W.E.E.P. News
Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News
16 August 2010
Yesterday I gave a link for Cindy Sage's interview about the Bio Initiative Report, I have since found that the information had been taken from the original site and used for commercial purposes. This is the correct link, which I highly recommend.
Watch the video at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tZDor-_co0
Zory's Archive
August 16, 2010. Pick of the Week #6: Clinical & Hygienic Aspects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields.
Christopher Dodge, affiliated with the Library of Congress, wrote the first comprehensive review of the world (especially the Soviet and Eastern European) literature on the biological effects of microwaves in 1964. The current document was written 5 years later during which time the author was with the Biosciences Division, U.S. Naval Observatory, in Washington, D.C. This document concentrates on human clinical studies and occupational hygiene surveys of microwave exposure and is well worth reading.
What is clear is that by the late 1960 the Soviet and Eastern European scientists had conducted numerous studies on the effects of microwave radiation on humans, that biological and health effects were documented for a range of frequencies at non-thermal levels, and that this information was available to the U.S. military. Why this science was not taken more seriously, why guidelines were not influenced by this research, and why we are still debating thermal vs non-thermal effects is a mystery that I leave for historians and philosophers to debate.
To read more and to download this document visit www.magdahavas.com
Dr Magda Havas
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Barrie area parents demand schools ditch wireless Internet
August 15, 2010
Keith Leslie
THE CANADIAN PRESS
A group of Barrie-area parents is demanding their children's schools turn off wireless Internet before they head back to school next month, fearing the technology is making the kids sick.
The parents say their children are showing a host of symptoms ranging from headaches and dizziness to nausea and even racing heart rates.
They believe the Wi-Fi setup in their kids' elementary schools may be the problem.
The parents complain they can't get the Simcoe County school board or anyone else to take their concerns seriously, even though the children's symptoms all disappear on weekends when they aren't in school.
"Parents are getting together and realizing this is the pattern," said Rodney Palmer of the Simcoe County Safe School Committee. "We went to the school board and they did nothing."
The symptoms, which also include memory loss, trouble concentrating, skin rashes, hyperactivity, night sweats and insomnia, have been reported in 14 Ontario schools in Barrie, Bradford, Collingwood, Orillia and Wasaga Beach since the board decided to go wireless, said Palmer.
"These kids are getting sick at school but not at home," he said. "I'm not saying it's because of the Wi-Fi because we don't know yet, but I've pretty much eliminated every other possible source."
The Simcoe County school board could not be reached for comment Friday as their offices were closed.
The group offered to pay for wired connections if the board would switch off the Wi-Fi, Palmer said.
"They didn't even say no. They ignored it and ... reaffirmed their position supporting Wi-Fi," he said. "They are culpable and ... they have the gall to go on the record and say they haven't had any doctors' notes. Well, what doctor has been schooled about the rate of microwave infections?"
Susan Clarke, a former research consultant to the Harvard School of Public Health, said Wi-Fi technology alters fundamental physiological functioning and can cause neurological and cardiac symptoms.
"We have statistics that show that children, especially young children, are going to absorb much more radiation than older children and adults because of their thinner skulls and because the size of their brains more closely approximates the size of the wave length being deployed," said Clarke.
Wireless technology also wastes energy, is less secure than wired connections, could be violating students' right to a safe environment and should be turned off in schools, she said.
"The simple solution is plug back in the wired, ported system that's already there and unplug the wireless," she said. "It's real easy and it costs nothing. In fact, it will save money."
Prof. Magda Havas of Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., who does research on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation, issued an open letter to parents and boards saying she is "increasingly concerned" about Wi-Fi and cellphone use at schools.
Claims by Health Canada that Wi-Fi is safe provided exposures to radiation are below federal guidelines is "outdated and incorrect" based on the growing number of scientific publications reporting adverse health and biological effects, wrote Havas.
"It is irresponsible to introduce Wi-Fi microwave radiation into a school environment where young children and school employees spend hours each day."
The Ontario Ministry of Education said it had heard from the parents in Simcoe County, and had a complaint passed along from a Peterborough family worried about Wi-Fi in schools, but said it was up to local school boards to deal with the issue.
"The boards, the principals and the teachers should work together to address those concerns," said ministry spokeswoman Erin Moroz.
The provincial New Democrats said they too had been hearing from parents worried about the effects of wireless technology on children and called on the chief medical officer of health to investigate.
"Within a few months of Wi-Fi being installed, stories start coming forward with kids complaining about headaches, neurological effects, loss of balance and problems with fine motor skills," said NDP health critic France Gelinas. "There is enough anecdotal evidence from parents that this is worth looking into."
Palmer plans to find alternate schools or even home school his two children this fall if the board doesn't agree to turn off the Wi-Fi, and said other parents will likely follow suit if the symptoms return.
"If they're going to continue to endanger the health of children, I can predict that many of the parents who are now writing us saying their kids have been fine all summer are going to have a change of heart about the third week of September when their kids are coming home from school with these problems, particularly the ones that are passing out and falling down, hitting their head on the gym floor," he said.
While parents worry about younger children, concerns about the health effects of wireless technology prompted Lakehead University to virtually ban Wi-Fi from its campuses in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Orillia, Ont.
"There will be no Wi-Fi connectivity provided in those areas of the university already served by hard wire connectivity until such time as the potential health effects have been scientifically rebutted or there are adequate protective measures that can be taken," states Lakehead's policy on Wi-Fi and cellular antennae.
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WiFi in the schools
... health problems ... parents fear their kids are getting sick ... and so on.
Reported at 4:23 a.m. on CFRB Radio:
http://www.newstalk1010.com/news/565/1188348
Radio 640 was reporting on this story:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/08/15/Canadian-parents-say-WiFi-made-kids-sick/UPI-78331281916640/
This one is better:
http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2010/08/15/Wi-Fi-Kids-Health/
Toronto Sun Aug 11:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/08/11/14992051.html
Marilyn
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Blame Wi-Fi: Canadian Parents Claim Wireless Networks Harm Children
... health effects have been scientifically rebutted or there are adequate protective measures that can be taken," reads the University's official Wi-Fi and ...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367826,00.asp
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CBC News – Toronto – Ont. parents suspect Wi-Fi making kids sick ...
By myonlinelifenow
Professor Magda Havas of Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., who does research on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation, issued an open letter to parents and boards saying she is "increasingly concerned" about Wi-Fi and ...
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Barrie parents demand schools turn off Wi-Fi - The Globe and Mail
Claims by Health Canada that Wi-Fi is safe provided exposures to radiation are below ... reporting adverse health and biological effects, wrote Ms. Havas. ...
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Hi Martin ,
Tomorrow at 7am I will be interviewed on CTV's: Canada AM. I will discuss wi-fi technology and provide viewers with tips on how to avoid RF exposure from wi-fi networks and other wireless devices.
Also, this morning I spoke with a reporter who is writing a similar story for tomorrow's Toronto Star.
Other wi-fi stories out this week:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100815/national/wi_fi_kids_health
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100816/wifi-sick-kids-100816/
Kevin Byrne
www.EMFSolutions.ca
1 877 987-5185
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Mobile phones and Health
Possible to read with google translation:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/kropphalsa/somnklubb/article7594627.ab
Mona Nilsson published a new book in Swedish,
called "Mobile phones and Health".
Iris
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Coalition broadband: a wireless tower in every street
The limited spectrum is shared by every customer who's connected via the same cell tower. If fixed wireless becomes the main internet connection for every ...
http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/08/16/coalition-broadband-a-wireless-tower-in-every-street/
David
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Getting away from digital devices
An interesting article from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/technology/16brain.html?_r=1
Bob
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Some PG&E customers want choice on SmartMeters
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, August 16, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/15/BUPK1EUELD.DTL&tsp=1
Joshua Hart does not want a SmartMeter.
But unless state officials and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. relent, he's going to get one anyway.
Hart, 34, considers the radiation from wireless devices - such as cell phones, laptops and the new SmartMeters - a health hazard. He covered the existing electricity meter at his home in Scotts Valley (Santa Cruz County) with a sign proclaiming the premises a "SmartMeter-free zone." On several occasions, he has followed meter installers around town with a video camera, filming as residents tell the installers to leave their homes alone.
Hart, a freelance writer and transportation planner, even interrupted a speech last week by PG&E Chief Executive Officer Peter Darbee and tried to hand the executive a box labeled "dumb meter."
But in the end, Hart probably won't have a choice. When the California Public Utilities Commission approved the SmartMeter program, the regulators didn't give PG&E customers the ability to opt out. Sooner or later, all PG&E customers will get SmartMeters for their electricity and gas service, whether they want the meters or not.
"It just rubbed us the wrong way that we can choose not to use a cell phone, we can choose not to have Wi-Fi, we can choose to make our home relatively free of (electromagnetic fields), but then here comes PG&E, and suddenly you have no choice," Hart said. "People need to feel they're in control of their own homes."
The same lack of control angers people who distrust SmartMeters for different reasons.
Accuracy concern
Many PG&E customers have questioned the meters' accuracy, a criticism that PG&E considers overblown. Other customers complain that the devices, which measure electricity use hour by hour, invade homeowners' privacy by revealing when people wake up, go to work and leave on vacation.
The lack of choice is a common thread linking all of those issues. Regardless of whether they're concerned about accuracy, privacy or health, no PG&E customers can reject the meters - at least not for long. Meter installers will leave a home if confronted, but eventually they'll return.
"We don't necessarily say we'll be back in this amount of time," said PG&E spokesman Denny Boyles. "What we do is try to reach out to the customer, talk to them about the program, talk to them about the benefits of the program. ... Eventually, we will install the meter."
Under rules approved by the utilities commission, PG&E has the right to enter private properties for any reason connected to providing electricity service. That includes installing a new meter.
PG&E executives and California officials view advanced meters as essential to many of the state's long-range energy plans.
In time, the meters will enable utilities to start charging different prices for electricity use at different times of day, encouraging Californians to use power in the mornings and the evenings instead of the afternoons, when demand hits its peak. Lowering peak demand, in turn, could cut the number of power plants that need to be built, helping to fight global warming. Other California utilities are installing their own versions of advanced meters.
"If you have people opting out of that, you've put a chink in the program," said utilities commission President Michael Peevey. "It's vital to have universality of service."
The commission has ordered a study of the SmartMeter's accuracy, the results of which could be available late this month or in early September. But so far, the commission has resisted calls for a SmartMeter moratorium, saying that delaying the program could add to its already considerable $2.2 billion expense. Scotts Valley, San Francisco and other cities have asked for a moratorium across all of PG&E's service territory, and the town of Fairfax recently adopted its own temporary ban on the devices.
Helen Burt, PG&E senior vice president and chief customer officer, said other utilities that are installing advanced meters around the world are also making the meters mandatory for their customers.
"We didn't think of making it voluntary, and I don't think any utility in the U.S. or anywhere else has made it voluntary," she said. "I wish there were a way to make the grid work without everyone participating, but we haven't figured that out yet."
There has been some resistance. Last year, lawmakers in the Netherlands backed off a bill to make advanced meters compulsory after consumer advocates raised the same privacy concerns that PG&E has faced.
To individual homeowners who for various reasons don't want a SmartMeter, the lack of choice can be maddening.
Health troubles
Sudi Scull says she experiences intense migraines in the presence of electromagnetic fields. Cell phones and computers can set off blinding headaches, she says. The condition, often referred to as electromagnetic hypersensitivity or electrosensitivity, remains highly controversial, dismissed by much of the medical establishment, and Scull says she knows many people have a hard time accepting it.
"It's hard to believe, if you don't have it and don't feel it," said Scull, 61, a marriage and family therapist.
But she and an increasingly vocal group of PG&E customers say the SmartMeters make them sick. A SmartMeter was installed on Scull's San Francisco home in January, although she didn't know it at the time. She quickly became ill with symptoms that included anxiety, heart palpitations, depression and vomiting. She found the SmartMeter only after a neighbor asked her if she had one.
Scull persuaded a PG&E manager to have the device removed. But she fears she may have to move when the utility wants to install it again. PG&E insists the devices are safe, emitting less radiation than federal guidelines allow.
"I have a house that I love, I've lived here 20 years and I don't want to move," Scull said. "We have absolutely no freedom on this."
E-mail David R. Baker at
Web site www.weepinitiative.org e-mail contactweep@weepinitiative.org
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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution
