The first story illustrates how many Chinese citizens are aware about the dangers of electro magnetic radiation. It also illustrates the stupidity of the Chinese authorities who insist on placing a massive transformer station close to a large population and many homes. Surely their actions will be examined and eventually they will have to answer for making such a big mistake?
The second story indicates how desperate people are to be able to sleep. It is a well known fact that electro magnetic radiation causes severe sleep problems, I can vouch for this through my own experiences. It is another fact, that many people are filling there homes with microwave radiation from devices that emit this dangerous electrical pollution. Look at the costs to productivity and imagine the health costs. Surely Health Canada should have the decency to advise these poor people how they may get relief from their agony of sleeplessness by avoiding electro magnetic radiation.
The third story is self explanatory and shows how quickly and seriously electro magnetic fields can cause adverse health effects.
Martin Weatherall
weepinitiative.org/
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Protests Against Transformer Station Erupt in Guangdong Residential Area
A witness, Mr. Long, said, "Today, about 1,000 anti-riot police and construction workers come to Royal Ascot. Many residents gathered to see what would happen at 8:30 a.m. Some people became agitated, as the construction was being done without the consent of the residents. As a result, the police arrested 8 people, but later released one elderly person."
It is known that Royal Ascot Garden in Tianhe District, Guangzhou City is the largest garden-style community, and about 40,000 call it home. The local government decided to build a 1.1 million-volt high-voltage transformer station in the community in 2006. The residents did not welcome the idea.
According to the residents, the station is only 16 feet south of the Manhattan apartment building, less than 100 feet west of the Royal Ascot Middle School, 65 feet north of residential buildings, and 164 feet from the Royal Ascot Primary School. There are dozens of residential buildings, a middle school, a primary school, and three kindergartens within 0.3 mile of the station, and tens of thousands of people reside there.
To protect their health, the property owners banded together to protect their rights, and to boycot construction of the station. The group has appealed to different levels of government and hung banners, protesting the construction, throughout the community. Without consulting with the residents, the China Southern Power Grid started construction in the middle of the night on December 7, which angered the residents, who then drove away the construction vehicles.
On December 23, 2008, without an arrest warrant, the police of Tianhe District Public Safety Bureau arrested one property owner, Mr. Liang.
The reporter called the Tianhe District detention center to inquire about Mr. Liang’s condition. A policewoman said she did not know about the case.
On December 29, the authorities sent fire engines to enforce building of the station. Many property owners showed up. After a long standoff, the fire engines and police cars left.
“It is a residential area. Everyone is opposed to building the station. The electromagnetic radiation will cause cancer and lead to memory loss. It damages health. The most unscrupulous thing is that the station will be built less than 30 feet from residential buildings,” Long said, “They did not hold any hearings or meetings with us residents. No one knew about it. They simply decided to start construction. They even threatened to arrest us if we protested.”
Last UpdatedJan 1, 2009
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Quebec insomnia survey points to worrying national trend
"We were very surprised to see that so many people use alcohol as a way to promote sleep, particularly because it has more detrimental than beneficial effects on sleep," says Charles Morin, a professor of psychology at Laval University and one of the authors of the study, published this week in the journal Sleep.
Overall, eight per cent of the sample reported using alcohol as a sleep aid. Among people with insomnia, 28 per cent reported self-medicating with alcohol.
The study, one of the first in Canada to put numbers to the societal and economic burden of insomnia, estimates the total annual costs of the sleep disorder in Quebec alone is $6.5 billion.
"We know insomnia is a very prevalent problem, it has a very negative impact on people's quality of life," Mr. Morin said. "If we can show that it's 10 times more costly not to treat insomnia because of its impact on absenteeism from work and reduced productivity than it is to treat it, why aren't we treating it more often?"
Part of the problem is that so few people seek help. Mr. Morin says some people take sleeping pills, "but there are many more who self-medicate with over-the-counter products or, worse, with alcohol."
"Why do people do that? Is it because they're scared of using prescribed sleeping pills because of the stigma associated with it, or because they don't know there are other treatment options available?"
The research found the money spent on the use of booze as a sleep aid far exceeds costs associated with visits to doctors and the use of prescription pills and over-the-counter products from antihistamines to herbal teas.
"The idea that schnapps before your bedtime is good for your sleep might have been right about 100 years ago, as long as it was the occasional schnapps," said Dr. Adam Moscovitch, medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute and associate clinical professor at the University of Calgary.
"When you knock yourself out as a way of dealing with it, if you can't shut your mind off in any other way, then alcohol has a very negative effect on your sleep. It deprives you of any of the deep stages of sleep and, once it wears off, it has a rebound effect. So your problem becomes much worse."
Of the $6.5 billion estimated annual costs associated with insomnia in Quebec, the biggest indirect cost by far -- $5 billion -- was reduced productivity.
The highest direct cost -- $339.8 million -- was money spent on alcohol to help sleep. By comparison, an estimated $16.5 million was spent on prescription drugs, and $1.8 million for over-the-counter products.
The study involved Quebec only, but the researchers are doing a similar study throughout Canada. "I expect we will get pretty much the same results," Mr. Morin says.
The study, based on a random sample of 948 adults, distinguished between those people who drink at the end of the day, and those who use booze specifically to help them sleep, meaning they drink before bedtime or in the middle of the night.
The worrisome thing is that insomnia is becoming more common, sleep researchers say.
True insomnia is a significant sleep disturbance lasting for at least a month. People have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, waking too early or "waking up and feeling like you were run over by a truck," Dr. Moscovitch says.
According to the study, between six and 10 per cent of the population meets diagnostic criteria for "insomnia syndrome," and about a third show symptoms "at any given moment."
Canadians today live in a stressed society with multiple pressures balancing work and family responsibilities. "One of the things we cut corners on is our sleep," Dr. Moscovitch said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2009
Today, much to my relief, I am feeling at least 50% to 75% better
