WEEP News: November 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Open Letter to School Boards on Wi Fi Dangers & Solutions / Wi-Fi frying our brains? / Stratford Meters / Nortel WIFI MESH / Israel's declining sperm count

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

1 December 2010

Wi Fi in Schools

I have attached a letter just sent to Victoria School Boards on the dangers of Wi Fi and the negligence of Health Canada in not sharing this information with provinces as well as their school districts. Share it with your group including the Simcoe School District. It is a big mistake to think of penalizing parents and students based on Health Canada being political instead of the authority provinces are looking for.

Curtis Bennett

Thermografix Consulting Corporation

250-765-9897

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Is Wi-Fi frying our brains? Fears that cloud of 'electrosmog' could be harming humans

By Alasdair Philips
30th November 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1334291/Electrosmog-warning-effect-bleed-bark-denude-tree-foliage.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

As winter arrives with a vengeance, the last of this year's glorious autumn leaves are falling in our parks and woodlands.

But this week came worrying evidence that Mother Nature is not the only force denuding our trees of their foliage.

Research in the Netherlands suggested that outbreaks of bleeding bark and dying leaves which have blighted the country's urban trees may be caused by radiation from the Wi-Fi networks now so integral to life in offices, schools and homes.

As a qualified electronics engineer, I am not surprised by such findings. I have long been concerned about the harmful effects of the electro-magnetic radiation emitted not only by Wi-Fi devices but many other common modern gadgets, including mobile and cordless phones, wireless games consoles and microwave ovens.

Much though I love trees, and worrying though I find this research, what really unnerves me is the effect these electro-magnetic fields (or EMFs) are having on humans, surrounding us as they do with a constant cloud of 'electrosmog'.

I am no Luddite. When I started work in the 1960s, I was involved in building walkie-talkies. I thought they were just brilliant and that electronic technology would save the world. But over the decades since, my scientific background has made it impossible for me to ignore the overwhelming evidence about the damage wreaked by this electrosmog.

It is not the existence of these radio waves that is the problem so much as the use we make of them. Rather than being emitted at a constant rate, technology demands they are 'pulsed' in short and frequent bursts which appear to be far more biologically harmful.

Not the least is their impact on our ability to reproduce. It is well documented that average male sperm counts are falling by two per cent a year. Many causes have been suggested, from stressful lifestyles to poor diet and hormones in our water supplies.

But studies in infertility clinics show problems with sperm dying off or not moving properly are most common in men who use mobiles extensively. This has also been demonstrated in the laboratory.

Mobiles are not the only problem. Many laptops are now equipped with Wi-Fi which sends out pulses every second as it maintains contact with the nearest access point. Young men with these devices on their laps are submitting their testicles to strong EMFs at close range, oblivious to the damage they may be doing to their chances of future fatherhood.

EMFs have also been shown to affect the brain, suppressing production of melatonin, the hormone controlling whether we feel happy or sad. In 2004, researchers at the University of Malaga found that significant exposure to EMFs increases the chances of developing depression 40-fold.

They also linked electrosmog to headaches, irritability, unusual tiredness and sleeping disorders.

This has been confirmed in research by the respected Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Sponsored by the leading mobile phone companies, it showed that using handsets just before going to bed caused people to take longer to reach deeper stages of sleep. They also spent less time in each of these stages, so interfering with the body's ability to repair damage suffered during the day.

This is particularly alarming given the tendency for teenagers and children to sleep with their mobile phones under the pillows so that they can answer late-night texts from friends.

Parents who allow their children to do so may be taking a significant gamble with their health.

This year saw the publication of the Interphone study carried out in 13 countries including the UK, and examining the links between mobile phone use and brain tumours. It suggested that those who had made heavy use of mobiles for a decade or more faced twice the risk of glioma, the most common type of brain tumour.

And this was a study based on the period between 1994 and 2004 when 'heavy' usage was defined as two to three hours per month. A conservative estimate of average mobile phone use now is approximately half an hour a day, seven days a week.

Since brain tumours often develop very slowly it may be many years before the full impact of our reliance on mobiles becomes clear. But they are already implicated in another area of concern to health professionals, the onset of dementia in those under 65.

Experts are at a loss to explain the increase in this condition which has seen a surge in demand for pre-senile dementia units across the country. But can we really be surprised when a study at the Institute of Environmental Medicine in Sweden confirmed this month that exposure to EMFs significantly accelerates brain degeneration?

The risks posed by EMFs are recognised not only by scientists, but hard-headed commercial organisations. In 1997, the insurance company Swiss-Re identified EMFs as likely to cause the biggest increase in claims in years to come. Swiss-Re and other insurers have therefore refused to indemnify the mobile phone operators against health claims from their customers.

Even so, we should not hold out much hope of our politicians protecting us from EMFs. The mobile phone industry in the UK contributes around £20 billion in tax every year, so it's hardly likely the Government will take action to reduce the number of calls.

Indeed, it seems to be going in almost the opposite direction, encouraging the installation of Wi-Fi networks in our schools with tactics which sometimes verge on coercion. I've been told about a school which was threatened that it would receive no further government funding for computer technology if it did not install Wi-Fi.

In the absence of official intervention, it's down to all of us to protect ourselves. My aim as a campaigner is not to scare people but inform them about the risks, so they can choose to take precautions.

Not everyone will want to follow my example. Because of our concerns about electrosmog, my wife and I have moved to a cottage in Scotland out of range of any mobile phone network.

But there are small steps which we can all take. We should all try to use hands-free sets. And women should stop carrying mobiles in their bras (breast tissue being particularly susceptible to mobile phone microwaves), a trend which is becoming alarmingly fashionable.

We should also avoid cordless phones. Their base stations transmit 100 pulses a second, 24/7, even if you're not using the phone, and at power levels equivalent to having a small mobile phone mast in your home.

You might also consider whether you really need wireless internet access in your home. One option is to buy dLAN adaptors which transmit the internet signal around the house by way of your ordinary electrical wiring.

Such changes will require small adjustments to our modern lifestyles. But until the evidence against EMFs is proven or disproven, these are surely sacrifices well worth making.

Sylvie

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Stratford Meters and Wi Fi

http://www.motorola.com/web/Business/_Documents/Case%20studies/_Static%20files/Stratford%20CS%20FINAL.pdf

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Nortel WIFI MESH - with great Diagrams

http://www.nortel.com/solutions/wrlsmesh/collateral/nn106481.pdf

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Israel's declining sperm count

http://www.countercurrents.org/king150410.htm

Israel was also one of the earliest and remains one of the heaviest users of wireless technology and as such has come through with some of the first epidemiological studies that confirm the cause and effect relationship with cell phones and a number of cancers. I imagine that this is also a factor in the declining sperm quality.

http://www.wirelesswatchblog.com

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

Monday, November 29, 2010

Videos "The Health Effects of Electromagnetic Fields" / Compound health problems / Threat to your health? / Disabling Cell Phones / Science Update / Back away / HUMAN AUDITORY PERCEPTION

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

30 November 2010

Health effects of Electromagnetic Fields

For those who couldn't attend the Commonwealth Club event organized by Camilla Rees on "Health effects of Electromagnetic Fields", here is the video of the presentations and the Q&A.

-magda

http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/cc-video/

Dr. Magda Havas, BSc, PhD,
mhavas@trentu.ca

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Letter: Smart meters compound health problems

Nov 29, 2010

http://www.theforecaster.net/content/s-lettertupper-120310

I am one of many concerned citizens against wireless smart meters. I have had my sensitivity to electromagnetic frequency/radiation proved. In addition to the culmination of existing wireless technology, we are now forced with even greater amounts from wireless meters on every home, school and business in the state that Central Maine Power Co. services. They admittedly did not survey their customers prior to blanketing Maine.

Anyone in the industry doing their due diligence would quickly learn of the health concern that has already erupted in many cities, entire states and foreign countries.

My symptoms are real: bone/joint pain, nausea, disrupted sleep patterns, pain in temples into my neck around the carotid artery, memory lapse. It has grown worse since the installation of my neighbors' meters that now stream through my house. For me it compromises my immune system. When the immune system is weakened disease takes advantage.

Information from the meters to hubs travel the most direct and shortest path possible (as stated by a CMP spokesman, who also refused to admit – by walking away speechless when confronted with the reality – that the EMF/radiation travels through structures to get to the hubs).

Call CMP. Request removal of your wireless smart meter. The most vulnerable groups to microwave radiation from wireless technologies are women, children and at-risk adults with an existing health condition.

Julie Tupper
South Portland

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Electrosensitivity: Is your mobile really a threat to your health?

Why are campaigners branding mobiles and Wi-Fi the invisible health threats of the 21st century? Metro probes the electrosmog for answers.

http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/848646-electrosensitivity-is-your-mobile-really-a-threat-to-your-health

Vicki-Marie Cossar - 28th November, 2010

Do you use a mobile phone? Work with a computer? Have Wi-Fi or a cordless phone at home? Then beware – all of these could be an invisible threat to your health.

'In the last 20 to 30 years we have been exposed to an unprecedented number of electromagnetic stresses,' says natural practitioner Philip Weeks, who specialises in working with environmental factors affecting people's health.

'It's an amount we've never experienced before as a species. Some people can adapt to it but others suffer from electrosensitivy [ES] – the negative effect that some technology can have on our overall well-being.'

Michael Cohen, of Bioenergy Healing in London, suffered major intolerances in his body for 16 years. 'It meant I couldn't be close to electrical cables as I could feel the current in my body if I went too near,' he explains.

'When I used a mobile phone I would get a pressure in my ear, and I couldn't go to London as it would make me ill for weeks. I would feel drained, my energy would be zapped, my sleep would be affected and I'd have headaches and pains in my body.'

The effects of ES can range from physical symptoms – tiredness and dizziness – to cognitive symptoms such as memory loss and lack of concentration, and emotional problems including depression, stress and anxiety.

'Someone suffering from electrosensitivity can experience a number of symptoms,' says Sarah Dacre of ElectroSensitivity UK, a charity set up in 2003 to help all those sensitised to electromagnetic radiation.

'Doctors in the UK aren't trained to recognise the symptoms, which is why the illness is often overlooked.'

However, Dr Michael Clark from the Health Protection Agency says there's no hard evidence that radio waves cause ill health. 'That's what science says,' he states. 'There are people who claim electrosensitivity and they get real symptoms but in scientific tests on volunteers in laboratory-controlled conditions, scientists have not been able to show cause and effect.'

Campaigners argue that as the research on links between health and mobile phones is commissioned by the very companies selling them, we are being kept away from the truth.

'Some studies in this country have been funded jointly by the government and the industry,' says Clark. 'But there has always been a scientific committee of independent academics to control the funding and act as a firewall.'

We've all affected the sound or picture of an analogue radio or TV when we've gone too close. 'Those are just effects we can see and hear,' explains Cohen. 'The body is electrical, products are electrical and when there's a crossover it creates a disorder on a cellular level.'

Most things that are plugged in produce an electromagnetic field (EMF) and mobile phones, cordless phones and microwaves are the biggest producers of EMFs in the home. 'The worst candidate has to be mobile phones and the demand for them, linked to the number of phone masts needed to service them, closely followed by cordless phones.' says Dacre. 'If phone data can penetrate walls, ceilings and floors, what must it be doing to our bodies?'

Deep down, many of us have questioned the safety of mobile phones but how many of us really know how to use them safely? 'People should check their user manuals,' says Dacre. 'The Apple iPhone tells you that you shouldn't be using it within 15mm of any part of your body and with a BlackBerry it's 25mm. We have millions of these mobiles in use and no one is using them in compliance with manufacturers' regulations. We at ES-UK are calling for health warnings on all packaging to make people more aware.'

According to Clark, however, that bit of advice is purely about compliance with established EU and international guidelines. 'It's nothing to do with cancer.' he says. 'When you put something to your ear it provides a buffer so the phone can't get too close to your brain. If you have it in a pocket or on a belt it can actually be closer to your body than when you have it to your ear. So it's a physical requirement. It only applies when you are making a call and the phone is transmitting, not if you are just carrying the phone.'

Insomnia is one of the biggest effects of ES and Weeks says this lack of sleep affects our immune systems and our ability to repair and fight infections. 'A study by scientists in America categorically showed that having your mobile phone by your bed at night affects your ability to go into a deep sleep,' he says. 'This is sufficient evidence to show that mobile phones don't allow us to go into a deep REM [Rapid Eye Movement] sleep, thus preventing us from repairing properly. If we don't repair when we sleep it affects everything to do with our health and can mean we don't produce melatonin, which puts us more at risk of getting different types of cancers. EMFs can also increase something called oxidants. We're so conscious about antioxidants such as blueberries to help prevent cancers and heart disease so any kind of increase in oxidants is going to increase premature ageing and disease.'

If you think you could be suffering from ES, experts suggest restricting your access to electromagnetic radiation to see if you feel any better. If you notice a difference, perhaps you should think about decreasing your exposure to electromagnetic fields.

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Government Considers Disabling Cell Phones in Cars

Discovery News

... by the car and transmitted via Bluetooth or by the speed of the cell phone itself as measured by cell phone towers, the phone is automatically disabled. ...

http://news.discovery.com/tech/cell-phones-driving-texting.html

Robert R

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November 2010 - Powerwatch Science Update

The following is a quick summary of another fifteen papers that have come out over the last few months related to effects of electromagnetic radiation. Some of the papers are notable papers that have been published very recently, others are papers that were published a few months ago that have not yet made it to one of the Science Updates

Click here for the full news story

http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/news/20101129-science-update.asp

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Put down that cellphone and back away

Seattle Times

In "Disconnect," scientist Devra Davis focuses on cellphone radiation and what ... pointing out that potentially dangerous electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are ...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2013502522_dad29.html

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HUMAN AUDITORY PERCEPTION OF PULSED RADIOFREQUENCY ENERGY – Motorola Research

November 26, 2010

par Michael Heiming

http://microondes.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/human-auditory-perception-of-pulsed-radiofrequency-energy-–-motorola-research/

A highly interesting overview about the well-established phenomenon of microwave hearing, even though many medicinal doctors will tell you it is all in your brain. Simply point them to the research conclusions of Motorola (download PDF below). From the paper:

CONCLUSIONS

Human perception of pulses of RF radiation is a well-established phenomenon that is not an adverse effect. RF-induced sounds are similar to other common sounds such as a click, buzz, hiss, knock or chirp. Furthermore, the phenomenon can be characterized as the perception of subtle sounds because, in general, a quiet environment is required for the sounds to be heard."

So if you are in a quite environment such as a bedroom, while you want to sleep and now you are hearing one or another microwave sound (EMF-Sounds) constantly, this sounds to me in the lines of well known Chinese torture (Wikipedia)? Impudence to call this "not an adverse effect".

I did luckily mention this microwave hearing only a very few times, I walked down a street and heard the terrible UMTS (EMF-Sounds) noise in my head, though just at a spot of about 2-3 meters! I went back and the sound came back at the same position.

Accidentally I had a meter (HF meter comparison) with me and to my surprise it screamed exactly in the same 2-3 meters this UMTS sound! Before and after also, though with much lower readings, thus not so extreme in the meters speaker.

Download the complete paper (PDF)

http://microondes.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/human-perception-microwave-hearing-motorola-final.pdf

Iris

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

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Workshop on Electro Sensitivity Sept 2001 / Smart Meter CONCENTRATOR / Legislating light bulbs has dark side / EMF Conference in Montreal / Petition to the Government of Canada

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

29 November 2010

Workshop on Electro Sensitivity Sept 2001

The Swedish Association for the ElectroSensitive

The attached pdf document (Abstracts) is from 2001, but has information that may be helpful to many people today.

Robert R

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Smart Meter CONCENTRATOR Data Collector

http://www.echelon.com/metering/datasheets/dataConcentrator.pdf

NES = Networked Energy System

"NES DATA CONCENTRATOR

Neighborhood Area Smart Grid Manager

The NES Data Concentrator manages smart meters and other smart grid devices on a neighborhood area low-voltage power line network.

It provides the connectivity infrastructure between these devices and the NES System Software at the utility's service center.

The Data Concentrator automatically:

• Discovers smart grid devices.

• Creates and optimizes the low-voltage power line mesh to ensure reliable communications.

• Securely configures devices to communicate on the encrypted ANSI- and EN-standard LONWORKS® power line network.

• Coordinates the bidirectional delivery of device data, including metering data.

• Monitors the health and operation of the devices. "

" designed to ACCEPT FIBER OPTIC "

http://www.drsgcoalition.org/news/press/Echelon_IP%20Smart%20Meter_9.9.09.pdf

http://www.echelon.com/metering/default.htm

Diagram NES Data Collector
http://www.echelon.com/solutions/smartgrid/buildingsmartergrid.htm

"gate keeper"

http://www.dom.com/about/conservation/pdf/ami_brochure.pdf

NES - Networked Energy System

http://www.echelon.com/metering/datasheets/SmartMetering_System_IEC_Fall09.pdf

HAN - Home Area Network

http://www.toodoc.com/smart-meter-communications-ppt.html

From - Gotemf

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Legislating light bulbs has dark side

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/opinion/Legislating+light+bulbs+dark+side/3823965/story.html

By Bronwyn Eyre, The StarPhoenix

I recently happened upon a forlorn news item that put me into a slow boil.

"The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Edison's innovations in the 1870s," the story began.

The factory, in Winchester, Va., is closing as a result of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, passed by Congress, that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will, of course, force millions of households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

In 2007, the Harper government also decided incandescent bulbs would be phased out in Canada in 2012. In Europe, the phase-out of the traditional light bulb has already begun.

As has the hoarding of incandescents, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Most anti-CFLers talk of the sickly light the new compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) emit. But many also feel extremely uneasy about the dangers they embody.

A LOOK AT HEALTH CANADA'S WEBSITE QUICKLY SHOWS WHY.

After a brief mention of how ultraviolet radiation from CFLs can affect people with skin sensitivities, the site details a list of imperatives should a CFL, which contains mercury, be broken -- as follows:

- Remove people and pets from the room and ventilate it for at least 15 minutes prior to starting cleanup;

- Don't use a vacuum to clean up the initial breakage, as it will spread mercury vapour throughout the area;

- Scoop up the broken pieces with two pieces of stiff paper or cardboard, not a broom;

- Use tape, then a damp towel or cloth, to pick up any remaining glass or powder;

- Place the broken glass and cleanup materials in a tight-fitting glass container to further minimize the release of mercury vapour;

- If the rug is removable, take it outside and shake and air it thoroughly;

- Dispose of the waste at a household hazardous waste location as soon as possible, not in your household trash.

There's also increasing talk about the "dirty electricity" compact fluorescents give off. Drawing on reports by an international group of scientists that link brain malignancies to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in dirty electricity, syndicated columnist Dr. W. Gifford-Jones recently counselled his readers to "avoid low voltage halogen tubes and energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting."

Still feel like buying a CFL?

I realize the estimated life of a CFL is roughly 10 times that of an incandescent (although its use in frigid weather reduces that considerably, as does frequent on-off switching).

But who wants to have to deal with a daily dose of dirty electricity as well as mercury contamination in the event of a broken bulb?

These concerns aside, what if you just want to stay with incandescents because you like them? Or because you resent the fact that virtually all manufacturing of light bulbs will now be carried out in China, where labour is cheaper? Or because you suspect other unanticipated consequences?

For example, some years ago Ontario Hydro offered rebates to consumers who bought energy efficient fridges. Many did, but then moved their old fridges downstairs to use as "beer fridges" -- thereby adding to energy demand. It's human nature: As efficiencies improve, utilization tends to climb.

With the conversion to CFLs, the most irksome aspect of all is the nanny-statism behind it -- what some refer to as "light bulb socialism."

I, for one, don't appreciate the imminent banning of a fixture whose light may be "dirty" and which, when broken -- and bulb breakages occur in all households from time to time -- may make my house toxic. If that makes me a luddite dinosaur, well, I want to be free to be a luddite dinosaur.

I also want to be able to buy incandescent bulbs and not have some political legislation prevent me from doing so.

I'm reminded of the European bureaucrats who love to invent killjoy regulations -- such as the "bent cucumber rule," whereby any cucumber with a curvature of more than 10 millimeters per 10 centimeters in length cannot be categorized as "class one."

Banning the incandescent bulb is similar madness. But as they say, we're generally unaware of the madnesses of our own times.

http://www.blogger.com/

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EMF Conference in Montreal

Thursday December 2, 2010 at 7PM

http://www.crudessence.com/fr/2010-12-02/conference-the-invisible-threat-risk-of-electro-magnetic-fields

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Petition to the Government of Canada

Attached is the petition drafted with the help of Maria Minna, liberal MP, to the federal government to change current legislation on how and where cell towers are erected. It will be presented to the federal government when parliament resumes in the new year. We need to get as many signatures as possible nationwide for it to be effective. Could you please post this on WEEP with the following instructions:

-petition should be printed out on legal size 8" x 14" paper if possible. If that's not possible, 8" x 11" paper will do, there's just less room for signatures. Each page must remain in format submitted.

-signatures should appear in blue ball point ink. Only original signatures can be submitted, no photocopies. You may print and fill as many pages as you like.

-I have attached a brief summary as a word document outlining the issue that people may print out and use as background educational info when collecting signatures.

-filled petitions to be sent to:

     Hon. Maria Minna M.P
     House of Commons
     Parliament Hill
     Ottawa, Ontario
     K1A 0A6

*no postage necessary

Web site http://www.blogger.com/ e-mail contactweep@weepinitiative.org

To sign up for WEEP News: http://www.blogger.com/ (provide name and e-mail address)

W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Important Information about the dangers of Smart Meters / School Board Threats / Living Safely / Scientists Question Safety Of New Airport Scanners / EMF-Omega-News

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

28 November 2010

Important Information about the dangers of Smart Meters

http://eon3emfblog.net/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Smart-Meters-Now/146643745375104

http://stopsmartmeters.wordpress.com/

http://smartmetersafety.com/

http://whyfry.org/tag/smartmeters/

http://www.teensturninggreen.org/get-involved/say-no-to-smart-meters.html

http://emrabc.ca/?page_id=710

http://weepnews.blogspot.com/search/label/smart%20meters

GotEMF

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School Board?

November 26, 2010. Very disturbing state of affairs that we are experiencing in Ontario Schools. School Board is threatening to fine parents and to expel students (click here for story) and they are also threatening teachers who do not toe the line regarding WiFi. What kind of country has Canada become? How can educational authorities be so insensitive, so militant, and so ignorant? Perhaps someone should follow the money because none of this makes any sense.

All parents are asking for is that computers be wired when they connect to the internet! In some areas the parents are even willing to pay for the costs of hardwiring their children's school.

-magda

Parents told to put kids back in school, or risk expulsion

By MORGAN IAN ADAMS

http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2863178

COLLINGWOOD -- The school board has issued notices to parents keeping their kids home because of Wi- Fi concerns that either the children return to school, or risk expulsion.

Rodney Palmer, who heads up the Simcoe Safe School Committee, says he received a notice for his nine-year-old son, who hasn't gone to school since early September.

A spokesperson for the Simcoe County District School Board could not be reached for comment before presstime.

Palmer pulled both his children out of Mountain View Public School, citing that the school's Wi-Fi infrastructure was causing health-related issues such as headaches and heart palpitations.

His daughter is under the age of six, and her absences aren't subject to the school attendance requirements under the Education Act.

Palmer said the family has been picking up schoolwork from the school, and dropping off completed assignments.

Palmer and his group have had a running battle with the school board for the last year, after his son was one of several students at the school complaining of a litany of health problems.

The parents have asked several times for the system to be shut down, or for the board to at least turn off all but one of the wireless transmitter units in the school.

The board has declined the parents' request, citing Health Canada guidelines that specify the use of the technology is safe, and that it emits an electromagnetic frequency significantly lower than the average cell phone.

In an email to QMI Agency back in the spring, Health Canada stated: "Health Canada has no scientific reason to consider the use of wireless communications devices, such as cellphones, BlackBerrys, wireless laptop computers and their supporting infrastructure, dangerous to the health of the Canadian public."

Further, it stated it updates its exposure guidelines every five to 10 years.

"If future scientific evidence demonstrated that exposure to RF (radio frequency) energy levels below the current limits were harmful, the Government of Canada would take immediate action to protect the health of Canadians."

Both the provincial ministries of education and health have also backed the board's position affirmed the Simcoe County District School Board's use of wireless technologies and confirmed the safety of these technologies for use in classrooms.

That hasn't been good enough for the parents, who cite the research of an associate professor at Trent University, that includes a Swedish study that showed human cells are affected when exposed to certain frequencies. Magda Havas has also raised alarm that the wireless transmitters operate on the same frequency of a microwave oven.

Palmer says he's not the only parent who's been told to make a decision on their child's education; he says at least three other families in Simcoe County have been told to either have their child attend school, or find alternative arrangements such as private school or home schooling.

Otherwise, they are required to provide a medical note. Palmer is not willing to do that.

"It would be fraudulent; he's perfectly healthy right now; it's just that he's reactive to microwave radiation," said Palmer, who provided the Enterprise- Bulletin with a letter from the school board outlining his options, as well as the consequences.

If Palmer doesn't comply, he could be charged under the Education Act and face a fine of $200.

"Instead of addressing the issue, (the school board) is coercing the parents into either home schooling, or expulsion," he said. "I'm not voluntarily signing up for something I don't want to do. I'm not home schooling (my son); it's not want I want for him, and it's not what he wants."

Palmer said the school should treat the issue as how it handles children who may have peanut or other allergies. Palmer said other families have to modify their behavior to accommodate other students in the school, and therefore the school should be obligated to provide a safe environment for his son -- which means shutting down the Wi- Fi.

-with files from QMI Agency

Article ID# 2863178

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Living Safely with Electromagnetic Radiation

A book that may help many people -

http://www.emfsafehome.com/bookdescription.html

Concerned about the safety of your cellphone?

Do you have unexplained symptoms your doctor can't treat?

Do you have trouble sleeping?

Have you recently been diagnosed with cancer or another serious illness?

If you're looking for the truth about electromagnetic radiation (EMR), this is the book for you. It cuts through the rhetoric and the controversy to give you the facts about EMR. But it doesn't stop there. The book also gives you simple, doable steps for testing your environment and protecting yourself from the dangers of EMR.

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Scientists Question Safety Of New Airport Scanners

by Richard Knox
May 17, 2010
NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126833083

Excerpt

'Potential Risk'

"Many people will approach this as, 'Oh, it must be safe, the government has thought about this and I'll just submit to it,'" says David Agard, a biochemist and biophysicist at the University of California, San Francisco. "But there really is no threshold of low dose being OK. Any dose of X-rays produces some potential risk."

Agard and several of his UCSF colleagues recently wrote a letter to John Holdren the president's science adviser, asking for a more thorough look at the risks of exposing all those airline passengers to X-rays. The other signers are John Sedat, a molecular biologist and the group's leader; Marc Shuman, a cancer specialist; and Robert Stroud, a biochemist and biophysicist.

"Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer," Agard says.

The San Francisco group thinks both the machine's manufacturer, Rapiscan, and government officials have miscalculated the dose that the X-ray scanners deliver to the skin — where nearly all the radiation is concentrated.

Radiation risks: Are airport body x-ray scanners 'a great public health experiment'?

By Leon Kaufman, Ph.D.
February 9, 2010

Diagnostic Imaging

http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/safety/content/article/113619/1521147

About the author

Leon Kaufman holds a BS in Engineering Physics, a PhD in Physics from UC Berkeley and a Master's in Pacific Rim Studies from USF. He has held positions at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Bellcomm, UCSF, Toshiba America MRI, and AccuImage.

Excerpt

A very few dozen of zealots and madmen have led the economically and militarily most powerful nation the world has known to, in the name of security, spend billions of dollars, waste billions of man-hours each year, disrupt travel and commerce, and now, with the use of x-ray backscatter machines, begin a great public health experiment.

Contrary to every policy enacted since the effects of radiation were understood, we are engaging in a mass experiment of irradiation of not just adults, but also pregnant women, fetuses, children, women of child-bearing age, men who may conceive after exposure—in short, everyone unfortunate enough to have to be in an airport. The results will not be known for 20 years. Imagine if, as an investigator at UCSF, I had asked my IRB to allow me to carry out an experiment involving indiscriminate exposure to x-rays of a randomly selected population with no informed consent. I would have been laughed out of the school.
...
We are told that the machines are safe because they do not penetrate farther than sunshine and the "effective" dose is 10 (or, variously in different documents, 2 or 3 or 5) microrem. The safety questions hinge on penetration and dose. There is enough available information to suggest that the TSA and manufacturers may not be telling the full story about penetration. I have not found an indication of how dose is computed or data on it.
B Binder

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EMF-Omega-News

Dear Sir, Madam, Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
for your information.
Best regards,
Klaus Rudolph
Citizens' Initiative Omega
http://www.next-up.org/Newsoftheworld/OmegaNews.php
http://www.mastsanity.org/health.html

http://mast-victims.org/index.php?content=news&action=view&type=newsitem&id=2569

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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Friday, November 26, 2010

Full Body Scans / Based Upon What Scientific Papers ? / Homeschooling Support Group / Wi-Fi safety to be tested

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

27 November 2010

What the TSA is NOT Telling You about Full Body Scans...

Why a federal appeals court has been asked to suspend full body scans at airports. The constitutional reasons - plus the less-discussed health risks of the scans put into perspective by comparing it to other more dangerous radiation, including your flight itself...

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/26/movement-grows-for-halt-of-fullbody-airport-scanners.aspx

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ICNIRP's New ELF EMF Guidelines - Based Upon What Scientific Papers ?

Source of information: www.microwavenews.com, November 24, 2010

After we (microwavenews) posted our November 15 Short Take on ICNIRP's failure to cite a host of papers showing geno toxic effects of power-frequency EMFs, we got an e-mail from Kjell Hansson Mild 1) of Umeå University in northern Sweden. "ICNIRP missed many others," he told us. Mild appended a list of eight papers 2) he had been associated with -published between 1984 and 2001, all in peer-reviewed journals. They doc ument DNA and chromosomal breaks in cells, animals (mice and rats)and humans (substation workers and train drivers). No word yet about how ICNIRP missed every single one

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6473704,3353493,8442779,7980658,8313501,10757046,10757053,11424153

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Wi Fi Parents Homeschooling Support Group

Parents pulling their kids out of schools to avoid Wi-Fi exposure and I think it would be very wise to create a support group of parents doing the same thing across Canada. If homeschooling parents who have pulled their children out to avoid Wi-Fi contact me with their e-mail addresses, I can put together a shared list with details as to locations and phone numbers. Please share this info to provide a support group for other parents who are choosing to responsibly and rightly protect their children.

Una St Clair-Moniz
Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Technology Society
www.citizensforsafetechnology.org

also

It is shocking that Teachers and Administration are being threatened , and I also have reason to believe that School District Trustees are not free to speak on this issue either due to pressure. This situation needs to be investigated as it is becoming more common. This violates Canadian democratic rights and freedoms, and it is interesting how easily the teachers and admin personnel (principals and vice-principals) are controlled by these kinds of threats.

Una St.Clair-Moniz
Citizens for Safe Technology

Hi Una,
I was at your seminar on Wednesday night at xxxxxx Elementary. The next day we removed our daughter from the school and informed the vice principal that we were doing so and why. She was shocked and asked me if we had really thought it through.
Later in our conversation she admitted that the reason she and the principal had not been there was that they had received 'a very clear directive' from the board, and that 'as agents of the board, it would be inappropriate for (them) to attend as (they) had to remain neutral.' She went on to spin out the usual diatribe about Health Canada guidelines, to which I asked her at what point she would make a stand. I asked if she was waiting for a cluster of kids with brain tumours, or perhaps an eleven year old who needed her uterus removed... I ended the call very dissatisfied with her responses, but was glad that I had managed to get the information that suggests staff who question the status quo are being threatened by the school board.

Signature withheld

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Wi-Fi safety to be tested

By GALEN EAGLE, EXAMINER STAFF WRITER

http://www.peterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2863763

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board will test its schools for electromagnetic levels before and after it phases in the use of Wi-Fi.

The board approved the purchase of two electromagnetic field monitoring units at a cost of between $1,500 to $2,000 during its monthly regular board meeting Thursday night.

The units will allow staff to monitor electromagnetic levels to ensure they don't exceed limits Health Canada has set.

"We have been assured that Wi-Fi was safe or we wouldn't have approved it, but because some parents are still concerned, this will allow us to alleviate their concerns," board chairwoman Diane Lloyd said. "That monitoring will allow us to give security to our parents and the public that we are looking after it properly."

The board approved Wi-Fi, used to connect computers and electronic devices to the Internet without wires, last spring but was met with growing parental concern about the issue in the fall, prompting the board to investigate a monitoring system, Lloyd said.

"When parents are concerned, we are concerned. One way to alleviate those concerns is to get this monitoring," she said.

The hot topic drew about 60 people, including several school board trustees and trustee candidates, to a meeting on the issue at the Evinrude Centre in October.

While Health Canada and the local medical officer of health, Dr. Rosana Pellizzari, say there's no evidence the wireless technology is unsafe, the local chapter of Citizens for Safe Technology says Wi-Fi shouldn't be in schools until there's evidence it is safe.

Trent University associate professor Magda Havas, who studies electromagnetic radiation, has said Health Canada is basing its stance on faulty science.

Peterborough parent Malini Menon criticized the public board during the October meeting, saying they were treating children like "guinea pigs."

She confronted the board during Thursday night's meeting as an announced delegate.

Menon said the board approved Wi-Fi without proper consultation with the public and parents.

"The public has remained largely unaware of the existence of the plan (to phase in Wi-Fi)," Menon said. "For a school board to conceive of and approve a plan without input from the public is unacceptable."

Parents and students were consulted as stakeholders when the board's technology committee was seeking input on its Wi- Fi plan, Lloyd said. The policy was also sent to the regional student councils in Peterborough, Northumberland and Clarington for input before coming back to the board for approval, she said.

Education director Rusty Hick told the board Wi-Fi systems within a given school would be stopped if monitoring detects unsafe levels.

"Student safety is our absolute first priority," he said. "Clearly if there were any levels of anything, whether it was tap water or whatever, that approached a level of danger to our students, we would stop immediately and proceed only after medical advice."

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

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The good news is that the school board will test the radiation in the school. It will be below SC 6 but at least they will have readings and IF students or teachers become ill because of this radiation, they will know at what levels this happens.

-magda

Dr Magda Havas

drmagdahavas@gmail.com

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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Thursday, November 25, 2010

NON-THERMAL EFFECTS AND MECHANISMS OF INTERACTION

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

26 November 2010

NON-THERMAL EFFECTS AND MECHANISMS OF INTERACTION

Livio Giuliani
National Institute for Prevention and Safety at Work (ISPESL), Rome, Italy

Protection against Non Ionizing Radiation is based on a paradigmatic assumption: "We know very well the interaction between electromagnetic fields and living organ-isms: it is a thermal interaction; thus the standards internationally accepted are adequate to protect people and workers". This is a fairy tale. Since the 1970s the non thermal effects of electromagnetic fields on living organisms have been well known and also the non thermal mechanisms have been investigated.

Nevertheless, until today, we have been condemned to listen to representatives from international institutions repeating the old refrain above.

Furthermore when scientists participating in the ICEMS agreed to edit a monograph – the present one - with the aim of illustrating the non thermal mechanisms and effects due to the electromagnetic interaction with living organisms - mechanisms that are well known today - some of us withdrew their contribution because they did not share the locution "non thermal" in the title. The following discussion, which many ICEMS scientists and the coauthors of this monograph took part in, focused on some basic points, maybe obvious but not infrequently forgotten.

For a PDF of this important document:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11443525/An%20ICEMS%20Monograph%202010.pdf

Kind regards,
International EMF Alliance
Alex Swinkels, Netherlands
Board Member
Mail: info@iemfa.org
Web: www.iemfa.org

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Schools probe Wi-Fi safety

Health effects of wireless connections on students to be examined

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=9ad174f3-7399-40eb-bc49-8bc6c8c86eee

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Health worries over the use of Wi-Fi in schools have spread to Victoria.

Greater Victoria trustees, who oversee nearly 20,000 students in 43 schools, are taking a closer look at concerns about Wi-Fi -- or wireless-fidelity, the wireless link that connects laptops and other devices to the Internet.

Most of the district's secondary and middle schools have Wi-Fi, as do several elementary facilities.

Presentations about possible health issues caused by Wi-Fi were first made to the board in the spring. There were more last week by a group of speakers. As a result of the most recent session, the district is forming a committee to study Wi-Fi usage, and is inviting trustees, district workers, members of the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils and the public to take part.

District secretary-treasurer George Ambeault will lead the committee, which is due to make a report next spring.

"If there's any level of concern about it, then we need to be able to at least respond to people's questions," board chairman Tom Ferris said. "If we're going to do that, we have to educate ourselves."

Health Canada says exposure to low-level electromagnetic frequency, such as that coming from Wi-Fi, does not pose a danger to the public. It says energy levels emitted are limited by guidelines that were set after looking at thousands of peer-reviewed studies.

"As long as the exposure is below these established limits, there is no convincing scientific evidence that this equipment is dangerous to schoolchildren or to Canadians in general," a Health Canada statement says.

Not everyone is convinced. Last summer in Barrie, Ont., a request was made to disconnect Wi-Fi in area schools after parents voiced fears that it was causing nausea and headaches in students. The board declined, saying there was no evidence indicating Wi-Fi caused such symptoms.

In November, Roots and Wings Montessori Place in Surrey banned wireless devices.

Citizens for Safe Technology is a Vancouver-based group that has about a dozen active supporters in the capital region.

Two of them, parents Tammy and Rob Jeske, were among the speakers who addressed the Greater Victoria board about Wi-Fi last week. The couple have two sons, aged nine and 11, in local schools.

Tammy Jeske said there is plenty of expert opinion that indicates sources of electromagnetic frequencies such as Wi-Fi can pose a danger. "I've seen it in my own children, I've seen it in myself," she said.

Like others, she said she has noticed the positive effect of removing Wi-Fi from her environment.

"The biggest thing for us is we weren't sleeping well. Myself, it was to the point where I had to take medical leave from work because I had become so chronically fatigued."

She said Wi-Fi also affected the family's immune systems and led to increased illness. Last year, however, after removing wireless items from the home, her sons both earned awards for perfect school attendance, Jeske said.

She said members of the group are pleased that the Greater Victoria school district is considering the Wi-Fi issue.

"We think there's enough evidence to warrant precaution and to hold off on Wi-Fi, certainly when there's an alternative in place that's easy to use."

Jeske said the alternative is to hard-wire devices.

The group is scheduled to make another presentation on Wi-Fi concerns to the Sooke board of education on Dec. 7. Saanich board of education chairwoman Helen Parker said she expects Wi-Fi to be discussed in the near future.

Aaron Gulliver, Canada research chair in advanced-wireless communications at the University of Victoria, said discussion of Wi-Fi use is a positive thing.

"Here at the university, it's completely Wi-Fi-enabled from end-to-end on campus. We have Wi-Fi availability everywhere," he said.

jwbell@timescolonist.com

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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Concern with Wi-Fi in Alberta Schools / Multiple cities hit back at the FCC / Debate - WiFi in schools / The TSA needs taming /

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

25 November 2010

The Concern with Wi-Fi in Alberta Schools

TV video debate about WiFi in schools between Dr. Marc MacKenzie, Medical Physicist with the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton and Dr. Magda Havas. CTV Access TV.

http://www.albertaprimetime.com/Stories.aspx?pd=1698&FlashVars=Video/PTR_111710.flv

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Multiple cities hit back at the FCC, challenge their authority over Congress on 1996 Telecom Act

See - http://cot.ag/ecVAnh

Excerpt: Congress deliberately did not offer a "single 'cookie cutter' solution for diverse local situations." And its choice necessarily leads to "some cost and delay for the carriers." But Congress conceived that this course would produce "individual solutions best adapted to the needs and desires of particular communities." If Congress's experiment fails, Congress remains free to alter it. The FCC cannot do so.

Note: it's a development in challenging the "who has control" problem but if they win would buy communities more time to push back instead of this 30 day "gotcha" period, and make sure due diligence is completed correctly in siting these cell towers.

Interesting related documents- Legal background:

Nov 2010- footnote about Portland's complaint:

Some local governments noted that the new rule may force them to deny applications that are incomplete as filed, in order to avoid the threat of litigation. Comments of City of Portland In Support of NATOA et al. Petition for Reconsideration, WT Docket No. 08-165 at 4 (Jan. 20, 2010). Local governments explained that the completeness rule could cause them to engage in "defensive zoning": to adopt very strict requirements as to what must be included in an initial application in order for the local government to accept the application at all. Comments of the Greater Metro Telecommunications Consortium in of NATOA et al Petition for Reconsideration, WT Docket No. 08-165, at 4 (Jan. 22, 2010); Comments of the City of Philadelphia in Support of NATOA et al Petition for Reconsideration, WT Docket No. 08-165 at 4 (Jan. 22, 2010). As explained, supra, Congress plainly did not intend federal law to impact the siting process in this way.

http://www.millervaneaton.com/PetitionerBrief.pdf

Jan 2010- City of Portland NATOA comment to FCC:

The City of Portland, Oregon, stated that the 30-Day Deadline "frustrates the local review process and is more likely to result in a denial than an approval of such an application."

Portland points out that the 30-Day Deadline does not factor in the realities of the application negotiation process. The process requires "incremental negotiations [that] take time and often require additional information from the applicant to address the applicable criteria, particularly when the wireless facility involves a building with significant architectural features."

Often times, Portland explains, "the need for this additional information is not determined until more than 30 days after an application has been filed (and after the design has been revised)."

http://www.natoa.org/documents/NATOA%20et%20al%20Reply%20Comments%20WT%20Docket%20No%2008-165.pdf

David

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I would also like to add that these searches are not only humiliating and harmful, but that they are a tool to keep us in fear, and at war. These intrusive searches are a result of the Patriot Act and Homeland Security, which has not kept us safe, but has robbed us of our liberties. And, it has come to this...unreasonable, humiliating and harmful searches.

The Oregonian today had lots of letters from ignorant people who were fine with TSA's grope and scope practices because it made them "feel safe." No letters against TSA.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin

Please write a letter to your newspaper

http://www.usnpl.com/ornews.php

and let them know that you are opposed to these violations of your 4th Amendment rights. Tell them that these strikes at our liberty is only a ploy to keep us silent, and controlled as America continues its military complex.

Suzanne Brownlow

The TSA needs taming

Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 6:00 AM

By Everett Frank

Travelers Against Mistreating Everyone -- TAME -- a local grassroots group coordinating with National Opt Out Day organizers, opposes the Transportation Security Administration's "radiation or humiliation" approach to airline security.

The TSA's stand that a person's desire to travel is reasonable cause for a virtual or physical strip search is dangerously out of touch.

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Resolution 2200, which banned full-body scanners for primary screening. Oregon's and Washington's congressional delegations unanimously rejected these machines. No country in the world uses scanners for primary screening, and countries including Germany and France have rejected them. Localities including New York City are moving to ban them. More than 30 organizations, from the ACLU to the NRA, oppose their use.

The TSA's hardline position is outside the mainstream and needs to be tamed.

Scanners arguably add little or nothing to passenger security. The former chief security officer of the Israel Airport Authority, Rafi Sela, called the scanners ineffective. "I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747," he told Canadian reporters.

John Sedat, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California-San Francisco, has said that a government statement regarding the safety of full-body X-ray scans had "many misconceptions." Sedat warned that radiation from the devices has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer.

TAME joins organizations opposed to scanners on the grounds that they violate constitutional protections for the people to be "secure in their persons" and free from "unreasonable search and seizures." The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued TSA on 4th Amendment and other grounds. EPIC's President Marc Rotenberg, who teaches law at Georgetown University, said that "the digital X-ray cameras called 'body scanners' and the genital-groping searches called 'pat-downs' -- have never been reviewed by a court. Is a court really prepared to say that in the absence of suspicion, these search procedures -- which the law would otherwise treat as sexual battery -- are 'reasonable'?"

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., told CNN: "They [TSA] went ahead and, without consulting us [Congress], bought, to me, offensive equipment that should not be used, and it does invade the privacy of people. ... We need this kind of equipment, but it can be done the right way. TSA could screw up a two-car funeral." Mica commented further, "We've got them headed in the wrong direction as far as who they're screening and how they're doing it," adding that the controversy is just the "tip of the iceberg of problems at TSA."

TSA Administrator John Pistole insists he will not reconsider. But in a letter to Pistole dated Nov. 19, 2010, Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, urged Pistole to reconsider the enhanced pat-down protocol. Citing many TSA failings regarding the pat-down policy, they conclude simply; "The travelling public has no assurance that these [enhanced pat-down] protocols have been thoroughly evaluated for constitutionality."

TAME is for safe air travel. We just don't believe safety requires radiation or humiliation. There are successful alternatives to the TSA's present protocols, including the Israeli model of focusing on threatening behavior, instead of the TSA's focus on threatening objects. We believe it possible to secure planes while maintaining basic rights and freedoms that define America.

Everett Frank lives in Vancouver.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/11/the_tsa_needs_taming.html

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David against Orange: in memoriam

- Tragic death of an Englishman who came to live in France to escape the phone mast radiation in Cambridge.

- The incredible story of his fight against the Orange relay antennas in Saint-Papoul in the Aude.

http://www.next-up.org/pdf/David_Newell_against_Orange_In_Memoriam_24_11_2010.pdf

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W.E.E.P. – The Canadian initiative to stop Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Wi-Fi Killing Trees / Study blames computer signals for dying leaves / How Cell Phones are Killing Birds / Radiation Worries for Children in Dentists' Chairs / Knesset panel endorses plan

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News

24 November 2010

Wi-Fi Radiation Is Killing Trees, New Study Finds

Yes, trees can bleed, and it's our fault

By Dan Nosowitz Posted 11.22.2010

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-11/wi-fi-radiation-killing-trees

Studies on the impact of wireless radiation on humans are endlessly inconclusive, but a recent study on the effects of Wi-Fi radiation on trees--yes, trees--indicates that our woody friends may be much more vulnerable than we are. And trees can't even enjoy the benefits of Wi-Fi. It's all very unjust.

The study, conducted by Wageningen University, investigated findings that trees in areas with high Wi-Fi activity (urban areas, especially) were suffering from symptoms that couldn't be tied to typical bacterial or viral causes. The symptoms included bleeding (!), fissures in the bark, the death of parts of leaves, and abnormal growth.

To test the hypothesis that the mystery illness was caused by radiation poisoning, the researchers took 20 ash trees and exposed them to various kinds of radiation for three months. Sure enough, the ash trees exposed to Wi-Fi signals showed telltale signs of radiation sickness, including a "lead-like shine" on their leaves, indicating the oncoming death of those leaves. In the Netherlands, a whopping 70% of urban trees are suffering from radiation poisoning, up from only 10% five years ago--understandable, considering the explosion in Wi-Fi use in the past five years.

Of course, trees in rural or even simply non-urban environments are pretty much unaffected, but theoretically, all deciduous trees in the Western world could be affected.

The researchers are planning several more studies to figure out the precise effects of radiation on plant life. In the meantime, they don't really offer any preliminary solutions, but I'm sure they'd approve of wrapping every urban tree you see in tin foil, root to leaf. (Note: Wrapping public trees in tin foil may be illegal in your city, state, arrondissement, or prefecture. PopSci cannot be held responsible if you are arrested for such activities.)

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Is wi-fi radiation killing off trees? Study blames computer signals for dying leaves

By Niall Firth

23rd November 2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1332310/Is-Wi-Fi-radiation-killing-trees-Study-blames-signals-dying-leaves.html

As if our magnificent trees didn't have enough problems, they're now being threatened by our emails.

When they're not being assailed by some foreign bug or moth, there's often a council official looking for an excuse to cut them down.

Now researchers say radiation from wi-fi networks that enable our burgeoning online communications may be their latest enemy.

The Dutch scientists carried out their research on ash trees which had been suffering with bark bleeding and dying leaves

Trees planted close to a wireless router had bleeding bark and dying leaves, according to the study in Holland.

The revelation will raise fears that wi-fi radiation may also be having an effect on the human body and supports parents who have campaigned to stop wireless routers being installed in schools.

The city of Alphen aan den Rijn, in the Netherlands, ordered the study after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees. Researchers took 20 ash trees and for three months exposed them to six sources of radiation.

Trees placed closest to the wi-fi source developed a 'lead-like shine' on their leaves that was caused by the upper and lower epidermis – the leaf's skin – dying.

Researchers also discovered that wi-fi radiation could slow the growth of corn cobs.

In the Netherlands, 70 per cent of all trees in urban areas show the same symptoms, compared with 10 per cent five years ago, the study found. Trees in densely forested areas are not affected.

The Wageningen University scientists behind the research, which has not yet been published, said that further studies were needed to confirm their findings.

The Dutch health agency issued a statement, stressing that 'these are
initial results and that they have not been confirmed in a repeat survey'.

It added: 'There are no far-reaching conclusions from its results. Based on the information now available it cannot be concluded that the wi-fi radio signals leads to damage to trees or other plants.'

Other scientists have expressed scepticism. Marvin Ziskin, a professor of radiology and medical physics at Temple University in Philadelphia, said: 'Stuff like this has been around a long time. There's nothing new about wi-fi emissions. Scientifically there's no evidence to support that these signals are a cause for concern.'

The study is to be the subject of a conference in Holland in February.

In 2007, a BBC Panorama documentary found that radiation levels from wi-fi in one school was up to three times the level of mobile phone mast radiation. However, the readings were 600 times below government safety limits.

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How Cell Phones are Killing Birds

http://www.kashmirobserver.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6265:how-cell-phones-are-killing-birds&catid=22:heads-a-tails&Itemid=44

Maneka Gandhi

As soon as autumn comes in the west and the leaves start falling, humans start preparing for winter. What do other animals, such as birds, insects and fish, do to prepare for the cold?

The great migrations start. Thousands and thousands of creatures go to the places where their ancestors have always gone to sit out the winter and come back in warmer weather. But how do they know where to go? Migratory birds use a combination of methods to navigate like landmarks and seeing the position and light of the sun and stars. Now there is evidence that magnetic fields play an important role in navigation.

Our senses: sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, are meant to help us deal with the environment, keep us out of danger and find food and shelter.

Other animals need different information about the world to survive. So they have our senses and more : echolocation, infrared vision, magnetic sense. Radar, compasses, and infrared detectors are all man-made contraptions that enable humans to stretch beyond our natural senses. Other animals have these inbuilt in their bodies.

The flow of molten material in the earth's core and the flow of ions in the atmosphere generate a magnetic field that surrounds the earth. Amazingly, animals can sense this magnetic field. We need compasses to help us navigate by detecting the magnetic north. Chitons, honey bees, sharks, sea turtles, rays, homing pigeons, bats, dolphins, migratory birds, whales, bass, tuna, mosquitoes, butterflies, mollusks, trout, salmon, frogs, salamanders, termites, lobsters, mole rats, even some bacteria have an inbuilt magnetic sense that enables them to go long distances in the correct direction.

Researchers have found that all these animals have deposits of magnetite in their nervous systems. Magnetite is a type of iron oxide with natural magnetic properties. In fact, it is the most magnetic naturally occurring mineral on Earth and was once used in compasses, under the name lodestone, by mariners from the twelfth century.

Magnetite crystals, align themselves with magnetic fields and act like microscopic compass needles. What is magnetic information and how do animals use it to navigate?

The liquid core of the Earth gives off a magnetic field. Energy goes from the Earth's South Pole and reenters the Earth at the North Pole . Evidence suggests that animals can navigate by detecting the strength of the magnetic field and the angle at which the field meets the earth which is distinct for each spot on the globe. Scientists have suggested that as we have specialized cells to see and smell, animals have specialized nerve cells called "magnetoreceptors" , an internal compass that is hooked up to the body such that the "needle" of the compass moves with the changing magnetic field and triggers other cells that help the animal sense where to direct its movements. Studies from rainbow trout showed that brain areas that are sensitive to the magnetic field have nerve cells that contain magnetite.

True navigation is when an animal returns to a place without using landmarks from the destination and the journey.

Normal navigation for the human means relying on visual landmarks. If you've traveled the route many times, you may even be able to do it blindfolded by using non-visual landmarks, such as smell, sound, remembering distances and knowing when to turn. Studies have shown that in addition to using those types of landmarks, some animals use the earth's magnetic field to navigate with an internal compass that enables them to sense direction.

Migratory birds use magnetic clues to find their way south in fall and north in spring. This was demonstrated in 1966 by Wolfgang Wiltschko of the University of Frankfurt, Germany for the first time. He showed that even when migratory birds are caged, when the time comes for migration they faced the direction they want to migrate to, e.g., south in autumn. If the magnetic field is changed, so that magnetic south appeared in a different direction, birds assembled in this new direction.

At the age of 6 weeks, pigeons who have a lot of magnetite in their beaks adopt a home loft that remains permanent throughout their lives. Pigeons use different landmarks to return to the home loft, including sight and smell. But magnetic information seems to be the strongest guide. When scientists disrupted the magnetic field by glueing magnets to the back of their necks, pigeons could not find their way back to their lofts.

Loggerhead sea turtles are born on the Florida beaches. After the turtles hatch, they crawl across the beach out into the ocean.

Hatchlings swim along the east coast of the United States and then swim northeast with the Gulf Stream. They complete the circle within the Atlantic Ocean, and then they return to the same beach to nest. The return trip takes them across thousands of miles in the open ocean. Olive Ridley turtles are born on the coast of Orissa and Andhra and do the same in the Indian/Pacific oceans, coming back to the exactly the same place 30 years later to lay their eggs. Magnetic information becomes important once they are in the open sea.

This has been studied in the laboratory by observing the swim direction of hatchlings in a small pool. When the magnetic field surrounding the swimming hatchlings is reversed, the hatchlings change their swim direction

Spiny lobsters live in caves, come out to forage for food and then return to the same cave. They also have an annual migration. Even when they have been placed miles away in a new place by experimenters, they have been found to return to their cave.

Certain types of bacteria have bodies of magnetite. There is no sensible reason unless the magnetic properties of this element were useful in some way. Biologists think that bacteria(e.g., Magnetospirillum magnetotacticum) may use these internal compasses to sense where 'down' is so that they can find food.

The bobolink has the longest migratory path, more than 7000 miles, of any songbird in the West. A study, conducted by Robert Beason of SUNY- Geneseo, validates that magnetite in the bird's brain functions as part of the bird's compass. Beason took migrating bobolinks and treated them with a strong magnetic pulse which reversed the polarity of the magnetite in their bodies. Before the magnetic pulse, the birds hopped toward the southeast, which is their normal migratory direction in the fall. After the treatment, the birds changed direction and hopped northward. This is what would be expected if the compass sense relied on magnetite.

In 1983, Baker, Mather and Kennaugh of the University of Manchester discovered "magnetic bones in human sinuses," a tiny, shiny crystal of magnetite in the ethmoid bone located between the eyes, just behind the nose. But studies show that humans have no capacity for direction finding by magneto-reception.

However since magnetite absorbs microwave radiation and reacts to static and low-frequency fields, this means that fields from power lines, cellular telephones, computers and monitors could be affecting us right now. And the people who say that migratory birds are dying off because of the cell phone towers may well be right.

To join the animal welfare movement contact: gandhim@nic.in

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Radiation Worries for Children in Dentists' Chairs

Not only do most dentists continue to use outmoded X-ray film requiring higher amounts of radiation, but orthodontists and other specialists are embracing a new scanning device that emits significantly more radiation than conventional methods, an examination by The New York Times has found

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/us/23scan.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2

Robert L

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Knesset panel endorses plan to minimize electromagnetic radiation exposure in schools

23 nov. 2010 Jerusalem Post

• By JUDY SIEGEL

Although it has not yet been clearly proven that exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) poses a danger to schoolchildren's health, a joint session of the Knesset Interior and Labor, Social Affairs and Health committees declared on Monday that a program should be launched to minimize such exposure as a cautionary measure.

The joint session, chaired by Hadash MK Dov Henin, endorsed the recommendations made recently by an interministerial committee of experts headed by Tel Aviv University Prof. Siegal Sadetzki, who conducts research at the Gertner Institute's cancer and radiation epidemiology unit.

Sadetzki, who represented the Health Ministry and is a leading expert on environmental dangers and health, headed the effort to produce recommendations, along with colleagues from the Environmental Protection and Education ministries and the Israel Electric Corporation.

Regarding cellular phones, the committee urged instituting an educational program to reduce pupils' use of the devices by teaching them the potential dangers.

According to the experts, SMS messages are preferable to making calls, and using earbuds is better than holding the phone close to the head. In addition, cellphones should not be used while driving. The devices also have a negative effect on sleep, Sadetzki said.

The program will also include monitoring of this educational initiative via pupil surveys and an interventional program.

In addition, the team recommended installing land-line phones in schools so children can contact their parents (and others) without using cellphones.

The members suggested setting up cellphone-free zones in schools, which would be observed by teachers as well as youngsters.

They also urged the Transportation Ministry to prohibit inexperienced young drivers' use of cellphones in moving vehicles – not just without hands-free headsets or speaker systems, but speaking on cellphones at all. This has already been adopted in 21 US states

The widespread habit, which does not involve dangerous EMR exposure, has been shown in numerous studies to reduce drivers' concentration and their ability to keep their eyes on the road. The team suggested that drivers of buses and taxis with passengers should not be allowed to use cellphones at all – a move that has been adopted in 17 US states.

Henin, who chaired the session, said that "the fact that EMR cannot be seen does not mean that it is not dangerous. We must ensure that children [and staffers] who spend many hours a day in educational institutions are safe."

Concern about exposure to EMR is just part of the "Healthy Educational Environment" view expressed in a bill he presented to the previous Knesset along with additional MKs, he added.

Sylvie

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