
Authors
note that Doctor Kerdemelidis was not invited to conduct a survey.
In 1995 I moved
to Cradock Street and lived with my parents following a marriage break-up.
While living there I noticed that at night the automatic garage door
would open and close on it��s own, particularly at night.
After a few
weeks my mood became quite low, and I began to feel quite depressed.
Initially I thought this was due to my marriage break up. But
as time went by I became worse. My back pain (injury sustained
in a motor vehicle accident) also increased dramatically. I tried cutting
my wrists, and then took a massive over-dose of Valium and Doloxene.
I awoke in hospital three weeks later.
Prior to this
I also noticed that every time I visited an uncle in nearby Pine Ave.
he was always at his sink dry-retching, and this is something my mother
does to this day. My uncle developed prostate cancer.
After recovering
from the overdose I decided to take some time out, and stay with my
brother in Whangerei (1996-97). After two weeks staying there
I felt considerably better, and stayed for a year. I then returned
to Cradock St. – after only one week I began to feel worse,
mean, tired, moody and depressed.
My eyes became
very sore, my back and neck were painful. In October 1997, my
girlfriend moved to Addington from up North. I would visit
and stay on occasions – each time I did I felt much better.
The soreness in my eyes disappeared, and my general mood felt a lot
better.
In 1998 my
uncle became very ill, and asked if I could move in to help him out.
This I did, and my girlfriend also, as she had experienced working with
elderly people. After only a few weeks she developed severe abdominal
pains, began to feel very tired, and needed to sleep a lot. She
also began often to dry-retch. On Halloween my uncle died.
He died of the ��Super Bug��. People with the super bug do not
respond to antibiotics.
We remained
in the area, my partner at my uncle��s house, and I mainly stayed at
my parents in Cradock St.
The continual
health problems I experienced were depression for no apparent reason;
to the point of suicide, continual sore eyes with a gritty feeling
for which I made repeated visits to my doctor – medication did not
help at all; and constant headaches from which I had never suffered
before. I always felt tired, experienced a lot of anxiety, mood
swings, loss of appetite, and could not sleep well. My accident
injuries became more painful than usual.
I developed
food allergies. For example, I still cannot eat bananas, and Weetbix
cause stomach cramps – neither have occurred before. Other symptoms
were lack of motivation, dry-retching, and my skin itched constantly.
I made repeated visits to the doctor.
My partner,
living in Pine Avenue became aggressive, depressed and moody, suffered
dry-retching, was fatigued, slept a lot, and had no motivation.
She developed severe pelvic (lower abdominal) pain, her left breast
became painful and developed a lump. Her period pain was much,
much worse (bleeding excessively). She also developed a skin condition
– white patches. This seemed weird, as she is Samoan.
She made repeated visits to the doctor.
My five children
– 11, 2 aged 10, 8 and 6 years olds, visited periodically. They
suffered too: one had numerous small fits and mental disturbances of
clumsiness, was tired and lacked motivation, another became very unwell,
was very tired and had severe asthma attacks, and the other three suffered
from stomach pains, sore throats and tiredness.
There were
other problems. The TV would come on - on its own, after it had
been turned off with the remote control, and there was interference
on all channels (outside aerial). The computer came on by itself,
repeatedly – we had to switch it off at the wall. There was
static on the telephone. Light bulbs frequently ��blew��.
The switchboard kept ��tripping��, switches kept ��shorting�� –
nearly resulting in a fire once. We had an electrician check the
wiring at Pine Ave., but no reason was found.
Then, in 1999,
we discovered we were living only 1 kilometre (approximately) from the
Southshore TV and Radio transmitter, by the estuary. We thought
that might have something to do with our health problems, so in 1999
we moved to Queenspark, next to Bottle Lake forest, with a beautiful
outlook. We moved here for the setting, quietness etc. but most
importantly for HEALTH REASONS.
We rented out
the house in Pine Ave. The first tenants, pleasant lady in her
60s and her daughter in her early 40s. After a time they asked
me if the house was haunted, because ��weird things were happening��
– the TV coming on, light bulbs frequently ��blew��, and in general
strange things happened? They also became ill – moody, had conflicts
with neighbours, became aggressive, had frequent arguments – their
personalities seemed to have changed, and before long they handed in
their notice.
The second
lot of tenants moved in. The same things happened. They
too asked if the house was haunted! They too changed over a period of
time, and had conflicts with neighbours. They too only stayed
6 months. The third tenant arrived in October 2000. They
have not had problems. I don��t know if the transmitter on the
estuary is now transmitting at a lower level, if so it would be interesting
to know, and since when?
After 2 weeks
of residing at Queenspark, my uncle��s cat became noticeably unwell.
It had been dry-retching at Pine Ave. but this stopped when we
moved. On taking it to the Vet at Parklands, we discovered it
had developed a highly malignant tumour in the hind leg from which it
died. A strange coincidence?
After we moved
to Queenspark the health of all of us improved. Then in a brief
period a large number of light bulbs ��blew�� – 52 have been replaced
over weeks/few months. Some have been replaced after only 3 weeks
– and we do not have 52 light bulb sockets! All our previous symptoms
have reappeared off and on. Other people in the street have experienced
similar problems with light bulbs, garage doors opening on their own,
and interference on their TV sets. We have a lot of interference
on our phone, and the computer comes on, on its own.
Because of
this we have had some tests carried out on frequencies, and where they
are coming from. The results showed that high levels of radio-frequency
were coming from Philpotts Road and Ouruhia radio towers, and other
sources. Our telephone gave readings of very high levels -
more than 5-6 times above the NZ standard.
Therefore we are extremely concerned – we had moved away from this
problem, only to find it here too.
We hope that
the information we have given will result in some action to be taken
for the benefit of the population as a whole. At this stage Vodaphone
want to put a base transceiver station opposite where we live.
In an area we thought would be safe to move to. On top of that
Vodaphone have applied to the Environment Court to raise the levels
from 0.08 microwatts per sq.cm – with a view to put up another 3-4
towers in the area. What are the other companies planning - Telecom,
Telstra, Ericson? Our health was, and still is being compromised at
this very minute. When will something be done to lower emissions
------- as has happened in other countries?
Authors
note:- if adverse, reported, effects are not investigated
(such as those experienced at Ouruhia, Philpotts Rd, South shore, Victoria
Park communication sites etc.) the World Health Organisation has limited
information to demonstrate adverse health effects and can then justify
the ICNIRP standard and their claims of no
��athermal�� health effects.
This cellphone
user was 50 years old when he died of a brain tumour. He had been
very healthy, never had headaches, or flu, and was very fit. His
only health problem was an under active thyroid for which he took thyroxine
daily.
He started
using his cell phone 9 years ago, and over time built up his use of
it until he was spending an average of 500 dollars a month on it - and
used it for approximately 100 calls a day. His widow says ��
five years ago he started experiencing an aching feeling in the side
of his face where he used the cell phone and sometimes his cheek felt
numb. Other times he experienced a tingling feeling in his face.
His hands started shaking about four years ago. Eight days before
he went into hospital he experienced very severe headaches. He was diagnosed
with glioblastoma multifome tumour, which was inoperable because of
its size and shape. He died four and a half months later.
Dr Neil Cherry,
self funded, public representative on the NZ Standard Committee, claims
that the NZ Standard is woefully inadequate as it is designed to guard
against only the thermal/ heating effects of cell phones rather than
any potential for DNA damage. Exemptions for low powered devices
such as cell phones also mean that the 2w/kg allowable exposure rate
for the head and neck is paradoxically many times the.08w/kg standard
for whole body exposure from sources such as cell tower sites.
Dr Martin Gledhill,
National Radiation Laboratory, confirms this discrepancy, but explains
that this is because the standard is focused on thermal effects, and
it is understood that the body can dissipate higher exposures to localised
parts, including the head. British cell phone manufacturers now
have to provide consumers with details of the specific absorption rate
(SAR) of each phone it sells. Dr Gledhill says ��it is only a
matter of time before New Zealand follows suit.��
Why is
there a delay?
David Charter,
Education correspondent for the Times Newspaper, wrote on ��Mobile
phone health alert for schools.�� (July 27th,
2001) that ��every school in England has been sent advice from the
Government discouraging pupils under 16 from using mobile phones.��
Schools near
a mobile phone base station are also advised to contact the operator
to ensure its ��beam of greatest intensity �� does not fall across
its grounds.�� Guidance sent to every school states ��children aged
15 and under ��are more likely to be vulnerable to any unrecognised
health risks from mobile phone use than are adults because their nervous
systems are still developing. Also because of their smaller heads,
thinner skulls, and higher tissue conductivity, children may absorb
more energy from a mobile phone than do adults. Where children
do use mobile phones they should do so for as short a time as possible.��
WHY ARE NEW ZEALAND CHILDREN NOT WARNED OF THE RISKS OF CELL PHONE USE?
This is
the story of the Ouruhia residents struggle to have illegally transmitting
FM radio stations removed from an AM tower after people and animals
became ill (some died in unusual circumstances).
For six
years the residents were unaware of the FM transmissions and they had
no knowledge of ��microwave sickness.�� The illnesses were never
��in the mind.�� Many of the local people and animals, developed symptoms
of microwave sickness during that time.
Penny Hargreaves
owns the farm nearest to the transmitter and she tells the story.
Ouruhia is
situated north East of Christchurch, New Zealand. The land is
predominantly flat, drained marshland. The name means a �� marshy area.��
Another interpretation I have heard is a ��battlefield in a marshy
area.�� Both of them have proved true in the last ten years.
It is very
fertile land used predominantly for dairying, orchards and life style
homes. There are a few pockets of sandy soil interspersed with top grade
land, and some low-lying areas of peat land. Most of the area
has a very high water table. Christchurch City was established in the
mid 1800s and was built on swampland. The City Council part owns approx.
600 acres of pine forest planted on rising sandy land between the City
and the radio tower.
The Styx River
meanders through on its way to the sea, three kilometres away.
There are places in Christchurch where the water table is very close
to the surface and Ouruhia is one of these. A very large river,
the Waimakariri flows nearby and a lagoon is between Ouruhia and the
sea.
The Easterly
is the prevailing wind and carries salt air several miles inland.
Christchurch has a range of hills to the South and this, combined with
the Easterly creates an inversion situation. I have been told
the salt laden air can cause a high reflection of the EMR, as well as
the salt creating high conductivity. We also experience sea fogs
and river mist at certain times of the year.
Some areas
are more susceptible to electromagnetic radiation.
Hilary Bacon,
in the book Crosscurrents talks ��of the environmental factors
in the Fishpond area rendering the area highly susceptible to electromagnetic
interactions and notes that none of the authorities seem to have taken
that into consideration when planning the power line route or later
after receiving health complaints.��
I believe environmental
factors are a serious issue that need to be addressed in the North East
of Christchurch where we have three AM radio towers, within five kilometres
of each other, who also transmit FM.
Nowhere else
in New Zealand do we have this configuration close to people.
This area,
because of the high water table and location near the sea may be susceptible
to electromagnetic inter actions which detracts from the efficiency
of the antenna.
In the Project
Sanguine 6000 miles of antenna cable was to be buried near Clam Lake,
North Wisconsin and that area was chosen mainly because the underlying
rock does not conduct electricity well, a factor that enhances the efficiency
of the antenna.
Experts tell
us every area has different geographical structures, some areas are
safer for siting towers, and more efficient, than others. Radio
towers are not normally sited on flat, marshy land close to houses as
we have in the east of Christchurch.
When the Radio
Sports program (AM) was relocated from the Philpott��s Rd radio tower
to Ouruhia more power was required to achieve the same results. This
is contrary to the Resource Management Act (RMA) to�� minimise the
effects.�� No investigation has been conducted as to why the Ouruhia
aerial requires more power. Perhaps it is because the Styx River
and high water table absorbs the power. (Some water has a very
high dielectric loss). The Styx River which flows in a huge
loop around the aerial carries a great deal of weed, is muddy, and is
also tidal.
The Ouruhia
population has been very stable since it was settled in the late 1870s
with many families farming there for several generations. It is unusual
to have such a stable population close to a city. This would be
an invaluable asset for a health study as it is easy to establish the
changes in families�� health since the radio tower began transmitting,
and follow the development of health symptoms as power has been increased,
and frequencies added. (Refer to tab extract of Sweet Report).
Our Electromagnetic
experiences began in the 1980s when it was decided to move the AM stations
transmitting from the centre of town, because of interference with neighbouring
telephones in the city. An approx. 350ft tower was built.
Consent was granted by the local authority to ��transmit two AM only.��
Approximately 100 metres circumference of copper wires was laid beneath
the tower to increase the efficiency of transmission. In 1990 a small
testing tower was erected, without consent, and FM was tested at this
site. At that time the tower belonged to Radio New Zealand, which was
government owned.
Radio NZ transmitted FM
from the Ouruhia radio tower without Consent
In 1990 FM
began transmitting from the Ouruhia, AM radio tower, without consent
from the local authority, or the knowledge of the residents. Radio
New Zealand had to increase the power for the FM to transmit at Ouruhia.
Their application to the Ministry of Commerce stated ��because of neighbouring
buildings and houses they must increase their power at this low lying
site from 32dBWs to 48dBWs.��
Increasing
the power for this new site was contrary to the New Zealand Resource
Management Act to�� minimise the effects of emissions�� as the nearest
house at Ouruhia is 200 metres away. Their previous FM transmission
site, Sugarloaf, is a tall tower, on a high hill, away from residents.
The Ministry
of Commerce did not request to see the Resource Consent even though
they are aware the requirements differ for AM/FM transmission.
The General Manager for the Radio Network, who had been responsible
for the resiting of the FM, said at the first Ouruhia hearing.
��AM transmissions
requires a low, flat, wet, high reflection site and FM requires a sharply
dropping away high site.�� He omitted to say he had applied for an
increase in power because of the obstruction of neighbouring houses.
In June 1995
the 2nd permanent FM was added. In 1996 most of Radio
New Zealand (Govt) was sold to Radio Network (RNL) . The illegally transmitting
FM at Ouruhia was part of the package.
My daughter
and I bought my farm in 1992 when I returned from England after 25 years.
I had owned a small farm in Hampshire, England where I had been successfully
training New Zealand racehorses, teaching riding, farmed sheep and cows.
My daughter
is a qualified human physiotherapist, specialising in Occupational Overuse
Syndrome, who also treats horses and dogs. She has worked with
some of Britain��s most qualified equestrian vets and animal physiotherapists.
We have both worked with animals all our lives and competed very successfully
in equestrian events in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. It
took us three years to find the perfect site to set up a horse training,
teaching and animal physiotherapy centre close to the city and the beach.
The house was
very dilapidated so we did not move out to the farm to live immediately,
but I worked a twelve hour day there, fencing, building and working
with the cows, sheep and horses as well as teaching.
The house and
stables are situated on rising ground approx. 800 metres, line
of sight, to the radio tower. My farm boundary is approx. 125
metres from the aerial.
In 1990 I had
bought several young horses. There is a huge demand for New Zealand
horses overseas in racing or other disciplines, and we hoped to use
our excellent overseas contacts to export top horses. When we
first bought our farm we won Champion in hand at the Royal Show, another
horse won the champion Sport horse for South Island, my daughter won
dressage competitions and cross country events. (I have listed
these successes because I wish to emphasise that we are not inexperienced
with animals.) In the past I have hardly required a vet for anything
but routine work.
A year after
we bought some cows, one of them started behaving very erratically.
One minute quietly grazing, the next charging madly through fences as
if she had been stung. Sadly she jumped out onto the road and was killed.
We then discovered she had gone blind. Six months later I saw one of
our young horses quietly grazing and then galloped in the same headlong,
panicked manner through a closed gate and somersaulted over a fence
badly injuring a leg. For months she refused to go into this paddock.
One of our cows has since died in the same area, lain down and been
unable to rise and the vets did not know why. Both times the ground
was wet and the weather was dull and overcast.
We had two
of our young horses gelded and for some reason the wounds would not
heal, kept dripping blood for more than a week, heavy bruising and swelling
in the wound area. The animals�� health deteriorated over the
next month. We tried another vet for the next two horses, and the same
thing happened.
For this to happen with one is unusual but with four it is extraordinary. We had never had a problem with gelding previously.
Wounds exposed to EMR do not heal well, increased heartbeat, decrease in blood pressure:-
Relevant
EMR Research from Currents of Death page 68: - Refers to work done
by Dr Donald S Gann a neurologist at the John Hopkins University School
of Medicine in Baltimore, USA.
��Gann exposed
anaesthetised dogs to 60 hertz electric fields of 15,000 volts per meter
for five hour periods, after inducing small carefully controlled haemorrhages
in the animals in order to determine whether the fields would alter
their response to the stress imposed by the haemorrhages. He found that
the exposed animals experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure
and a startling increase in heartbeat rate, as compared to unexposed
control animals. In a 1975 report to EPRI (financiers of the study)
Gann described his findings as follows.
��The unexpected
finding of these changes suggests strongly that dynamic effects resulting
from exposure to electric fields may not be particularly subtle at all,
but may be quite easy to detect.
In addition
to the findings with regard to magnitude of change, the variability
of the heart rates of exposed subject was
also significant, greater than that in unexposed subjects suggesting
that the observations made by Soviet workers on conscious human beings
exposed to high voltage electrical fields may be present in anaesthetised
dogs. These results are clearly preliminary but also clearly demand
further explanation.��
EPRI��s Advisory
Committee on the Effects of Electrical Fields – decided unanimously
that Gann��s work did not require further investigation. They assured
Gann that ��this decision in no way reflected on your professional
competence�� explaining �� it appears that heavy University demands
on your time has made it difficult for you to give sustained and intensive
personal attention to this project which it needed very badly. We have
noted with interest your preliminary evidence that the electric field
can cause changes in the blood pressure and pulse of haemorrhaged animals
and will see if this can be confirmed in an independent study.�� There
is no evidence that the EPRI ever tried to replicate Gann��s study.
We found
with the horses that sustained wounds at Ouruhia that their healing
rate was much longer than we had ever experienced before or since.
A few months
later a very valuable young horse, Thomas, came in from the paddock
staggering and uncoordinated, opening and shutting his mouth as if he
had been stung. We rang the vets and they did everything but six
hours later this lovely horse died and we were devastated. The vets
never knew why.
Hot Spot
areas monitored:-My daughter��s dressage/show horse lashed out
and cut her leg in the fence a few metres from where the young horse
had bolted. She did this three times in the same area. She normally
never kicked at anything and she never has since. One of our best
horses, (Champion show) was quietly standing near a corrugated iron
barn and one of the builders saw him lash out so strongly he put his
leg right through the wall and severed half of his tendon.
When Martin
Gledhill from the National Radiation Laboratory later monitored there
he found ��Hot Spots��(higher levels) on this shed but within
the ICNIRP standard. One of the winning racehorses stabled in that barn,
with a direct line of sight to the radio tower, had to stop racing because
he had heart problems. He had been
happy in his stable at first but as time went on he took a great aversion
to it. Would not eat and broke out several times. Another horse
was in one of the ��hot spot�� stables and he grew bony lumps in two
places and his tendon where it joined the fetlock became soft and swollen
and later turned into a hard lump. He was unable to race.
The veterinarian had never seen anything like it. He also took a great
aversion to his stable and kept breaking out of it.
I had bought
a yearling, which at two, won his first race so easily I was offered
300,000 dollars to sell him to Hong Kong. We turned that down because
he had developed a problem we could not solve and knew he would not
pass the rigorous purchase vet inspection.
Problems
with horses hooves :- Sometimes he would be so sore he could hardly
walk, but no one could find the cause. He developed skin sores.
He also seemed to be experiencing pain in his loins and fetlocks.
Other days he would be fine. The winter of 1995 he would refuse
(stand and buck) to go in the paddock next to the radio tower where
we worked the horses. He was a stallion, he became very violent and
difficult to handle when previously he had been gentle. His hooves
started to change shape and the farriers again could not find the cause.
We decided to give him a holiday and within a month he was his old happy
self, bucking and playing. Back in the paddock near the ��hot spot��
barn he again became aggressive and walked as if he was on hot bricks.
In 1997 after
we had moved all the horses away from the farm he was normal, so kind
we could serve mares one week and race him successfully the next. It
is most unusual to have a stallion quiet enough to do this. We
used him to cover mares at Ouruhia and out of four served only one was
in foal. Since moving from there his fertility rate is excellent.
He no longer has trouble walking and his hooves are much better.
Animals
became Violent:-In 1999 I rented my farm to a farmer for fattening
stock. They were only there for a month and he did not have a
problem until he bought some cows and a bull. Within a month the bull
was going berserk, jumping into neighbour��s property and terrifying
them. The farmer removed all his stock and terminated his tenancy.
I used to rent
a bull to service my heifers. Three times quiet bulls arrived and within
three weeks became so vicious we had to send them home. They immediately
became quiet again.
The bull had
been in the paddock next to the radio tower and he would not stay in
that paddock. He preferred to be in the radio tower paddock than in
the paddock 100 metres away from it. (This behaviour is an indication
that ��hot spot�� areas are not in the area immediately under the
tower but further out.)
We had similar
occurrences with another bull and the cow that went blind. I have since
heard of several other bulls kept in paddocks within 1 kilometre of
the radio tower that have become violent and been destroyed.
Male animals
at our farm became violent in certain areas of our farm. Other people
have experienced this with dogs, bulls and horses in our area.
Relevant
Research:-The Federal Communications Commission reports that the
first thing affected by EMR exposure are the eyes and the testicles.
The effect
on testicles may have caused the tension and anger in male animals we,
and others experienced. One male dog within a month of the second FM
transmitting became so aggressive it ate his smaller friend. This
dog lived approximately three kilometres from the aerial where there
is a cluster of ill people. They also experience interference with their
telephone and other electronic equipment.
Male irritability:-
when the Ouruhia residents lawyer examined the medical reports of 40
people, living in the area, she commented on the quantity of men going
to their doctor with symptoms of extreme irritability.
Is EMR exposure
affecting the moods of men living near communication sites, or power
lines? Men using cell phones and computers, excessively? Could this
be connected to the high rise in violence in the home? Only research
will give us answers.
Animals
loss of co-ordination:-When we used to work the horses in the paddock
next to the radio tower, they would be quiet when they started but as
they worked and began to sweat they would become very fractious and
difficult. This is most unusual, as fit horses are often full
of naughty ideas when they begin and settle as they work. We experienced
the opposite. Several times horses lost co-ordination for no reason
and fell over. It was always in one place. At that time
we did not know why. We were later told that the previous owner
of the farm had dropped dead (heart attack)
in that area while moving an electric fence. We also have the
story of a fit Alsation dog losing co-ordination after hunting in that
area. This occurred two weeks before the previous owner died.
The dog owner
writes��. �� 25th September 1989, our German Shepherd dog
had to be put to rest. Ten days prior to this she had been a perfectly
healthy, energetic, vigorous animal. Hunting rabbits with me on the
Stewarts farm at Lower Styx Rd, we hunted there once or twice a week.
She lost the
use of her back legs in total, and had lost control of her bowels and
bladder. The symptoms came gradually over the 10 day period, the
last few days of her life being spent in the hospital when the vets
said they could do no more for her. When she became sick the best way
to describe her condition was similar to animals with ��mad cow disease.��
The vets requested a post mortem. They found no cause for her condition.
Another household
at Ouruhia where a dog, and horse suffered from similar symptoms, but
they bled to death from the nose and the anus. The symptoms are
similar to those experienced by the US Ambassador to Moscow who was
exposed to low level EMR. He suffered from a blood disease, nausea and
bleeding from the eyes and has since died from leukaemia. Two
other exposed US Ambassadors died from cancer. (refer Electro
Magnetic Man, Smith and Best. page 141 for Moscow Report)
Relevant Research :- Page 99 of the Australian,Commonwealth,Scientific,Research,Organisation,C.S.I.R.O Report discusses heating and EMR exposure-
��Normal body
temperature is maintained by a complex control system of heat loss or
gain responses, including behaviour (Simon et al (1986) at a so-called
��set point�� value of around 37degreesC. Body temperature is maintained
within a narrow range (=0.5 degrees C fluctuation) by the processes
of sweating or increasing metabolic production. Data on thermoregulatory
responses to RF or microwave heating is obtained from experiments with
passively heated volunteers.
Ambient conditions,
such as high humidity and physical work, can profoundly limit the thermoregulatory
capabilities and exert a significant effect on the ability to tolerate
different whole body, Specific Body Absorption (American National Institute
of Occupational Safety and Health and the American Conference of Government
Industrial Hygienists recommend an upper threshold limit value of a
rise in body temperature of 1 degree C.
This is
endorsed by the WHO (1980 �� it was recommended that rates of physical
work and environmental factors should be such as to limit excursions
of body temperature beyond 1 degree C. (Kido et al 1985) reported
mean increases in body temperature of 0.5 degrees C in resting volunteers
exposed to magnetic resonance abdominal scan for 17 minutes where the
whole body SAR was only 0.8WKg. Heart rate increased by 3 beats per
minute. Calculations of SAR distribution based on a heterogeneous
model of the human body indicate that the localised SARs in small tissue
volumes could be 10 to 70 times greater than the whole body average
SAR during exposure to magnetic resonance imaging (Orcutt and Gandi
1980)��.
From the ICNIRP report page 15.
��Both laboratory
data and the results of limited human studies (Michaelson and Elson
1996) make it clear that thermally stressful environments and the use
of drugs or alcohol can compromise the thermoregulatory capacity of
the body. Under these conditions, safety factors should be introduced
to provide adequate protection for exposed individuals����
After reading
these reports it is not surprising that horses became fractious and
uncontrollable near the radio tower on hot days .Kido reports EMR exposed
volunteers heart rate rose when resting. People and the animals were
not resting when working on our farm but undertaking hard physical work
and exercise. The thick coat of a German Shepherd dog may have
affected its ability to dissipate the heat of the combined EMR exposure
and hard physical exercise of hunting.
Could the
extra EMR circulatory load have affected neighbours mares after the
FM was added.
In 1997 he
had five mares foal and only one was normal.
Adverse Effects Caused by Combination of EMR and Drugs
C.S.I.R.O.
report ��states that other physical and physiological factors which
reduce the ability to adapt to an extra heat load include old age,
obesity, hypertension, and effects of many drugs such as diuretics,
antihistamines, tranquillisers, B Blockers, and amphetamines.��
Several
of the horses that have never fully recovered had been on antibiotics
while at Ouruhia. They became very dull and starey eyed and changed
personality from being bright and intelligent to very stupid and nervous.
One developed large bony lumps on her face, and body, that vanished
six months after she was moved away from the property. However
her immune systems seems to be compromised and she is not well.
Two of our young horses, six weeks after gelding, (anaesthetics were
used) developed oozing sores which looked like burns on their faces.
The vet had no idea what they were caused by. We removed the horses
from the farm two weeks later and the
sores slowly went away.
The horses
wear halters which have metal buckles and they also graze next to wire
fences which combined with the anaesthetics could have caused the RF
Burns.(see Hagaman for research on metal conducting RF)
I also experienced
oozing sores on my mouth and hands after I had anaesthetics for a hand
operation. I was on pain killing drugs for several weeks.
At the time I drove the tractor for many hours which would cause high
reflection areas of RF as my hands were exposed on the metal wheel.
I have an
ongoing problem with my left hand now, not my injured one, as when I
go out in the sun or use my computer my hand becomes very swollen, and
the scars which are like burns on my hands, flare up again. If
I am driving the pain is so bad, sometimes, I have to drive one handed
to keep it out of the sun. A local farmer, who has now moved,
has a similar problem with his hands.
The Nurse
Maude Hospice, St Albans, has a cell phone nearby and the Sunnyside
Mental hospital where many patients would be on drugs and tranquillisers,
has one in its grounds. In the last few years there have been
reports of serious problems with violent patients at this hospital.
We found male animals, more than 3 kilometres away, changed personality
and became violent when the RF was increased at Ouruhia Radio tower.
Cell phone
towers are also sited near schools. These are not as powerful
as a radio tower but the frequency, I am told, by Professor Kerdemelidis,
(retired lecturer in Electrical Engineering at Canterbury University)
couples well with small children��s bodies. Many schools have
metal climbing frames which could cause an increase in RF exposure.
The C.S.I.R.O
also reports ��the thermoregulatory ability of infants is not well
developed and pregnant women have an extra circulatory load which may
compromise their ability to dissipate heat.��
With this
information available it seems criminal to us that a radio tower is
permitted near the junior school at Philpotts Rd, in Shirley.
In July
2000, after Professor Stewarts UK report was released, the UK Govt contacted
all British schools and advised them to discourage children from using
cell phones until more research is completed. It also advised that the
microwave from cell phone towers should never cross children��s playgrounds.
WHY have
New Zealand children not been protected in this way?
The Victoria
Park Microwave Tower, Cashmere, is situated close to houses. Deaths
on Cashmere are seen to be predominantly on the ridges where the microwave
beams are or could be directed to. Research in Kansas identified
higher cancer mortality and morbidity when radar was directed to higher
ground or high rise buildings.
EMR Researcher, Dr Becker says in Crosscurrents, page 212:-
��Microwave radar pulsed at 60Hz would have the same effect as 60 Hz field alone, which explains the identical effect seen at ELF and microwave frequencies. It also indicates that all intervening frequencies, VLF, AM radio, FM radio, and TV will have the same biological effects since they too are modulated.��
��
Shocks and burns can be the indirect effects of high frequency EMF involving
human contact with metallic objects in the field. At frequencies
of 100kHz-100MHz (the upper limit of the FM broadcast band) the threshold
levels of contact current that produce effects ranging from perception
to severe pain do not vary significantly as a function of the field
frequency.��
In the ��Handbook
for Professionals- Radio Frequency and Elf Electromagnetic Energies
by R.T. Hitchcock, R.M Patterson published by Van Nostrand Reinhold,
New York City�� page 184;
��A few studies
have evaluated the interaction of radio frequency and microwave energies
with metal implants or metal objects worn by people. Metallic objects
may perturb the field, concentrating the RF energy in the vicinity of
the conductive object. This may lead to localised heating such as that
observed by Feucht, Richardson and Hines (1949) These researchers found
that wire implants and metal plates increased measurable temperatures
in vitro and in vivo experiments with 2.45-GHZ microwaves. Larger temperature
increases were observed when metals were closer to the surface and with
larger metal plates.��
Davias and Griffiths (1989)
��Found that
metal framed spectacles perturb microwave fields between 2 and 12 GHz.
They determined this by locating a field probe, (monopole antenna on
a ground plane) near a human phantom composed of lossy materials that
stimulate tissues. The reception pattern of the probe was compared when
the phantom was fitted with eyewear and when the phantom wore no eye
wear. They demonstrated the difference in the radiation patterns at
the field probe when the spectacles were mounted on the phantom. Their
analysts indicated that the resonant frequency of the eye wear was 900mHz
and that of the spectacle component (wing, hook, and rim) is resonant
between 1.4 and 3.75GHz��
��I
used to wear metal rimmed sunglasses while at Ouruhia and now I have
skin cancer where the metal rims were on the bridge of my nose. My reading
glasses were half rimmed metal which I wore halfway down my nose while
working in my office and sitting at a window facing line of sight to
the aerial. I have had one of these growths removed from halfway down
my nose where the rim of my glasses sat. At the Ouruhia hearing
Dr Coster, representing the Radio Network, claimed that the reason why
two of us had experienced nasty sores high up in our noses was ��because
we picked our noses while working with the animals.�� I have worked
with animals all my life and never previously experienced these sores.
I do not have them now.
The surgeon
did not think the growths came from picking my nose. He was unable to
remove all the growth but I have not had a problem with it except when
I have twice attended meetings at a school which is sited near a cell
phone tower. I was unaware of the tower but within four hours my nose
turned into a clowns red nose and the growth area was very inflamed
and painful for two days.��
As soon as
an object is placed within an electric field, the field behaves rather
like a curtain and drapes itself in close folds over the object, leaving
a clear space beneath. The field so folded can reach values up to a
hundred times that of the ambient, unperturbed field. In ordinary working
or living conditions, such an object might be a car whose top is at
head level for the person standing next to it, a gate or a piece of
equipment similarly placed at the level of the heart,
a child��s climbing frame, or a pram with a baby inside. The
biological implications of such field enhancement are considerable.
Feucht, Richardon
and Hines research work found wire implants and metal plates increased
measurable temperatures.
Penny says
When at Ouruhia lumps appeared where the wire in my brassiere met my
skin. Now I have residue of scar tissue there and when I return to Ouruhia
that area becomes very inflamed and burning. Would women using
computers excessively experience this problem when they wear under
wired bra��s?
This research
would also explain the sores (like blisters) on my cheeks adjacent to
the amalgam in my teeth while at Ouruhia. The RF conducted through
my fillings. Sometimes I would have excruciating toothache but
within five minutes of leaving the farm the pain went. My gums
shrivelled up and my mouth was always dry with a large crack in the
roof of my mouth. I experienced sores in my mouth and down my throat.
The tip of my tongue developed a lump on it. I had a pin in my front
tooth which I believe acted as an aerial for the EMR. My tongue always
felt as if it had hot pepper on it. When I left Ouruhia this effect
went. The first thing I noticed when I returned was the
��hot pepper �� feeling and the sores in my mouth. I believe
the amalgam conducts the Electromagnetic field in the mouth. I
have a lot of fillings including one gold. When I have visited Ouruhia
for a short time, the scars on my cheeks, where the blisters were, become
inflamed and noticeable. Do people who have lots of fillings and
live near communication towers experience more adverse effects
than those without amalgam?
Dr Cyril Smith
Electro magnetic Man. Page 94. When looking for the cause of hypersensitivity:-
��Does the
patient have a lot of different metals in dental fillings? The amalgam
of ��dental amalgam�� contains the element of mercury which is highly
toxic. Mercury metal is generally supposed to be difficult to
remove from the amalgam but there are reports that it does disappear
from fillings and that electric potentials can often be measured between
different fillings in the mouth. (Ziff 1984)��
Hand Book for Health Professionals, Radio frequency and ELF Electromagnetic Energies by R. T. Hitchcock, and RM Patterson published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. ��page 184
��Gandhi and
Chatterjee (1982) determined the magnitude of the electric field which
would produce short circuit currents in common objects. Generally
the necessary E Field strength varied as a function of frequency and
the object being irradiated. For example, perception (let go parenthesis)currents
were produced if a metal roof, fence, car and truck were irradiated
at respectively 250, (1040), 160 (850), 80 (440), and 20 V/m(110 V/m),between
10 to 100kHz. The E field then decreased with increasing frequency
up to 10 M Hz.
Radio frequency
signals transmitted from the antenna may induce a perceptible charge
in large rubber tyre vehicles and ungrounded metallic structures��
(Hagaman 1989a) In these reports the RF sources were AM radio station
transmitters. (Shepich 1990 Heins and Curtis 1990)��
This research
demonstrates the reason for the horses change in personality, and nervousness,
in or near some of the ungrounded corrugated iron sheds or near the
metal horse trailer. Horses are very sensitive to electricity.
When we loaded horses daily in the metal trailer, to go to the beach, they would become very fractious when previously there had never been a problem. They would kick out for no reason and sometimes be quite unmanageable. The trailer was line of sight to the aerial and research tells us would be a high reflection area. Several of them lost balance and fell over in the trailer which they had not done previously and do not do now they have moved.
Three farmers
died in three years while working with tractors, or wire fencing, near
the Ouruhia radio tower. As demonstrated above these would create
high reflection areas.
One man died
from a heart attack in 1990 while
driving his tractor 1000 metres from the aerial
Another, 1200
metres from the aerial, fell underneath his tracter while feeding out
hay and was crushed, 1988.
The third died
of a heart attack while moving a fence
250 metres from the aerial, 1989
Another young
farmer died after falling under his tractor in the mid 1980��s.
He lived approximately
2 kilometres clear line of sight to the aerial. There is a cluster
of ill people near his farm. They, and their animals, symptoms
began in 1991 and became much worse in mid 1995 when the second FM was
added at Ouruhia. They have also experienced radio interference
on their telephones.
Our builder had been working with us since 1993 and in early 1996 after he had been roofing the house with corrugated iron,(high reflection area) he had such bad headaches he could not get out of bed for three days, and his muscles so weak he could not lift a hammer for three months. We now know the iron roof would cause high reflection of the EMR. (see Feucht, Richardson and Hines)
My painter
after working on the gutter and roof for a week, 800 metres from the
aerial, suffered a major cardiac arrest and was in intensive
care for three days. He has refused to complete the work.
An English
visitor stayed for several months, helped with painting, developed swollen
glands and became abnormally exhausted. When she was away, recovered,
on her return to us the symptoms returned.
I had problems
with my own health after I had been moving 20ft aluminium irrigation
pipes in the paddock next to the tower. I had been wading in water
moving the pipes for several hours each day. This I now know would
create a very high reflection area because of the metal pipes and the
wet conditions. I now have very swollen legs from the knees to
my toes and very bad circulation. Hypothermia effect in my feet.
In 1995 I found
I would experience sudden muscle weakness. One minute normal,
the next no muscles. I was loading posts on a truck and suddenly my
muscles ��turned to water�� and I dropped the post on to my hand and
crushed my finger. The top joint had to be amputated and I was put on
strong antibiotics. It was after this I developed the oozing sores on
my face and hands. Other people in the area also developed sudden
loss of strength in their muscles. One neighbour described the
effects as�� muscles turned to quicksilver.��
Dr Hocking, Dr Joyner and Dr Fleming also established the interaction of RF fields with metal implants.
The research
on interaction with RF fields and metal would explain the reason why
my horses aluminium and iron shod hooves became so misshapen
The horses
hooves changed shaped, turned up at the toes and became very brittle.
Horses hated having nails banged in when being shod. We had never
experienced this problem before we moved to this area. One of
them the sole of her hooves was red when the hoof was rasped.
When she left Ouruhia she had developed such bad cracks in her hooves
where the nails were that her hooves split to the coronet and had to
be riveted. We raced her two years later and she won one of the
coveted races in Otago but we have been unable to race her again and
one of her hooves has become quite misshapen. Again the farriers
had not seen anything like it previously.
Another winning
mare, over time her hooves changed shape so drastically they became
like claws and eventually she had to be destroyed. She had the
symptoms of laminitis, (loss of circulation), which is usually found
in too fat horses, or too much grain in the diet. She was a very lean,
very energetic horse who was never just grain fed. The gradual
decline of her hooves, over a period of time, was heartbreaking to see.
She became unable to walk without great pain. She would also fall
over for no reason. We have kept her hooves on ice if anyone wishes
to examine them.
Case number
3 had a horse kept under the radio tower who was exposed 24 hours a
day to very high EMR levels and that mare also experienced similar hoof
problems and also had to be put down. She also developed unusual
heart problems which the vet had not seen
before.
Dr Black,
witness for the Radio Network, agreed that EMR exposed horses�� hooves
could be affected by their aluminium, or steel shoes, which could cause
heating in the hooves. The nails in the hooves would also act as aerials
conducting the RF.
Horses were
always pulling back especially when they had been to the sea and were
hosed down in a concrete yard which is fenced with iron pipes.
(These pipes would not be grounded as on wooden posts which could have
caused higher conductivity of the RF).
As 1995 progressed
the horses health deteriorated and it became a sick joke that I was
no longer a horse trainer but a horse nurse as they developed lymph
problems with huge swollen legs, high temperatures, colic, chips of
bones becoming detached from young horses knees, bone degeneration,
skin and breathing problems. The horses who had been longest on the
property became the worst affected. Several developed white spots
in their eyes and one lost hair on his coat and grew white spots.
Many had dry hairless patches. Several had sores in their nostrils.
Dogs, horses and people developed dry, deep coughs.
One developed
an arthritic condition and we were told not to race her again. A few
months after she went home the arthritic condition vanished, and she
raced again, but not from us.
The horses��
personalities changed from being bright and quick to learn, to being
dull eyed and stupid, and could not remember what they had been taught
the day before. Sometimes very nervous and unpredictable The slightest
noise and they would be jumping about. One developed a twitching
nose as if she was a rabbit. She stopped doing this a year after she
was away from the farm. One horse would look over his back at
his tail all the time. He scoured a lot, as fast as we wormed him he
would become reinfected again. He became very nervous and jumpy,
and we could not keep weight on him. His coat was very dry. He
hated noise and became very erratic when in certain areas. Several
horses would not relax but walked the fences all the time, it was hard
to keep weight on them. We sent one mare home and within a week
she had stopped walking the fence and started to gain weight.
Research
shows Behaviour changes after EMR exposure,
Rochelle Medici writes in
Modern Bioelectricity Page 573:-
The weight
of evidence suggest that the pulsing of non-ionizing radiation and the
use of ELF non-ionizing radiation are extremely important factors in
studies of behaviour,. Effects will not be found unless appropriate
tests of behaviour are used, such as time based schedules of reinforcement.
It is disappointing that so few studies have followed the lead of the
research of the 1960s which indicated that even more dramatic effects
would be seen if pulsing or modulation were done at very low frequencies.
None of the studies except the Thomas et al. study with 60Hz magnetic
fields have considered ongoing physiological or biological rhythms in
the animal.
The Thomas
et al. study bring us into consideration of what must now be considered
a third major variable of significance for the study of the effects
of EM fields on behaviour.
It seems clear
that magnetic fields may have evolutionary and biological significance,
at least for some animals. The evidence of a link between electromagnetic
fields in the environment and disease has been established despite the
fact that many important details regarding it remain undiscovered.��
Page 801.
��Medici offers useful guidance for behavioural research with RF radiation.
Particularly noticeable among the experiments she describes in her chapter
in this volume are those of Thomas and his associates. In their
most recent paper they reported that the central nervous system is affected
by a combination of a magnetostatic field and a 60Hz magnetic field
as evidenced by changes in operant behaviour.
Page 811: Another
line of investigation with the central nervous system which has been
fruitful has been concerned with calcium efflux. This line stems from
the behavioural experiments with non-ionising radiation that Medici
began in 1966 while she was at UCLA. She examined the effects
of low frequency fields using inter-response time schedules of reinforcement
with monkeys. Her studies showed that the animals behaviour was
significantly modified by the fields. She also showed that the
animals were particularly sensitive to frequencies that were in the
EEG range of the animals. That is 7Hz, as contrasted with 45Hz and 75Hz.
A change in the spectrum of the EEG was found when the animals were
exposed to RF radiation.��
Valuable Horses Died We lost two horses in one night when one of my winning race mares, Sarah, was found collapsed in the paddock without a mark on her. She looked bright eyed and in no pain but the vets could not get her to rise and she was destroyed. The dog meat man dissected her and could find nothing wrong with her-his only comment was ��what a huge heart she had, and how beautiful she was.��
The same morning we had found a horse, who was with us for remedial work, with a broken leg in his stable. He too was destroyed. He had kicked the wall so hard he had broken his leg. He had not panicked as both his buckets were full of water but the power of his kick had moved the wooden wall out three inches. The back wall is made of corrugated iron (high reflecting for RF) and the partitions have metal strips to stop the horses chewing the wood. Refer Gandhi and Chatterjee for RF conducting via metal.
Vets Suspected Foul Play Another horse when he was bought in from the paddock had symptoms the same as Thomas. We asked the vet not to give the same drugs as he had for Thomas but to tube him with minerals and see if that worked. Several hours later he was nearly normal. Our horses are very well fed and have lots of additives and selenium.
The vets did not know why our animals had become ill and suspected foul play. For six months we had a daily police watch on the property. Although the house was not finished we moved out to live full time at our farm. Two weeks later a three week old calf was found dead without a mark on him. He was only 50 metres from where Sarah had died. A week later one of our sheep died in the same area.
Doctor Kerdemilidis monitored in these stables, which face direct line of sight to the aerial (approx 800 metres away), and are made of wood and corrugated iron. He was surprised to find such high readings although they were within the ICNIRP Guidelines. We later had the ground measured at 0.75 of a volt and we have been told that cows will not give milk and panic in a cow shed if electricity is leaking. They will be badly affected by 0.35 of a volt and my informant told me they would jump out of the shed at 0.75 of a volt especially if shod with aluminium or steel shoes as the horses are.
When the vet came to monitor
horses with heart problems he was unable
to use the Cardiogram machine in the area outside the stables because
of interference from the radio tower. He was able to use it inside
one stable.
One of the horses, who experienced
the burn type sores on his face, has an ongoing problem with his hearing.
He becomes very agitated with certain noises. This horse is very
tall and has large ears. They were in the paddock next to the radio
tower
These horses
were exposed for 24 hours a day, in embryo, and as young horses to electromagnetic
field within the ICNIRP standard. I believe the exposure has adversely
affected the hearing of the horse with very large ears. The other
horse is shorter, has much smaller ears and does not seem to be affected.
Dr Hocking
(Australian EMR researcher and ex Medical officer for Telstra) has undertaken
research which indicates damage to the nerves at the back of the ears
after excessive use of cell phones.
The horse with
hearing problems would have been exposed to lower EMR levels than cell
phone exposure, but continuously, over a long period of time.
We have other horses develop similar sensitivity to noise symptoms,
after being at our farm for several years. Many of the people
in the area complained of problems with their ears hypersensitivity
to certain noise, feeling as if deaf, ringing in the ears, high pitched
noises. Ears feeling gummed up, memory loss, ��woolley headed��
and concentration problems, loss of balance and falling over.
Hilary Bacon, in Crosscurrents,
also writes of seizures experienced near the power lines, and talks
of letters she has received from people also living near power lines
who experienced seizures, especially when the weather was damp or misty.
In the paddock behind the house,
where the 6 week old baby lived and died
from unusual heart problems, 16 cows died in 3 weeks, winter 1995,
and vets did not know why. They lost co-ordination and fell over
and could not get up. Lincoln College research vets found a high
infestation of worms but did not believe that was the cause of death.
The animals had been wormed regularly and the owners were experienced
farmers of 30 years. Half of the cattle were moved and recovered, the
few who were left in that paddock died.
Their symptoms were identical
to those reported in the German vet study. When the cattle were
removed from paddocks in the vicinity of the German transmitter they
recovered their health, when they returned they deteriorated again.
We have information of research
from Nottingham University, conducted by David de Pomerai-senior lecturer
in molecular toxicology.
��Nematode worm larvae that
were exposed to EM Fields were 5% to 12% faster growing than those unexposed.
Thus raising questions about the influence of microwaves on cell growth.��
While my animals were at my Ouruhia farm I found I also had problems with animals showing a high worm count although they were on a regular worming program. Since we have moved away we do not have this problem.
In 1998 the
Radio Network offered to conduct a vet study of affected animals in
the Ouruhia area. The two vets involved did not take any animal
blood tests, skin samples or discuss the above cattle post mortems with
Lincoln vets. They wrote in their report (having not even bothered to
interview the farmers concerned) �� the farmers were new to the job,
and did not know what they were doing.�� The two farmers involved are
in their mid 50s and are third generation farmers in that area.
The vets did
say ��that some types of wormer did not seem to be working in the Ouruhia
area.�� No explanation was given for this observation.One of the vets
said to us�� he could see a pattern, where animals were sick, so were
the people.�� The Radio Network did not bring him back for more interviews
with the owners!
The RNL vet report would not have held up under cross examination in court as many of the animal owners were to give evidence of the misrepresentation of the animals symptoms, and incorrect recording of events of deaths, by the Radio Network vets. The RNL withdrew from the case prior to presentation of the vet report.
Health of Cattle Deteriorated
1995 and 1996. In late 1995 the condition of my 12 wonderful
Murray Grey Heifers began to deteriorate. I had owned and calved them
for two years and had had no problems. Suddenly their coats became very
dry and they nearly all had sores on their teats and heels. Little
scabby sores in their noses.
Their eyes became very weepy, and they looked sad all the time where before they had been glowing with good health, shiny coats and bright eyes. Their hooves started to turn up and many of them became lame They also developed fatty lumps on their bodies.
The symptoms were similar
to those MAF have described to us for Foot and Mouth
Disease, yet a study was never done.
1998, Ouruhia residents asked
a research vet, Dr Cliff McGrouther to take blood samples from a few
resting horses (not under stress) living in different directions within
1 kilometre of the tower. He found unusual blood results and wished
to extend his tests but no funding was available. Two of the horses
tested were removed and blood tested a few months later. Both
showed more normal blood results.
The spring of 1998 I was not
living there but came every day to see my cows and did not have any
trouble calving them until the damp weather came, and within a few days
I had three down with loss of co-ordination problems, two calved and
we lost one calf and the third cow died a week later.
I spent most of the week out
with the sick cows and was returning across the field late at night,
with wet clothes, on and felt a sudden blow in my lower back as if someone
had hit me hard. My right leg was as if it was paralysed. I dragged
myself back to my car and within 20 minutes I could drive home, but
I felt awful and my health deteriorated again for two months. My lymph
system deteriorated, my skin was very dry, my legs very swollen, hair
on my body fell out, I felt exhausted and very irritable. The
slightest bump, was extremely painful, and I would develop huge dark
bruises. It was as if I had suddenly turned into a haemophiliac.
Two days later my doctor sent
me for blood tests because my leg was so swollen I could not get my
shoes on.. My blood did not clot properly. A week later,
more blood tests and my blood was then normal. I had not
been to Ouruhia for the week.
Case Story 2 who was previously exposed to EMR levels outside the NZ standard, now experiences changes in her blood clotting normally when she spends time visiting near the Philpott��s Rd Radio tower. If she does not go there her blood clots normally.
There had been
a very full moon the night two horses died, and another horse was very
ill. The water table was very high on the farm as it had been
a wet winter. The moon is linked to changes in magnetics, Paramagnetism,
Rediscovering Nature��s Secret force of Growth by Philip
S Callahan, Ph.D. published by Acres U.S.A. P.O. Box 8800,
Metairie, Lousiana 70011.Page 48. Discusses the implications:-
��As in the case of plants, water is diamagnetic. The atmosphere, because of the oxygen, is paramagnetic. Some of my preliminary experiments at night, during the full moon, indicate a paramagnetic/diamagnetic, plant, moon, water, and soil relationship in nature. We know that the moon, which is highly paramagnetic, has a very strong effect on tides, which are of diamagnetic water. �� The author is also a radio technician.
Note – for
the lay reader, Ferro-magnetism is the force that we are all familiar
with. Paramagnetism and Diamagnetism are much weaker but very
important forces and are known world wide. Paramagnetism refers
to a weak but measurable, attractive force exerted by magnets on a range
of elements including oxygen, potassium and many natural rocks.
Diamagnetism refers to a weak repulsive field and includes plants and
organic substances.
Crosscurrents Dr Becker, Page 176, says:-
��The sun
is not constant in its activity; rather it shows a cycle of activity
in its energy output that rises and falls on the eleven year sunspot
cycle. During periods of high activity, solar storms are common.
These are different from magnetic storms in that they are the result
of gigantic eruptions of energy on the surface of the sun. (solar
flares)
Solar flares
produce marked increases in the number of energetic particles in the
solar wind and in the production of X rays, streams of protons, and
radio waves, which impinge on the magnetosphere and cause great magnetic
field disturbances, called magnetic storms.
During a magnetic
storm, the strength of the geomagnetic fluctuates wildly and increases
greatly in strength This disturbance in the surface magnetic field is
often strong enough to cause very high power currents to flow in electric
transmission and telephone lines causing their breakdown. Similar events
simultaneously occur in the ionosphere and produce major disturbances
in radio and TV signals. Long before we had any knowledge of the
interaction between living things and magnetic fields, many scientists
claimed that such magnetic storms were associated with human and animals
behavioural disturbances.��
��In
1963 Dr Howard Friedman and Dr Becker decided to take a look at the
possibilities of a relationship between magnetic storms and human behaviour.
They reported that admissions to mental hospitals increased significantly
during any week in which a major magnetic storm occurred. Later
they were able to relate the day today behaviour of psychiatric patients
to lesser changes in the earth��s magnetic field. This raised the possibility
that relationships between human beings and the geomagnetic field may
not be limited to psychiatric patients.��
With this
knowledge available how can we continue to subject mental patients,
who may have been admitted because of electromagnetic disturbances,
to the added emissions from nearby cell phone towers e.g. in the
grounds of Sunnyside Mental Hospital. Christchurch.
The ICNIRP
Standard does not take Geological conditions, or Solar storms (which
could cause EMR levels to be higher at certain times) into consideration
when allowing communication sites to be built near people
Roger Coghill in his book ��Magnetic Healing�� published by Simon Schuster Pty Ltd NSW.
Page 33
discusses Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and links it to underground streams
and nearby EMR transmissions contributing to the illness.
��The water
in an underground stream is effectively flowing an enclosed cylinder
Ragged electric fields are created as electrons are knocked off the
water molecules through friction with the walls of the cylinder and
these fields can build to extremely high levels.
More recently,
underground streams have been implicated in the incidence of CFS.��
"One of
the first outbreaks of chronic fatigue syndrome occurred in 1955 among
nurses at the Royal Free Hospital London. Some 255 nurses were admitted
to hospital and others were also treated. Twelve patients developed
the full syndrome with symptoms including, headache, depression, and
emotional instability, pains in the limbs and dizziness. During the
second and third weeks the patients became more severely ill with facial
paralysis, vertigo and motor dysfunction. The Nurses�� Home was
on the Fleet Rd under which flows a powerful underground stream.
At the Middlesex
Hospital where a similar outbreak occurred the nurses affected slept
in a dormitory near a main storm relief sewer.
Similarly in
the 1970-71 outbreak at Great Ormond St Hospital the nurses�� dormitory
was above an underground fresh water conduit.
We have to
ask why these outbreaks did not occur before? The answer may lie in
the first transmissions of radiated power for the domestic TV from the
nearby transmitters that were constructed at that time. It could be
the combination of the electric fields from both these sources had a
devastating effect on health
Dr Becker makes similar observations in Cross Currents page 253.
Dr Becker says
�� The hypersensitivity syndrome and the chronic fatigue syndrome share
a number of common characteristics. Both are newly described conditions.
Both begin rather abruptly with flu like conditions and many of the
symptoms – particularly those associated with the central nervous
system- are identical.
The major difference
is the reported sensitivity to electromagnetic fields. However,
some patients who were diagnosed as having primarily CFS have consulted
me because they definitely felt worse when exposed to TV��s and other
devices, even though they did not consider this to be a major aspect
of their illness. Some patients with CFS feel improved when they
are in rural areas, away from sources of EMF.��
Dr Becker continues:-
��The CFS has been found to be widespread in the electronics industry,
especially in the Silicon Valley in northern California.
According to
Dr James Cone, chief of occupational medicine at San Francisco General
Hospital, �� these are not people with typical allergies, but people
who appear to have some kind of neurological or immune system problem��
More than 100 Silicon Valley employees have filed law suits against
their companies for the condition.
While by no
means proven, the possibility remains that both conditions share the
same basic causative factor:- exposure to abnormal electromagnetic fields.
The differences in the syndromes are that in one type there is overt
hyper- sensitivity to the fields, while in the other this factor is
either lacking or is much less evident. Both, however, share the same
general characteristics of involvement of the central nervous system
and the immune system. If the present trend continues and the
percentage of the population developing either of these conditions increases,
it could become a public health problem of some magnitude.��
Many people
at Ouruhia, and in the North East of Christchurch, have developed the
symptoms of CFS since FM was added at Ouruhia and Philpott��s Rd transmitters.
After the angles were changed many of them have recovered, other people
living further out then became ill with similar symptoms. This
seems to indicate a close causal link to EMR exposure and CFS.
We have rivers and underground streams in this marshy area and also
three radio towers within a 5 kilometre radius.
Nowhere
else in New Zealand has the configuration of radio transmitters, close
to people, as in the North East of Christchurch.
Roger Coghill
is a Cambridge trained research biologist, specialising in the effects
of EMR on human, animals and planetary health. He has appeared many
times on TV and Radio to discuss the dangers of electro pollution from
high voltage power cables and mobile phones.
He illustrates
a case study undertaken in 1999 by a Ukrainian doctor Sergei Gerasimov,
from Lviv State University.
��He found
a correlation between multiple sclerosis and the intensity of the local
geomagnetic field. For example in Oslow, Norway, the high incidence
of MS of 60% coincides with a high geomagnetic field index at 154 units.
By contrast
in Aden in Yemen, the MS coincidence is only 3 per 10,000 and the geo
field is very low at only 13 units. Gerasimov suggests that since solar
activity has a great impact on geomagnetic fields perturbations it could
also indirectly affect the MS epidemiological patterns.��
Roger Coghill,
(1988/1989) –��notes that in cases of Sudden Infant Death syndrome
(SIDS) these children have nearly always been chronically exposed to
some factor, perhaps electro magnetic radiation which shows up as demyelination
of the corpus callosum.��
Dr Becker refers
to research on Suddent Infant Death Syndrome in Crosscurrents, pages,
258, 260
��Recently
Dr William Sturner, chief medical examiner for the state of Rhode Island,
presented some interesting findings on forty five infant deaths, eighteen
from SIDs and twenty seven from other causes. Using and ultra sensitive
method, he measured the infants�� level of melatonin, a neuro-hormone
produced by the pineal gland. He found that the levels of melatonin
in those infants who had died of SIDs were significantly lower than
those in other infants.��
Dr Cornelia
O��Leary, a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England, has
been studying the possible relationship between SIDS and abnormal electric
fields. Recently she reported that eight such deaths occurred
in one weekend (four of these within a single two hour period) within
a radius of seven miles from a top secret military base where a powerful
new radar unit was being tested. This certainly indicates that
a link is possible.��
��Likewise,
recent outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis have all occurred near
powerful sources of EMR.��
Dr Breiseman,
Crown Health, Christchurch, has reported outbreaks of meningitis, commencing
in 1991. It would be interesting to know if these outbreaks have been
where there are high electromagnetic and geomagnetic fields.
Is there
a link with the FM transmitting from Ouruhia and Philpott��s Rd low
lying sites (1990) and the added increase of EMR with new cell phone
towers.?
Bees Commit Social suicide
His findings
and subsequent related work by Dr Cyril Smith (Smith and Baker 1982)
seem relevant to the earlier and more generally accepted studies on
bees and homing pigeons, both of which are known to have receptors which
are able to sense the Earth��s magnetic field and its variations, which
they use to help direct their survival behaviour.
Page 133. A
study from Germany (Wellenstein 1973) which showed that bees, when subjected
to ELF electromagnetic fields stopped making honey, sealed up their
hives in mid season and therefore committed social suicide was accepted
by bee keeping associations throughout Europe within a few years. And
indeed it was quoted authoritatively by a local inspector to a Fishpond
villager whose bees had become so savage and unproductive that they
had to be moved 20 miles away – where they thrived once more
EMR Affects Birds and Worms
Again, in the
early 1980s HV power lines near bird sanctuaries and pigeon breeding
communities in Gloucestershire were buried underground because of their
acknowledged disorientating effects. A US Navy ELF communication
project which had to be abandoned because the electromagnetic fields
produced by the wires buried underground radically disturbed the earth
worms and therefore the composition of the soil. This of course
sounds laughable at first, but ��like this study, much of the earliest
accepted evidence came from studies on bees and birds rather than humans.
It remains one of the mysteries of bureaucratic arcane – or economics
- that such effects on humans are still not officially accepted, at
least in Britain.
Authors
note:- The bees, worms, and the birds have also been affected at Ouruhia.
The sick Ouruhia residents were totally unaware of the Fishpond case,
when they were visiting their doctors with very similar health effects
after their exposure from FM/AM transmissions.
Hilary Bacon
in Crosscurrents (Fishpond) ��comments on the bees shutting
up their hives under the power lines. She also comments on a U.S.
ELF communications project which had to be abandoned because the electromagnetic
fields produced by the underground wiring radically disturbed the worms
and therefore the composition of the soil.��
Worms,
bees, trees, birds, rabbits, frogs, affected :-We have similar effects
at Ouruhia. Since I moved to Ouruhia in 1992 I have not seen any
earthworms. We have logs of wood that have been lying in a damp area
for four years without being moved and usually there would be wood lice
and worms under these damp logs.
Friends looked
several times and could only locate one earwig. When we moved
we left a few bags, in open sheds, with oats and feed in the bottom
AND in three years no mice or rats had been there, which is most unusual.
No sign of rats or mice when we move the hay and straw in the barn.
No droppings to show they have been there.
When I moved
to the area there were many bee keepers with hives along the river as
they like the willow honey. Now there are none. I had not seen
a bee all year except for one day in late 1995 when two angry swarms
of bees flew in. The woman renting my house, summer 2001, has
commented on the lack of bees and wasps, she was surprised because of
the rotting peaches usually attracting wasps.
People who
have lived in the Marshlands Rd area all their lives comment how the
frogs have all gone in the last few years.
At Ouruhia
the trees have been dying where the main power is directed to. They
seem to be most vulnerable if they have their roots in water or are
close to the river. I have noticed this effect near some cell phone
towers also.
When we first
went to the farm there were many rabbits. In 1995 we experienced an
influx of rabbits around the stable area and they dug burrows under
the iron barns and no longer were found in the paddocks. We were
surprised they moved so close to the humans as the dogs chased them
and dug out the burrows. We now know that the corrugated iron
barns deflect the EMR beams which would have meant shelter underneath
for the rabbits after the second FM increased their exposure.
Refer Avoidance in Case Story 5.
In 1997, 1998,
men making hay commented on the lack of wildlife on my farm.
We saw hundreds
of birds when we first moved in 1992. By 1996 there were only
a few. The pukehoe seems to be able to cope, as does the fan-tail which
stays under the trees around the house, but the hundreds of chaffinches
and hammerheads have gone.
We feel there
has been some change made with the transmitter, angles lifted again
perhaps, as since the autumn there are many more birds around, and in
April there was a sudden influx of mice where there had been none at
all for several years. The tenant saw some bees in the autumn
but none in the summer.
A neighbour Mr Slatick��s, submission to the hearing, 1997,
��Over the
last year, bird life in the area has been devastated. I feel this
is caused by the broadcasting, frequencies/ intensities, from the radio
tower. The area used to be abundant with all types of bird life. Now,
few normally seen species can be found, and then only in minimal numbers.
Dead birds and dying birds have been found over my property and my neighbours
adjoining property. I have been told that effects on bird life
is similar on the other side of the river. I spoke with a Professor
of Physics on this and he said, ��yes, this can happen if enough power
is put out.��
This neighbour
also stated ��I experience constant ringing in my ears while I am at
my home and it fluctuates from steady to low and sometimes a very high
pitch. Recently there was a very high pitch which bordered on
stunning, at exactly the time I experienced this, the horses in the
field opposite squealed loudly as if in pain.��
This neighbour
experienced problems with his radio and TV. Sometimes in the middle
of the night the TV would turn itself on and radio from the tower would
transmit through it.
Although his
house is close to the aerial (approx 400 metres) he and his wife have
not experienced severe illness. There are many trees and the river
between them and the tower. These seem to absorb the power. We
have found where there are trees between the houses and the tower, people
are healthier than those whose houses are in open spaces, or trees behind
the houses. The nearest house to the aerial is approx 250 metres
but because of abundant tree growth on the river banks between, the
residents cannot see the tower. Their children have experienced bad
boils but otherwise healthy.
A
hundred metres further out witout the tree protection, a woman taught
riding, spending many hours in the open field in line-of-sight to the
aerial, and in 1993 she died of ovarian cancer, aged only 33 years.
How much longer
can Australasian authorites continue to ignore the detrimental effects
uncontrolled Electromagnetic emmissions are having on our environment?
In our area,
people, animals, bees, birds and trees are all suffering adverse effects
since the power was increased.
1996 Neighbours
told of Illegal FM transmission:-
In August 1996 residents discovered the Ouruhia aerial had been transmitting
FM illegally since 1990, in 1993 it seems another FM was added and later
removed, and in 1995 another FM was added.
In September Penny Hargreaves was told that research linked many of the symptoms we had been suffering from with exposure to EMR. She did not believe that what you could not see, feel, hear, touch or smell could cause the horrible symptoms they and their animals suffered from but moved to stay with her mother for a few days to see if health improved. Within 24 hours the excruciating bone pain vanished. No longer felt dizzy or had diarrhoea, or nausea. When she returned home those symptoms returned.
As she was
not well enough to work stayed with her mother for a week and
started ringing immediate neighbours at Ouruhia to see if anyone else
was ill.
This is what
each neighbour said, in 1996, had occurred with their health.
The area covered is approx 1000 metres and every house is listed.
These symptoms occurred in the 1990s and become worse since mid 1995.
All symptoms were recorded doctor, or hospital visits.
Penny��s daughter had severe hair loss over 1995, 1996 and problems with burning eyes which caused her to blink 3 times as often as normal. Her skin became very dry and she too suffered from weight gain although she exercised hard and did not eat more. She suffered from chronic fatigue symptoms and would fall over for no reason. She became quite irritable for no reason. When we moved there she looked young for her age, 22yrs. In 1996 she aged 10 years. She now looks younger again. A year after she moved from our farm she had recovered most of her health except her eyes are still badly affected. Specialists say her eyes are very dry and therefore she has to blink much more often. They cannot do anything to help her. Her face sometimes twitches spasmodically. She is now aged 30 and has experienced this distressing effect since 1995. When she is in the sun or bright lights she is most affected.
We
have research from:- The Royal Society of Canada Report, on Ocular
Effects page 101
��When evaluating
the effects of Micro Waves on the human eye the structural uniqueness
of the eye must be considered. Firstly, when anatomical structures attempt
to dissipate the effects the electro magnetic fields, such as from thermal
fields, they depend on their inherent vascularity (i.e. richness
of blood supply) whereas the brain, for example, is richly vascularized
and thus can dissipate heat, the eye has reduced vascularity in order
to preserve optical clarity. Second the eye is situated in a particularly
vulnerable location.
Finally the
eye may have artificial objects placed in front of it, i.e. glasses,
which have potential to alter the physical effects of electromagnetic
fields. For example, it is theoretically possible for the metal arms
of glasses to act as a ��heat sink�� for thermal effects. Therefore,
although the eyes are an extension of the brain, their anatomical uniqueness
must be appreciated when examining the potential effects of RF fields.
Page 102.
In evaluating the effects of ocular effects of microwaves, extensive
research has been carried out by Kues and co-worker. Kues and
D��Anna, (1987) studied a microwave potentiated increase in vascular
permeability in monkeys. Anaesthetised monkeys were exposed to
2450 MHz pulsed microwaves on 3 consecutive days for 4 hours each day.
A clear correlation between the MW induced iris vascular permeability
change and the subsequent development of corneal endothelia lesions
was demonstrated. Kues has also studied the influence of Microwaves
on commonly used ophthalmic drugs.
In conclusion,
high level exposure to microwave emitting sources, may produce adverse
effects in the eye particularly the retina, lens, iris, and cornea.
The mechanisms responsible for ocular damage involve changes in either
corneal or iris endothelial functions that may or may not be temperature
related. At the present time no definitive conclusions can be reached
regarding RF field exposure and effects in the eye. Further research
is indicated.
The unique
properties of the eye make this an area which should be treated with
caution and concern.��
Penny��s
daughter was exposed within the New Zealand (ICNIRP) standard and her
eyes seem to be permanently damaged. She was exposed for many hours
a day, not the limited time Kues exposed his monkeys too. She wore sunglasses
most of the time she was working outside and the metal frames seem to
magnify the effects of EMR exposure.
Problems
with horses�� eyes. Weeping eyes, white spots growing on
the three horses eyes, and two of the horses�� jockeys commented that
they did not think they could see properly. These jockeys were
unaware of the horses EMR exposure.
Many, many
people in the area, up to three kilometres from the aerial, complained
of gritty, burning eyes, and problems with blurred vision after the
second FM was added. They were unaware of the increase in power
but their doctor��s records show the changes in health experienced.
The pattern
of illness on the north west side of the aerial across the Styx River,
one kilometre from the aerial, was similar. People with aching
bones, chronic fatigue, burning skin, sore eyes and heart
problems.
1
1200metres Male; 42yrs experienced heart
and chest pains on 15th August 1995 Into hospital where
tests concluded ��viral.��
Female; (43yrs)
severe wrist pain in Nov 1996 in one wrist. Six months later the
other wrist also ��went�� which put both wrists completely out of
action.
2.
approx 700 metres from aerial ; Male; 29yrs, admitted to hospital in
Nov 1990 with high fever, headache, vomiting. After a week of
intensive tests and investigations the Doctors had no conclusions.
Female; 35yrs,
in 1996 experienced heart and chest pains
on and off for 12months. Sent for heart tests
and heart OK. She feels ��brain dead
when at her home, vacant, like you have had a couple of wines but you
have not�� When she goes away to work she does not feel ��brain dead.��
Immune system not good, low resistance, gets everything that is going,
flu��s, colds, virus��es, thrush, cystitis, Frequent bouts of nausea(several
weeks at a time) stomach pains, diarrhoea Heart palpitations.
Arthritis type ache in knees over past year. In 1995 developed
dry cough asthma like symptoms.
3. approx
600metres; Male, 40s had bad chest/heart
pains and after ECG tests told it must
be viral.
Female,20s,
since moving to the Ouruhia area has experienced skin problems she has
not previously had.
4. approx
400 metres; Male, 40s has had a heart
by pass within 6 months of moving to Ouruhia area. No problems
previously.
5.
approx 700 metres ;Female has bad headaches, aching muscles, has a 30
year old daughter who visits at weekends. She develops bad headaches
after being there a short time Her husband died of cancer in mid 1990s.
Previous occupant died of a heart attack
in 1991.
6. approx 600 metres from the aerial;
All four members of this family find it hard to sleep at night, suffer from chronic fatigue and have painful ears. Ponies have had problems getting in foal and also have serious skin problems with itchiness and hair falling out.
Pony tested
by Dr McGrouther (vet) showed unusual blood changes.
7. approx
600metres, Female, now late 40s, began experiencing arthritis early��
80s and has now deteriorated so badly she requires a wheelchair.
8.
approx 600 metres from aerial; Male 45yrsn had a precancerous melanoma
removed from forehead, insomnia, bone pain in feet. Daughter 18yrs,
suffered from sharp pains in her ears for several years, swollen glands
and exhaustion. Found it hard to learn new things,. While working horses
under the tower found she had tingling in her hands and experienced
severe headaches
9.
approx 600 metres. Farm worker left the area in 1993 having developed
cancer. Has since died aged 50 years. His wife, (early 40s) has also
developed terminal cancer and is still living, in another neighbourhood.
17 year old son of the farmer died of melanoma, in 1985. He spent
many hours working on the farm which is open land, line of sight to
the aerial.
Most of the sick people suffered from RF interference with their telephones, other electronic equipment, or light bulbs blowing. (The people in the area, who were not suffering from the above illnesses, did not have electronic interference which would indicate they were not in the highest power affected areas.) Telecom seems to be able to put a suppressor on phones to stop interference but nothing has been invented to stop RF interfering with human and animal metabolism. Read Dr Hyland��s comments on RF interference with electronic equipment. Page 9.
The health
of the above residents improved in early 1997 after the FM angles seem
to have been lifted, except for the lady occupant in House 2 who became
very ill. They also owned the pregnant mares who experienced severe
problems in 1997. They had not experienced problems with their
mares prior to 1997.
The FM licences
states power is directed to QEII Park. House 2 is in the line of the
Ouruhia tower and QEII Park.
In 1997 people
experienced a similar pattern of heart racing,
abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea, headaches, pains in ears, swollen
painful knees, burning gritty eyes, burning skin, memory loss, lack
of concentration and exhaustion. People found that their health improved
when they leave the area and deteriorates when they return home.
In October
1996 we took the documented adverse health effects of people living
close to the aerial to the Christchurch City Council and asked
Jack Travis to put an enforcement order on the illegally operating FM,
investigate the health effects people had begun to suffer from since
the FM was added to the AM Transmissions, and stop the interference
on electronic equipment. They ignored our requests.
Mike Moore,
Local MP. and Dr Neil Cherry, Regional Councillor Request Health
Study at Ouruhia
In November 1996 at a Public Meeting the Christchurch City Council representative told the Ouruhia people the CCC had invited the Radio Network to apply for Resource Consent. No enforcement order was put on RNL to move back to the, lower power required, previous hill site. The meeting closed in an angry uproar. Mike Moore, MP, and Dr Neil Cherry, Regional Councillor, wrote to the Ministry of Health requesting a health study.
Extract of the reply; from Bill English, Minister for Health;-
��The Ministry
of Health is maintaining its involvement in the international project
established by the World Health Organisation, (WHO) which is carefully
analysing and reporting on effects of radiation and exposure guidelines.
The WHO concluded in its 1993 Environmental Health Criteria document
on Electromagnetic Fields that the ��epidemiological and comparative
studies do not provide clear evidence of detrimental effect in humans
from exposure to RF fields This view has not been altered.�� He continues:-
In a letter
to an Ouruhia resident I said ��that I had been advised that no adverse
health effects had ever been found directly attributable to radio frequency
radiations, but that, on the other hand, research had not proved conclusively
that there are no possible adverse health effects.��
The Ministry
of Health in their reply has acknowledged there are question marks over
the safety of people exposed to Electromagnetic field.
Instead of
��mouthing �� the WHO policy, the Ministry of Health should thoroughly
investigate adverse health effects, from EMR exposure, when they are
presented to them.
Citizens of New Zealand feel that the Ministry of Health is there to protect the people. The Ministry of Health claim WHO are investigating adverse effects and yet WHO and ICNIRP members did not attend a conference organised by the Salzburg Public Health Dept to showcase their new draft limits of EMR, based on two year studies of EMR affecting sleep. The National Radiation Laboratory (NRL) which is an arm of the Ministry of Health, also act as advisers to the Ministry of Health. NRL represents Industry at Communication hearings are not independent.
The first Ouruhia hearing in front of Commissioner McCracken was held in April 1997 He writes in his summing up
��It is of
concern that many residents in the vicinity of the site are experiencing
problems with their health, and that in some cases at least, a noticeable
improvement in health has been experienced when the witnesses moved
away from or spent less time in the vicinity of the Ouruhia site��
��On this
issue I note that Dr Cherry and Professor Whale advised of the need
for further surveys in this area. No doubt further surveys
would reveal that information. Nevertheless it is not my function
to comment on or make any findings on the need for further investigative
work. I am required to consider the evidence before me and decide
whether there has been proven to be an actual or potential adverse health
effect from this activity and if so to decide whether that is more than
minor.
His decision
was, without any research, to give consent to the two FM already
transmitting and two allow two more FM stations to be added.
The Resource
Management Act, Section 92, allows for a hearing to be adjourned if
the commissioner believes more research is required.
He refers to
the case of McIntyre (cell phone tower) versus Christchurch City Council:-
��The Court concluded in that case that there was no evidence upon
which it could make a finding that there would be any adverse effect
on people exposed to the emissions from that activity.�� The McIntyre
Case:- consent was granted for a cell phone tower to be cited in a neighbourhood.
Comparing the
output of an FM/AM radio tower to a cell phone tower demonstrates the
lack of technological knowledge many of the people passing judgement
on these cases have. A radio station is 1000s times more powerful than
a cell phone tower.
The people
of Ouruhia were not talking about ��what might happen�� when
a cell phone tower was erected as in the Ilam or Shirley cases. They
had evidence of adverse effects that had happened since they
were exposed unknowingly to the combined transmissions of FM/AM.
Section
35 of the Resource Management Act was not complied with at Ouruhia.
To investigate, remedy and mitigate any adverse effects
Isobel Stout (Smith) Christchurch City Council Officer responsible for Health, gave evidence at the Ouruhia hearing that the health effects would only be minor. She spent one hour at the site and did not interview any of the affected residents to base her ��no effects�� decision.
The symptoms
experienced at Ouruhia were similar to those written in an article
to Environmental Health magazine in 1995 by Isobel Stout.
She wrote:- The Results of Newly Completed Research on the effects of Electromagnetic Fields:-
��This area
of research is developing rapidly and it is generally accepted there
is much more to learn than is already known. Numerous effects
have been described but most are consistent with the view that the thermal
effect is responsible. However a number of recent studies have demonstrated
effects under conditions that seem to rule out thermal mechanisms. Effects
shown include the following
Changes in cell membrane permeability to potassium, sodium and calcium.
Changes in composition of blood forming and immunological cells.
Alteration of calcium ion exchange in nerve tissue.
Changes in the firing pattern of neurons.
Changes in levels of Cancer related enzymes.
There is
some indication that chronic exposure may increase the incidence of
physical symptoms such as heart disease,
cancer, birth abnormalities, pregnancy miscarriage, memory problems,
and lens opacity. Subjective symptoms include neurasthenia, headache,
irritability, sleep loss and concentration problems.��
These were the symptoms the people of Ouruhia had been experiencing when they were unaware of the FM transmitting. She acknowledges there is much more to learn than is generally known but as Council Officer in charge did not investigate before advising the Commissioner that ��the effects from exposure were only minor.��
Isobel Stout
has represented communication companies at several hearings.
Who is
there to protect the vulnerable Public and investigate adverse effects
?
Professor Whale wrote a letter which was presented to the Commissioner, Mr McCracken, at the Ouruhia hearing.
Professor Whale,
Professor Emeritus Electrical and Electronic Engineering, ex director
of Radio Research. Msc, PhD (Cambridge) F.Inst.Phys, C.Phys. Life
SMIEEE.FRSA. Member NYAS
��I have been
requested to comment on the electromagnetic radiation levels measured
near the AM/FM transmitting installation near Ouruhia.
In the Frequency
range covered by this station, the currently accepted safe level for
inadvertent exposure by people who have not deliberately chosen to work
in the neighbourhood of such radiation fields is a maximum of 200 microwatts
per square centimetre. There are two types of measuring device
that are normally employed to determine this radiation level –these
are designated as E Field and H Field probes since they respond to different
components of the radiation. The E Field probe was used for the
measurements by Dr Cherry, and others who have made similar measurements.
This is adequate
for obtaining results for the FM radiation provided that it is located
a few metres above the ground but is not adequate for the AM radiation,
particularly where the ground is good pastoral land, since indicated
radiation using this probe alone can be many times less than the total
radiation that is a combination of the E Field, and H Field.
There are suggestions
that there are some adverse effects on animals and people exposed to
radiation to the South of this transmitter. It is difficult to compare
the situation here with similar situations elsewhere for two reasons.
Firstly this is a combined FM/AM station and secondly the FM station
is located on a flat or nearly flat area. It is normal practice to site
AM stations on flat pastoral land in order to obtain efficient operation.
On the other hand it is fairly common practice to site FM on some high
site such as an available hill. The result of this is that residential
properties are commonly well below the radiated beam of the FM transmitters.
While the measured
levels of radiation received in the populated areas near to the Ouruhia
station are below the recommended maximum levels they are never the
less somewhat higher than would normally be observed from an FM station
sited on a hill top. For this reason I would regard the present set
up as being rather unusual and since there is some suspicion, at the
very least, that some adverse effects are being experienced, I would
suggest that there is a case for careful investigation of what might
be occurring in this area.��
The Commissioner
ignored the advice of this highly qualified man who has been regarded
as the ��guru�� of New Zealand Broadcasting and legalised the two
existing FM and without investigation gave permission for two more FM
to transmit from that site.
100 people appealed the McCracken decision.
Cross Currents
Page 23 Dr Becker says; ��When dealing with high power sources such
as commercial TV or FM stations, I believe that to be reasonably safe
you should be about half a mile away unless there is a major obstacle
such as a hill between you and the tower��
Because it
is the nature of TV, FM and microwave to radiate ��line of sight��
waves in straight lines from the transmitter, the tendency is to place
the towers on the highest ground available, thus expanding the area
within which the signals are received.��
When the residents first heard about the illegally transmitting FM they asked Dr Gledhill from the National Radiation Laboratory to monitor. The EMR levels in the area around the radio tower, where some women kept their horses, was so high it went off the meter. The NRL did not notify the residents, or the women exposed, or the CCC, they only informed the Radio Network. Three months later Dr Gledhill told the Council he had used the instruments incorrectly.
WHY- when he found levels far outside the standard, where women and young children were exposed, did he not immediately check his instruments?
In November 1996 DR Gledhill took more readings within a kilometre of the radio tower, which he presented to Mr McCracken, Commissioner for the first Ouruhia hearing. Most of these readings were taken behind buildings, or under, and behind trees which lowers the readings dramatically.
Changes of Radiation Patterns in 1996:- We have records from the Department of Commerce that in Sept 1996 the Radio Network notified correction of the Horizontal radiation pattern at Ouruhia
From 000 degrees up to 080 degrees ; dBW
080 degrees up to 360 degrees dBW
To 000degrees up to 080 degrees; 43dBW
080 degrees up to 360 degrees ; 48dBW
Is it just co-incidence that Martin Gledhill monitored high EMR levels a month before this change?
Is it co-incidence that some of my neighbours health slowly began to improve from October 1996 ?
Is it just co-incidence that people further out, who had been well, suddenly began to experience symptoms similar to microwave sickness in 1997?
In the year 2000, we have a cluster of people approximately 2 kilometres, line of sight, north from the aerial living in an isolated area. There are only four houses. Two have brain tumours, two (who are the farmers who owned the 16 dead cows) now have serious liver problems. One has had a liver transplant.
Southwest of the aerial, 2 kilometres from the aerial, one woman had her eye removed because of a tumour. She has since died. Her husband has died from a heart attack.
Another woman (late 50s) nearby has died of a brain aneurism. Her neighbours also have problems. He has had a heart by pass, she has been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. It was their dog who vanished after epilepsy. Their neighbours have ostriches who do not grow feathers.
See Sweet
Report chart documenting dates and changes in health.
After the
Commissioner, Mr McCracken, failed to investigate the adverse health
effects at Ouruhia and made the extraordinary decision
to permit two more FM to be added to the antenna, six residents conducted
their own door to door enquiry of neighbours�� health problems over
the last 20 years. We took the worrying results to the Council
who were not helpful.
After writing
numerous letters, picketing the Council and other exhaustive efforts
to gain some medical research at Ouruhia, a collection of anecdotal
evidence was finally made by the CCC to see if there were grounds for
further research.
Conducted by Margaret Sweet of Context Services -Research.
This report was commissioned by the Christchurch City Council in June 1998.
Its purpose
was ��to collate the concerns of the Ouruhia residents with regard
to the radio tower at 123 Lower Styx Road, Christchurch.��
Extract
16.13 Onset
of symptoms and introduction of radio-frequency transmissions
Information
on the dates at which various radio transmissions began to operate from
the Ouruhia transmitter is set out below. It will be seen that
there is some discrepancy in information available.
The lawyers for Radio Network in their application for a resource consent in 1996 said:
1980 - resource consent gained to erect a mast for AM radio transmission.
The AM broadcasting operation (1098 AM) has continued on the basis of this consent with some variation over time.
1991 - additional FM services added
1995 - additional
service added
Information
from the Ministry of Commerce on the dates at which licences were registered
is set out below: It should be noted that the regulatory regime changed
in 1992, and information for transmissions before that year are not
available from the Ministry of Commerce.
1995 - 94.5 FM service licence number 4056 registered 27 July 1995.
1997 - 97.7 FM service licence number 6117 registered 22 April 1997.
Other licences issued for the site are
0.855 AM licence number 6433
0.540 licence number 6061
0.738
It is understood
that FM antenna rigging work on the Ouruhia tower began in mid 1990.
(For a period in 1990 3ZB AM transmitted from a tower in Hills Road,
to allow this work to be done on the Ouruhia tower.) Initial FM transmission
took place from August 1990 to mid 1991 when the original FM antenna
was removed and replaced with two new 4-dipole antennas. Full
FM transmission commenced from the site in July 1991.
The residents
were asked to indicate the date at which they first experienced the
onset of each symptom they reported. It was not always possible
for some people to remember dates, so figures given below are smaller
than those for incidence used in other tables.
Each number
represents the number of people who experienced any one of the 14 symptoms
for the first time in that year. Most people with multiple symptoms
found that new symptoms developed over time. They did not all
arrive at once.
Table 12: Year of first onset of a symptom
Year | No people who developed a symptom |
1989 | 3 |
1990 | 13 |
1991 | 11 |
1992 | 7 |
1993 | 17 |
1994 | 22 |
1995 | 35 |
1996 | 52 |
1997 | 87 |
until
July
1998 |
15 |
People close
to the tower on both Turners Road and Lower Styx Road reported bad symptoms
in 1995 and it can be seen that the number of new symptoms appearing
in that year was a considerable increase on the previous year.
Some of
these people close to the tower reported an improvement by the beginning
of 1997, and are feeling much improvement in 1998. This is particularly
true in the ��sick�� segment of 271º - 360º. However people
living further out in that band, i.e. in Spencerville Road in
the area of Chaneys, and Farrells Road, reported symptoms beginning
or getting much worse in mid 1996.
At the time
that FM transmissions were added, both in 1991 and 1995, residents were
unaware of the FM additions. Even now, despite discussion in the
district, most people are quite hazy about the detail of what happened
and when, in terms of transmissions. However several residents
said ��Did they do something new in 1995? And residents close in said,
��Did they do something to improve things in about mid 1996? We began
to feel better sometime after that. Did they raise the beam or
something?��
Most people
further out towards Chaneys along Spencerville Road and in Farrells
Road, who are 2 kms from the tower, had not given the tower any thought
at the time they were interviewed, but reported onset of symptoms from
mid 1996, or from the time they arrived if they went to the area after
that, as some did.
It would appear that there is some correspondence between dates of onset of symptoms and additions of, or changes made to, transmissions.
The Ouruhia
tower broadcasts one AM station, which began transmission in or about
1980, and two FM stations. Experimental FM transmission is understood
to have begun in 1990, and have been continuous from that date. A second
FM station was added in 1995.
All people
living within 2 kms of the tower were invited to participate in a survey,
and data, based on a structured one-hour interview, were collected from
156 people. These people represent 80% of those living within 1.5 kms,
and 50% of those living between 1.5 and 2 kms of the Ouruhia transmitter.
The principal
concern expressed by residents was that radiation from the transmitter
was damaging their and their children��s health.
The enquiry
found a high level of 9 symptoms which have been reported in the research
literature as effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
These symptoms (with figures in brackets for the overall incidence)
were: chronic fatigue (37%), sleep problems (35%), bone and muscle pain
(30%), frequent headaches (21%), a burning sensation of eyes (19%),
burning sensation on the skin (19%), irritability (19%), difficulty
concentrating (19%), anxiety and depression (17%).
Sickness was
not randomly dispersed but clustered. In the sickest cluster, where
incidence of symptoms was much higher, 61% reported chronic fatigue,
50% experienced bone pain, 39% had difficulties with concentration.
Percentages in the order of 30% were found for sleep problems, headaches,
anxiety and depression, and sensation of burning eyes and burning skin.
The clustered,
non-random nature of the ill health in the region suggests an external
cause, but this may or may not indicate an EMR effect. Clusters of sickness
can be analysed in relation to angle of direction from the tower, and
generally coincide with the angles in which the FM signal is directed.
A comparison
was made with a study undertaken in 1995 in Schwarzenburg, Switzerland,
as a result of which that transmitter was switched off. Comparable incidences
were found at Ouruhia for the problems of getting to sleep and staying
asleep, and much higher incidences at Ouruhia for fatigue, joint pain,
headaches, and difficulty concentrating. Both in Ouruhia and in Switzerland
the transmitter was found to be operating well within the national standard.
There was evidence
that people with severe symptoms who leave the area get better. Their
symptoms return when they come back, and go again when they leave.
There appeared
to be a general level of correspondence between the dates at which additions
of FM transmissions were made to the tower and the number of people
beginning to experience ill health effects for the first time.
Sickness was
significantly related, at 0.02% level of probability, to both gender
and age. A sickness index based on 6 symptoms found that 24% of women
and 40% of men had none of the symptoms in the sickness index. The age
range with the highest percentage of severe ill-health was 40 - 49 years.
The age ranges below 20 and above 50 had fewer people with either severe
or moderate effects than the age ranges between 20 and 50.
The Ouruhia
residents commissioned a series of readings of the AM and FM signal
strength in August 1998 and made these available to the researcher.
The highest combined AM/FM reading from any single site was 2.66 v/m
(AM 2.10 + FM 0.56 v/m) from a site in Turners Rd. Using the methodology
specified in New Zealand Standard 6609, the total exposure at that site
was calculated as 0.1% of the exposure limit for the public, specified
in New Zealand Standard 6609.
No relationship
was found between measured EMR readings on 29 properties and the health
of individuals living on those properties.
There is much
in recent international literature to suggest that very low levels of
EM radiation (described by one researcher as ��almost unmeasurably
weak��), may have significant bio-effects within certain ranges of
frequencies. Summaries of some of this research are included in
Appendix 2.
Context
Conclusion: Two kinds of evidence suggest that symptoms found at
Ouruhia are due to an external cause, which may or may not be the tower.
These are the fact that sickness is not random but clustered, and the
fact that people get better when they leave. Two other kinds of evidence
are indicative of the possibility that radiation from the Ouruhia transmitter
may be causing the ill health in the area. These are the high incidence
of symptoms which are known from the literature to result from EM exposure,
and an apparent correspondence between dates of onset of symptoms and
changes made to transmissions
Residents Health Improved while Monitoring was Progressing.
At the time
the monitoring was undertaken residents who had previously experienced
radio interference on their phones, faxes, computers, suddenly found
everything working correctly. Their health also improved over
the two weeks monitoring was undertaken.
This
suggests a lowering of transmission levels from the Ouruhia tower at
that time.
Two weeks
prior to Ouruhia monitoring commencing, the FM transmitting from Philpotts
Rd, approx 5 ks away, was relocated to a hill site. Two months
later it was returned to Philpotts Rd. We queried this with the
Ministry of Commerce and it is now sited permanently on the hills, away
from people. In Italy antenna are not permitted to be sited where
transmissions from neighbouring antennas overlap as seems to be the
case at Ouruhia.
Is it
just co-incidence that the Philpotts Rd FM was removed 2 weeks prior
to monitoring and later returned?
In the New
Zealand Document for Managing Radio frequency, Figure 4 shows exposures
in the Wellington suburb of Wadestown where
two base stations are situated 100 metres from each other. The
Ministries state�� that the high levels in some places was due to the
additional contribution from the TV and radio transmitter on Mt Kau
Kau.��
The Philpotts
Rd FM licences showed the directions the main power was directed to
could have increased the power received at some places in the Ouruhia
and adjoining areas.
This demonstrates
that there may be accumulation of effects from the combinations of transmitters.
Italy will not permit towers within 15 to 40 miles of each other. We
do not believe this is considered when communication sites are established
in New Zealand.
After the
Margaret Sweet report was completed the Christchurch City Council paid
Dr Bates to peer review. Dr Bates claimed that it was
�� biased to the residents�� had not been conducted in an epidemiological
manner and should be disregarded.
The residents
did not know Mrs Sweet previously. Having been interviewed by her I
would say her only bias was to �� the truth.�� It was not funded as
an epidemiological study, which would have been far more expensive,
but as a verbal correlation of symptoms experienced since the FM began
transmitting.
Dr Bates
represented the Radio Network at the Ouruhia Hearing in the Environment
Court.
Some Ouruhia
residents participated in Hormone research with blood tests showing
lower LH and FSH levels than those of unknown/non exposed control group.
LH in males was statistically significant (P<0.05) and (LH and FSH
in females) were suggestive of a tendency to a difference (P<0.1).
LH, Luteinizing hormone, produced in the Pituitary effecting Fertility
and FSH, Follicle stimulating hormone, produced in the Pituitary affecting
Fertility.
In 1998
the General Manager for Radio Network (RNL) said
��they would pay for a health study, as there is much to learn about
the effects of EMR exposure.��
100 people,
more than half the local population wished to participate and put their
health records forward to this study. The RNL withdrew on
the grounds ��it was too expensive.�� When the health records were
examined, by our lawyer, as well as microwave sickness, heart problems
and other symptoms, three other symptoms emerged as a pattern of recent
doctor visits. They were painful ears (feeling as if they were blocked
but very sensitive to noise) men going to their doctors for unusual
irritability, and burning eyes and feeling as if grit was in them. Waking
in the morning with them�� gummed up.��
A small,
pilot study was eventually conducted by Dr Hocking (former chief Medical
Officer for Telstra and EMR researcher) jointly funded by residents
and the Christchurch City Council. (The CCC��s terms were:- all participants
must make their health records from 1985 available and they could be
cross examined in court by the RNL and CCC lawyers. (This stipulation
ruled out people suffering from cancer, depression, and children as
we felt the court appearance could be too stressful for these people.)
Dr Hocking
from 20 participants diagnosed three people with definite symptoms of
microwave sickness. These three were the only participants who had left
the area and the changes in their health from pre FM exposure, exposure,
and improvement after they had left the area, were very obvious.
Penny Hargreaves was one of those diagnosed with symptoms of radiation sickness and the court case was very stressful. She says ��I would not have been well enough to have gone to the court, for even one day, if I had still been living at Ouruhia as I became so ��brain dead�� from the effects of the emissions it was as if I had Alzheimers. The judge would have thought I would have been better having treatment in a mental home than appearing in court. As it was the RNL lawyers tried to imply I was a ��nut case�� because I can ��Hear /Feel �� the RF.
They seemed
to be unaware of research verifying the effects of Radio frequency hearing.
EMR exposed
people disadvantaged in Court Cases
One of the
problems facing people, who are sick from EMR exposure, and attempt
to take on the Communication giants in court is EMR exposure affects
the brain. Dr Becker verifies this. It is a great disadvantage
to present evidence in court when mental faculties are badly affected,
suffering from depression and unable to cope with stress in any form.
Huge funds
must also be raised to go to court. Our experiences demonstrated
that industry has access to huge sources of funding to employ the best
lawyers and bring industry employed scientists to court who say
��no non –thermal EMR effects.��
The sick
appellants, many unable to work, had to try and raise funds to employ
lawyers for the court case and pay independent scientists to present
evidence of ��athermal effects��.
The Ouruhia
appellants spent 15 days in the Environment Court listening to Radio
Network, (RNL) witnesses. In that time the only witness to appear for
us was Dr Hocking. The case was scheduled to have been 10 days and had
to be adjourned for a month when three more days of
RNL witnesses and three days of our witnesses were to give evidence.
Three days after the adjournment the Radio Network approached us with
the following offer.
��RNL would
not add two more FM stations, they would remove one FM in 20 months,
1. speak about the case for 20 years
2. have a health
study for 20 years.
If the Ouruhia appellants contravened these conditions they would be fined 10.000 dollars and another FM would be added!��
We refused these gagging conditions. A week later RNL returned with the offer without the gagging conditions, and another 10,000 dollars added.
We wished to continue our appeal to have all the FM removed but unfortunately due to the extended court case we did not have enough funds to go on in the court arena. We were forced to accept the second offer. The RNL also paid the residents legal costs.
RNL said ��it was impossible for them to move the one FM until the 20 months was up. We have recently learned that the FM under discussion was removed three months prior to the court case.
The Lawyer who acted for RNL, Joan Allin, has now been appointed Principal Environment Court Judge.
The Radio Network also offered to reimburse Professor Abelin��s unused air ticket to New Zealand on condition it was torn up.
Professor Abelin, World President for preventive Medicine, and responsible for the research study at Schwarzenberg had been invited to give evidence at the court hearing and after it was aborted wished to come out to look at the Philpotts Rd and Ouruhia aerials and talk to doctors, and industry, regarding a health study. We paid for his ticket and he was here for two weeks and advised us to continue to lobby for a health study. The communication industry did not take advantage of Professor Abelin��s presence in New Zealand to discuss his findings in Schwarzenberg and expand their knowledge.
The Ouruhia residents have continued to lobby for a health study
A letter from Marion Hobbs, Ministry for the Environment, in response to our request, was:-
��I am advised that many of the issues raised in your letter were aired last year in the Environment Court hearing, which was settled by a Consent Order agreed to by all the parties involved. As this consent order reduces the eventual number of FM stations permitted at the Ouruhia site from four to one, I hope you feel that your efforts have produced some positive results.��
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Environment are aware that the Radio Network relocated one FM from the Ouruhia site because of adverse health effects but the Guidelines Document claims there are ��no adverse health effects within the New Zealand Standard.��
Mr Woods representing Broadcasting Communications Ltd, at the Ouruhia hearing, said �� there were no adverse health effects from other transmitters which had been moved, or had transmission angles changed, after reported ill health in their vicinity��
When challenged, he said ��the adverse health effects had not been proven.��
Of course they are not proven if they are not thoroughly investigated, transmission angles are changed, or transmitters relocated.
After the hearing we wrote to the Christchurch City Council requesting a health study. Their reply was similar to Marion Hobbs.
After the Court Case Radio Network were ordered by the Environment Court Judge to erect signs to warn the public not to enter areas where there are dangerous levels of emissions.
The RNL erected a sign on Council land next to the Styx River, approximately 400 metres from the aerial. The sign says��
��DANGER!! DO NOT ENTER��
��
The land they claim is dangerous is Penny��s land. Her paddock is sited between the river and the radio tower. The EMR levels are now much lower since one FM has been removed. There was not a warning sign there prior to the court case. This is the area where the horses worked each day. Penny, in the summer would spend several hours a day moving, by hand, 24ft aluminium irrigation pipes to water the paddocks. The combination of EMR and metal is discussed elsewhere. The levels monitored have always been within the ICNIRP standard.
Five metres from this sign the previous owner of Penny��s farm suddenly dropped dead from a heart attack.
Some of her horses, while working, several times lost co-ordination and fell over. This is the paddock where the horses became very nervous and intractable after hard work, especially on hot days.
Refer to Handbook for Professionals Page 92.;
��The threshold for behavioural responses is not only associated with a significant increase in body temperature due to absorbed RF energy, it also appears to be frequency dependent. Experiments with rats and monkeys at multiple frequencies and SARs have demonstrated the importance of geometrical resonance in establishing the lowest effective SARs for measured end points. De Lorge (1984) demonstrated that SAR thresholds for behaviour disruption in monkeys varied with frequency. ��.��
In erecting this sign the Radio Network have acknowledged it is dangerous to be in my paddocks. The levels monitored are within the New Zealand Standard. In allowing this sign to be put on their land the Christchurch City Council have also acknowledged it is dangerous to be in her paddocks.
In 1996 we informed council officers of the illnesses experienced since the FM was added and requested the Christchurch City Council put an enforcement order on the Radio Network to remove the illegally transmitting FM to a safer hill site. Residents were told ��the CCC is not in the habit of shutting down businesses��.
In relocating the FM they would not have shut down the Radio Network but they have shut down Penny��s business. Because of the deaths and illnesses experienced at her farm Penny was forced to move elsewhere. In erecting the ��Danger Sign�� the Radio Network have acknowledged her concerns are valid.
For four years, until the one FM was removed her home/farm have been empty and she has been forced to pay rent elsewhere. She was unable to pay her farm rates at that time.
In January 2000 the CCC investigating Rates Officer told her he would continue to add interest on her rates but would give two years after the FM was removed, to pay. In May, 2000 the Christchurch Mayor, and some councillors, voted to overturn his decision and requested immediate payment of the rates.
In late 2000 she rented her farmhouse as she felt it was safe for people to live there now one FM was removed. As soon as the rent was received she paid her current rates.
The cheque was returned to her and once again threatened with High Court Action.
She says ��I do not know if the councillors were aware of the ��danger�� sign although many representatives of the City Council have been many times in that area this last year as they wish to form a park around the river banks and surrounding land. My land has been surveyed by council staff as part of this project.
A year ago I wrote to the Radio Network chairman querying the siting of this sign. The sign was not removed and the RNL have not acknowledged my letter The Radio Network have now told the Council, the sign was put there by mistake! It is hard to mistake the RNL boundary.
At the Bottle Lake Cell phone tower hearing the Commissioner was given a photo of this sign as the Bottle Lake exposure levels would have been similar. He asked Council staff to investigate. That was six months ago and nothing has been done in the interim.
I am now forced to sell my farm in midwinter to pay the outstanding rates.
We have been exposed, without our knowledge, to an illegal transmission which has adversely affected our, and our animals�� health. We lose our health, home, business and farm
We want anyone
who is battling communication companies, either now, or in the future
to be aware that:
THERE IS ONE LAW FOR BIG BUSINESS AND ANOTHER FOR THE VULNERABLE PUBLIC-
IT IS NOT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.
Dr Becker says ��The Public MUST play a major role in resolving this problem. Without a public that is educated as to the real extent of the crisis and that demands effective action of its officials, NOTHING WILL BE DONE until the situation becomes so critical that remedial actions may be impossible. In addition to the environmental situation, people also have responsibilities for their own personal health and safety. None of these responsibilities can be delegated to others.��
Unfortunately in New Zealand most of our communication companies are overseas owned. Most of our newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, phone spectrum and Sky TV are owned by the same companies.
The NZ public is not being educated to the real extent of the crisis.
An extract from one of the submissions sent to the NZ Ministries by Australian Communication Giant, Telstra,
TELSTRA ENCOURAGES ALL STAKEHOLDERS TO TRUTHFULLY –
1/ Declare all their interests.
2/ Acknowledge their limitations in understanding the science
3/ Acknowledge
the wider public interest impacts of dealings within this issue beyond
their own immediate interests.
IF THESE THREE POINTS WERE ACCEPTED THIS WOULD BE A GOOD STARTING POINT FOR DISCUSSING IMPORTANT ISSUES AND SETTING A SAFE NEW STANDARD FOR AUSTRALASIAN ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD GUIDELINES.
On behalf of
The Federal Office of Energy a major report of 5 years research was
published August 1995 titled ��Study on Health Effects of the Short-wave
Transmitter Station of Schwarzenburg, Berne, Switzerland,�� under the
direction of Theodor Abelin M.D., M.P.H., Professor and Head, from the
Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Berne with
E.S. Altpeter, Th. Krebs, D.H Pfluger, J. von Kanel,
R. Blattmann, D. Emmenegger and B. Cloetta. In association
with U. Rogger and H. Gerber, Central Chemical Laboratory
of the University Hospital, Veterinarians K. Staerk and Ch.
Griot, Institute of Virology and Immunoprophylaxis, Mittelhausern, Switzerland,
B. Maine from Repromed, Hamburg, Germany, R. Coray, Swiss
Telecom PTT and R. Baumann from the Swiss Federal Office of Environment,
Forests and Landscape.
Ever since
the Seventies, health complaints of sleep disturbances, headache, tiredness,
irritability, lower back pain, limb pain, heart
palpitations and rare diseases such as cancer and diabetes, had been
reported by the population surrounding the Schwarzenburg short wave
radio broadcasting transmitter. A petition for research signed
by 195 residents was presented to The Federal Office of Energy in 1990.
The Schwarzenburg
average readings were lower than the New Zealand Standard and similar
to those at Ouruhia, and the adverse health experienced by people
and animals were also similar. The study found sleep disorders were
associated with transmissions, and other illnesses correlated with the
transmitter.
On completion of the study the transmitter was relocated.
Further research
was done after the transmitter closed down which showed melatonin levels
improved.
Differences
between Fields from Power Lines and Radio Transmitters
Appendix A
Extracts from:- Page 57 of the NZ Ministries Report. ��The Radio
frequency fields from radio transmitters and ELF (extremely low frequency)
fields from power lines are often confused with each other. Although
there are some similarities, in that they are both electromagnetic in
origin, they are fundamentally different in their physical properties
and in the way they interact with the body. This is because of
the huge differences in their frequencies. Similarly, although
light is also electromagnetic in origin, its physical properties and
interactions with the body are quite different to both ELF and radio
frequency fields.
The electrical
properties of the body vary markedly with frequency. The main
interaction of RF fields with the body is dielectric absorption –
the fields cause molecules in the body to rotate slightly, and this
rotational energy is converted to heat. At extremely low frequencies,
the main interaction is the induction of electric currents. The
skin shields the inside of the body from ELF electric fields, whereas
ELF magnetic fields are the same inside the body as outside. RF electric
and magnetic fields can both penetrate the body, the depth penetration
varying with frequency.
Having said that, one theory as to how RF fields whose amplitude is modulated (changed) as ELF frequencies could produce biological effects is that the RF wave ��carries�� an ELF field into the body, and it is the ELF component that could produce and effect. However such theories are speculative.��
The authors
of this document disagree with the Ministries comments on differences
of effects from ELF and EMR exposures. The documented health
effects of people living near, or under the Electric Pylons at Fishpond
in Dorset are almost identical to the health effects experienced by
residents living near the Radio Tower at Ouruhia, Christchurch.
The pattern of health symptoms indicates the effects from radio wave
and power lines is similar in the way it interacts with the human body.
The story was written in ��Electromagnetic Environmental pollution��
By Dr Cyril
Smith and Simon Best (1989) Extracts from:-
Chapter 8,
Page 127:- ��In this chapter Hilary Bacon tells of her battles to survive
an electrically polluted environment. In years to come the general
public will have cause to be grateful for the ability and determination
of campaigners such as Hilary Bacon and to contemplate with amazement
some of the ironies of coincidence which have characterised her attempts
to elucidate an infinitely complex, hardly understood but vitally important
biological truth.
The discovery
of that truth stems from the concept of electro biology which, as Dr
Becker points out, can be considered to have originated with the work
of Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi, a Hungarian physician and biochemist who
won a Nobel Prize in 1933 for his work on biological oxidation mechanisms
and vitamin C.
In 1941 he
postulated that the atomic structure of such biological molecules as
proteins was sufficiently organised to function as a crystalline lattice,
so that such phenomena as semi-conduction could exist not only within
metals but also within living systems. (Becker and Marino 1982)
In his later years, he focussed his research on cancer in what he termed
quantum biology, and in 1978 published the Living State and Cancer
in which he outlined his theory that cancer is, fundamentally, a sub-molecular,
electronic disturbance.
Page 127 ;-
Man, like all life on earth, has evolved in an environment flooded with
electromagnetic radiation of most wavelengths and varying degrees of
coherence. That he feeds and breathes is due to plant photosynthesis.
The frequency spectrum with which living systems are concerned probably
extends from the ionising ultra-violet radiation through non-ionising,
visible, microwave, radio, and audio frequencies to sub-Hertz, perhaps
even to the frequency corresponding to the reciprocal of the lifetime
of the organism itself, which clearly has a coherence in space and time
throughout its existence.
The low frequency
Schumann radiation from the upper atmosphere appears to be of particular
importance in relation to biological rhythms and has a frequency spectrum
which resembles that of the human (EEG) brainwaves. In electrotherapy
the frequencies 27.5Hz, 55Hz, 110Hz, 220Hz, 440Hz, and 880Hz are said
to be extremely effective. In interferential therapy (Savage 1984)
frequencies 0-5Hz affect the sympathetic nerves, 10-150Hz affect the
parasympathetic nerves, 10-15Hz affect the motor nerves, 90-110Hz affect
the sensory nerves, 130 Hz affects the nociceptive system and 0-10Hz
affects unstriped muscle.
The musically
inclined may not need reminding that orchestras tune to A-440Hz and
it is interesting to speculate what beneficial effects might have accrued
by now if 55Hz, instead of 50Hz or 60Hz had been chosen as the power
supply frequency on either side of the Atlantic. The frequency
of 5Hz is usually regarded as being depressive, while the range 8-10Hz
is associated with well being and general alertness
HILARY BACON TELLS HER STORY, Page 130:-
It all started
because of the construction of one small section of the National Grid
over the tiny village of Fishpond, in Dorset. This was erected
in 1967, but it was not until 1973 that the villagers began to report
effects which they hardly knew how to describe. The lines dip sharply
down over the fields and houses in two fairly massive circuits which
run parallel to the village and because of the steep hillside almost
level to the houses. One circuit was energised at 400kV(400,000volts)
the other at 275kV but with the in built capacity to be uprated.
Fishpond lies
at the head of a steep and narrow valley rising dramatically from the
coast nearly 1000 ft below. It is extremely beautiful and the whole
valley now belongs to the National Trust. The earth is iron bearing
(the head of the valley is flanked by two iron age forts) and the whole
area is riddled with underground streams and earth faults. Further,
strong south westerly gales and heavy sea mists are funnelled up from
the English Channel below.
ENVIRONMENT
FACTORS IGNORED BY PLANNERS
All these environmental
factors seem to render the area highly susceptible to electromagnetic
interactions, though none of the authorities seem to have taken that
into consideration either when planning the route or later after receiving
complaints, nor in similar situations elsewhere, the villagers were
certainly not aware of it.
I can tell
the story of the search in some detail because as a resident there from
1973 to 1984, I myself felt the effects and embarked on the search-although
to describe the full extraordinary sequence of events in this discovery
would take a whole book certainly longer than the�� Tales of a thousand
and one nights. �� However the simple outline of the story shows
that the gulf between science and ordinary life is not as great as has
been suggested and that
IT IS IMPERATIVE
FOR MEDICAL DOCTORS OF EVERY DISCIPLINE TO LEARN AGAIN TO CONSIDER ALL
ASPECTS OF ILLNESS IN RELATION TO THE WHOLE ENVIRONMENT
When I moved
to Fishpond in the summer of 1973 to a house immediately below the lines
and knew nothing of this. I thought the lines hideous but the
valley was so beautiful and the school for my sons was so good that
I felt I could accept them.
As the autumn
drew on I experienced strange lassitude, headaches, which I had never
had before, and an odder feeling which I had difficulty in describing
to myself. It was as if I had some kind of a mental barrier between
my thoughts and myself so that I found it hard to even write a letter.
Since I was working as an editor and a proof reader I found this mental
block very disturbing and I decided it must be due to the South Coast
weather as I found it more pronounced on wet, windy or misty days.
Later I discovered that another villager, born and bred here, who had
never experienced this strange feeling before the lines were erected,
described it far more graphically as �� like being caught in a net.��
Gradually,
as I began to get to know the other villagers, I found that many of
us, as different as we were, shared the same unusual mixture of debilitating
symptoms –headaches across the eyes, exhaustion, sleeplessness, loss
of appetite, occasional dizziness, palpitations of the heart,
with trembling –especially in extremes of wet, windy or very cold
or very hot weather.
Later in the
same year I happened upon an article by an electrical engineer describing
the effects upon office and factory workers of abnormal ionisation in
the air caused by central heating or air conditioning. These effects
–headaches, eye strain, exhaustion dizziness- tallied so exactly with
ours that I suddenly wondered if it might be not just the weather which
was causing our symptoms, but possibly also the other factor we shared
in common, namely the overhead power lines, producing abnormal ionisation
of the air.
MONITORING
EQUIPMENT AFFECTED BY EMR
This question
has been very difficult to resolve because it has proved so difficult
to measure such subtle changes in the open environment and, moreover,
the measuring equipment itself is affected by the electromagnetic fields
radiating from the power lines. Nevertheless, it did lead us into
the gradual understanding of these fields, hitherto unknown to almost
all of us.
Page 136 During
the summer of 1978 I read an article about the work of Dr Leslie Hawkins
at the University of Surrey in Guildford who was studying abnormal ionisation
of the air and its effects. (Hawkins 1981) We wrote to ask if
he might come to Fishpond and measure ionisation levels under the power
lines��.
Total Absence or Cancellation of Positive and Negative Ions
Dr Hawkins
findings were so unusual, even on a still and sunny day, that he felt
they should be reconfirmed in case his measuring equipment was being
affected by the fields. What he found were not only abnormal balances
of air ions, tending especially toward a preponderance of positive ions,
as before a thunder storm or one of the world��s debilitating winds
such as the Mistral or the Santa Ana, but also the extraordinary phenomenon,
immediately below the HV lines, of a total absence or cancellation of
positive and negative ions, a condition in which laboratory animals
have been known to die within three months.
The same day
I received a call from Dr David Smith at the University College of North
Wales in Bangor. He asked if he could testify for us at an Enquiry
being held at that time. He felt a very important factor was being
glossed over by the authorities.
The electric
fields under the lines at Fishpond had been measured as reaching 6kV
per metre at their maximum (which was already above USSR Safety Standards
for living in the vicinity of HV lines). But these measurements were
made at ground level with a meter on a very long handle. In a sense,
therefore they were theoretical rather than practical, for, as Dr David
Smith explained in his testimony, a field so measured would be described
as ��unperturbed�� –that is, it has no objects within it.
As soon as
an object is placed within an electric field, the field behaves rather
like a curtain and drapes itself in close folds over the object, leaving
a clear space beneath. The field so folded can reach values up to a
hundred times that of the ambient, unperturbed field. In ordinary working
or living conditions, such an object might be a car whose top is at
head level for the person standing next to it, a gate or a piece of
equipment similarly placed at the level of the heart,
a child��s climbing frame, or a pram with a baby inside. The
possible biological implications of such field enhancement are considerable.
PEOPLE LIVING NEAR THE POWER LINES EXPERIENCED SYMPTOMS OF DIZZINESS, LOSS OF BALANCE., HEART PROBLEMS, CONVULSIONS, EXHAUSTION, DEPRESSION, EYE PROBLEMS, PAINS IN JOINTS,ETC:-Page 146
Approximately
30 people live in permanent residence. 23 reported ��non specific��
effects or presented clinical illness, or both, by 1987
1. Previous
history of hypertension Retired early from merchant navy, very sudden
heart attack death after working all
weekend in the part of garden directly under lines. Visitors reported
sleeplessness and dizziness.
2. Petit-mal
epilepsy, in adolescent boy, now controlled by medication. Later
severE exhaustion illness in very lively mother.
3. Rare cancer
of eye. Eye removed. Bees swarmed unusually angrily.
4. Very severe
chronic heart condition considerably
relieved on leaving village.
5. Sleeplessness
due to howling, and throbbing of lines.
6. Holiday home.
But vet advised owner not to leave donkey under lines. Night-light
continues to glow after being unplugged.
7. Two separate
cases of blackouts, one grand-mal epilepsy. Food allergies, rashes,
raised leucocyte count, sleeplessness, exhaustion, headaches, depression
muscular weakness.
8. Dizziness,
some loss of muscle strength when outside.
9. One
unexpected heart attack death, apparently
very difficult to diagnose following a history only of one sided headaches
and persistent skin rashes; one case of recurrent severe heart
palpitations. Strong asthmatic reaction in daughter whenever
she visits (although very fond of family and place)
10. Severely
swollen limbs, with muscular distress and pain in joints; dizziness
and sleeplessness.
11. Previous
serious heart condition severely aggravated
immediately on moving to village. Death within a few months. Unusual
irritability in very gentle wife after three years in village.
12. Original
family; - one cancer, progress improved on leaving village. Nervous
tension needing medication, dizziness, severe eyestrain and drying up
of retinal fluid in one eye. Grandchild who visited frequently developed
skin rashes when sleeping in pram under lines, Later petit -mal epilepsy.
Second family; - former electrical engineer with history of heart
problems died suddenly with heart attack
shortly after 2 months holiday. Experienced sleeplessness due
to throbbing sensation throughout body.
13. One case
of blackout together with frequent dizziness and occasional total loss
of muscle power, (i.e. collapse even though inside). Severe
head aches for all family. Very unusual severe rash, baffled the
specialist (who even photographed it.)
14. Cancer leading
to hysterectomy; eyestrain, headaches.
15. No
symptoms reported, but two new TV colour sets blew up in succession.
16. Dizziness,
heart palpitations, headaches, near clinical
depression, bees kept near lines became aggressive and stopped making
honey until taken 20 miles away on the advice of the bee inspector.
The possible biological implications of such field enhancement are considerable.
17. Holiday home, little used; but visiting friend fell of moped due to blacking out under lines and broke ribs.
18. Two cataracts
removed in middle age.
19. Well known
dangerous accident spot, several fatalities.
Page 137 In
the spring of 1978 at least four people in Fishpond experienced distressing
blackouts within the space of one week. One of these people
was a visitor who blacked out while riding his bike under the power
lines, fell off and broke his ribs. Another was my 14year old
son, who had never experienced anything like it before, and indeed did
not tell me until he discovered that we had all suffered in the same
way but without telling each other at first because it seemed so weird.
For another
villager it was a series of spells of dizziness. For myself it
was an almost indescribable episode in which the light seemed to go
black (although I could still see) and I was completely disorientated;
even though I was in my own garden I could not tell which way the house
was, nor even which way was up or down. Later we learned from
an engineer that it was at that time the 275kV circuit had been uprated
to 345kV---- without anyone being told
Page 141 One
Fishpond resident was diagnosed by consultant ophthalmologists as having
damaged retina, which show unusual signs almost as if they have been
burned.
Page 134 We
went to the Institute for Occupational Health and Safety and discovered
two studies, from Italy (Meda and al 1969) and the USSR (Danilin et
al 1969) on the health of workers in 500kV electrical substations.
Both studies
quite unrelated, reported effects on the cardiovascular
system, the peripheral nervous system and the leucocyte count, which
was raised.
Dr Cyril Smith,
Author of ��Electromagnetic Environmental Pollution�� discusses
his research showing ��Wet biological materials show
a lot of electrical charge effects.��
Ouruhia
and Fishpond found effects were exacerbated by damp, misty days.
Both are situated near the sea with high salt content and high moisture
levels.
��I had
done my doctorate at Imperial College, London, on the application of
television to the viewing of clinical X=ray images. At Salford
University in the 1970s, I was concerned with initiating and running
a course, the first in the UK, on Biomedical Electronics. This
was chopped by the Govt in 1981. But as I write this in 1988 I
am delighted to place on record that the Vice-Chancellor has instructed
me to re-establish Bio Medical Electronics at Salford University.
It is through
understanding how living systems use electronics and quantum fields
at the molecular level that the jump from micrometre to nanometre scale
electronic devices will be made, and with it will come a revolution
as great as that engendered by the silicon chip; this is what�� Molecular
Electronics�� is all about.
It was in 1938
that Professor Herbert Frohlich first realised that biological membranes
were extremely good electrical insulators and, in co-operation with
Lord Rothschild, began to consider the theoretical implications of this
in biology. The war intervened with his work. It was in 1973 that
he began to come to Salford University. I was then working on
electrical insulating materials and gladly added biological materials
to my list of interesting substances to measure.
We published several papers on these measurements, but they only showed what was already known, namely that
�� wet
biological materials show a lot of electric charge effects��.
A breakthrough
came when we found that the measurements were affected by magnetic fields
in an unexpected way. The results were sufficiently like room-temperature
super conductivity that we interpreted them according to this model.
Professor Frohlich had of course already, in 1950 made a fundamental
contribution to the theory of superconductivity.
Such advances
in science (Hyland 1987) are only possible with a broad outlook and
constant awareness of the possible relevance of concepts and techniques
to branches of physics in which they did not first arise. This
success stands as a ��strong indictment against fragmentation and overspecialisation
in theoretical physics�� (Frohlich 1950) a situation so common today
in organised science, which is largely the fulfilment of prophecies
made in funding applications and only gratifies the administrators.
The medical
and social implications of this work began to appear. Since the
end of the Second World War, people had been concerned that there might
be harmful effects due to the electromagnetic fields which had suddenly
become so widespread throughout the environment. In North America it
took 20 years of pressure against those vested interests, who wanted
to retain unrestricted use of any part of the electro-magnetic spectrum,
to get the New York State Power Lines Project set up.
In 1973,
the New York State Power Authority announced plans to build a 765kVtranmission
line from Canada.
Environmental groups cited studies that pointed to health risks; the
states Public Services Commission approved the line but acknowledged
that the record of the hearing contained ��unrefuted inference of possible
risks that we cannot possible ignore�� and ordered the utilities to
fund a $5 million dollar program on the health effects of electromagnetic
fields.
In 1981 the
New York State Dept of Health began soliciting research proposals.
In all, it funded 16 projects and reported in July 1987, to considerable
worldwide press coverage-
��THAT
OVERALL THE STUDIES INDICATED A VARIETY OF EFFECTS�� NOT
��PREVIOUSLY APPRECIATED�� AND THAT
��SEVERAL AREAS OF POTENTIAL CONCERN FOR PUBLIC HEALTH HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED,��
I did try to get a project of my own funded, but without success. Not wishing to leave a good idea lying about after its disclosure, I published it (Aarholt and Smith, 1982). What I said was;
��CURRENTS
INDUCED IN A PERSON NEAR A POWER LINE CAN BE GREATER THAN THOSE KNOWN
TO STIMULATE PAIN-RELIEVING NATURAL OPIATES, THEREFORE ONE MUST NOT
BE SURPRISED TO SEE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS AMONG PERSONS CHRONICALLY SO
EXPOSED��.
Dr Jean Munro, a nutritionist and clinical allergist in London, read this and wrote to me saying that she had many electrically sensitive patients and could I help?
Since then,
I have been privileged to be the fly on the wall of her clinic and have
seen what I would describe in scientific terms as sensitivities at the
theoretical limit of physics, and in engineering terms, as the failure
of human regulatory or control systems.��
Two of the
three women who had been exposed to high EMR levels at Ouruhia
have not recovered. One finds when she visit near the Philpotts
Rd radio tower her blood stops clotting properly and her monthly cycle
changes almost immediately her other symptoms also return. The other
is living in London but twice when she has returned to stay with her
parents her symptoms return within a few days. Penny and
her daughter left their home in 1996 and their health improved slowly.
However when Penny spends time there her health deteriorates rapidly,
especially on overcast days.
Dr Choy, Dr
Munro and Dr Smiths�� research on Electrical sensitivities in Allergy
Patients acknowledges this condition. Their work has been supported
by the Environmental Medicine Foundation
��Some patients
with multiple allergies complain of extreme sensitivity to atmospheric
electrical conditions and to many man–made electrical magnetic and
electronic devices and systems. Experiments confirm that there are real
and objective effects as well as subjective effects.
This paper
postulates and documents that another situation also exists; namely
that external electrical stimuli can initiate changes in the body��s
general homeostasis, including electrical. Homeostasis represents the
stable �� normal�� state of the body - in allergic states this is
perturbed and patients may become abnormally sensitive (hypersensitive)
to electrical stimuli. Many of our patients give a history of
hypersensitivity to a wide range of electromagnetic fields and devices
in addition to their other allergic sensitivities. He notes that allergic
reactions can occur some hours later.��
The majority
of our case stories were not sensitive to electrical devices until their
prolonged exposure to communication sites which seems to have triggered
allergic EMR reactions and also now have other allergic sensitivities.
Those worst affected were exposed over several years.
Cross Currents,
Dr Beckers, research endorses the above.
Page 151
��Almost all
the patients who have consulted me for EMR sensitivity have experienced
an abrupt onset of symptoms. As with any medical condition there is
a range of severity. With repeated exposure some patients develop
severe neurological response with such symptoms as confusion, depression,
decreased memory, sleep disturbances and even convulsions. In
general there is little that can be done for these patients beyond advising
them to move to a location where the fields do not produce symptoms
in them.
At present
the mechanisms causing a hypersensitivity to novel EMR fields is unknown.
However it would appear that there is a direct effect upon the nervous
system and that the immune system is also likely to be involved.
The incidence of the syndrome is increasing. Whether this increase
is due to the rising number of new devices or the overall increase in
field intensity from all sources, or to a change in sensitivity of the
human population is as yet undetermined.��
Page 149
Dr Becker refers to Dr William Rae��s experiences:
��Dr William
Rae, a former surgeon from Texas, discovered his own sensitivity to
EMR fields while working in the modern operating room. As medicine became
technology, the operating room became a home to more and more electrical
devices. Today, in my opinion, it could well be classified as a hazardous
environment. Dr Rae determined that his allergic and neurological symptoms
were caused by the EMR in the operating room.
He subsequently
discovered that he was not alone in his hypersensitivity and that there
was a growing number of patients with the same condition. These
people were typically told by their physicians that there symptoms are
�� all in their minds�� and that they should seek psychiatric care.
Rae became enraged by this situation and he has established a clinic
to deal with this problem as a real entity. His Environmental
Health Centre in Dallas, Texas is probably the best equipped clinic
of its kind in the country.��
Penny says
��Unfortunately I am now what is called EMR sensitive. I did not have
this problem when I first moved to Ouruhia but now I cannot even sit
in front of a TV and an electric heater at the same time without feeling
off colour. After 10 minutes ironing I feel as if I have a temperature.
The same occurs when I am cooking on an electric stove. I cannot stay
in an area with fluorescent lights without becoming restless, tense,
irritable, feeling as if I have a temperature and cannot think straight.
I also very quickly develop a hard dry allergic cough. I now react
very adversely to computers and electric typewriters. I did not
have this problem prior to living near the radio tower.
I know of other
people who have been exposed to long term EMR emissions who experience
similar reactions.��
��Because
of my physical allergic reaction I have also become sensitive to the
FM and Cell phone frequencies and I can tell you where the highest levels
are all over Christchurch without requiring a monitoring device.
This is called Microwave Hearing. (I do not react so adversely
to power lines. I am aware that they are there by a buzzing noise but
they do not make me feel ill) I think because the FM frequency is responsible
for my illness I react to that frequency not to the ELF. See Case
Story 5.��
��Another
RF biological effect that has received attention is the so-called microwave
��hearing�� effect. Under certain specific conditions of frequency,
signal modulation, and/or intensity it has been shown that animals and
humans can perceive an RF signal as a buzzing or clicking sound. Although
a number of theories have been advanced to explain this effect the most
widely accepted hypothesis is that the microwave signal produces thermo-elastic
pressure within the head that is perceived as sound by the auditory
apparatus within the ear.��
The CSIRO Report
page 97. Auditory Perception
��It is generally
agreed (NCRP 1986; Foster and Finch 1974) that the mechanism of acoustic
perception of short pulses of RF and Microwave radiation is due to thermo-elastic
expansion of brain tissue following a small but rapid temperature increase.
(<10.5 degrees C) As the effect must depend on absorption of some
incident energy it would be limited to frequencies which penetrate the
skull and are significantly absorbed by brain tissue. The effect of
the expansion is an acoustic pressure wave which is transmitted through
the skull to the cochlea where vibration- sensitive
hair cell receptors respond as they would to acoustically generated
pressure stimuli. It has been calculated that the frequency of the induced
sound is related to head size and the acoustic properties of brain tissue
regardless of the RF frequency. (Lin 1977)��
Penny says
��In the areas we ��hear�� RF we find people are not well, and
often having problems with electronic equipment:-. I did not experience
the Micro-wave Hearing reaction until, several months after I had left
my home and my health had improved. I found in certain areas I
would feel very hot as if I had a temperature, my head and my ears would
have sharp pain and sometimes I would feel breathless and dry cough.
Other times a severe pain in my chest or my stomach. Many of the
subjects in our case stories, who have been EMR exposed for some time,
have a similar reaction.
If I stopped
and talked to people in that neighbourhood I found they were always
experiencing problems with their light bulbs blowing, interference on
phones, and felt unwell. Sometimes whole families were not well.
At first when
I drove into a ��bad area�� it was as if I was climbing a hill, the
effects would slowly increase over 100 metre area, peak at the top (most
painful area) and decrease as I went out the other side. My dogs, would
also dry cough (as they had when living at Ouruhia) when we were in
these areas.
In August 1998
the experience changed. The ��bad area�� was narrower, much
stronger and extended further out over the city. I found certain areas
as far away as Avonhead ( 20ks from the transmitter) were making me
feel so ill I would have to pull over if I was driving.
We had one
bad area monitored where a man had lived, who had died, suddenly, of
a heart attack. When the EMR was monitored
the highest strength was near his home, and also where I felt it most
strongly. Twenty metres further out it had decreased greatly which
indicates there is a centre to the beam. This was within the ICNIRP
standard.
At a mediation
meeting with Radio Network, The General Manager for RNL told us he had
recently spent two weeks undertaking engineering work in Christchurch.
The dates corresponded with the change in transmission effects that
I was ��hearing.��
We decided
to start documenting the deaths notified in the paper of people under
65 (as far as we could ascertain) find as many addresses as possible
from the phone book and drive to the addresses to mark the location
on a map. We did this from June 1998 to Feb 1999. We also asked
a computer expert to map the directions, Ouruhia, Philpott��s Rd and
South Shore licences, where the main power was directed to.
The pattern
of deaths corresponded to a terrifying degree with the direction of
the Main RF power from the transmitters.
Where the FM
power from Ouruhia and Philpotts Rd were both directed to the Kaiapoi
High School (approximately 6 kms from Ouruhia and on rising ground)
we mapped 14 deaths under the age of 65, within a kilometre of that
school, in 9 months. There was only one other death in Kaiapoi, (not
in that area) at that time.
Since the FM
has been taken off Philpotts Rd, and one FM of Ouruhia, we have only
had a few deaths in the Kaiapoi and Redwood areas. These were
areas where I used to feel VERY ill and now the EMR does not affect
me so much when I am there.
The area which
recorded the highest deaths was in the Heathcote river loop which is
a high water table area, similar to Ouruhia. The oldest established
cell phone tower is in this area, and also a retired Telecom engineer
told me three microwaves were directed through this area.
In 1998 I felt
very sick when in Redwood (4ks from Ouruhia aerial and 2 ks from Philpotts
Rd aerial) where the frequencies were intersecting and I am told, from
a reliable source, around that time there were 7 suicides
in 9 months in Redwood.
In 1998 we
logged clusters of deaths there, but in the last year very few, and
the electro-smog which caused my allergic reaction is not as strong.
The Press reported
the Nurse Maude Hospice Administration building closed down while investigations
were made as to the cause of many people in the building becoming ill.
After six weeks of thorough investigation the only unusual thing found
was a small fungi infestation and a low frequency humming noise.
The symptoms
suffered were similar to the minor ones experienced at Ouruhia. I drove
to the area to see if I could ��hear�� anything and found the EMR
effect was very strong. I looked around and on the building next door
are multiple communication antennae.
Nurse Maude��s
offices were the second floor of the building opposite the antenna.
I contacted
Stephanie Waterfield, Nurse Maude Administrator. She was interested
in our research and in our maps. They have now terminated their
lease of the affected building��
In the New
Zealand Ministries discussion document there is a photo Figure 2.
showing a cell phone tower and how it operates. The main power
is directed horizontally from the top of the tower, with comparatively
small amounts directed at steep angles towards the ground. There are
also two side lobes, one pointing down and one up at the sky. The side
lobes result from the design feature that focuses most of the power
into the main lobe, which is directed horizontally. We asked Dr Martin
Gledhill (NRL) what the effect would be for people in two and three
storey buildings working opposite these antennae. If they worked with
computers, fax and copy machines, cell phones, under fluorescent lights
with either electric heating, or cooling machines in their offices,
with the added effect of the main power from the cell phone tower they
would be exposed to an accumulation of effects. He agreed these levels
would add up.
If people were
sleeping in multi storey apartments with electric blankets in a brass
bed, (high conducting) or water beds, with stereos, TV, digital clocks,
and other electric equipment, plus a neighbouring cell phone tower they
too would be exposed to potentially dangerous conditions.
These combined
effects are not recognised, or monitored, when setting a safe standard
for EMR exposure.
Stephanie Waterfield said ��there had been an increase in cancer in certain areas of Christchurch and no-one knew why.�� The areas she showed me seemed to correspond with the areas the FM licences state the main power is directed to.
Two years
later she told me�� there has been a dropping off in new cancer cases,
except in Rangiora.��
Could the increase
in cancer be attributed to the location of FM to more populated areas
in the early 90s? Could the lessening of new cancer cases be linked
to the relocation in the last 18 months of the 2 FM to a less power
required hill site, away from people?
Only research will give us the answers.
Is it only
a coincidence that in 1999 RNL removed one FM from Ouruhia but changed
the angles of the remaining FM, and also increased the power. One of
the areas the main power is directed to is Rangiora.
The Ouruhia
tower site is only 3 metres above sea level. The tower is 350feet high.
The FM dipoles are situated half way up. The aerial is not sited on
sharply falling away ground which we were told by Norm Collinson, General
Manager for the Radio Network, is the normal requirement for FM transmissions.
On the contrary
it is as if it is located at the bottom of a shallow bowl- and most
of Christchurch is on rising ground away from the Ouruhia and Philpott��s
Rd aerials. For example Rangiora is on rising ground, approx 500
metres above sea level, line of sight to the Ouruhia aerial, which is
approx 20 kms away.
Page 178 Electromagnetic Man:-
Lester and
Moore(1982):-��Studied the geographic incidence of cancer in Wichita
Kansas, relative to the local Mid Continent airport and McConnell Air
Base. Both cancer morbidity and mortality between 1975 and 1978 was
assessed and mapped against line of sight projection of radars from
each base. Cancer morbidity was found to be significantly related to
the degree of radar exposure.
It was also
found that the highest incidence of cancer tended to occur on leading
terrain crests in the path of radar transmissions with the lowest occurring
in the valleys, shielded from the radar beams. They cited one
residential building with 100 occupants situated so that the upper levels
were directly exposed to both beams, whose cancer morbidity rate was
over six times higher than that for a sample of six nursing homes in
the city.��
Dr Becker Cross
Currents Page 212 ��The two types of modulation that are biologically
important are pulsed and amplitude. Modulation is the secret of
transmitting information by means of electro-magnetic fields. AM radio,
for example is amplitude modulated: the radio receiver�� demodulates
��the signal, removing the ��carrier�� radio –frequency wave and
saving the slowly rising and falling modulation, which what we then
hear as music or voice. Transmission of the carrier wave alone would
produce no sound; or a steady tone, depending up the type of radio AM
in use.
It appears
that the body also demodulates the signal when exposed to modulated
radio frequency or microwave fields; the biological effect is that of
the low frequency modulation.
In this view,
all biological effects are produced by ELF frequencies. This makes good
sense, because the body systems that pick up the electromagnetic field
are ��tuned�� to the natural frequencies between zero and 30 Hz. These
systems will sense abnormal fields that are close to normal (between
35 and 500 Hz) The systems then produce an abnormal effect. Microwave
radar pulsed at 60 Hz would have the same effect as a 60 Hz field alone,
which explains the identical effect seen at ELF and microwave frequencies.
It also indicates that all intervening frequencies, (VLF. AM.
Radio, FM radio, and TV) will have the same biological effects since,
they, too, are modulated.��
In the early
1970s, Dr William Morton of the Oregon Health Sciences University was
asked by the EPA to look into an excessive incidence of uterine adenocarcinoma
among residents of Portland neighbourhood that contained an unusual
concentration of broadcast towers. The project was expanded to study
the relationship between EPA measurements of FM radio fields in Portland
and the incidence of several types of cancer in the area. While no relationship
with adenocarcinoma was found, a small but significant relationship
was found between field intensity in the FM band and the incidence of
non-lymphatic cancer.
In 1996, doctors
B.S. Anderson and A Henderson of the Hawaii Department of Health
surveyed the city of Honolulu according to census tract. They found
that in eight out of nine census tracts containing broadcast towers,
the incidence of cancers of all types was significantly higher than
the adjacent census tracts that did not have broadcast towers.
The Times newspaper
London,1999, reports:- ��Doctors and scientists are calling for
an urgent government enquiry into cancer clusters among people living
near some of Britains most powerful TV transmitters.
Analysis conducted
by Professor Stewart, one of Britains leading epidemiologists, shows
there may be a significant increase in the risk of cancer, including
leukaemia, associated with masts.
The study revealed
an increased incidence of cancer within up to 7 kms of masts. Subsequent
enquiries have revealed possible clusters in London, Bedfordshire, South
Wales and the Midlands. One of the sites of concern is around
the Crystal Palace mast in London. People in one area near the mast
are found to be 33% more likely to suffer from cancer.
Increase
in Leukaemia within 7 kms of Transmitters
Professor Stewart
said ��there is a problem here that cannot be ignored. There is a possibility
of an increase in leukaemia. It is sufficiently suspicious to warrant
further investigation��
Dr Hocking
has found similar effects near communication towers in Sydney.
In Christchurch,
we are aware of five, young people who have suffered from leukaemia
in the last four years, four have died. Three of them lived approximately
5 kilometres from the aerial in areas where the main power seems to
be directed to. One family have had two children suffer from this dreadful
disease. They live approx. 400 metres from the Philpott��s Rd
radio tower. Since the FM was removed from that tower the surviving
child has experienced better health (remission).
The Child Cancer
group has informed us that there has been an increase in child leukaemia
this last year in Christchurch.
Added to the
four existing AM/FM transmitters located close to houses, (200 metres)
within the city boundaries, Christchurch also has experienced a huge
increase in Cell phone towers this last two years.
Professor Kerdemeliditis
succinctly describes the effect. ��The extra radiation contributed
by each new transmitter is a small addition to the already crowded spectrum.
One may perhaps be reminded of the poor camel and the ��Last Straw��.
Every bit hurts/counts.��
Reuters Reports,
June 2001:- ��The presence of two antennas on the same site would be
enough to breach Italy��s electromagnetic emission limits which are
now the tightest in Europe. The limits would also be breached
if two antennas were built within 15 to 40 miles of each other, as no
overlapping of the transmitting range is permitted, unlike in other
countries.��
In North East Christchurch we have three radio towers within 5 kilometres of each other with overlapping transmitter range. Two are AM/FM towers and one AM only.
Our findings in Christchurch,1998, indicated that where the frequencies seem to be intersecting, are the areas where we have documented the highest rate of death of people under 65 yrs, (as far as we can ascertain)
We have taken the ��death maps�� to Dr Breiseman, Christchurch Crown Health, and to Terry Moody from the City Council. Because they do not have the statistical data necessary they have offered us a small sum of money to down load the death records from the local library stored newspapers. This would establish the pattern of deaths prior to the FM and cell phone tower transmissions in Christchurch. Unfortunately this is a very time consuming, and unsatisfactory way to source such important information.
We have
been informed that Christchurch, over the last few years, has experienced
a huge increase in cancer, asthma, and diabetes.
We are also told that Christchurch had the highest percentages of suicides per person in 1997.
At Ouruhia we had a surge of depressive symptoms when the 2nd FM was added. We had three suicidal people who lived in houses, one kilometre West of the tower.(see Case Story 6) There are five houses in that area. In the 4th house one resident suffered a heart attack and the 5th suffered from insomnia, exhaustion, aching bones and burning gritty eyes. His dog died of epilepsy. All experienced radio interference on their telephones. One man, living 1 kilometre north of the aerial committed suicide in 1997.
In Redwood where the two FM frequencies from Ouruhia were interlinking there were 7 suicides in 9 months.
Research links suicide to electromagnetic fields.
��Over the
past three or four decades some environmental factor has been introduced
that has seriously influenced the basic levels of mental functioning,
perhaps in the entire population. The fact that the effect is
seen most overtly in younger age groups seems to indicate that the factor
is operating during the early stages of life. There does seem
to be a direct link between suicide, depression and the pineal gland.
Dr Leon Eisenberg of the Harvard Medical School wrote that between 1950
and 1977, the suicide rates for 15 to 19 year olds rose precipitously—fourfold
in males and almost two fold in females.
At a 1986 conference
on suicidal behaviour Dr Marie Asberg of Swedens ,Karolinska Institute
presented data indicating that a group of depressed patients with a
deficiency in serotonin had a significantly higher suicide rate than
a similar group of depressed patients whose serotonin levels were normal.
It seems there
may be two types of clinical depression. One that is produced
by simple psychosocial factors, and one that is produced by some external
factor that influences the production of these psychoactive chemicals
by the pineal gland. Dr Jonathon Wolpaw of the New York State
Department of Health,(page 208) looked at brain functions of monkeys
exposed to 60-Hz fields. He measured the levels of neuro-hormones
in the spinal fluid of the monkeys that had been exposed to these fields
for three weeks.
He found that
levels of serotonin and dopamine were significantly depressed immediately
following the exposure and that only the dopamine returned to normal
levels. Serotonin levels remained well below normal levels for several
months. Both dopamine and serotonin are known to be associated with
behavioural and psychological mechanisms. Recently considerable
attention has been directed to the relationship of depressed levels
of serotonin to suicide.
The data on
this research were reviewed and discussed in the Lancet (24th
October 1987) with researcher concluding that a definite relationship
existed. This provides a mechanism for my finding, in conjunction
with Dr Perry, of a direct relationship between power lines and suicide
in England In view of the known relationship between the pineal gland
and magnetic fields it is advisable that the search for the responsible
factor include and evaluation of the effect of abnormal electromagnetic
fields, particularly in the early years of life.��
Research on Suicide, ��Electromagnetic Environment�� by Dr Cyril Smith and Simon Best, chapter 8, Page138:-
A general practitioner
in Staffordshire, England, Dr Stephen Perry, had begun to notice unusually
high levels of depressive illness and even suicide among those of his
patients who lived near high voltage lines. Like the Fishpond discovery
and others corroborating it, this observation was completely spontaneous,
made without any prior knowledge of possible effects. Most unusually
for an ordinary GP, Dr Perry��s group practice gave its members a regular
six months sabbatical every few years and he used his to complete a
study of these findings.
What was more
unusual was that his results appeared for the first time to implicate
the magnetic component of the power-line electromagnetic fields.
(Perry et al 1981) This is so low- lower by far than the Earths own
extremely low magnetic field- that it had mutually agreed at the Innsworth
Power Line enquiry to be negligible. However, Dr Perry��s study was
one of the first to suggest that the importance of the magnetic field
lies not only in high power strengths but also in extremely low-power
alternating fields with frequencies which resonate with, and reinforce,
biological wavelengths.
The reason
why his patients living near the invisible underground HV lines suffered
the same distressing depressive and suicidal
effects as those living near visible over head lines, of which one cannot
fail to be aware, has to be a question of the basic physics of magnetic
fields. However, Dr Perry��s study was perhaps the first to suggest
that magnetic field bio-effects depend not only on the strength of the
field but also on its frequency if, as in the case of that generated
by the majority of the power lines in the UK, it is alternating.
Once again, as with electric field, it is a matter of biological frequencies.
Quite apart
from the tragic aspect of Dr Perry��s findings, which were by their
nature retrospective but are still being corroborated by personal reports
I have received, his study is of great importance in doing away with
the quasi-intellectual superstition which often attributes hysterical
self-suggestion to electro-pollution sufferers; for it shows quite clearly
that depressive illness and suicide were found to be statistically increased
just as much among patients living near invisible, underground HV lines,
of which they were unaware as among patients living near overhead lines.
Crosscurrents, Page
207
In 1988 Marjorie
Speers of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of
Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, reported a significant increase in
the incidence of brain tumours in workers occupationally exposed to
all types of electromagnetic fields. Specifically, she reported that
workers exposed to 60Hz fields in electric power utilities had an incidence
of brain tumours thirteen times greater than that in a comparable exposed
group.
There are many other epidemiological studies indicating a relationship between occupational exposure to EM fields and cancers of many types. Most of these studies suffer from the shortcoming that the types of fields to which the workers were exposed varied from microwave to the 60Hz electric power frequency. It is therefore difficult to assign the risk to any particular frequency.-this has been used as an excuse to discount the importance of these studies. In my opinion this is a specious excuse. The laboratory data clearly indicates a direct clinical relationship between both ELF fields, microwave fields and cancer. This view is supported by doctors H..D. Brown and S.K. Chattopadhyay of the Dept of Biochemistry at Rudgers University.
After surveying
the entire literature on the relationship between ALL ELECTROMAGNETIC
FIELDS AND CANCER , they concluded that ��animal carcinogenesis
studies and human epidemiological data indicate that exposure to non-ionising
radiation can play a role in cancer causation��.
Research from
Professor W Adey, Bio-effects of Mobile Communications Fields; Possible
mechanisms for cumulative dose.
He says ��There
are important biomedical considerations associated with long term exposure
to any environmental factor capable of tissue interactions. These
include effects specifically attributable to intermittency of exposure,
frequency of current exposure, interactions involving simultaneous exposure
to multiple factors, age at onset of exposure and even considerations
of ethnicity that may determine individual susceptibility. Moreover
these RF technologies continue to evolve with new products differing
significantly in the same application from one continent to another,
as well as on a National basis.
RF frequencies
strongly influence field coupling to the human body. Many instances
of specificity in tissue interactions appear related to certain patterns
of amplitude or pulse modulation in ELF frequencies.
With threshold
phenomena based on sensitivity to modulation frequencies much laboratory
evidence is consistent with ATHERMAL models of these RF interactions.��
Authors note
-We can endorse his research findings from our own experience.
There are Athermal effects which do not cause immediate health problems
but occur over a period of time.
One of the
local farmers, who has now left the area, says: -�� wild horses
would not drag them back to Ouruhia.�� Their dogs stopped breeding,
became ill, some died young, the family were chronically ill.
Now they have moved (1993) the dogs are breeding again and the family��s
health is better although the husband now suffers from a sensitivity
to sunlight which means his hands become sore and swollen when exposed.
As he is a farmer this makes his life difficult, he and his brothers
have lived and farmed in the Ouruhia area all their lives.
The brothers
still living/farming there, suffer from chronic fatigue symptoms.
His sister
in law asked for a health study in the Ouruhia area in 1989, as so many
people were suffering from cancer. She worked with three other women
in an orchard within 800 metres of the aerial. The three women, under
40, died of cancer. She herself has a rare form of cancer in her arm.
A 17 year old
boy died of melanoma in 1985. His family owned a farm 600 metres
from the aerial, line of sight, with few trees between. The boy loved
the animals and was out on the farm all the time. His father��s
farm worker recently died of cancer, the wife is terminally ill with
cancer.
The adverse
health effects experienced by people working, outside, and living within
a kilometre of the Ouruhia radio tower since it commenced broadcasting,
in 1980, are horrific.
Page 156 of
the Handbook for Health Professionals
says; -�� typically the effects associated with the early
stages of microwave sickness are reversible if exposure is discontinued.��
The people
described above were exposed for many years
Penny says
��This would possibly explain why I have not recovered as the Radio
Network acknowledges the main power was going south and west and my
farm immediately next door would be the worst affected. I was
there 24 hours a day, nearly every day, for several years. Most
of the day was spent working outside in more exposed conditions, often
working many hours in the paddock next to the radio tower, approx 150
metres away.
The previous
owner of my farm died of a sudden heart attack
300 metres from the aerial while fencing. His brother, died of
kidney cancer in 1993. Both had lived and worked on the farm all
their lives.
Most People
sitting on communication site hearings are unaware of the origins of
the Standard.
Most of
them think VERY thorough investigation has been achieved before a standard
has been set.
Science magazine Vol208 13th June 1980 �� Origins of US Safety Standards for Microwave Radiation�� By N.H. Steneck, H.J. Cook. A.J. Vander. G.L. Kane.
Discusses:-��
the situation as it exists today to understand the elements that make
standard setting problematic Such as disputed or insufficient scientific
data, vested interests, ill defined political mechanisms, unrepresented
values, and so on��.
��The procedures
by which standards are set to regulate human exposure to foreign substances
and radiation rarely conform to any ideal exemplar. The scientific data
used in the decision making process seldom lead to one set of interpretations
nor do they provide the clear lines of demarcation (as between hazardous
and safe exposure levels)that standards are taken to imply.
The main events
leading to the adoption of a standard had their origin in the early
1940s in response to morale problems during World War 2 that were bought
about by popular fears about the effects of radar. In Feb 1953
John T McLauchlin a medical consultant with the Hughes Aircraft Corporation
drew up and sent to military a report that listed Purpura hemorrhagica
(internal bleeding,) headaches, heart conditions,
leukaemia, cataracts, and jaundice as possible effects��
I
found the first three symptoms interesting as we had experienced these
when living near the Ouruhia radio tower.
��A 1952 report
by F Hirsch that described the formation of lenticular opacities in
the eyes of a lab technician who had regularly been exposed to microwaves
at power levels estimated at about 0.1 W/cm.��
These exposure
levels are far lower than ICNIRP. I had three horses on my farm
at Ouruhia who experienced white spots developing in their eyes and
a year after they were removed from the area the spots had gone.
��In the 1950s
and 60s there were occasional mentions of non-thermal responses that
some felt bore looking into. David Goldman chairman of the 1953 Navy
Conference commented that the circumstances suggest the possibility
that these effects may not be due simply to the generation of heat.
Clearly the work will have to be continued and extended.�� ��But more
work was not done even when doubt and calls for more research emerged
from the best studies of the day. Moreover important details such
as differences between pulsed and continuous radiation or the extent
of cumulative effects had not been worked out.��
Hazardous thresholds
well below 10mW/cm were established but this research was not continued
and the standard was set without the benefit of additional work.��
����.The decision making process was not placed in the hands of people
who primary responsibility was public health or environmental monitoring.��
��WHY was
the standard set just when scientific research was beginning to reveal
how much work remained to be done?
Implications:- The simplest answer and the one advanced by investigating, author, Paul Brodeur, a major critic of past policy, �� is that many people who were involved in setting C95.1(the original standard) ��felt obliged to protect the 10-mW level at all costs and to ignore, deny, or if worst came to worst, suppress any information about adverse effects of low intensity microwave radiation�� For Brodeur the values behind the events were easily accounted for.
��Above
all there was the belief in military preparedness, and the presumption
that a standard below 10mW/cm2 would interfere with national defence.
This being
the case all else was ignored, including truthfulness and public welfare,
presumable the two opposing
values.��
In the 1990��s
independent scientists have conducted research which is showing adverse
effects from exposure at levels far below the ICNIRP standard. Scientists
employed by industry immediately rush to disprove these theories.
The article ends with the warning
��Perhaps
adversary proceedings are the only route by which conflicts between
interest groups can be resolved. However we hope that every effort will
be made to engage in honest dialogue in an attempt to reach rational
solutions to the problems we face.����
Conclusions;-
Standard setting does not require detailed knowledge about mechanisms
or explanations about anomalistic phenomena.
TO SET
A STANDARD ONE SIMPLY NEEDS TO KNOW
AT WHAT LEVELS - FOR WHATEVER REASONS - HARMFUL EFFECTS
APPEAR.��
Allan A.
Frey writes in Modern Bioelectricity
page 815:- The question is not whether there is a mediator or
mechanism for biological effects of low intensity RF radiation.
Rather, the question is how many are there and how are they related.
Extracts
from the book - Cellphones;- Invisible Hazards in the Wireless
Age Written by Dr G. Carlo and M. Schram.
��Dr Carlo,
a medical Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Scientist was
employed by the Wireless Industry in 1993 to head a $25million research
and surveillance program that in the words of the industry would assure
the public that cell phones were safe.
He implemented
a series of studies using newly designed exposure systems:- they produced
findings that raised red flags of warning that cell phone radiation
could indeed lead to brain tumours, other cancers or other adverse health
effects.
The industry
reacted by treating him as an enemy – to be ostracised in public and
discredited in private. He said
��THE OLD STANDARD WAS BASED UPON OLD DATA, OLD SCIENCE AND OLD THEORIES THAT ARE INVALID, PERHAPS DANGEROUSLY SO.��
Page 108, from Dr Carlo��s book Cellphones :- Arthur Brandberg, head of the Swedish industry trade group recommended Dr Leif Salford, a Swedish physician who had done microwave research, contact Carlo. Salford said �� for several years we have been looking at the effects of microwave on brain function. We are now convinced we have a potentially dangerous effect of the radiation that could come from the antennas of mobile phones.
We are consistently seeing a breakdown of the blood brain barrier following exposures that are the same as those from mobile phones.��
Salford and
his group had found significant leakage – a breakdown- in the blood
brain barrier at all specific absorption rate (SAR) levels. At the higher
SAR levels, above 2.5 watts per kilogram (W-kg) their data appeared
to follow a dose –response- the higher the level of radiation dosage,
the more severe the leakage in the blood brain barrier.
Page 112.
The absence of the blood brain barrier as the brains primary protective
mechanism could cause the 500 million mobile phone users world wide
to be at an increased risk of tumours and other types of brain toxicity.
Professor
Carlo��s, WTR, work on damage to children��s brains from cell phone
exposure demonstrates serious danger.
Radiation Penetration in head of:-
Adult 10 year old child 5 year old
child
From the work of Dr Om Gandhi, a computer-image
comparison of the heads of adults and children (all
adjusted to the same scale), showing that radiation
penetrates younger skulls far more deeply than
those of adults.
Studies- by
Dr��s Ray Tice and Graham Hook, and most recently, Dr Joseph Roti Roti
show genetic damage in the form of micro nuclei in blood cells exposed
to cell phone radiation. They provide evidence of Koch-Henle postulate
of biological plausibility for the development of the tumours
following exposure to radio waves.
Without some
type of genetic damage, it is unlikely that radio waves would be able
to cause cancer. Every direct mechanism that has been identified in
the development of cancer involves genetic damage. The linkage
is so strong that if an absence of genetic damage had been proven in
these studies, scientists would have considered that to be reason enough
to conclude that cancer is not caused by cell phones. (Indeed
that is what scientists were justified in saying prior to 1999)
Scientific
literature has repeatedly confirmed that brain cancer is clearly linked
to chromosome damage: brain tumours have consistently been shown to
have a variety of chromosomal
abnormalities.
The studies
by Tice, Hook, and Roti Roti, consistently showed chromosomal damage
in blood exposed to wireless phone radio waves. Under a contract
with the WTR they had found the experiments using analogue signals in
the cellular frequency band and their preliminary results showed that
following exposure there was a nearly 300% increase in the incidence
of genetic damage in those human blood cells.
Page 159:-
Carlo said:- The Federal Communications Commission radiation emission
guideline was established based on an assumption that there were no
adverse effects at all below a radiation level of 40 watts per kilogram
– and to protect the public, there must be a margin of safety that
is 25 times lower than the known danger level where health effects had
originally been found. So the FCC experts simply divided 40 by
25 and came up with 1.6 as the so called safety guideline. But
now the WTR had found significant genetic damage at 5 and 10 watts per
kilogram – and some damage at levels as low as 1.0.
Based merely
on the WTR��s findings of genetic damage at SAR levels of 5 and 10
if the FCC still believes there must be a 25 fold margin of safety to
protect the public, it must recalculate its guideline.
When the FCC
experts divided 5 by 25, they will find that their own new ��safety��
guideline, according to the FCC own policy, must be between 0.2and O.4.
Figures far below the government��s accepted 1.6 standard.
What this means for cell phone users is that the phones they are holding against their heads may well be operating in a dangerous range.��
page 218
��In itself, the higher susceptibility of children and teenagers
to the types of health risks that the radio wave scientific data are
now showing would be reason to add additional protection for children
from the effects of radio waves. But the situation is much more serious.
This increase in susceptibility coupled with the significantly higher
penetration of radio wave radiation to children��s heads, brains, and
eyes calls for immediate action to protect children.
The UK Stewart
Commission recommended such steps. They concluded that:-
��If there are currently unrecognised health effects from the use of
mobile phones, children may be more vulnerable because of their developing
nervous system, the greater absorption of energy in the tissues of the
head, and a longer lifetime of exposure. In line with our precautionary
approach, we believe that widespread use of mobile phones by children
for non essential calls should be discouraged. We also recommend
that the mobile phone industry should refrain from promoting the use
of mobile phones by children��.
These concerns
also reach to the new and expanding wireless Internet, which will use
the same radio-wave technology as mobile telephones. Among the knowledgeable
experts who have raised concerns about the public-health impacts of
wireless technology _ especially its effect on children
– is Norbert Hankin, an environmental scientist in the EPS��s
Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. Hankin wrote of his concerns
in an April 26, 2000, email to Carlo��s office.
��I suggest
that another area of concern that should not be overlooked due to the
potential impact on the quality of life of future adults (currently
children) is the possible impact of wireless telecommunication technology
and products on the learning ability of children.��
Hankin recommended
informing the public of his findings. Professor Carlo, in a letter
to WTR, asked to make his research showing evidence of adverse effects
from EMR exposure public. His funding has not been renewed and he is
no longer employed by the Wireless Research Industry.
Quote from
Ministries Document – Appendix B. Health Effects: Areas of Disagreement
p.59
B1
Interpretation of Epidemiology ��Most reviews of the epidemiological
data conclude that the results are inconsistent and the studies provide
little detail on the actual exposures��
There may also
be biases in the data. Taken together, the studies do not establish
a relationship between exposure to radio frequency fields and cancer,
adverse reproductive outcomes, sleep disturbance or physiological factors
in children chromosomal changes, haematological effects, eye effects,
cardiovascular changes, headaches or asthma.
On the other
hand, a few authors contend that the data gives good evidence of such
association and advocate more protection than that afforded by current
guidelines and standards��
A series of
experiments have investigated whether exposure to frequency fields damages
genetic material either directly or indirectly��
Such damage
could implicate radio frequency fields in the induction or the promotion
of cancer. While some experiments suggest that damage does occur,
other researchers trying to repeat the same or similar work have found
no effects at all.
The Ministries
comments above are similar to those expressed by other governments who
have adopted the ICNIRP Standard.
Suppression of Scientific Dissent
We will
demonstrate to you that highly qualified, independent scientists, whose
research has proven health effects from
��athermal�� exposure, are being discredited by the communication
industry, and funding for their future research withdrawn.
Extracts from The Lancet, Volume 357, Number 9257 3rd March 2001
��Science
is in crisis:- The full extent of the crisis surfaced when Trade
Union leaders warned that the integrity of British science is being
threatened by a ��dash for commercial cash.��
In a report
published in the Times Higher Educational Supplement (September 8th
2000), the main newsprint for University academics, the Institute for
Professional and Managers and Specialists carried out a survey of scientists
working in government or in recently privatised laboratories.
One third of the respondents had been asked to change their research
findings to suit the customers preferred outcome, while 10% had pressure
put on them to bend their results to help secure contracts����
As the scientific
and political mainstream have both come to identify with corporate aims,
so their established power structures are brought to bear on squashing
scientific dissent and engineering consensus. Witness the seamless
way in which the corporations, the State and the scientific establishment
are coordinating their efforts to force feed the world with GM crops
known to be unsafe and unsustainable, and to offer no proven benefits
whatsoever either to farmers or consumers.
Fallouts from the GM Debate:-The GM debate had been going on in the UK and the rest of Europe for several years, before the press went to town on Dr Arpad Pusztai��s revelation that the GM potatoes tested in his laboratory might not be safe. As a result Pusztai lost his job and was gagged. Pro biotech scientists and Fellows of the UK Royal Society, vented their collective ire and condemnation and Pusztai��s integrity as a scientist was called into question����
Double Standards
in the Science Establishment:-The Royal Society has never reviewed
or condemned the truly damnable unpublished and published findings on
GM crops and products offered by the industry, and accepted as evidence
of safety by our regulatory authorities. Nor has it condemned
the suppression of scientific evidence by the industry. There
are clearly double standards being applied. Not only that, outright
propaganda is legitimate, so long as it is pro biotech, and publicly
funded scientific research institutions are openly engaged in this exercise��.
Newspapers
may suppose that they have produced balanced reports by quoting opposing
views. Not so according to the Royal Society, if, ��the opposing
view is held by only a Quixotic Minority.�� Journalists are told to
identify, wherever possible, the majority view, and that is the one
they should present. The majority view may turn out be wrong,
but such instances, we are told, are the exception rather the rule.
But the main
stream majority has all too often been mistaken!!
It has been mistaken over Nuclear Power, Climate Change, and the link between BSE and the new variant CJD, to name but a few glaring examples.
It is thanks
to journalists reporting minority views that pressure is bought to bear
on the main stream majority to change their stance. By then unfortunately,
much damage has already been done. It would have been far worse if the
minority views had never got a hearing at all������
Recently a
detailed Code of Practice on Science and Health Communication, was launched
jointly by the Social Issues Research Centre and the Royal Institution,
to address concerns about the ways some issues are covered in the media����
For Researchers
funded by companies, there is everything to be gained in terms of both
scientific repute and monetary reward in promulgating the corporate
agenda. For scientists who go against the grain, there is everything
to be lost, including job and career��
Britain might
be mistaken for a Third World Country in early 2001�� Chaos on the
rail network, protest over fuel price increases, in the midst of the
worst storms and floods in decades, and vCJD epidemic that may claim
up to tens of thousands of lives. Mad Cow disease, or BSE, is
now spreading to the rest of Europe raising new fears that CJD may follow
in its wake.
The BSE report,
published at the end of October 2000, blames persistent Government denials
over the link between v CJD and BSE beef based on the�� best scientific
advice�� given by the Southward Committee in 1989, which concluded
��it was most unlikely that BSE would have any implications for human
health��. The ��best scientific advice �� is saying the same about
GM crops.
The scientific establishment has failed, again and again, to acknowledge that science is by its nature incomplete and uncertain and to insist on the precautionary approach.
If the CJD
fiasco can teach us anything, it is that science is too important to
be left to the politicians or to a scientific establishment in bed with
big business����
The Corporate take over of Science is the greatest threat to our survival and the survival of our Planet. It must be resisted and fought at every level.
We must reject the imposition of any Code of Practice designed to suppress open scientific debate and discussion. Instead, concerted effort must be made by independent journalists and scientists to promote genuine critical public understanding of science, so that the widest cross section of civil society may be empowered to participate in making decisions on science and technology. Only then can we hope to restore democratic control of science to scientists themselves and to civil society at large.��
Research Scientists linking Electro magnetic radiation exposure to leukemia, cancer, respiratory disease, suicide, changes in heart rhythm and blood clotting find their funding is withdrawn and attempts made to discredit their findings.
Refer: ��The Times�� (UK) March 201, extracts from:-
��A study last week linked power lines to leukemia. Physics Professor at Bristol University, Dennis Henshaw, has been studying the health effects of power lines since 1994. Last week one of the issues he has championed for years – the link between childhood leukemia and power lines – finally came out into the open. The National Radiological Protection Board, concluded that exposure to magnetic fields may double the chances of a child developing the disease.
While welcoming the report, Henshaw says that the focus on childhood leukemia, which is extremely rare, is a smoke screen that has served to conceal the real perils of power lines.
He estimates that power lines notch up the following grim tally (in the UK) each year. Eight cases of childhood leukemia, 14 cases of skin cancer, up to 400 cases of lung cancer, several thousand cases of illnesses associated with air pollution (such as respiratory disease, allergies and aggravated asthma), 9000 cases of depression and 60 suicides.
The vast majority of these cases are caused by electrical effects, not by the magnetic fields that were under investigation by the NRPB.
He wants to see planning laws frozen so that no more homes are built near power lines and new cables are strung up as far as practicable from populated areas.
He says �� to say we need another 10 years of research means we will go precisely down the BSE route��. The Department of Health is listening – its officials have met him and seen his experiments - but his views have largely been ignored or rubbished. The electricity industry has accused him of scare mongering, he is not bothered ��people who accuse you of scare mongering are those who do not want the truth to come out. The utility companies can never admit in public there is an effect, because that would be admitting liability��. But he is bothered by the personal abuse sometimes levelled at him.
NRPB has offended him 3 times, on each occasion he has received an apology.
Ironically, the latest NRPB report suggests Henshaw��s work is worth further investigation.
The dominant effect of the magnetic field, Henshaw says, is influencing mood. This is considered biologically plausible – one mechanism is that magnetic fields disrupt the production of melatonin in the body, which regulates mood. Another is that magnetic fields induce electrical currents in the brain which create an electrical imbalance. ��Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland at night. Populations living near them are obviously sleeping near them and they show striking effects��.
He says in
his final analysis:- There is a vast body of evidence to indicate an
association between power lines and ill health. It includes cancers
and non-cancers, affects both adults and children, and the risk of ill
health is high enough to justify immediate action��
2.Dr.
R.O. Becker, Dr. A. Marino & M. Reickmannis,
1989, Currents of Death, pp.52-54
��Dr Becker
and Dr Marino and Maria Reichmanis, had participated in a pioneering
study of suicide with Dr F. Stephen Perry, an English physician
from the West Midlands. Perry had initiated the investigation
after observing�� during the course of his general medical practice,
that people living near high voltage transmission lines appeared to
suffer from a higher than normal incidence of depressive mental illness.
In 1979, using
computer based calculations, the four investigators reported in Physiological
Chemistry and Physics that they had found a correlation between
the presence of electro-magnetic fields from power lines and the occurrence
of suicide. Two years later, after measuring actual magnetic-field
strengths at the homes of 590 suicide victims and 594 people who served
as a control population, they reported in Health Physics, that
��significantly more suicides occurred at
locations of high magnetic field strengths��.
They believe
this to be ��the first demonstrated correlation between human behaviour
and environmental power frequency fields��. They called for a
large-scale epidemiological study to determine the public health significance
of their startling findings. Becker & Marino became the target
of savage criticism and were forced out of the Veterans�� Administration
(VA).
In 1964, Becker
had won the administration��s coveted William S. Middleton Award
for outstanding achievement in medical research, and in 1971 VA had
granted him the status of Medical Investigator which meant he could
put aside his clinical duties and devote his time and energy to research.
In April 1976, just as he was about to take the stand for the first
time in the power-line hearings, he was informed by the VA that his
application for a 5 years renewal for his medical investigatorship had
been deferred. Later that year, a research grant he had been receiving
from the National Institute of Health was discontinued, and from then
on he began to experience great difficulty in getting his research projects
approved by the VA.
Becker managed
to keep his laboratory going for another 3 years by finding another
source of financing at the regional level of the VA. In 1980,
a year after he won the Nicholas Andry Award of the Association of Bone
& Joint Surgeons for outstanding achievement in the field of orthopaedic
surgery, all his VA grants were terminated. Becker retired from
the administration and went to live in Loweville, where he presently
directs a Research & Consulting firm called Becker Bio-magnetics.
Six months
later his VA research laboratory, which had been operating for 20 years,
was shut down. Shortly thereafter, Marino who had worked in the
lab for 17 years, was told there were no suitable positions for him
at the hospital. As a result, he resigned from the VA and went
to Louisana where he is now a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery at the Louisiana State University Medical Centre, Shreveport.
Although the
motives behind the apparent vendetta against Becker and Marino can only
be guessed at, it seems clear that their outspokenness regarding the
health hazard of power-line radiation must have had something to do
with it.��
3.
Dr. D. S. Gann ,
��Currents of Death,��
Chapter IX: The Electric Power Institute (EPRI) p.68, extracts
��In 1971, EPRI financed a five-year study of the biological effects of exposure to high voltage electric fields. The study was conducted by Dr. Donald S. Gann, a Neurologist at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Gann exposed anaesthetised dogs to 60- hertz electric fields of 15,000 volts per metre, for 5 hour periods, after inducing small carefully controlled haemorrhages in the animals, in order to determine whether the fields would alter their response to the stress imposed by the haemorrhages. He found that the exposed animals experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure, and a startling increase in heartbeat rate, as compared to unexposed control animals. In a 1975 Report to EPRI, Gann described his findings as follows:
��The
unexpected findings of these changes suggest strongly that dynamic effects
resulting from exposure to electric fields may not be particularly subtle
at all, but may be quite easy to detect. In addition to the findings
in regard to magnitude of change, the variability of the heart
rates of exposed subjects was also significantly greater than that in
unexposed subjects. This suggests that the observations made by
Soviet workers on conscious human beings exposed to high-voltage electrical
fields, may be present in anaesthetised dogs. These results are
clearly preliminary, but also clearly demand further explanation.��
During the
late 1960s, Soviet scientists had reported that electrical switchboard
workers in the USSR were complaining of reduced sexual potency, and
that the electric fields to which they had been exposed, had an adverse
effect on the central nervous system and the heart.
In 1976, C.
Comar, a Director of EPRI, wrote Gann a letter, informing him that EPRI
was not going to renew his contract for the project. According
to Comar, EPRI Advisory Committee on the Effects of Electrical Fields
(among its 10 members were Professor Michaelson, 2 members of EPRI,
and officials from five electric power companies) had decided unanimously
that Gann��s work did not warrant further investigation.
Comar assured
Gann that ��this decision is in no way a reflection on your
professional competence. It appears that the heavy University
demands on your time and abilities has made it difficult for you to
give sustained and personal attention to this project which is needed
very badly.�� He went on to tell Gann that ��we have noted with interest
your preliminary evidence that the electric field can cause change in
the blood pressure and pulse of haemorrhaged animals, and we��ll see
if this can be confirmed in independent studies.��
There is no
evidence that EPRI ever tried to replicate Gann��s study.
The Institute was already, however, financing a review by the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI) of the scientific literature regarding the biological significance of power lines and the high voltage switch-yard environment. The IITRI report of this review, which was published in 1977, started off by stating that
��research
to date in Western Europe and America has failed to provide any evidence
that human exposure to present levels of fields from high voltage power
lines, as normally encountered, has any harmful biological effect����no
hazardous effects were attributed to electrical exposures for laboratory
and agricultural animals, as noted in some 7 references from Western
Europe and the United States.�� It is unlikely that the current level
of fields normally encountered are doing anything very injurious to
either individuals or populations��. These did not include any
mention of the work of either Marino or Gann.
The only scientist
in the US to speak out against EPRI��s record regarding the biological
effects of electrical exposure from power lines, was Andrew Marino.
He had been in contact with Gann, and had taken the trouble to acquire
a list of EPRI research contracts. In the amicus curiae
brief he submitted to the New York Public Service Commission in 1977,
he pulled no punches about what he thought of EPRI. He said-
��[The Commission
has the ultimate responsibility to ascertain that high voltage transmission
lines are operated in a manner not hazardous to human health.
It might be asked, therefore, from where does the Commissions expect
the facts and the information necessary to carry out its mandate will
be obtained? The only organisation in the US with the capacity to provide
such information is the EPRI, which is however, so completely industry
orientated that all material emanating there from relating to health
effects of high voltage transmission lines is tainted, biased, and completely
worthless.��
Marino went on to describe how EPRI had cancelled Gann��s study-
��precisely
at the point that the investigators began to report serious biological
effects due to ELF exposure��. He noted that ��EPRI��s scientific
advisory committee is heavily weighted in favour of the interests of
the electric utility industry, and its currently funded research does
not reflect concern for the actual problems created by high voltage
transmission lines. Finally EPRI cannot be relied upon because
it makes available only a carefully selected portion of its information
concerning ELF field induced biologic effects.��
4. Dr Deitrich Beisher linked exposure to low level magnetic fields with changes in Serum triglycerides, Refer to the book ��Electro Magnetic Man. �� 1989. p. 218.Project Sanguine – Seafarer
Since 1958 the US Navy has wanted to construct an ELF radio network to be able to communicate with its nuclear submarines, so that they would be able to remain hundreds of feet below the surface rather than near it as required by their present systems, thus rendering themselves vulnerable to enemy detection. The concept was known as Project Sanguine, later renamed as Project Seafarer. The intention was to bury some 6000 miles of antennae cable below the ground in northern Wisconsin in a grid like pattern to cover approximately 22,500 square miles – about 41% of the State. The area was apparently chosen mainly because the underlying rock does not conduct electricity well, a fact that would enhance the efficiency of the antennae��
However, as well as local opposition, the Navy ran into problems with results produced by one of their leading scientists, Dr. Dietrich Beischer, who was asked to investigate the possible hazards to humans involved.
In 1973, Beischer and his colleagues at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute at Pensacola, Florida, published research results which found that 9 out of 10 Navy volunteers who had been exposed to an alternating magnetic field of 45 Hz and 100 uT had shown a rapid build up of serum triglycerides, an accepted warning of potential heart problems (Beischer and et. al., 1977).
According to Brodeur (1977), another study of 11 men exposed to ELF showed a significant decline in their ability to perform simple addition, and both results were kept secret by the Navy for 2 years. In the meantime a report reviewing biomedical and ecological effects of ELF radiation by the Department of the Navy in December 1973, stressed the need to investigate matters further: ��detailed animal experiments on triglyceride levels, should be undertaken simultaneously with a continuation of the human experimentation.
However, although research continued, Dr Beischer��s funded work in the area ceased. His findings were never adequately followed up and he himself retired early – and became mysteriously difficult to contact��. Not only did Beischer disappear, so also did reference to his work – at least by the military. Whereas the 1973 ELF research for the Navy acknowledges his findings on serum triglycerides, by 1980 a review covering from 1968 to that year conveniently omits any reference to .any of his 19 years of research for the Navy�� (Grisset, 1980. Despite the fact that Grisset had been one of Beischer��s co-authors on his 1973 paper.
However, in 1984, Beischer was tracked down - by a British Channel 4 TV interview crew making an illuminating series of documentaries entitled ��The Good, the Bad and the Indefensible�� about the positive and negative effects of electro-magnetic fields . The TV interviewer reported Beischer��s comments in the third episode, opening ��Pandora��s Box.��
Dr. Beischer refused to disown his discovery, that low level magnetic fields could adversely affect the heart. He also revealed that a secret survey of the workers at the Wisconsin transmitter had produced similar results, but these had been classified but never released.
Possibly due to the sensitive nature of the third episode – the US Military involvement – it was never screened in the US but was shown in Britain in 1984.
5. Dr Wendell Winters:- Linked low frequency fields with cancer -Refer to ��Cross Currents, 1990. P206
Dr. Wendell Winters of the University of Texas had been contracted by the New York Dept of Health to investigate the effects of 60-Hz fields on cells of the immune system. In the course of this work he had exposed human cancer cells in culture to the same fields, without specifically obtaining approval to do so. He reported the cancer cells increased their rate of growth by several hundred percent with only a 24 hour exposure, and that this growth rate was thereafter, apparently permanent.
The New York State Department of Health sent a team of investigators to Winter��s laboratory. They reported that the work was not reproducible and was of questionable validity. The Dept also funded another investigator to ��repeat�� Winter��s study. This investigator reported that he was unable to duplicate Winter��s results: however he had not done the experiment in the same fashion.
Work was then
carried on outside the confines of the New York State Study by Winters
and his colleague Dr Jerry Phillips of the Cancer Research and Treatment
Centre, in San Antonio Texas. Winters initial observation was
confirmed and extended, leading to several recent publications in reputable,
peer reviewed scientific journals.
At this time,
scientific evidence is absolutely conclusive; 60Hz magnetic fields cause
human cancer cells to permanently increase their rate of growth by as
much as 1600% and to develop more malignant characteristics.
6. Dr George Carlo��s research found cell phones interfere with pacemakers, changes the blood brain barrier, and creates micro nuclei in human blood cells.
Refer to
��Cellphones ��– Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age, and insiders
alarming Discoveries about cancer and genetic damage.�� Extracts from:-
��No appliance
of our time has found more consumer acceptance than the cell phone,
yet an undercurrent of concern about possible health effects has pervaded
public awareness since 1992, reports began appearing of people who��d
developed brain tumours after using the device. The US wireless
industry quickly appointed an independent scientist, Dr George ��Carlo,
to study the issue. Though industry officials claimed that (thousands
of studies) already demonstrated cell phone safety, Carlo vowed to follow
the science wherever it might lead him. In fact, he soon discovered
that few studies had ever been.
One by one
alarming signs appeared in Dr Carlo��s research: that cell phones interfere
with heart pace makers; that the developing
skulls of children are penetrated deeply by the energy emitted by a
cell phone. The blood brain barrier which prevents invasion of
the brain by toxins, can be compromised by cell phone radiation: and
most startlingly, that radio frequency radiation creates micro nuclei
in human blood cells, a type of genetic damage know to be a diagnostic
marker for cancer. Yet, in 1999, the industry debuted cell phones
emblazoned with colourful cartoon characters – designed to appeal
to children.
As Dr Carlo continued turning up scientific findings that cell phones may pose health risks, the industry responded by not renewing his research funding, and sought to discredit him personally among reporters and other scientists. Undeterred, he redoubled his efforts to learn the truth and discover what critical safeguards can still be devised to protect the public health
Conclusion
Until recently
scientists and the public have been fearful of the most obvious forms
of radiation – the ��ionising�� (thermal) radiation associated with
nuclear power and weapons, and X-rays. There is however, mounting
evidence of the biological, harmful effects of ��non ionising�� (non-thermal)
effects generated by a wide variety of electrical systems, including
power lines, microwave, communication sites, cell phones and military
applications. Utility companies, the electronics industry and
the US military seem to have mounted a heavily funded public campaign
to minimise the impact of such findings (including the refusal of funding
for dissenting scientists) and in many cases have suppressed vital research
results indicating health effects at non thermal levels.
Authors
note:- For researchers funded by industry, there is
everything to gain in terms of both scientific repute and monetary reward
in promulgating the corporate agenda. For scientists who go against
the grain, there is every thing to be lost, including job and career.
Humanity should be grateful for the tenacity and courage, the
��whistleblower�� scientists have shown in publicising their research.
Several of these highly qualified researchers have written books to
raise the awareness of the public to the Risks as well as the Benefits
of electromagnetic field. Many of them have suffered financially
for their honesty and concern for the health and well being of their
fellow man. We thank them for their brave stance and hope their
sacrifices will not be in vain.
The RF effect on the heart is obvious from the reported medical symptoms reported in the Fishpond and Ouruhia stories.
At Ouruhia in the late 1980��s, after the AM had been transmitting for 9 years, 3 of the men living and working in the area died of heart problems while working in the fields. {It is of interest they were all near tractors which would be high reflecting.) They all died, unexpectedly, while working within 1200 metres of the aerial. Only 10 people would have been living, and working, in the vicinity of the aerial at that time.
Within a few months of the FM power being increased nearly every person within 1 kilometre of the aerial experienced heart problems, some were severe, several required heart by passes.
Overall health also deteriorated rapidly with the increase in transmission. They included memory loss, depression, changes in behaviour, loss of balance, ear and eye problems, burning skin, skin sores, hair loss, limb pain and swelling, sleeplessness, headaches, asthma, convulsions, changes in blood. etc
When people move away the symptoms go away, when they return so do the adverse effects. These people were unaware of the increase in power and therefore the symptoms �� are not in the mind�� The longer the people have been exposed the worse the symptoms have become ie:- death from heart attack, brain tumours, eye tumour, severe arthritis, serious liver problems, cancer. These effects have been found more than 5 kilometres from the transmission tower.
The following
research demonstrates that people near electromagnetic fields are three
times more likely to die from cardio vascular conditions than those
unexposed.
��Electromagnetic
Fields may damage Hearts�� January, 1999, Science News Issue.
��Men who
worked in the presence of high electromagnetic fields (EMF) were up
to three times more likely to die from heart
attacks and several other cardio-vascular conditions as were their colleagues
who had far smaller EMF exposures. The observations emerge from
a re analysis of information collected during a 3 year study of almost
140,000 electric utility workers. EMF's are invisible lines of
force that surround all electric devices and wiring. Their strength
increases with current running through the devices or wires.
Though high
EMF's, especially their magnetic components can promote the growth of
cancer in laboratory animals (S.N.1/10/98 p.29) and some evidence links
them to cancer in people (S.N. 6/.3o/90 p404) little attention
had been paid to whether they might affect the heart.
Last year, however, Antonio Sastre and his co workers at the Midwest
Research Institute in Kansas City, Mo, published experimental data showing
that 8 hour exposures to intermittent 60 Hz fields altered heartbeat
variability in healthy men.
Everyone��s
heart rate changes slightly from beat to
beat, reflecting fine tuning by the nervous system in response to respiration
and other factors, explains Sastre a cardiovascular
physiologist. Yet the magnitude of variance can differ dramatically
between individuals, he notes. Even when two people each have
a heart beat averaging 60 beats per minute
(bpm) the heart rate of one might vary from
59 to 61bpm, while another��s swings broadly from 50 to 70bpm.
Several studies
have shown that low heart rate variability
correlates with a higher than normal risk of heart
attacks and certain other heart conditions,
particularly when the slowing occurs in the component of heart
rate known as the low spectral band. In the February 1998, ��Bio-electromagnetics,��
Sastre��s team reported a slowing in the low spectral band among men
exposed to magnetic fields that cycle on and off every 15 seconds for
an hour at a time.
When David
Savitz, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, learned of the finding he invited Sastre to help him sift through
data on heart disease deaths within the large
group of electrical workers. The two researchers and their team now
report that compared with men who worked in low EMF jobs, men in trades
exposed to high EMF, such as linemen and power plant operators, were
far more likely to have died from heart attacks
and heart conditions related to abnormal
rhythms or arrhythmias.
Moreover, risk
or death from these conditions climbed as average EMF exposure increased.
Savitz notes that men in the highest group tended to have worked in
EMF at least twice as high as those that people typically encounter
in their homes.��
Non
Thermal Action of Microwaves on Cardiac Rhythm.
A.S.
Presman and N.A.Levitina Central Scientific Research Institute of Health
Resort Treatment and Physiotheraphy, Moscow
report:-
��The non-thermal
action of microwaves on the heart rate was
first found in investigations into the working condition and health
of personnel operating microwave generators. A.A. Orlova
showed that prolonged action of microwaves of non-thermal intensity
(less than 10mw/cm2) induces bradycardia in a considerable portion of
subjects studied.- N.V. Tyagin found that a change in the heart
rate in dogs under the influence of microwaves of 5-10watts /cm2 was
induced by either chronic irradiation or irradiation for 30 minutes.
However, although in some dogs the heart
rate was slowed, in others it was increased, and in some cases it was
alternately speeded and slowed.
Up till now
only very general suggestions have been made concerning the non-thermal
action of microwaves. Thus A.A.Orlova and N.V. Tyagin consider
that the changes of the heart rate result
from reflex action of the microwaves, although they do not exclude the
possibility of some direct action of the waves on the nervous conductors
or on the autonomous action of the heart
and vessels.
To explain
the action of the microwaves in slowing the heart,
we must note that the effect was produced directly during the irradiation
of various parts of the body.
Method.
The experiments
were carried out on 8 male rabbits each weighing 3 – 3.5 kg.
Each animal was irradiated 12 to 13 times for 20 minutes. In all
the experiments the intensity was 7 –12 mw/cm2.
Summary
Irradiation
of various parts of the rabbit body by microwaves of x=12.5cm at an
intensity below the thermal level (7-12mw/cm2) influenced the sinus
rhythm. This chronotropic effect of the microwaves was observed
during the 20 minutes of irradiation and for 10 minutes immediately
after it. The irradiation of the ventral parts of the body slowed
the heart, and irradiation of the dorsal
part of the head speeded it. It is suggested that the effect observed
was the result of reflex autonomic reactions provoked by the direct
action of the microwaves on the superficial reflex autonomic reactions
provoked by the direct action of the microwaves on the superficial reflexogenous
zones, and that the effect from irradiation of the head was produced
by action on brain cells.
:Allan H.Frey Modern Bioelectricity:- health hazards of Electromagnetic Energy, Page 791.
��The last major theme of my 1960�� experimentation concerned heart function. The isolated frog heart, stripped of its neural and hormonal buffers systems, was exposed to RF radiation. It was found that the heart was responsive to RF radiation when the pulses were synchronized with certain phases of the heart cycle. When the RF pulse occurred about the time the QRS complex occurred, the beat rate increased. In half the cases arthythmias occurred, and occasionally the heart ceased beating after a period of arrhythmia. No such effect occurred when the heart was illuminated at earlier points of the cycle.
Lords et al. exposed isolated turtle hearts to RF fields using CW exposure. They found they could induce a bradycardia. They suggested the effect might be due to the stimulation of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve remnants in the turtle hearts. In a follow up experiment Tinney et al. found that over a narrow power range there was apparent stimulation of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve remnants which could increase or decrease the heart rate, respectively.
Galvin et al reported that RF radiation induced alteration in the cardiac cell membrane.
Schwartz et al. have show RF fields with certain modulations will significantly increase calcium efflux from the heart.
Conclusions Page 814:- What has been done in most of the biological research with RF radiation in the USA has been determined by the thermoregulatory mindset of those involved in the research
AS I STATED IN 1971 THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER THERE IS A MEDIATOR OR MECHANISM FOR BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS FROM INTENSITY RADIATION. RATHER THE QUESTION IS HOW MANY ARE THERE AND HOW THEY ARE RELATED.��
There are two
camps in the microwave debate- the thermalist
and the althermalist.
During the
late 1970��s there was rising criticism by althermalists that research
projects financed by the military services were ignoring low-level effects.
The US air force finally agreed to finance a large research program
designed to address question about athermal effects. Dr A. (Bill) Guy
an engineer, not a biologist by training, was appointed to conduct the
research. The primary question addressed was ��What is the effect
of protracted exposure to weak microwave radiation?��. The exposure
decided on was 21 hours a day over 25 months with microwaves at 480 W/sqcm
giving a specific absorption rate of 0.4 watts/kg on which the US RF
safety standard is based. One hundred rats were exposed and another
hundred were used as controls.
A second question
addressed was one that athermalists had been asking for many years.
It was ��What if the radiation, instead of being in the form of a plain
continuous wave has a modulated
or pulse wave form?�� Athermalists believed that pulsed and
modulated wave forms were more biologically active.
We can picture
modulated waves as having ripples superimposed on them. Radiation
is pulsed, simply by being turned on and off, like a flickering light
from an electric bulb. The microwaves used in Bill Guy��s experiment
were modulated at 8Hz and pulsed 800 times a second.
Pulsed and modulated microwaves were tested for two reasons. One is that artificial modulated and pulsed microwaves now permeate our environment. Radio waves are modulated to bring us music and speech on our radios; radar uses pulsed signals. The other is that modulation and pulsing frequencies of artificial EMR are in the same band as the natural ELF fields in our bodies. If living cells have evolved ��tuned�� into this frequency band, would they have, it was asked, the facility to demodulate the artificial wave? If so, then it would be the modulation or pulsing frequency that was biologically significant and not the carrier wave frequency that counts.
Guy��s research
took five years to complete. At the 1984 annual meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics
Society he reported finding severe health damage in the rats.
A high incidence of malignancies and benign tumours in the endocrine
gland system was observed.
The observed
growth of benign adrenal tumours in the exposed rats could help explain
frequent complaints by radiation workers of headaches, dizziness, memory
loss and fatigue. These symptoms have become known as microwave
sickness.
Benign adrenal
tumours, or pheos, are associated with high blood pressure and headaches.
It is an example of how ��subjective�� complaints can be dismissed
out of hand, only to find support later in scientific investigation.
The reception
of the results says something about the play of influences on deciding
research topics. Malignancies were not what the researchers had
expected; they leaned towards the thermal hypothesis. Bill Guy had previously
testified at public enquiries that there was no evidence for athermal
effects.
A scientist
who reviewed the research for the US air force commented ��that the
finding of the excess malignancies in the exposed animals is provocative��
Unquestionably so. If confirmed the findings undermine existing
Western Standards for RF exposure, including the Australian Standard
launched in 1985.
WHY ARE THE NEW ZEALAND PUBLIC NOT BEING INFORMED OF THE RISK, AS WELL AS THE BENEFIT, OF CELL PHONE USE?
Information
detailing adverse health effects from cell phone use has been released
internationally during the last two years but has not been publicised
here:-
Observer
Newspaper London, April 11th 1999
Concern about
the safety of mobile phones has prompted a leading Lloyds of London
underwriter to refuse to insure phone manufacturers against the risk
of damage to users�� health. Fears that mobile phones will be
linked to illnesses such as cancer and Alzeimers has prompted
an underwriter to refuse to cover manufacturers against the risk of
being sued if mobiles turn out to cause long term damage. Experts
at the National Radiation Protection Board say they cannot give mobile
phone a clean bill of health until comprehensive research has been carried
out into the non-thermal effects of microwave radiation emitted by handsets.
The Federation of the Electronics Industry, which represents mobile phone manufacturers and networks, said there was no proven reason for insurers to refuse cover. The underwriter, John Fenn, says �� If you go back to asbestos it wasn��t a problem at one time either. Asbestos has helped bring Lloyds to its knees in the early ��90s.�� UK Member of Parliament Phil Willis said �� I have asked three network operators if they will give insurance against future health risk and they have all said they cannot.��
Times Newspaper, London, 3rd July 2000 By David Charter, Education correspondent.
��Every school in England has been sent advice from the Government discouraging pupils under 16 from using mobile phones. Schools near a mobile phone base are also advised to contact the operator to ensure ��its beam of greatest intensity�� does not fall across its grounds.
Guidance sent
to every school states ��Children aged 15 and under �� are more likely
to be more vulnerable to any unrecognised health risks from mobile phone
use than are adults because their nervous systems are still developing.
Also, because of their smaller heads, thinner skulls and higher tissue
conductivity, children may absorb more energy from a mobile phone
than do adults.��. It concludes �� Where children do use mobile
phones, they should do so for as short a time as possible.��The advice
will complement leaflets that will be distributed with new mobile phones
warning of potential health risks to children who use them.��
Reuters
,London 27th November 2000
��Children who use mobile phones risk suffering memory loss, sleeping disorders, and headaches according to research published in the medical journal, The Lancet.
Physicist,
Dr Gerard Hyland, said ��radiation is known to affect the brain rhythms
and children are particularly vulnerable.��
��If mobile
phones were a type of food, they simply would not be licensed because
there is so much uncertainty surrounding their safety��
Hyland��s findings came as the government launched a new task force to study the possible risks of mobile phones.
A government commissioned inquiry into potential risks said in May,1999,
that children
should be discouraged from using mobile phones. ��
Health Reports taken from Swedish newspapers in 1999
��From Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden, October 25th 1999
Children are
more sensitive to microwaves than adults and recently there has been
an increase in children getting severe inflammation of the gut, Crohns
disease. This disease shows the same pattern as do allergies and
asthma. Both cause inflammation processes and both involve the immune
defence.
In Scandanavia
we suffer from an epidemic of ��burned out ��individuals from all
walks of life. People who become dysfunctional due to stress and have
to leave work, in the best of cases for a month and in some cases, never
to return.
Even children
have been affected. ��teenagers are stressed to pieces�� says
the Danish psychiatrist Gideon Ziotnek in Expressen newspaper November
22, 1999. Ziotnek thinks that stress will cause the brain to atrophy.
��Young people can get emotional and intellectual disturbances��
Another paper,
GoteborgsPosten, wrote the previous day, �� A study among a thousand
school children in Gothenburg shows that 13% with normal hearing experience
tinnitus. This can be a sign of social stress.��
A question
worth asking : Why is everyone suddenly so stressed? Have we changed
our social behaviour so much? We are working harder but are we working
much harder? In the past people worked hard also, but what is new in
our lives?
What has dramatically
changed to cause this stress?
There is an
important factor: the increased radiation from mobile phones, televisions
and radio broadcasts.
During 1994
– 1996 when Swedish teenagers started using mobile phones prescriptions
for sleeping pills for young women aged between 15-24 years have doubled.
(Radio:Dagens Eko October 4th 1999) At the same time
anti – depressants to the same age group have increased by 40%.
But how exactly
can we attribute the stress we experience to microwaves?
Professor Henry
Lai from USA during a visit to Gothenburg explained ��that microwaves
have the same stress on the human body as loud sound has. The
invisible microwaves that we cannot see, but that pass through our bodies,
is a chronic stressor. Our bodies whether we want to or not, experience
the microwaves as stress, as though we were exposed to loud noise continuously.��
This might explain the epidemic of ��burned out�� individuals.
With an ongoing background stress from microwaves and other electro-smog,
we cannot carryout our ordinary work. A further worrying comment from
Professor Lai was that this stress, like any other stress is accumulative.
June 2001, The Scientific Journal Differentiation,
��Sydney researcher Peter French has published, in the June edition of the above journal a theory that mobile phone use could cause continuing stress to body cells leading them to express ��heat shock�� proteins�� Such a chronic activation could lead to cancer. Professor Penny said ��it had now been shown that even the small amount of radiation produced by mobile phones could affect human tissue.�� For more information on the possible role of heat shock proteins with mobile phone see
��Mobile Phone
Use, Its Time to Take Precautions�� published in the April
edition of the Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional
and Environmental Medicine.��
Sunday Times,
London, January 15th 2001
��Mobile phones
have been linked to human eye cancer. Dr Andreas Stang who led
the research said he had examined 118 people with uveal melanoma and
obtained details about their use of digital mobile phone use.
This was compared with a control group of 475 people. When the
results were analysed they found the cancer victims had a much higher
rate of mobile phone use. Stang suggests there is a three fold
increase in eye cancers amongst people who regularly use the devices.
The mechanism
by which the radiation might cause cancer is uncertain but it is known
that the watery content of the eye assists in the absorption of the
radiation.��
Press Release,June
6thth 2001
��Research conducted by Lennart Hardell, MD.PhD. Professor Department of Oncology, Orebro Medical Centre. Sweden.
Swedish Study on use of Cellular Telephones and Cordless telephones and the risk of brain tumours
This study
showed an increased risk of brain tumours among users of analogue
cellular telephones. No clear association was found with use of digital
cellular telephone or cordless phones but it is necessary with a longer
observation time to rule out an increase risk for these telephone types.��
The Mail
on Sunday, London, June 17th 2001
��Mobile phone
users have more than double the normal risk of getting a tumour on the
side of their head where they hold their handsets, say Swedish researchers.
Those who have used mobile phones for more than ten years are 2.6 times
more likely to develop tumours and 3.5 times more likely to develop
benign tumours on the nerve connecting the ear to the brain, it is claimed.
Telecom companies have been bracing themselves for the results of this
major Swedish study involving 2,900 people – the largest of its kind
to show a link between mobile phones and tumours. Professor Hardell
believes it will not be known for sure whether the newer phones cause
tumours until around 2005, because tumours take several years to develop.
But based on previous research, scientists expect digital handsets to
have similar results.
After the results
were unveiled at the Mobile Telephones and Health Conference in London,
industry bosses held a crisis meeting.��
Glasgow
Sunday Mail, Scotland, May 29th 2001-07-01
��Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME) plague hits young Scots. Research by ME charity the Thymes Trust found that an estimated 2500 children suffer from this debilitating disease. They say youngsters will continue to suffer because doctors are not doing enough to diagnose the exhausting condition. Victims feel fatigued and get severe headaches and muscle pains. The study found that 51% of long term school absentees had ME.
Thymes Trust
has commissioned fresh research��.
Authors�� comment
An Australian
report says a similar increase in ME is reported in the UK, New South
Wales and Victoria. The increase is over a rough time frame of the past
4 to 5 years. Christine Hunter at the Allison Hunter
Memorial Foundation (CFS research) says doctors have visited several
NSW s trying to find out why so many kids were falling sick with fatigue
problems. Some researchers link the onset of ME with electromagnetic
exposure.
21st April 2001. Australia.
Health fears
grow over phone plan.Cancer fears and other health concerns were ignored
in the drafting of a new mobile phone radiation standard, according
to one of its creators.
Electrical
engineer, John Lincoln said poorly understood health worries were ��brushed
under the table�� during its development. The controversial new standard,
revealed in the Herald Sun yesterday, allows phones to emit up to four
times as much radiation as the present standard.
Mr Lincoln
a community representative on the working group that drafted the standard
said the radiation limits were too high
Herald Sun
April 2001(.extract from article)
��Proposals
to allow a major jump in radiation emitted from the next generation
of Australian mobile phones should be treated with extreme caution��.
Recent British
studies concluded that the size and shape of children��s skulls made
them more vulnerable to the potential risks of mobile phone use.
Australian
children and teenagers are among the bigger users of mobiles in the
world and for this reason alone the proposal needs the utmost scrutiny..��
May 25th 2001 Australian Press Release.
Tabling statement
made by Democrats�� Senator Lyn Allison
��Studies have reported consistent and alarming symptoms which consumers attribute to the use of their mobile phones and yet there is no process in place to deal with such complaints or systematically collect the medical data.
Industry and
government agencies have persistently tried to discount and discredit
scientific research showing results which are unfavourable to industry
but the time has come for an honest evaluation of the risks and for
government to accept that there is at least a doubt that our standard
safeguards us against cancer and other health risks��.
The telecommunications
industry has shown no interest in developing safer mobile phone or transmitter
technology. It has shown no interest in allowing people to make
a choice which might minimise the health risk and it continues to promote
mobile phones to children who are likely to be more vulnerable than
the rest of the population.��
December
2000, Reuters,
��British
mobile phone companies are facing billion-dollar legal action brought
by US brain tumour victims. Vodaphone, the world��s biggest mobile
phone company faces up to ten compensation claims, potentially
for billions of dollars. The cases will be filed by Peter Angelos,
who recently helped win 4 billion dollars in damages from the tobacco
industry in Maryland, USA.��
Berliner
Zeitung July 31st 2001.
��The head of the Federal Radiation protection Office in Germany says that children should not use mobile phones and recommends that others minimize their use. ��Parents should keep their children away from this technology as much as possible�� said Wolfram Konig��.
Andrew Marino,
editor of Modern Bio Electricity writes
��Power companies,
electric-blanket manufacturers, and other organizations produce products
that liberate electromagnetic fields into the environment, but they
are generally silent about this fact and most subjects are unaware of
the presence of EMFs.
Because the various devices directly result in human exposures that are significantly above the ambient, the question arises whether the situation constitutes involuntary human experimentation.
In New York
experimentation is defined in terms of physical intervention upon a
subject that is not required for the direct benefit of the subject.235
The law provides
��no human research may be conducted in this state in the absence of
voluntary informed consent subscribed to in writing by the human subject��.��236
U.S. Federal regulations governing human research are vastly more
detailed, but also require voluntary written informed consent (except
in special circumstances, 237) All modern authority opposes involuntary
intervention upon a subject (238 240)
My opinion
is that many present day exposure patterns, such as living near a power
line, are exactly the kind of physical intervention upon subjects that
is proscribed by law and applicable ethical principles.
In the USA,
civil remedies exist (at least for non military subjects) to counter
such activity, including the law of nuisance, battery, personal injury,
and inverse condemnation.
Although some
of these activities are presently encumbered with significant evidentiary
problems for the plaintiff, the problems become fewer with time because
of the tide of reports, latches of the defendants, and other factors.��
Authors note:- We list two court cases where judges ruled against the communication companies. There are other successful cases and also those where the operators withdrew from the cases, such as Ouruhia, before the case was completed.
Refer to
Currents of Death, page 191:-
Dr Harris Busch
an oncologist, pharmacologist, and cell biologist gave evidence against
the Houston Lighting and Power Company who had erected a 345.000volt
transmission line through school grounds The school had refused to allow
a power increase and the company sued them.
Dr Busch,,
who had been chairman of the Department of Pharmacology of the Baylor
University College of Medicine in Houston for 25 years. A former editor
of the distinguished American Journal of
Cancer Research Busch placed a metronome on the railing of the witness
stand set it in motion, and said that he would like to explain how a
magnetic field might work to either cause or promote cancer. ��A Metronome
is just a device which, in essence moves in two directions, and a sixty
hertz field is a field where first the magnetic waves moves in one direction,
and then it moves in another direction, just like this device is doing.
Only it happens 60 times a second.
Busch explained that there would be a similar to and fro movement on the part of anything magnetic in such a field and that to and fro movement would occur 60 times a second. ��So what this means is that any kind of molecule that is in a person��s brain, or in a persons body, is being twisted 60 times a second up and back. Now we do not function in this kind of environment. We are an earthly people descended from an evolutionary species that��s been subject to gravity and the magnetic force of the earth itself. But they have nothing like the power of this movement.��
Busch described
the relevance of all this to the case in hand.
��So we have
imposed on these young children, a set of forces which is twisting and
turning the molecules in their brains and bodies 60 times a second��
he declared ��now the implication that this is a process of concern
comes from the epidemiological data which has been accumulating. The
future development of those data constitutes an experiment. This
is an experiment which is in progress in the children of this district��
He went on
to tell the jurors that this was no trivial experiment.�� It is a daily
interaction of the human body and mind with potentially dangerous forces,��
he said, adding that these forces have been increasingly implicated
in recent medical literature in the development of leukaemia and other
cancers. After reminding the jurors that the schoolchildren will be
exposed to strong magnetic fields from the power line for about eight
hours each day during the school term, and for periods of up to 13 years,
Busch. informed them that nothing could obstruct the passage of electromagnetic
fields. These fields go through glass, they go through concrete they
are simply not stopped by anything in the environment.��
After deliberation the jurors found that in constructing and operating the power line on School property, Houston
Lighting and
Power had shown a
��Reckless
disregard �� and with ��conscious indifference to the rights and welfare
of the persons affected.��
As a result they awarded the school district $25 million in punitive damages. When the case was appealed (1987 the Appeal Court Judges upheld the trial jury ��s verdict and ruled they had been correct in finding ��clear and convincing evidence�� of potential health hazards caused by electromagnetic fields.
Busch��s
description of the actions of, and effects of Electromagnetic field,
seems to describe the cause of the loss of balance and co-ordination
experienced by cattle, horses, and people at my farm, other places in
the Ouruhia area and in the vicinity of other
communication sites.
The RF
fields at Ouruhia and Philpotts Rd are, and were, FM and AM which would
cause even more�� to and fro, twisting and turning�� than the.60Hz
power line.
Power Frequency
Electric Fields Influences
Internal current density distribution for a quadruped. Internal current density distribution for a primate.
(a)-(d) indicate four possible ways wherin current can bbe caused to flow. The direction of arrows indicates the approx. dirrection of the internal body current flow and the width of the arrow suggests the current densities. The paths for dispplacement current flow are suggested by the dashed lines.
Common problems
in laboratory simulation of fields associated with transmission lines.
Substantial increase in surface field on head
while erect
Authors note - 26th April the Ministries wrote regarding the Discussion Document��s submissions. Mr Ray Salter said ��86 submissions had been received and in general most were supportive of the discussion document.��
Knowing
that many people had experienced adverse health effects within the NZ
Standard and had sent in submissions questioning the process of
��Managing the Effects of Electromagnetic Field
��we felt, once again we were being
��fobbed of.�� The Combined Residents�� Associations requested the
submissions under the Information Act, via Sue Kedgley (MP) and Tim
Barnett (MP)
After we
had evaluated the submissions we found more than 50% of the submitters
were dissatisfied with the current EMR Standard, the process of achieving
that Standard, and the lack of protection for the exposed public.
We include
this submission which reflects the concerns of many
submitters:-
Robert Anderson, Member Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology.
��26th
September 1999. ��It is quite obvious that the deceit over EMR continues
to haunt the public. Evidence of the dangers of EMR radiation
have been steadily mounting.
The permissible
level for exposing the public to microwave radiation from cellular phones
and transmission towers have been dramatically raised. As usual the
public have not been over informed. Where profit is the driving motive
of corporations, public scrutiny is assiduously avoided. Any scientific
evidence invariably comes from those paid to do the research for –or
by- the companies concerned.
Previously
public exposure levels were set at 200 microwatts per cm. This
standard has now been raised to 450 microwatts per cm this being set
by the International Commission on Non Ionising Radiation.(ICNIRP)
Dr Neil
Cherry, has openly condemned these values, and supported his conclusions
by extensive studies from Sweden and other countries. It is
totally reprehensible that profit be put ahead of human safety, I submit
that;
The Government
provide legislation which limits the exposure of all its citizens to
all EMR and in particular the microwave region, to a level consistent
with Dr Cherry��s recommendations
I further
call upon the government to enact legislation, which will ensure that
local communities regain control of their communities�� safety rather
than be dictated to by outside corporations because of their financial
domination within the justice system.��
Note the following overseas standards.
United Kingdom SAR is 1.OW/kg
United States SAR is 1.6 W/kg
Australia
SAR is 1.6 W/kg
The ICNIRP
does not adopt the concept of ��prudent avoidance�� or a
��precautionary approach�� only scientifically proven studies.
Higher
limits (ICNIRP) allows the introduction of new technology and products
which would NOT have met the more stringent requirements of the older
standard.
New Zealand
Raises Allowable Levels of Exposure for Cell phone Emissions
NZ��s approach
to safeguarding the health of users of Cellular
��phones has been to, in late 1999, move away from interim joint standard
with AustraliaAS/NZS2772.1(int)1998 and adopt the ICNIRP (International
Commission on Non –Ionizing Radiation Protection) Standards
The SAR
(Specific Absorption Rate) the amount of radiation allowed to be absorbed
over a given amount of brain tissue has moved from;
SAR 1.6W/kg (AS/NZS 2772.1)
To
SAR 2.0
W/Kg (ICNIRP) (NZS 2272.1 1999) averaged over 10gm or head tissue for
6 minutes.
Dr Cherry
is the public��s representative on the NZ Standard��s Committee.
He is self -funded. He replaces Dr Ivan Beale, who has recently
retired.
1. That
an independent and objective assessment of the genotoxic and epidemiological
evidence be carried out, by independent scientists. This would
exclude the National Radiation Laboratory, Dr Bates and Dr Black who
all represent industry.
2. The
NZ Standard be reviewed based on evidence and the precautionary approach
as set out in the Resource Management Act, Sections 5 (2c) and 3 (f)
and the Environment Court in the McIntyre Case.
3. That
the Govt require public health based committee to be formed, independent
of industry and vested interests, along the lines of the UK Air Quality
Standards Committee, and be required to set a public health protection
based on the principles set out in recommendation 2.
4. That the
Govt remove the responsibility for advice on the health effects of electromagnetic
radiation from the National Radiation laboratory because the NRL maintains
the position that the only effects are heating and electric shock and
they ignore or reject the large body of biological and epidemiological
evidence to the contrary.
5. That the
Govt require that Transpower and local power supply companies to place
high voltage powerlines in designated corridors in which residences,
schools and workplaces are prohibited. This should require the
power supply companies to buy up land or homes within 50metres of either
side of the high voltage power lines.
6. That health
warnings be required on cell phones.
7. That children
should be strongly discouraged from using cell phones in line with UK
and German government policy.
8. That much
safer cell phone technologies be required to be introduced before 2002,
such as shielded cell phone bodies, aerials and fiber-optic hands free
kits.
9. That cell
phones be banned from use while driving because they have been shown
to cause significant 6-fold increase in road accidents, including a
doubling of the risk of fatal accidents.
10. That where
cell sites are within 300 metres of schools, home or work places they
be removed and relocated unless they have side lobe protection and direct
their beams away from the places where people spend several hours daily.
11. That FM
transmissions are immediately removed from all low sited aerials in
populated and placed on safer, less power required, hill sites.
12. That the
government, as soon as possible, requires all radio and TV broadcasting
in urban areas to be supplied by fiber optic cables. This would
significantly reduce public health effects and allow mobile phone operators
to use low power signals to achieve lower signal to noise ratios.
13. In rural
areas radio and TV transmission sites be placed, where possible, on
elevated, remote locations. Aiming for a distance from the nearest
homes of 3 kilometres.
14. That the
government require all present broadcasters, including cell phone network
operators, to provide the time series changes in the spatial and radial
exposure level patterns for every signal they transmit. These
maps must be available to the public.
15. That the
government fund an independent monitoring company to monitor compliance
with public health based exposure standards, totally independent of
the National Radiation Laboratory as they are never seen by the public
to be independent since they have frequently appeared for industry in
resource consent hearings and environment court appeals.
16. That the government fund a nationwide study of cancer and other health effects including cardiac, reproductive, and neurological health effects in relation to the EMR exposure patterns provided in recommendation 14.
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