Listen to Dr. Rau Interview.
http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/medical-director-of-switzerland/
Thomas M. Rau, MD, Medical Director of the Paracelsus Clinic
February 10th, 2009. Dr. Thomas Rau, Medical Director of the world renowned Paracelsus Clinic in Lustmühle, Switzerland says he is convinced 'electromagnetic loads' lead to cancer, concentration problems, ADD, tinnitus, migraines, insomnia, arrhythmia, Parkinson's and even back pain. At Paracelsus (www.paracelsus.ch), cancer patients are now routinely educated in electromagnetic field remediation strategies and inspectors from the Geopathological Institute of Switzerland are sent to patients' homes to assess electromagnetic field exposures.
Of note, Dr. Rau says a strategy to consider for those experiencing 'electrical sensitivity' symptoms is to remove the electromagnetic 'hot spot' in the head created by the presence of metal fillings. Concern is thus not only for the 'neurotoxic' aspect of mercury in fillings, an increasingly understood hazard, but because fillings themselves act as antennas in the presence of electromagnetic fields from cell phones and cell towers, wi-fi networks, portable phones, and other sources of radiofrequency radiation.
Rau says the removal of dental fillings can be an important early step in reducing electrical sensitivity, allowing some people to live in homes they otherwise could not tolerate.
Cultures have shown beneficial bacteria grows more slowly in the presence of electromagnetic fields, says Rau, allowing pathological organisms to dominate. Thus, a strategy with electrically sensitive patients, or with those facing chronic conditions, is the aggressive supplementation with probiotics and other Biological Medicine approaches to balance intestinal flora. Many people with chronic infections likely linked to EMF exposures, such as Lyme Disease, are symptom- free after an aggressive microorganism rebalancing program.
Electrical sensitivity—originally known as radio wave sickness—is a sometimes debilitating experience created by these and other disregulating effects of electromagnetic fields. Linked to many acute and chronic illness conditions, electrical sensitivity is a serious emerging public health issue globally and a subject in which most doctors have no training.
A Petition to Congress, created by www.ElectromagneticHealth.org is now circulating on the internet, requesting Congress
1) mandate the FCC lower exposure guidelines to reflect the large body of science showing biological effects at exposures much lower than current standards,
2) repeal Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which rescinded state and local governments right to resist towers on health or environmental grounds,
3) stop the roll out of the Wi-Max network until Congress better understands the potential health consequences, and
4) accommodate citizens unable to function adequately in high EMF environments, including forbidding cell towers on school properties.
Exposing children in schools to radiation, known to impair brain function and learning, Rau describes as "criminal". He says, "It is unethical to expose children to electromagnetic load in this way. We know that power stations for electromagnetic waves like mobile phones are hurting the brains of children, so to put such stations into schools is really…very, very, very bad. Rau says, the question is, "Does the school, or does the society, really want to have intelligent, well-educated children, or not?" He says, "If you install mobile phone towers, which radiate to the children, their intelligence, their brain capacity, decreases. You will have more ADD children, you will have less function of the brain, which in the long term reflects on the intelligence of the children, of the possibility to really teach children, and in the long term, the more this overcomes society, the more we will have dumb children."
The reality of the health consequences of electromagnetic radiation eventually will have to be faced, and this will only happen with active pressure on Congress. It is estimated that 3-8% of populations in developed countries experience serious electrohypersensitivity symptoms today, and 35% experience mild symptoms. With increasing electromagnetic field exposures, these numbers, along with the suffering involved for people who are impacted, and the health care costs involved, are bound to go up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Letter to the Canadian Minister of Health
I sent the following letter to our Canadian Minister of Health at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/home-accueil/contact/minist-eng.php If you also wish to voice your specific concerns, it is easy submit your letter.
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, P.C.,
Postal Locator: 0906C
Dear Minister,
Since I first became aware of EMF/RF exposure as a health and safety concern 3 1/2 years ago, the controversy surrounding this subject has increased (not decreased!) to the extent that in 2008 eleven Canadian citizens groups have petitioned our Canadian Government for answers! We must consider the total toxic load our bodies are relentlessly exposed to 24/7 ... are there any safe zones left that are 'EMF/RF FREE' and if there are, how do we even know where they are unless we have the sophisticated (and expensive) equipment needed to detect ambient environmental levels of radiation? Is it not disquieting to realize – unbeknownst to you - that the place where you work, learn and live may be exposing you to constant low levels of radiation that cumulatively may be the cause of your future ill health?
It is time to consider mandatory monitoring of EMF/RF in work and school environments where people (especially children) are forced to spend extended periods of time in terms of risk assessment and establishing safe limits of radiation exposure. We cannot blindly continue to indiscriminately add new technologies such as WiFi and WiMax (which emit as much or more RF than cell phones) to our workplaces, schools and homes without first determining the margin of safety within any given environment. To continue to blatantly ignore low level environmental RF radiation as a plausible causative factor for disease and ill health would be irresponsible in view of mounting scientific evidence to the contrary, especially when other countries are already taking steps to protect their children from RF by removing WiFi from kindergartens/schools in favour of cables and discouraging cell phone use for their young.
How is the Government of Canada going to address the possible long term effects of low level RF radiation on the health of all Canadians, but most importantly what steps will you take to ensure that there are healthy environments free of RF for our children to learn and grow in?
Below are several current articles for your information.
Best Regards,
Janice
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/09/8317056-sun.html
Wednesday February 11, 2009
The potential health risks of cellphone towers and fluoride in the drinking water were the top environmental concerns of people who petitioned the government last year.
Worries ranged from the amount of road salt used at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Cypress Bowl venue to the disposal of fluorescent light bulbs.
But the top concern, and subject of 11 petitions, was the health effects of electromagnetic radiation from cellphone towers. People say the towers were installed too close to their homes and question the science that says they pose no risk to health.
120 DAYS TO RESPOND Some of the petitions are from groups and others are from individuals. Once a minister's office receives a petition it has 120 days to respond.
In his first report, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development Scott Vaughan said 86% of responses made the 120-day deadline -- down from 95% the year before. The report also said petitions received by government jumped by 24% in 2007-08 to 56.
The second biggest issue was the impact fluoride has on human health, fish stocks and the surrounding environment. Seven petitions were filed on this issue although one woman living in
RADIOACTIVITY Residents of Port Hope in
"Government has continually weakened what few regulations there are regarding the impacts of industry on human health and folks are getting wise," said NDP natural resources critic Nathan Cullen. "They are using this petition process to try to get some answers". | ||||
Chronic Low Back Pain Is on the Rise
http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Chronic-Low-Back-Pain-Is-on-the-Rise-36261-1/
Doubling of rate in North Carolina may mimic rest of nation,
TUESDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) -- A North Carolina study finds that the rate of chronic low back pain has more than doubled in that state since the early 1990s -- a statistic the authors say might reflect what's happening in the country as a whole.
"We were actually surprised by what we found," said Dr. Timothy S. Carey, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and the study's lead author.
He said his team knew that expenditures for medical services aimed at easing back pain have increased over the years. One theory for that rise has been that back pain sufferers are simply seeking more services.
But the researchers found another cause.
"A major reason for the increase in cost for back pain is not just that people are seeking a lot of care, but that there is a lot of back pain out there," Carey said. "We may need to rethink our way of dealing with this problem."
According to the study, 3.9 percent of North Carolina residents surveyed in 1992 said that they had debilitating, chronic back pain. That number rose to 10.2 percent by 2006, the researchers said.
Among people reporting ongoing, serious low back pain in 1992, about 73 percent said they had seen a physician, physical therapist or chiropractor at least once during the past year. In 2006, 84 percent said they had done so. However, the average number of health care visits remained the same, at just 19 a year.
The fraction of people with back pain who had ever had back surgery increased only slightly, from 22.3 percent in 1992 to 24.8 percent in 2006.
The findings were published in the Feb. 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
The methodology of the study didn't enable researchers to ascertain the reasons for the increase in chronic lower back problems, but there are several possibilities, Carey said. One is the increase in obesity. Another is an increase in the prevalence of depression, which has been linked to back pain. Carey said that it's unclear whether back pain causes depression or whether people with pre-existing depression are more likely to develop depression.
What is clear is that chronic lower back problems remain a major public health problem.
"While no one dies from mechanical back pain, it is one of the most common reasons for work disability," Carey noted. The bill for lost productivity and back-related health care totals about $100 billion a year, he added. "In one sense, we're all paying for back pain. It ends up being reflected in our health insurance premiums and our Social Security disability costs," he said.
Carey said there appears to be a national trend toward increasing numbers of people with chronic lower back pain that causes impairment. The National Health Interview Survey showed that lower back pain and neck pain increased from 3.2 percent of the population in 1997 to 8.3 percent in 2006.
"There's not reason to believe that the population of North Carolina is that different from the rest of the U.S.," Carey said. "We have an ethnically diverse population and an age spectrum similar to the rest of the country." Because most chronic diseases tend to occur at a slightly higher rate in the southeastern U.S., he said, "it is slightly possible that the percentage [of chronic lower back pain] might be somewhat higher in the southeast, but I think the most important issue is this increase over time."
The findings also raise questions as to the effectiveness of current back pain treatments, Carey said. For example, another recent study he participated in showed that exercise remains underutilized as a means of treating chronic back and neck pain, though numerous studies show it can be effective.
Brook Martin, a University of Washington health services researcher who specializes in study ing spinal services, agreed that a doubling of chronic back pain over 14 years raises serious issues about current treatment approaches.
"It makes us have to think about how to approach back pain," Martin said. "Chronic care models and clinical protocols and guidelines are not really the standard in treating back pain. This kind of highlights that this might be a real need."
More information
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has more on back pain.
SOURCES: Timothy S. Carey, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and director, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Brook Martin, M.P.H., health services researcher, Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle; Feb. 9, 2009, Archives of Internal Medicine.
------------------------------------------------------------ W.E.E.P. note: One possible cause does not appear to have been considered by the researchers - Electro Magnetic Radiation(EMR) and its many adverse health effects. We already know that depression is caused by EMR and the study notes the link between depression and back pain. We also know how EMR causes severe sleep problems and can cause people to have arthritis type symptoms. In addition we know that EMR exposure has increased drastically during the time that chronic back pain has doubled.
EMR must be considered as a contributing factor to chronic back pain.
Martin Weatherall
