W.E.E.P. News
Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News
28 June 2010
Why are there so many complaints of vertigo from those living near cell phone ...
By AnneHart
Sacramento has at least two cell phone towers in the works, one soon going up, if approved, on Watt Avenue near Marconi Ave, on top of the AT&T ...
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Radiation danger from Radon Gas
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Radon+invisible+deadly/3204991/story.html
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/basement+misleading+myth/3204992/story.html
Andre Fauteux, Publisher/Editor
La Maison du 21e siecle magazine
info@21esiecle.qc.ca
www.21esiecle.qc.ca
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From my Archives Robert Riedlinger
By Marjean Curtis
Article courtesy of AlterNet
November 1998
On Christmas Eve of 1996, Larry Stankavich and his wife, Susan, looked out the dining room window of their Duanesburg, New York home. Rising in the southwest, just barely visible above the 50-foot pines that border their property, was a large network of crisscrossing steel beams. The emerging monolith looked dreadfully out of place in the rural hills of Duanesburg. It would take Larry and Susan close to a month to discover that this unexpected gift had come from Cellular One of Albany, New York. Even the town supervisor claimed to know nothing about it. On December 31st, before it was even completed, the tower was fitted with a microwave dish and activated to carry analog cellular phone signals. This enormous steeple of sorts would then rise another 75 feet until it reached its full stature of 250 feet in February of 1997. And it was later that month that the 15 households within 1400 feet of the tower began to suspect that Cellular One had done more than run roughshod over the aesthetics of their bucolic neighborhood.
First Larry noticed pressure in his head. Not prone to headaches, he suddenly began experiencing a regular and intense pain that started at the base of his skull and spread from ear to ear. He noticed a grittiness in his eyes every time he washed his face. At first he didn't suspect that the radiation beaming toward his home might have something to do with his sudden and unusual complaints. When Susan started having the same strange headaches, they didn't know what to think. Then one evening Susan, who was well past menopause, had a hot flash to beat all hot flashes. Her face flushed red, started tingling, and felt like it was on fire. Susan ran to Larry who was in the kitchen. They looked at each other dumbfounded and horrified. Larry's face too was crimson and so hot that it hurt. Something was very wrong.
Initial doctor's visits turned up nothing out of the ordinary. However, Larry began noticing that he felt better whenever he left the house to manage the fencing business that he started in 1972. Susan, however, who did clerical work for the business from home, was experiencing no relief. New complaints began to surface. They both started having trouble sleeping, and Susan's usually normal blood pressure began to soar. At 3 a.m. on February 16, her blood pressure rose to 190/110 and was accompanied by frightening heart palpitations. Larry drove Susan far from the tower until her blood pressure returned to normal around 6 in the morning. Susan and Larry felt awful, and by this time they suspected that the Cellular One installation might be to blame. A meeting with neighbors living within the shadow of the giant tower substantiated their suspicion -- many of them were suffering with the same symptoms.
Twenty-one months later, it's even worse. The Stankaviches and their neighbors complain of hearing high-pitched sounds that are always followed by waves of extreme nausea. Fatigue and dizziness have become a matter of course, and now, hearing loss and joint pain, especially in the knees, are plaguing many residents. The Stankaviches can no longer use the top story of their home where their symptoms become more pronounced. Some neighbors have actually moved into their cellars. Two homes have already been sold at a loss, and one more is on the market. The Stankaviches, however, are determined not to be driven out. Larry built their home 27 years ago and says they can never replace it. They're going to fight. But so far, it looks like a losing battle -- one in which they're losing their health, peace of mind, and their entire savings of $20,000.
While stories like the Stankaviches' seem extreme now, they could become more and more common as the number of towers and antennae increase. And increase they will. The industry estimates that there are 75,000 towers currently in place and by the year 2000, there will need to be 100,000 for a full build-out. That's a conservative estimate, since PCS (personal communication systems) towers need to be placed much closer than the old analog towers. A full build-out of the PCS system, with six carriers each, would put 100,000 new towers in California alone.
This massive buildup may give the population at large the freedom of wireless devices and eye-popping digital TV, but there will be more of us at ground zero who will pay the price of the swift and, some say, careless deployment of towers and antennae. To put the brakes on this rampant proliferation, citizen groups are forming across the country to fight or redirect installations as they affect their neighborhoods. Two of the loudest battles are raging in Golden, Colorado and San Francisco, California where citizens are fighting the addition of digital TV antennae to existing structures.
While health effects drive the discontent of the vast majority of these coalitions, many are mute about health issues when going into public hearings. In Golden, Colorado, unrestricted development of three antenna farms on Lookout Mountain has created what activists call "the most intense and complex electromagnetic environment in a residential area in the nation." The onus was on citizens to have electromagnetic readings taken that would prove there were indeed many hot spots that exceeded the FCC's safety limit. The FCC is now investigating. In San Francisco, activists are calling for not just a static, but a dynamic analysis of Sutro Tower before digital TV tower is added to the structure. The 1,000 foot tower, which sits right in the middle of a residential area, might endanger 270 homes in the event of an earthquake.
The Stankaviches and their neighbors are having their physicians carefully document their myriad medical problems, but their lawsuits, first against the town of Duanesburg, and now against Cellular One have been on zoning violations. Why? Because the tower's emissions were still lower than the FCC's permissible limit and therefore deemed safe.
Libby Kelley, a former analyst with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C., now executive director of the Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about the Federal Communications Commission's Radio Frequency Health and Safety Rules (AHA), says that the agency's radio frequency rules stipulate that objections to placement of telecommunication facilities can be based only on certain planning and zoning rules, including aesthetics. What they don't permit is opposition based on health and safety concerns. "The provision in the rules stating that wireless facilities are 'deemed individually and cumulatively to have no significant impact on the quality of the human environment,' is just not based on fact," says Kelley. "How could the FCC know this; they never conducted an environmental assesment in accordance with the Environmental Policy Act." While acting as an information clearinghouse for groups fighting local battles, the AHA is involved in an even bigger battle of their own. They're going head-to-head with the FCC itself
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Testimonial of Dalana MCaren 22 Jan 2000
In September of 98, I moved into a 21 -storey government subsidized building for seniors. The apartment that was my placement is on the 20th floor.
I emmediately began experiencing symptoms of a dizzy-off –balanced feeling, headaches which were constant, sever insomnia, profuse nosebleeds, sweating and a feeling like I was cooking, I was't able to concentrate,I would often find myself throuhout the day feeling "out-of-it"not remembering . I felt drained out and more than half dead.I had anxiety attacks and breathlessness,felt agitated,restless and my joints hurt and my eyes were sore.
I would awaken most often around 3 AM very suddenly feeling "cooked"anxious and like I had to go out. My chest felt pressured and I would either lay there untill morning with all these things going on , or often I just get up and walk the steets where I would feel refreshed,calm and clear headed.
At first I put it down to stess from a difficult year with a major move .But ,in November of 98 ,my sister and her husband sent me a plane ticket to visit them for a month in Toronto area,I felt good there ...slept wonderfully,had lots of energy,was clear headed,focussed ,no memory problems and felt normal, tranquil and very cheerful.
I returned in December and immediately the nosebleeds and all the symptoms returned.I continued suffering the above symptoms (plus many other ones) until I went away fot 6 weeks in the summer to Vancouver Island to visit my father.Again I felt normal with lots of energy and focus inspite of it being a stessful time with my father being ill and in hospital.
I returned and again -all the symptoms.By this time I had become aware of the effects of microwave towers and telecomunications instalations through a magazine artical and also through talking to a repairman from the cable(TV) provider.He had come because I was having a lot of interference with my TV.
I then began to pay attention to the fact that on the next floor but one-on the roof top of the building I am in, there are at least 25 telecomunications towers, transmitters microwave transmitters and the top of the building looks like a porcupine!
I myself was becoming increasingly more distressed now with occasional bouts of rage, feeling at times like I was going crazy and had lost control of my brain. I was having daily bouts of crying for no apparent reason and yet as soon as I would leave the apartment,I feel fine.
Then again this past 3 months I went away twice.Once for a month back east again and the last time from 10th Dec. 99 to the 06 Jan.2000 . Upon returning on the 06 Jan. ,within moments of being on the upper 20th floor I felt dizzy-off- balance feeling and within 12 hrs I have suffered 2 profuse nose bleeds and couldn't sleep at all.
It is my opinion and experience that since Christmas the frequency of use of these transmitters has increased . It feels like like the walls are buzzing and I have had very little sleep. I am having to walk the streets at night and visit other people's homes during the day in order to write letters or do anything that requires concentration.
Last week, I had 2 visitors on separate days. Both within a minute or so of being in my apartment said they felt blocked in their heads,began experiencing headahes that "dead feeling". They mentioned they felt agitated and restless and could hear the buzzing ,high pitch vibration and had to leave before a half hour was up. I certainly confirmed that wasn't "just me" Both telephoned me later and said that within 5 minutes of leaving they felt back to normal.
I would also like to note that my plants are becoming shrivelled looking and are not growing well. I happened to have a green thumb .
For example , I think we are all familiar with Poinsettia's and that their leaves are largish. Well mine are all tiny-only about one half inch to one inch in length and they sort of keep their leaves pointing downward,not out.
I am truly exhausted of this. I only hope that first of all I can find another place to live that is affordable because I am on a disability pension hence being in government housing-secondly that I can even" get-it-together"enough to pack up and move.
I hope my story helps in some way.
PS: I am a retired school teacher ,a massage therapist and an exceptional artist. I haven't been able to do any art since I moved in to this place.
Yours Truly Dalana MCaren
written permision from Dalana to publish this story.
Regards Robert Riedlinger
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29 March 1998
History of health problems related to Cellular telephone use.
For the past two years I have suffered from what doctors call "Severe Pulsatile Tinnitus" centred in the right side of the head and ear, I have had many tests and two major exploratory surgical procedures in an attempt to pinpoint and rectify the problem, the offending noise can be heard externally by my specialists. ( this will indicate the magnitude of what I am constantly hearing and enduring as obviously the noise sounds extremely loud to me internally) The group of specialists I am consulting say they do not know what has caused the problem, nor are they able to offer any solution as I seem to be their only patient so far, that has presented with this particular illness in such severity.
My Mobile Phone use preceding this problem was massive, six years of extremely heavy use, seven days a week (Only using my right ear). I am sure that the radiation from the Cellular telephone has effected the nerve and blood vessel structure in some way, causing me to be able to hear arterial noise near the inner ear. The relentless noise in the right side of my head is creating other debilitating symptoms and problems such as constant severe headaches, short term memory lose, inability to concentrate, unable to deal with even the smallest stress situations, insomnia to the point that if medication is not taken proper sleep is impossible. A major depressive disorder also manifested itself due to the above but with the help of medication I am able to at least control this particular related problem.
Because of the effects suffered I have been unable to work since October 1996 and at this point I am no closer to finding a cure than when the problem first arose in March the same year.
Needless to say that on the rare occasion I use Cellular phones I no longer place the handset near my head,(hands free is used) this does remove the feeling of heat and pressure and the sensation of feeling as though your head is in a microwave oven while using a Cellular phone.
Attached is a summary of Tests and Surgical Procedures performed over the past two years in unsuccessful attempts to pinpoint the exact location of the problem and to rectify same.
Jonathan White,
Brisbane,
AUSTRALIA. e-mail jgwhite@bigpond.com
Web site www.weepinitiative.org e-mail contactweep@weepinitiative.org
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