Monday, April 12, 2010

A beautiful prison / Alarm over Wi Fi, Cell Phones / Seizures and migraines / Wind Farm EHS / Movie translation to French / Harpers Magazine article

W.E.E.P. News
Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News
13 April 2010


A beautiful prison

Dear Friends
Gunilla Ladberg PhD, has contacted me and asked me to circulate the English translation of her book on ES refugees in Sweden.
It is a compilation of tragic stories and has saddened me deeply although I am now even more motivated to help move the ES debate forward.  (The book is attached)
If you would like to post this book file on your web site please contact Gunilla and ask her permission.
best wishes
Sarah
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Dear Sarah Dacre!
As an experienced writer (some 20 books) and a member of the Swedish association Vågbrytaren (The breakwater, or literally The wave breaker), I have written a book (60 pages) based on interviews with electro hyper-sensitive people living out in the woods in Sweden.
The book has helped make people in Sweden understand the problem. It is just now being published in Germany by Burgenwelle.
My book has now also been translated into English under the title "A beautiful prison. Forced to flee from electricity and mobile radiation".
My question to you is: Could you help us spread it in the English speaking world?? (I have worked for free, so has the translator, no economic demands). 
Kindest regards
Gunilla Ladberg
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Activist Sounds Alarm over Wi Fi, Cell Phones
Devices called silent threat
Deborah Kopald of the Town of Highland, on a Route 9W overlook with a West Point cell tower in the background. She is convinced that the effects of all this electromagnetic radiation in our environment will have devastating consequences on our health.Times Herald-Record/DOMINICK FIORILLE
Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 04/12/10
Highlands — Ever wonder about the health effects of that cell phone tower, or about the effects of talking on your cell phone too long, or about all the BlackBerrys and laptops — and do we have to mention the new iPad? — at the local Starbucks?
Deborah Kopald does, and the activist wonders why we are not that concerned about the potential problems.
After all, a growing body of research on EMS, or electromagnetic sensitivity syndrome, suggests that the explosion in telecommunications devices might be creating historic levels of vulnerability to cancer.
"I compare it to cigarettes and asbestos," said Kopald, a Harvard- and MIT-educated former business consultant, about the health hazards.
Kopald's latest focus has been on the rapid growth of wireless technologies. Wi-Fi presents a new and possibly devastating level of electromagnetic field exposure because we are literally sitting in its stream 24 hours a day, Kopald said.
"Proximity is more a factor than total power outage when it comes to radiation," she said. "You're getting more if you're working all day close to a Wi-Fi node, while also working on a wireless device, than if you lived by a cell phone tower."
Awareness about Wi-Fi's dangers has reached a fever pitch in countries such as France, Germany and Austria, where governments, libraries and doctors have begun instituting bans and recommending warnings for wireless devices. But the United States has yet to begin such a public education campaign, possibly because of the strength of the telecommunication industry lobby, Kopald conjectured.
The connection between cancer and electromagnetic radiation has also yet to be documented, making the case for bans or warnings a hard sell at this point.
Kopald recently fought the use of Wi-Fi at her public library, and she hopes to take that battle to the broader public in the months and years ahead. She is making a documentary movie about the issue, as well as giving talks on the topic.
She will be interviewed Monday on WNYE radio (91.5 FM) from 12:30 to 1 p.m.
"Other countries have a taken a pre-emptive approach, so why shouldn't we give our children the same protection?" Kopald said. "Do we have to wait 10-15 years like cigarettes to absolutely, definitively prove that they are harmful?"
Kopald has helped write laws on cell phone towers and given talks to the state Senate on the potential health effects of prolonged cell phone use, but her latest campaign might be the most important of her life, she said. Kopald believes we are nearing a tipping point in exposure to electromagnetic radiation, and the technology pushing us there is increasingly showing up in our homes, businesses and schools.
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Alex Richards
A Cautionary Tale on Wireless from a Silicon Valley Exec 
I'm a technology exec in Silicon Valley and became hypersensitive to electromagnetic fields (EMF) in 2006. Since then I suffer head shocks, burning, rashes, sleep disturbances, memory loss, concentration issues, heart palpitations and more than 20 other symptoms from all forms of wireless technologies. A pain hits my head 5-15 seconds before a cell phone rings nearby. I can detect wireless networks by the sharp rodent-like biting across my scalp. I am affected by frequencies from electrical power-line fields and radio frequencies like cell phones and Wi-Fi. I can consistently detect the relative size of the wave by the pain sensation in my head. I've had two neuropsychological exams, both of which were normal. 
I've personally met more than two dozen people with the same symptoms: five PhD's, three attorneys, three media execs, five technology execs, two doctors, a pharmacist, several real estate execs, a handful of educators. Only two have ever had any previous psychological or emotional issues. In Sweden, the case is stronger. 285,000 (2.6% of the population) are registered with the Swedish government for this disability, which is called electric hypersensitivity (EHS). Britain finally recognized this disability in September 2006 and claims that about 3% of the UK population is affected. 
632 studies link 51 bioeffects to low-level, radio-frequency signals (www.marinproject.org). The BioInitiative Report (www.bioInitiative.org) released August 2007 by 14 international scientists, reviewed nearly 2000 studies and concluded a strong connection between electromagnetic fields and radio frequency (RF) signals to brain tumors, immune dysfunction, DNA damage, genetic aberrations, Leukemia, cancer, depression, suicide, ADD, Autism and Alzheimer's. Another website: www.wirelessStress.com connects everyday nagging symptoms like headaches, anxiety, sleep issues and joint pain, which we typically attribute to the stresses of modern-day lifestyles, to our increasingly wireless world. 
Since 1990, have you noticed how we can't we sleep, we're all ADD, our memory is gone, we're depressed and in we're in pain all of the time? Why? 
US rates of Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer's, Auto-immune disease, neurological disorders and cancer have exploded by 2-5x since 1980, as ambient EMF has risen 11,000%. According to a landmark article by TIME Magazine in 2004, all are associated with 'inflammation." But what is causing all this inflammation? At least 10 studies connect inflammation to low levels of EMF. 
In 1990 the EPA recommended that EMF be classified a Class B-1 Probable Carcinogen. The Bush I administration cried foul and quashed the 400 page study. Thought the study, "An Evaluation of the Potential Carcinogenicity of Electromagnetic Fields," was never released to the general public, an amended version is still available on the EPA website.
Today, 4:24:57 PM
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Deborah,  
Thanks so much for helping us maintain a high profile for this enormous public health threat. Specifically, why doesn't the US follow the general European protocol on safety, that public agencies follow the precautionary principle and put the burden of proof on industry? The US already used lead paint for 50 YEARS longer than any country in Europe, at a cost of probably an additional trillion dollars in public health impact and remediation, we ignored the dangers of asbestos for at least 30 years and tobacco for 50 years, and we still have only tested 20% of 80,000 synthetic chemicals. 
The Los Angeles School District, which already has passed their own restrictions on the siting of cell towers, applied the precautionary principle to the use of chemicals on campus some years ago, obligating industry to establish the safety of their products. Subsequently, when industry was unable to prove that most of their products were safe, the school district reduced the number of chemicals used on campus from about 33 to just 3. 
For those who continue to deny the hazards of electromagnetic radiation, all they need to do is to study the high rates of cancer among electrical workers. There are a few frequencies that can be healing to the body, but most are clearly hazardous. The public also must be reminded constantly in every debate that the FDA/FCC standard for EMF exposure is an engineering standard established by the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, and the health standards recommended by the EPA, after some 20 years of excellent research, have never been adopted and are now still completely ignored. 
Thanks,  
John McPhee  
Santa Fe Alliance for Public Health and Safety
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Will I have permanent seizures and migraines?

I had an AVM removed from the Occipital lobe at age 23. I am 28. for 5 years every doctor in the area has tried to change my meds, combine meds, remove meds and nothing has happened but more seizures.
I go blind once a month and either go into seizures or have a flashy arc and migraine. Sometimes 2x a month.
No Neurologist, Neuro-opthamalagist, Neurosurgeon or Doctor can tell me why I still have seizures. I have had well over 10 MRIs and 20 CT scans, all the workup you can imagine. I am taking 3 thousand mg a day of Keppra and just had another ocular migraine.
Can anyone else share w.me?
A – yes a community of thousands of people across the world instead of 4 doctors scratching their heads, what was I thinking?
Karma- hope you never stroke out.
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1 comment -  Posted by - April 11, 2010 at 8:19 pm
One Response to "Will I have permanent seizures and migraines?"
  1. ipleadlyme says:
    Seizures have been linked to exposure to electromagnetic fields from things like long-tube fluorescent lights. They've known this for ages.
    But now we have energy saving light bulbs, cell phones, cordless phones, cell phone and wi-fi towers and antennas on every corner, especially within the last decade. ALL of these produce electromagnetic and microwave radiation 24/7, especially the towers and antennas, and few doctors in the US are aware of the health hazards associated with these exposures – which is probably why your doctors are scratching their heads.
    The new 3G mobile phone technology is causing problems for lots of people – also, wi-fi signals – but our government is doing nothing. Show your doctors these…
    Fluorescent Light Bulbs Linked with Eczema, Seizures, Migraines, Skin Rashes:
    http://www.naturalnews.com/023810.html
    History of Cellular Mobile Communications (see graph):
    http://www.mobilemastinfo.com/information/history.htm
    Attitudes to the Health Dangers of Non-Thermal EMFs:
    http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20080117_bevington_emfs.pdf
    Electro Hypersensitivity – Talking to Your Doctor:
    http://weepinitiative.org/talkingtoyourdoctor.pdf
    German Doctors Unite on RF Health Effects:
    http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20050722_bamberg.asp
    Check for towers and antennas here:
    http://www.antennasearch.com
    And not to scare you, but don't use a cell phone or cordless phone, or even a wi-fi router. That collection of blood vessels could be a precursor to something much worse. My ex had a brain tumor removed in 2007 – he was a heavy cell phone user. I was using a cordless phone and living near several towers and antennas when I started having problems.
    Cordless Phones and Malignant Brain Tumors:
    http://www.i-sis.org.uk/cordlessPhonesBrainTumours.php
    Broadband – A Public Health Hazard:
    http://wavr.org/petition/ToObama.php
    They sell special meters/electrosmog detectors though to measure your exposures. I'll bet if you measured your exposures, you'd find that your seizures and migraines weren't that random after all. I'm so sensitive to this radiation now that I react to electromagnetic and solar storms.
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    Crowd hears about several key topics of concern at turbine meeting

    April 1, 2010
    Matt Harris
    http://www.wellingtonnorth.com/news/article/87637
    When compared to the previous public meetings on the topic of the proposed Belwood Wind Farm, the meeting hosted at CWDHS on Thursday, March 25, was as much a tea party as it was anything else.
    Minus the angry, shouting crowds from earlier this month, an audience of close to 600 people filled the cafeteria at the Fergus high school to hear three speakers talking about their personal experiences with the effects of wind turbines.
    Hosted by the Oppose Belwood Wind Farm (OBWF) action group, the evening's agenda heard Carmen Krogh, David Colling and Nicholas Schaut speak about how their lives have been changed because of wind turbine projects. Krogh, a retired pharmacist and a member of the board of directors for the Society for Wind Vigilance, said the effects from projects like these have been known for years now but are met with constant denials.
    "We've known about the adverse health affects since 2007, but we've been met with nothing but ongoing denials by the companies who build these turbines," she said. "When I did some research into this topic, I came across some advertising language that was very similar to how tobacco used to be marketed. In each case, it said there had been no links between their products and someone's health."
    Krogh went on to point out that Japan is the only country so far to commission a study into the low-frequency noise created by wind turbines, and she openly questioned why project approvals were still being green-lighted when there is still so much that is unknown about the long-term effects.
    "This is particularly disturbing when you realize that the Ontario government admits they have no method of measurement for the noise these turbines are creating," she said.
    Colling, a Ripley-area farmer with a background in electrical engineering, has seen a number of families impacted by the turbine farms in that area - some of whom have been forced to relocate due to health concerns. He didn't mince words when it came to the long-term results of continued development of farms like this.
    "I think our grandchildren will be the ones that pay dearly for this," he said. "This will break our province if (the government) doesn't smarten up."
    Having studied stray voltage - or what he likes to call 'electrical pollution' – Colling has documented a number of cases already where residents in close proximity to a turbine suffer from electro-hyper-sensitivity (EHS), and in cases where a residence has too much electrical pollution, the home becomes similar to a tuning fork and therefor unlivable.
    "There are three million people in Toronto, but you don't see them building too many more of these things down there - the government just doesn't care about rural Ontario," he said.     Schaut's talk focused on his family's ordeal in living close to the second phase of the turbine project near Shelburne. After three years of living within one kilometre of a turbine, Schaut and his family were able to move away -- and he believes they were lucky to do so.
    "We were on the south-east corner of that project ... and the closest one was 850 metres away," he said. "My family lived there for three years -- we were there before they were built. Aside from working outside and feeling the affects, it got to us in our home. The east side of our old house was away from the array, and our bedrooms were over there. It got to the point where things were so loud and distracting, we were driven to our basement to hide from the noise."
    Schaut said they were lucky enough to sell off their property and move to the Meaford area, but he still believes the actions of the provincial government have opened the door to tear the rural fabric of this province apart.
    "What does a community have to do to develop the ability to challenge projects like this - it's pitting neighbours against each other, and people have to live with these turbines and the long-term effects."
    One of the OBWF meeting organizers, James Virgin, said he was pleased with the turn-out, saying it showed there is a deep and genuine concern on the part of the entire community - not just people living in the vicinity of the proposed project.
    "There are more questions that have to be asked beyond the ones that were posed tonight," he said. "And we have to remember that in some cases, land owners who have agreed to have turbines on their land are victims as well. We're only just finding out the consequences now of what can happen -- in Shelburne, we're talking about smaller turbines than the ones proposed for Belwood. But we can't lose sight of the fact that we're bound to each other in many ways and we have to live with one another."
    Virgin said his group is aware of some landowners who have signed contracts and are leaning towards trying to get out of them - and to that end, continued awareness is the key.
    "We have to continue to educate ourselves, inform politicians of our point of view, and make sure we're heard," he said.
    Another member of OBWF and one of the meeting's co-organizers, Laura Humphrey, pointed out there are separate proposals for Grand Valley, Arthur and Mapleton Township, and that it was critical for residents not to just let things happen.
    "Communities like these are just guinea pigs under the Green Energy Act," she said.
    Humphrey also pointed out that Invenergy, the company behind the proposed Belwood Wind Farm, was not formally invited to the meeting at CWDHS but were not denied the chance to attend, either.
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    Hi Martin,
    Talal Jabari, Director of the Full Signal movie is looking for one (or possibly two) French speaking people to volunteer to translate the script for the movie (www.fullsignalmovie.com). Talal requested that the translation be done in International French, that is the dialect spoken in France.
    His email is:
    Thanks,
    Carl
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  2. For whom the cell tolls:

    Why your phone may (or may not) be killing you

    By Nathaniel Rich
    http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/0082932
Hi All
There is another major article on cell phones in another major publication - Harpers Magazine, May edition. 
Unfortunately you need a subscription to view the online version, so I do not have a copy and have not read the story.
Martin
Web site www.weepinitiative.org    e-mail contactweep@weepinitiative.org
To sign up for WEEP News: newssignup@weepinitiative.org  (provide name and e-mail address)
W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution
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