W.E.E.P. News
3 March 2011
Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News
Today, I received several (older) stories which link teenage suicides to electro magnetic radiation. This is vitally important information because of the number of schools which are now installing Wi Fi. This is also a big issue, because of the large number of schools in the USA which are allowing cell phone masts to be installed on school property, endangering all the pupils.
Please pass this information to School Boards, Teachers, Parents, Health Authorities and the Press.
Martin Weatherall
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Boffin's wave claim after suicide spate
Jan 31 2008 by Kerry-Lynne Doyle, Glamorgan Gazette
MOBILE phones and wireless internet could be behind Bridgend's growing suicide rate, according to a microwave expert.
Barrie Trower said he is "99 per cent sure" Bridgend's 13 suspected suicides are a result of waves from mobile phones, wi-fi and pagers.Mr Trower, a scientific adviser to the Radiation Research Trust, said he is convinced the deaths are related to an illness caused by the waves after investigating five suicide "clusters" across the UK and Ireland.
He is contacting Bridgend Local Health Board and Bridgend County Borough Council to ask them to discuss the issue with him.
Mr Trower is willing to visit Bridgend to speak about the problem.
"I am 99 per cent sure," said Mr Trower, who contributed to the BBC Panorama programme WiFi: A Warning Signal. "I think I can link them all together and I think it's a viable reason to look into. We know the suicide rates are rising. The increase in suicides does match the speed of low level microwaves. It's happening in every country in the world, not just Bridgend."
Mr Trower has been researching the effects of microwaves since the 1960s and addressed the Welsh Assembly on the issue two years ago.
He has investigated links between 182 suicides and electrosensitivity, a condition thought to affect three per cent of the population.
Last year, he wrote the Trower Report for the Police Federation, in which he said waves from the new police radio system could create "anxiety leading to suicide".
According to his research, the symptoms of electrosensitivity include depression, lack of concentration, personality changes and suicidal tendencies.
He says young people are particularly susceptible as their immune system is not wholly developed.
"It's the young who get it first," he said. "The younger you are, your skull is thinner than an adult's so the waves can go through and your immune system is not fully developed. The suicide rate is leaping up all over the place and it happens to cluster in areas."
A spokesman for Bridgend LHB said: "The local health board has not had any formal discussions with Barrie Trower concerning his research into microwave sensitivity. Therefore, we are unable to comment on the research and its findings at this time."
A BCBC spokesman said: "Mr Trower is welcome to write to the Bridgend Local Services Board to express his concerns on this national matter."
http://inthesenewtimes.com/2008/06/29/bridgend-makes-wifi-history/Apr 14 2005
Apr
David Williamson, Western Mail
INTERNET history is on the verge of being made in Bridgend.
The council will be the first in England and Wales to establish a wireless "WiFi" network in the town centre where people will be able to access the internet, regardless of which service-provider they use.
Most wireless "hot spots" – locations where laptop users can access the internet – have been operated by individual companies. Bridgend's initiative means the town has the potential to become Britain's biggest open-plan office by offering the first multi-service provider network.
The deal, signed with WiFi provider The Cloud, puts Bridgend at the forefront of the Government's ambition for all councils to offer universal online access to public services by 2008.
It enables customers of 20 leading service providers to get online using their existing account. Under the terms of the agreement, WiFi will be deployed in two phases.
During phase one, public access WiFi will be installed in 10 libraries in the council, while phase two involves creating an outdoor network in Bridgend town centre. This may be extended to Porthcawl and Maesteg.
George Polk, CEO of The Cloud, said, "By choosing an open, multi-service provider network, Bridgend is the first council to try to reduce one of the key barriers to making broadband widely available."
The Government is concerned that sections of the population are not benefiting from the Internet, either because they cannot afford to use the internet or due to a lack of computer skills and facilities.
The Cloud is also involved in an internet kiosk initiative called Mylocal, which will provide access to online government services at post offices and 3,000 other locations.
Bridgend Council is hoping its pioneering internet initiative will raise the profile of the region.
The council already has a wireless infrastructure for its employees.
This is the town where there have been so many tragic suicides amongst young people. Depression has been linked to EM exposure, most recently in an article quoting Roger Coghill, a scientist involved with SAGE, an advisory body to the government. However, that article failed to point out Bridgend's historic first as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
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Apr
David Williamson, Western Mail
INTERNET history is on the verge of being made in Bridgend.
The council will be the first in England and Wales to establish a wireless "WiFi" network in the town centre where people will be able to access the internet, regardless of which service-provider they use.
Most wireless "hot spots" – locations where laptop users can access the internet – have been operated by individual companies. Bridgend's initiative means the town has the potential to become Britain's biggest open-plan office by offering the first multi-service provider network.
The deal, signed with WiFi provider The Cloud, puts Bridgend at the forefront of the Government's ambition for all councils to offer universal online access to public services by 2008.
It enables customers of 20 leading service providers to get online using their existing account. Under the terms of the agreement, WiFi will be deployed in two phases.
During phase one, public access WiFi will be installed in 10 libraries in the council, while phase two involves creating an outdoor network in Bridgend town centre. This may be extended to Porthcawl and Maesteg.
George Polk, CEO of The Cloud, said, "By choosing an open, multi-service provider network, Bridgend is the first council to try to reduce one of the key barriers to making broadband widely available."
The Government is concerned that sections of the population are not benefiting from the Internet, either because they cannot afford to use the internet or due to a lack of computer skills and facilities.
The Cloud is also involved in an internet kiosk initiative called Mylocal, which will provide access to online government services at post offices and 3,000 other locations.
Bridgend Council is hoping its pioneering internet initiative will raise the profile of the region.
The council already has a wireless infrastructure for its employees.
This is the town where there have been so many tragic suicides amongst young people. Depression has been linked to EM exposure, most recently in an article quoting Roger Coghill, a scientist involved with SAGE, an advisory body to the government. However, that article failed to point out Bridgend's historic first as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
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HPA keeps lying as prominent scientist reveals possible EM connection to suicides
Posted by inthesenewtimes on June 22, 2008
http://inthesenewtimes.com/2008/06/22/hpa-keeps-lying-as-prominent-scientist-reveals-possible-em-connection-to-suicides/
Sunday June 22,2008
Dr Roger Coghill, who sits on a Government advisory committee on mobile radiation, has discovered that all 22 youngsters who have killed themselves in Bridgend, South Wales, over the past 18 months lived far closer than average to a mast.
He has examined worldwide studies linking proximity of masts to depression. Dr Coghill's work is likely to trigger alarm and lead to closer scrutiny of the safety of masts, which are frequently sited on public buildings such as schools and hospitals.
It is also likely to fuel more campaigns against placing masts close to public places on health grounds.
Dr Coghill said last night there was strong circumstantial evidence that the masts may have triggered depression in those from Bridgend who took their lives.
They include Kelly Stephenson, 20, who hanged herself from a shower rail in February this year while on holiday in Folkestone, Kent.
Dr Coghill said: "There is a body of research that has over the years pointed to the fact that exposure to mobile radiation can lead to depression. There is evidence of higher suicide rates where people live near any electrical equipment that gives off radio or electrical waves."
Masts are placed on average 800 metres away from each home across the country. In Bridgend the victims lived on average only 356 metres away.
The national average distance from a new powerful mast is a kilometre while in Bridgend it is 540 metres. Three transmitters were within 200 metres, 13 within 400 metres and as many as 22 within 500 metres of victims' homes. Carwyn Jones, 28, who hanged himself last week, was the third young person in his street to commit suicide.
Research shows young people's brains are more susceptible to radio wave energy. Only two weeks ago a report identified mobiles as having an effect on sleep patterns.
Dr Coghill added: "What seems to be happening is that the electrical energy is having an effect on the chemistry of the brain, depleting serotonin levels. We know that in depression serotonin levels are low and that a standard treatment for depression is to give drugs to boost serotonin levels. As they begin to work, the patient's depression lifts."
He said urgent research was needed because Britain was now covered with thousands of masts, many close to homes, schools and offices.
Since January 5, 2007, there have been 22 deaths of young people in the Bridgend area. Some believe the suicides are linked but so far experts have failed to find a common cause.
Thomas Davies, 20, hanged himself in February 2007. Last night his brother Nathan, 19, welcomed Dr Coghill's research. "As far as this family is concerned nothing can bring Tom back," he said. "But if there is a link found and something can be done then it could prevent further suicides."
But Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association, dismissed Dr Coghill's research. "This is an insensitive and outrageous piece of speculation which has no basis in established science," he said.
The Government's Health Protection Agency insisted that fields from mobile masts – even modern powerful masts – were well within international agreed safety limits. "There is no evidence that masts do you harm. The levels of radio waves are very low."
Above links provided by Colin
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Sunday June 22,2008
by Lucy Johnston(Sunday Express)
THE spate of deaths among young people in Britain's suicide capital could be linked to radio waves from dozens of mobile phone transmitter masts near the victims' homes.
He has examined worldwide studies linking proximity of masts to depression. Dr Coghill's work is likely to trigger alarm and lead to closer scrutiny of the safety of masts, which are frequently sited on public buildings such as schools and hospitals.
It is also likely to fuel more campaigns against placing masts close to public places on health grounds.
Dr Coghill said last night there was strong circumstantial evidence that the masts may have triggered depression in those from Bridgend who took their lives.
They include Kelly Stephenson, 20, who hanged herself from a shower rail in February this year while on holiday in Folkestone, Kent.
Dr Coghill said: "There is a body of research that has over the years pointed to the fact that exposure to mobile radiation can lead to depression. There is evidence of higher suicide rates where people live near any electrical equipment that gives off radio or electrical waves."
There are now 70 million mobile phone handsets in the UK and around 50,000 masts. Both emit radio signals and electromagnetic fields that can penetrate the brain, and for many years campaigners have argued that this could seriously damage people's health.
The national average for proximity to a mobile phone transmitter varies depending on the type of mast. The latest masts are far more powerful so they can transmit more sophisticated data, such as photos and videos for people to download on internet phones.Masts are placed on average 800 metres away from each home across the country. In Bridgend the victims lived on average only 356 metres away.
The national average distance from a new powerful mast is a kilometre while in Bridgend it is 540 metres. Three transmitters were within 200 metres, 13 within 400 metres and as many as 22 within 500 metres of victims' homes. Carwyn Jones, 28, who hanged himself last week, was the third young person in his street to commit suicide.
Research shows young people's brains are more susceptible to radio wave energy. Only two weeks ago a report identified mobiles as having an effect on sleep patterns.
Dr Coghill added: "What seems to be happening is that the electrical energy is having an effect on the chemistry of the brain, depleting serotonin levels. We know that in depression serotonin levels are low and that a standard treatment for depression is to give drugs to boost serotonin levels. As they begin to work, the patient's depression lifts."
He said urgent research was needed because Britain was now covered with thousands of masts, many close to homes, schools and offices.
Since January 5, 2007, there have been 22 deaths of young people in the Bridgend area. Some believe the suicides are linked but so far experts have failed to find a common cause.
Thomas Davies, 20, hanged himself in February 2007. Last night his brother Nathan, 19, welcomed Dr Coghill's research. "As far as this family is concerned nothing can bring Tom back," he said. "But if there is a link found and something can be done then it could prevent further suicides."
But Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association, dismissed Dr Coghill's research. "This is an insensitive and outrageous piece of speculation which has no basis in established science," he said.
The Government's Health Protection Agency insisted that fields from mobile masts – even modern powerful masts – were well within international agreed safety limits. "There is no evidence that masts do you harm. The levels of radio waves are very low."
Above links provided by Colin
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Largest Study Finds Evidence Of Association Between EMFs And Exposed Worker Suicide
ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2000) — CHAPEL HILL -- A large and detailed study of the possible link between exposure to low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and suicide among electric utility workers has uncovered what appears to be a distinct association.
Electricians working for five U.S. power companies faced twice the expected risk of suicide, while linemen faced one-and-a-half times the expected risk, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study. Suicides among power plant operators occurred at a rate slightly lower than expected, researchers found.
Younger people appeared to be at greater risk of suicide than older ones, and higher, more recent exposures also seemed to boost the chances that workers might take their own lives.
A report on the study, which began with a group of 138,905 male U.S. electric utility workers, appears today (March 15) in the April issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Authors include doctoral student Edwin van Wijngaarden; Dr. David A. Savitz, professor and chair of epidemiology; Dr. Jianwen Cai, associate professor of biostatistics; and Dr. Dana Loomis, associate professor of epidemiology, all at the UNC-CH School of Public Health. Statistical programmer Dr. Robert C. Kleckner also contributed to the project.
"We believe this work is important because suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and many people in this country are exposed to electromagnetic fields," van Wijngaarden said. "While these findings definitely do not prove EMFs cause suicide, they do indicate more research needs to be done on the effects of exposure on depression and suicide."
Using employment files, death certificates and other records, van Wijngaarden and colleagues found 536 suicides among current or former electric utility workers in the group between 1950 and 1986 and identified 5,348 non-suicides of the same race and age to serve as controls. Researchers also analyzed various job titles and duties and estimated occupational exposures to EMFs based on devices randomly selected workers wore to monitor exposures.
Why low frequency electromagnetic fields might contribute to suicide among chronically exposed workers is not known, van Wijngaarden said.
"One biologically plausible explanation is that EMFs depress production of melatonin, a hormone that's important for sleep and mood," he said. "Decreases in melatonin can lead to depression, which in turn can lead to suicide."
Rats subjected to electromagnetic fields showed altered production and excretion of the hormone but comparable data on humans is limited and inconclusive, the scientist said. The possibility suggested by the new findings that EMFs could affect young workers more than older ones is entirely new, he added.
The Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, Calif., supported the study. Cooperating electric utility companies were Carolina Power and Light Co., Pacific Gas and Electric, PECO Energy Co., Tennessee Valley Authority and Virginia Electric Power Co.
van Wijngaarden and colleagues did the new study because other work in the early 1980s found indications of an association between EMFs and suicide, but later studies could not replicate those findings.
Women were excluded because at the time they rarely worked as electricians, linemen or power plant operators. Researchers could not control for past mental health problems, addictions and family disturbances such as divorce since such information was not available.
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The Canadian Cell Tower Map has moved to
The new, mobile friendly map at http://loxcel.com/celltower will be updated monthly with cell tower data from Industry Canada.
If you have any questions / comments about either map, please contact us at loxcel.cluster @ gmail dot com Thank you
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Electricians working for five U.S. power companies faced twice the expected risk of suicide, while linemen faced one-and-a-half times the expected risk, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study. Suicides among power plant operators occurred at a rate slightly lower than expected, researchers found.
Younger people appeared to be at greater risk of suicide than older ones, and higher, more recent exposures also seemed to boost the chances that workers might take their own lives.
A report on the study, which began with a group of 138,905 male U.S. electric utility workers, appears today (March 15) in the April issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Authors include doctoral student Edwin van Wijngaarden; Dr. David A. Savitz, professor and chair of epidemiology; Dr. Jianwen Cai, associate professor of biostatistics; and Dr. Dana Loomis, associate professor of epidemiology, all at the UNC-CH School of Public Health. Statistical programmer Dr. Robert C. Kleckner also contributed to the project.
"We believe this work is important because suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States, and many people in this country are exposed to electromagnetic fields," van Wijngaarden said. "While these findings definitely do not prove EMFs cause suicide, they do indicate more research needs to be done on the effects of exposure on depression and suicide."
Using employment files, death certificates and other records, van Wijngaarden and colleagues found 536 suicides among current or former electric utility workers in the group between 1950 and 1986 and identified 5,348 non-suicides of the same race and age to serve as controls. Researchers also analyzed various job titles and duties and estimated occupational exposures to EMFs based on devices randomly selected workers wore to monitor exposures.
Why low frequency electromagnetic fields might contribute to suicide among chronically exposed workers is not known, van Wijngaarden said.
"One biologically plausible explanation is that EMFs depress production of melatonin, a hormone that's important for sleep and mood," he said. "Decreases in melatonin can lead to depression, which in turn can lead to suicide."
Rats subjected to electromagnetic fields showed altered production and excretion of the hormone but comparable data on humans is limited and inconclusive, the scientist said. The possibility suggested by the new findings that EMFs could affect young workers more than older ones is entirely new, he added.
The Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, Calif., supported the study. Cooperating electric utility companies were Carolina Power and Light Co., Pacific Gas and Electric, PECO Energy Co., Tennessee Valley Authority and Virginia Electric Power Co.
van Wijngaarden and colleagues did the new study because other work in the early 1980s found indications of an association between EMFs and suicide, but later studies could not replicate those findings.
Women were excluded because at the time they rarely worked as electricians, linemen or power plant operators. Researchers could not control for past mental health problems, addictions and family disturbances such as divorce since such information was not available.
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The Canadian Cell Tower Map has moved to
http://loxcel.com/celltower
This new map has been redesigned from the ground-up and sports many additional features:- info window displays more tower information, including site elevation and bandwidth (it is 2G or 3G, 4G, etc), antenna count and heights,
- works great on Blackberry (with v6 firmware), iPhone, Android, iPad, Nokia,
- map automatically positions itself to where you currently are -- no need to type in a postal code or city (works on most mobile and many desktop browsers),
- select carrier (10 supported) from drop-down, to filter map contents,
- save app to desktop, to recreate "native app experience" (iPhone),
- local / arterial roads scrubbed from map tiles at certain zoom levels, to reduce map clutter.
The new, mobile friendly map at http://loxcel.com/celltower will be updated monthly with cell tower data from Industry Canada.
If you have any questions / comments about either map, please contact us at loxcel.cluster @ gmail dot com Thank you
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LOCAL LIB DEMS OPPOSE MOBILE MAST PLANS IN BRAMHALL (Mark Hunter MP) Local MP Mark Hunter has joined forces with Bramhall Councillor Helen Foster- Grime in a campaign against the plans to build a mobile phone mast on North ...
Robert
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W.H.O. Fails to mention Environmental Sensitivities
The Medical Perspective on Environmental Sensitivities (written up by Margaret E Sears, MEng, PhD) ( http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/research_program_recherche/esensitivities_hypersensibilitee/toc_tdm-eng.aspx ) On this background, I ask you whether the coming WHO-report will, in fact, include discussion about disabilities caused by environmental sensitivities (disabilities such as multiple chemical sensitivity and electrohypersensitivity)? If not, I would like to know about the motives behind such a decision – knowing that the WHO surely takes its responsibilities to the world's population seriously. The coming WHO-report is probably going to form a standard by which the definition of disability will be understood in societies around the world. To be excluded from this definition would cause tremendous harm to millions of people. Best regards from Norway, Wenche Vagle I was thrilled to come across information on the Internet the other day about the coming WHO-report on disability, to be launched on 9 June 2011. I hastened to read the concept note, and found that it contained many important perspectives. But I was rather disappointed that there was – as far as I could see – no mention of environmental sensitivities and the debilitating disability conditions that such sensitivities are causing in a rapidly increasing number of people around the world. We are talking about otherwise healthy people whose health, life quality and ability to work now rest with the actions of others – including family, co-workers/co-students, building managers, and society at large. For further information, please see a report commissioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission:
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I.E.E.E?
Here's a comment from Don Maisch's book,
"In his review of the IEEE's data-base, theoretical biophysicist Vladimir N. Binhi from the Russian Academy of Sciences wrote that the IEEE's dismissal of non-thermal effects was essentially based on flawed reasoning. According to Binhi, the IEEE incorrectly considered non-thermal effects as not possible since they contradict the known laws of physics and evidence for such effects are simply artefacts since they are not replicated in other labs. Where they have been replicated, IEEE considered that they had no significance for human health. Binhi analysed the IEEE data-base used as the rationale for the IEEE standard. Although it contained over 1300 references, a discrepancy is seen between the number of non-thermal papers sited in the IEEE standard compared to a 2005 Swedish review of research on non- thermal biological effects of microwaves. This review, by Igor Belyaev, included 115 references for peer reviewed and published non-thermal research papers, of which only about 25% are referenced by IEEE's RF/MW standard. Another 85 recently published papers, most showing non-thermal effects, were not included in the references for the IEEE standard. Given this discrepancy, Binhi stated that "consumers of the electromagnetic safety standards might expect a more attentive and careful attitude to human health." Daryl
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28 FEB 2011
Jerusalem: The Health and Environmental Protection ministries told the Communications Ministry on Sunday that they will oppose the expansion of cellular phone infrastructure to accommodate "fourth-generation" (4G) devices, at least until any health effects from theradiation are examined in depth.
Katharina
Bridgend makes WiFi history
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