Tag: campi elettromagnetici

Effects of intensive and moderate cellular phone use on hearing function.

[L’utilizzo prolungato del telefono cellulare causa disturbi uditivi.]

Electromagn Biol Med. 2006;25(1):13-21.

By:
Oktay MF1, Dasdag S.

1Department of Otolaryngology, Medical School of Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of radiation emitted by mobile phones on the hearing of users. The study was carried out on three groups: 1) 20 men who have used a cellular phone frequently and spoken approximately 2 h per day for four years; 2) 20 men who have used a cellular phone for 10-20 min per day for four years; and 3) 20 healthy men who have never used a cellular phone (the control group). Brainstem evoked response audiometric (BERA) and pure tone audiometric (PTA) methods were used to measure the effects of exposure on hearing function of the subjects. In BERA measurements, I-III, III-V, and I-V interpeak latencies were evaluated. Interpeak latency of subjects in two experimental groups was compared to that of subjects in the control group. The BERA results showed no differences among the groups (p > 0.05). In PTA measurements, detection thresholds at 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz, and 8000 Hz frequencies were measured in all three groups. No differences were observed between moderate mobile phone users (10-20 min. per day) and control subjects. However, detection thresholds in those who talked approximately 2 h per day were found to be higher than those in either moderate users or control subjects. Differences at 4000 Hz for both bone and air conduction for right ears, and 500 Hz, and 4000 Hz bone and air conduction for left ears were significant for mean hearing threshold. This study shows that a higher degree of hearing loss is associated with long-term exposure to electromagnetic (EM) field generated by cellular phones.

Alterations in TSH and Thyroid Hormones following Mobile Phone Use

[Questo è uno studio sull’uomo.
Alla luce di una simile evidenza, si può supporre che i casi in crescita esponenziale di ipotiroidismo abbiano in questa noxa esogena un fattore eziologico preminente.]

Oman Medical Journal 2009, Volume 24, Issue 4, October 2009

By:
Seyed Mortavazi 1, Asadollah Habib 2, Amir Ganj-Karami 3,
Razieh Samimi-Doost, Atefe Pour-Abedi 3, Ali Babaie 3

Department of Radiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz,
Iran
Department of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences,
Department of Paramedical Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

ARTICLE INFO

Article history
Received : 05 Aug 2009
Accepted: 07 Sep 2009

Keywords
Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)
TSH
T3
T4

ABSTRACT

Objectives: In recent years, the widespread use of mobile phones has lead to a public debate about possible detrimental effects on human health.
In spite of years of research, there is still a great controversy regarding the possibility of induction of any significant physiological effects in humans by microwave radiations emitted by mobile phones.
This study aims to investigate the effects of electromagnetic fields induced by the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) mobile phones on the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and thyroid hormones in humans.
Methods: 77 healthy university students participated in this study.
The levels of T3, T4 and TSH were measured by using appropriate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Human, Germany).
Results: The average levels of T3, T4 and TSH in students who moderately used mobile phones were 1.25±0.27 ng/ml, 7.76±1.73 μg/dl and 4.25±2.12 μu/l respectively.
The levels in the students who severely used mobile phones were 1.18±0.30, 7.75±1.14 and 3.75±2.05 respectively.
In non-users, the levels were 1.15±0.27, 8.42±2.72 and 2.70±1.75, respectively.
The difference among the levels of TSH in these 3 groups was statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusion: As far as the study is concerned, this is the first human study to assess the associations between mobile phone use and alterations in the levels of TSH and thyroid hormones.
Based on the findings, a higher than normal TSH level, low mean T4 and normal T3 concentrations in mobile users were observed.
It seems that minor degrees of thyroid dysfunction with a compensatory rise in TSH may occur following excessive use of mobile phones.
It may be concluded that possible deleterious effects of mobile microwaves on hypothalamic pituitary-thyroid axis affects the levels of these hormones.

Versione PDF integrale scaricabile al seguente link:

TIROIDE 0.5

Effects of 900MHz electromagnetic field on TSH and thyroid hormones in rats

elsevier-logo-3p-Converted

By:
Ahmet Koyu a, Gokhan Cesur a,
Fehmi Ozguner a, Mehmet Akdogan b,
Hakan Mollaoglu a, Sukru Ozen c

a Department of Physiology, Suleyman Demirel University, School of Medicine, 32260 Isparta, Turkey
b Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, 32260 Isparta, Turkey
c Academy of Vocational Sciences, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

ARTICLE INFO

Article history
Received 28 December 2004
received in revised form 1 March 2005
accepted 1 March 2005
Available online 11 April 2005

Keywords
900MHz electromagnetic field
TSH
T3
T4

ABSTRACT

In this study, the effects of exposure to a 900 megahertz (MHz) electromagnetic field (EMF) on serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and triiodothronine–thyroxin (T3–T4) hormones levels of adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were studied.
Thirty rats were used in three independent groups, 10 of which were control (without stress and EMF), 10 of which were exposed to 900MHz EMF and 10 of which were sham-exposed.
The exposures were performed 30 min/day, for 5 days/week for 4 weeks to 900MHz EMF.
Sham-exposed animals were kept under the same environmental conditions as the study groups except with no EMF exposure.
The concentration of TSH and T3–T4 hormones in the rat serum was measured by using an immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) method for TSH and a radio-immunoassay (RIA) method for T3 and T4 hormones.
TSH values and T3–T4 at the 900MHz EMF group were significantly lower than the sham-exposed group (p < 0.01). There were no statistically significant differences in serum TSH values and T3–T4 hormone concentrations between the control and the sham-exposed group (p > 0.05).
These results indicate that 900MHz EMF emitted by cellular telephones decrease serum TSH and T3–T4 levels.

Versione PDF integrale scaricabile al seguente link:

TIROIDE

Brussels International Scientific Declaration on Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity 2015

Dopo il quinto congresso dell’Appello di Parigi tenutosi il 18 maggio 2015 presso la “Royal Academy of Medicine” di Bruxelles ed incentrato sul tema delle ipersensibilità ambientali, gli scienziati Europei, Americani e Canadesi partecipanti hanno deciso all’unanimità di creare un gruppo di lavoro e scrivere una Dichiarazione Internazionale Comune per richiedere un riconoscimento ufficiale di queste nuove malattie e delle loro conseguenze sanitarie in tutto il mondo.

Con questa Dichiarazione, oltre ad invitare enti ed istituzioni nazionali e internazionali (ed in particolare l’OMS) ad assumersi con urgenza le proprie responsabilità in termini di riconoscimento di Elettroipersensibilità e Sensibilità Chimica Multipla come malattie reali, includendole conseguentemente nella Classificazione Internazionale delle Malattie (ICD), hanno invitato le suddette istituzioni a: 1) adottare semplici misure cautelari di prevenzione dei danni da esposizione ai Campi Elettromagnetici, 2) informare le popolazioni in merito al problema, 3) nominare dei veri e propri gruppi di esperti indipendenti per valutare i rischi sanitari in totale obiettività scientifica (cosa che allo stato attuale non accade).

Testualmente viene detto:

“We, physicians, acting in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, we, scientists, acting in the name of scientific truth, we all, medical doctors and researchers working in different countries worldwide, hereby state in full independence of judgment,

 that a high and growing number of persons are suffering from EHS and MCS worldwide;
 that EHS and MCS affect women, men and children;
 that on the basis of the presently available peer-reviewed scientific evidence of adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and various chemicals, and on the basis of clinical and biological investigations of patients, EHS is associated with exposure to EMFs and MCS with chemical exposure;
 that many frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum (radio- and microwave-frequencies as well as low and extremely low frequencies) and multiple chemicals are involved in the occurrence of EHS and MCS respectively;
 that the trigger for illness can be acute high intensity exposure or chronic very low intensity exposure and that reversibility can be obtained with a natural environment characterized by limited levels of anthropogenic EMFs and chemicals;
 that current case-control epidemiological studies and provocative studies aiming at reproducing EHS and/or MCS are scientifically difficult to construct and due to the present design flaws are in fact not suitable to prove or disprove causality; in particular because objective inclusion/exclusion criteria and endpoint evaluation criteria need to be more clearly defined; because responses to EMFs/chemicals are highly individual and depend on a variety of exposure parameters; and finally because test conditions are often reducing signal-to-noise ratio thereby obscuring evidence of a possible effect;
 that the nocebo effect is not a relevant nor a valid explanation when considering scientifically valuable blind provocation studies, since objective biological markers are detectable in patients as well as in animals;
 that new approaches are emerging for clinical and biological diagnosis and for monitoring of EHS and MCS including the use of reliable biomarkers;
 that EHS and MCS may be two faces of the same hypersensitivity-associated pathological condition and that this condition is causing serious consequences to health, professional and family life;
 finally that EHS and MCS ought therefore to be fully recognized by international and national institutions with responsibility for human health.

In view of our present scientific knowledge, we thereby stress all national and international bodies and institutions, more particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), to recognize EHS and MCS as true medical conditions which acting as sentinel diseases may create a major public health concern in years to come worldwide i.e. in all the countries implementing unrestricted use of electromagnetic field-based wireless technologies and marketed chemical substances.
Inaction is a cost to society and is not an option any more.

Although our scientific knowledge still remains to be completed, we unanimously acknowledge this serious hazard to public health, urgently requiring the recognition of this condition at all international levels, so that persons can benefit from adapted diagnostic tools, innovative treatments, and above all, that major primary prevention measures are adopted and prioritized, to face this worldwide pan-epidemic in perspective.

According to the present scientific knowledge and taking into account the precautionary principle, we unanimously recommend that true information in the use of chemicals and wireless technologies be made accessible to the public and precautionary regulation measures applying particularly to children and other vulnerable population subgroups be urgently taken as it should be the case regarding chemicals in the application of the European Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.
To fulfill these objectives, we unanimously request that institutional committees designed for evaluating the risks of EMFs and chemicals be constituted by scientists acting in clear science-based independency and so exclude any experts with industry affiliation.

We therefore ask all national and international bodies and institutions to be aware of this critical environmental health issue and to take urgently their responsibility, more specifically WHO, updating its 2005 and 2014 consideration on EHS and recognizing EHS and MCS as part of the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as it is already particularly the case in Germany and Japan which classified MCS under a specific code. EHS and MCS should be represented by separate codes under the WHO ICD in order to increase awareness by the medical community, governments, politicians and the general public; to foster research on the population that acquires these pathological syndromes; and, to train medical doctors on effective medical prevention measures and treatments.

Al seguente link potete trovare il PDF della versione integrale della Dichiarazione Scientifica Internazionale 2015 su EHS ed MCS:

BRUXELLES

Promemoria: Brussels International Scientific Declaration on Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity 2015

ANTEFATTO:

Dopo il quinto congresso dell’Appello di Parigi tenutosi il 18 maggio 2015 presso la “Royal Academy of Medicine” di Bruxelles ed incentrato sul tema delle ipersensibilità ambientali, gli scienziati Europei, Americani e Canadesi partecipanti hanno deciso all’unanimità di creare un gruppo di lavoro e scrivere una Dichiarazione Internazionale Comune per richiedere un riconoscimento ufficiale di queste nuove malattie e delle loro conseguenze sanitarie in tutto il mondo.

Con questa Dichiarazione, oltre ad invitare enti ed istituzioni nazionali e internazionali (ed in particolare l’OMS) ad assumersi con urgenza le proprie responsabilità in termini di riconoscimento di Elettroipersensibilità e Sensibilità Chimica Multipla come malattie reali, includendole conseguentemente nella Classificazione Internazionale delle Malattie (ICD), hanno invitato le suddette istituzioni a: 1) adottare semplici misure cautelari di prevenzione dei danni da esposizione ai Campi Elettromagnetici, 2) informare le popolazioni in merito al problema, 3) nominare dei veri e propri gruppi di esperti indipendenti per valutare i rischi sanitari in totale obiettività scientifica (cosa che allo stato attuale non accade).

Testualmente viene detto:

“We, physicians, acting in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, we, scientists, acting in the name of scientific truth, we all, medical doctors and researchers working in different countries worldwide, hereby state in full independence of judgment,

 that a high and growing number of persons are suffering from EHS and MCS worldwide;
 that EHS and MCS affect women, men and children;
 that on the basis of the presently available peer-reviewed scientific evidence of adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and various chemicals, and on the basis of clinical and biological investigations of patients, EHS is associated with exposure to EMFs and MCS with chemical exposure;
 that many frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum (radio- and microwave-frequencies as well as low and extremely low frequencies) and multiple chemicals are involved in the occurrence of EHS and MCS respectively;
 that the trigger for illness can be acute high intensity exposure or chronic very low intensity exposure and that reversibility can be obtained with a natural environment characterized by limited levels of anthropogenic EMFs and chemicals;
 that current case-control epidemiological studies and provocative studies aiming at reproducing EHS and/or MCS are scientifically difficult to construct and due to the present design flaws are in fact not suitable to prove or disprove causality; in particular because objective inclusion/exclusion criteria and endpoint evaluation criteria need to be more clearly defined; because responses to EMFs/chemicals are highly individual and depend on a variety of exposure parameters; and finally because test conditions are often reducing signal-to-noise ratio thereby obscuring evidence of a possible effect;
 that the nocebo effect is not a relevant nor a valid explanation when considering scientifically valuable blind provocation studies, since objective biological markers are detectable in patients as well as in animals;
 that new approaches are emerging for clinical and biological diagnosis and for monitoring of EHS and MCS including the use of reliable biomarkers;
 that EHS and MCS may be two faces of the same hypersensitivity-associated pathological condition and that this condition is causing serious consequences to health, professional and family life;
 finally that EHS and MCS ought therefore to be fully recognized by international and national institutions with responsibility for human health.

In view of our present scientific knowledge, we thereby stress all national and international bodies and institutions, more particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), to recognize EHS and MCS as true medical conditions which acting as sentinel diseases may create a major public health concern in years to come worldwide i.e. in all the countries implementing unrestricted use of electromagnetic field-based wireless technologies and marketed chemical substances.
Inaction is a cost to society and is not an option any more.

Although our scientific knowledge still remains to be completed, we unanimously acknowledge this serious hazard to public health, urgently requiring the recognition of this condition at all international levels, so that persons can benefit from adapted diagnostic tools, innovative treatments, and above all, that major primary prevention measures are adopted and prioritized, to face this worldwide pan-epidemic in perspective.

According to the present scientific knowledge and taking into account the precautionary principle, we unanimously recommend that true information in the use of chemicals and wireless technologies be made accessible to the public and precautionary regulation measures applying particularly to children and other vulnerable population subgroups be urgently taken as it should be the case regarding chemicals in the application of the European Registration Evaluation Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.
To fulfill these objectives, we unanimously request that institutional committees designed for evaluating the risks of EMFs and chemicals be constituted by scientists acting in clear science-based independency and so exclude any experts with industry affiliation.

We therefore ask all national and international bodies and institutions to be aware of this critical environmental health issue and to take urgently their responsibility, more specifically WHO, updating its 2005 and 2014 consideration on EHS and recognizing EHS and MCS as part of the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as it is already particularly the case in Germany and Japan which classified MCS under a specific code. EHS and MCS should be represented by separate codes under the WHO ICD in order to increase awareness by the medical community, governments, politicians and the general public; to foster research on the population that acquires these pathological syndromes; and, to train medical doctors on effective medical prevention measures and treatments.

COSA STA PER ACCADERE:

Una risposta a questa Dichiarazione è attesa per il 15 settembre 2015.

Al seguente link potete trovare il PDF della versione integrale della Dichiarazione Scientifica Internazionale 2015 su EHS ed MCS:

BRUXELLES

Can excessive use of Wi-Fi, gadgets, trigger headaches, allergies?

12 settembre 2015 – “Zee News India”

[Un problema diffuso, che suscita notevoli preoccupazioni a livello internazionale.]

Kolkata: Should you worry about 'wireless allergies'?
Kolkata: Should you worry about ‘wireless allergies’?

Addressed with skepticism by most, the term electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) or wireless allergy or gadget allergy, is ascribed to a range of non-specific symptoms like headache and fatigue apparently due to heavy use of wireless communicating devices, especially those that emit electromagnetic radiation (EMR).

Common sources of this Wi-Fi tsunami include mobile phone signals, Wi-Fi hotspots, Wi-Fi enabled devices like tabs, cellphones, laptops and a plethora of other gadgets.

The controversial issue was recently thrust in the limelight when a French court in a landmark ruling granted disability allowance to a 39-year-old woman who claimed to be experiencing discomfort from alleged EHS. She was forced to live in a countryside barn far away from the Wi-Fi and the internet.

Despite such examples, the legitimacy debate rages on – is it a real thing or cooked up – fueled by the absence of hard evidence and conclusive research.

According to WHO, EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and there is no scientific basis to link its symptoms to EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure, but it also says: “The symptoms are certainly real and can vary widely in their severity. Whatever its cause, EHS can be a disabling problem for the affected individual.”

Experts in India who have been studying such emerging problems (for example, the link between EHS and cellphone usage) say that with the introduction and expansion of wireless communication technologies, complaints related to mobile phones, base stations and gadgets have become more prominent.

“The radio frequency electromagnetic radiation (RFR – a type of electromagnetic radiation) exposure levels have amplified manifold because of the extensive use of mobile phones and other devices,” Neeraj Kumar Tiwari, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, SRM University, Lucknow, told IANS in an e-mail interview.

“Very common symptoms and sensations of EHS are irritation, headache, stammering, hearing loss, dizziness, ringing delusion, disrupted sleep, stress, fatigue and restlessness,” he added.

Further at the genetic level, electromagnetic radiation from mobiles cause damage if their exposure time and level are high, said M. Y. Khan, Dean, School for Biosciences and Biotechnology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow, who has extensively dealt with the issue as a scientist.

In fact, he said, the situation in India compared to the West is worse. “Because we tend to use cheap mobile sets made by companies which do not follow the standard norms about the radiation safety,” Khan, Professor and Head, Department of Biotechnology at the varsity, said in an e-mail interview.

The electromagnetic fields produced by mobile phones are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Tiwari added that children may be more vulnerable than adults to EMF effects due to their “developing brain, greater absorption of energy in brain and a longer span of exposure over their lifetime”.

But all said and done, the fact is Wi-Fi, mobile phones and the internet are a necessity today, so much so that the number of internet connections in India has swelled to 300 million.

And, in a population of 1.25 billion, there are 980 million mobile connections, as per the latest data released by telecom regulator TRAI. Factor into this Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ initiative which will be driven by mobile technology.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) states EMFs produced by the antennae on mobile towers and mobile phones are at the lower end of the electromagnetic emission spectrum and are ‘non-ionizing radiations’, which means that the energy carried by them is not enough to break the chemical bonds between molecules.

“The Indian government has adopted one of the strictest global safety norms for EMF, which is one tenth of the emission levels (recommended by WHO) followed by most of the countries in the world.

“The government’s support and guidance in allaying the misplaced fears regarding EMF emissions from towers in the minds of the people would be paramount in addressing the issue of misplaced EMF fear psychosis, and help develop and deliver the Digital India dream of the government,” COAI Director General Rajan S. Mathews told IANS.

While EHS battles an existential crisis and as teenagers get more and more hooked to gadgets, Tiwari and Khan suggested ‘green communication’ – an approach to minimize the risks or defects associated with wireless communication systems.

Madhumita Dobe of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health stressed on more research on EHS in India.

As for now, following simple tips like texting instead of talking, keeping cellphones and gadgets at a distance and not placing cell phones under pillows is the way to go.

Articolo originale al seguente link:

http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/health-news/can-excessive-use-of-wi-fi-gadgets-trigger-headaches-allergies_1795192.html

Oxidative mechanisms of biological activity of low-intensity radiofrequency radiation

[In questa importante rassegna di recente pubblicazione da parte di “Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine”, su 100 articoli scientifici peer-reviewed, ben 93 confermano l’effetto biologico di natura ossidativa generato dalla esposizione alle radiofrequenze e microonde.
Gli autori concludono che questo acclarato meccanismo d’azione rappresenti una delle principali cause di danno biologico indotto da questo tipo di radiazioni tipiche di telefonia mobile, Wi-Fi e apparati Wireless in genere.]

LEBM
by:
Igor Yakymenko 1, Olexandr Tsybulin 2, Evgeniy Sidorik 1, Diane Henshel 3, Olga Kyrylenko 4 and Sergiy Kyrylenko 5      

1 Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology of NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Department of Biophysics, Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA, A.I. Virtanen Institute, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, and 5Department of Structural and Functional Biology, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

ARTICLE INFO

Article history
Received 10 January 2015
Accepted 12 April 2015
Published online 7 July 2015

Keywords
Cellular signaling, cancer, free radicals,
oxidative stress, radiofrequency radiation,
reactive oxygen species

ABSTRACT
This review aims to cover experimental data on oxidative effects of low-intensity radiofrequency
radiation (RFR) in living cells. Analysis of the currently available peer-reviewed
scientific literature reveals molecular effects induced by low-intensity RFR in living cells; this
includes significant activation of key pathways generating reactive oxygen species (ROS),
activation of peroxidation, oxidative damage of DNA and changes in the activity of antioxidant
enzymes. It indicates that among 100 currently available peer-reviewed studies dealing with
oxidative effects of low-intensity RFR, in general, 93 confirmed that RFR induces oxidative
effects in biological systems. A wide pathogenic potential of the induced ROS and their
involvement in cell signaling pathways explains a range of biological/health effects of lowintensity
RFR, which include both cancer and non-cancer pathologies. In conclusion, our
analysis demonstrates that low-intensity RFR is an expressive oxidative agent for living cells
with a high pathogenic potential and that the oxidative stress induced by RFR exposure should
be recognized as one of the primary mechanisms of the biological activity of this kind of
radiation.

Versione PDF integrale scaricabile al seguente link:

OXIDATIVE MECHANISMS OF BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF LOW INTENSITY RF RADIATION

Brain on fire: Living with electromagnetic hypersensitivity

4 settembre 2015 – “stuff.co.nz – well&good”, by Mark White

IT specialist Steve Weller describes the pain of EMS as like "a tight-fitting hat being pulled down on your head".
IT specialist Steve Weller describes the pain of EMS as like “a tight-fitting hat being pulled down on your head”.

Hellish headaches are just the start for people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity – and in our wi-fi world, there’s almost nowhere to hide.

After an hour of measuring radio-frequency levels around Benalla, the north-eastern Victorian city of 9300 deep in Ned Kelly country, Australia, Bruce Evans puts down his smartphone-sized digital meter.

He says he wants to demonstrate how badly cordless phones leak radiation, and there’s one in the Benalla bookshop he can test. He strides off with intent on a sunny Sunday morning, a burly man with a shaved head, like a friendly bouncer you nonetheless wouldn’t want to mess with.

EHS sufferer Bruce Evans.
EHS sufferer Bruce Evans.

Evans, a 50-year-old web designer and former Australian Army commando, is showing me where he can go without falling ill. He says he has a controversial condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), triggered by electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by power lines, devices such as smartphones and laptops, by wireless routers and towers pumping out telco and NBN signals – the building blocks of the modern economy; indeed, of modern living as we know it.

Symptoms range from a mild headache through to tingles, tinnitus and heart palpitations to incapacitating migraines, fatigue and nausea. Being EHS puts a huge mental strain on sufferers, both from their symptoms and from not being believed.

EHS is contentious because the radio-frequency levels at which sufferers say they’re affected fall well below those considered dangerous by regulators. And its existence is denied by mainstream medicine. While allergies can be tested with a needle-prick blood sample, there is no accepted diagnostic test for EHS, so most sufferers are self-diagnosed. “The collection of symptoms,” says a World Health Organisation (WHO) fact sheet, “is not part of any recognised syndrome.”

Theo R, who has moved to an isolated property with his partner Irma.
Theo R, who has moved to an isolated property with his partner Irma.


We enter the bookshop. Evans doesn’t recognise the young woman behind the counter. He reaches into his backpack and removes his meter. “I was wondering if I could just measure the telephone?” he asks.

“Hi,” I add. “I’m from Good Weekend magazine, we’re doing a story about – ” I fumble briefly ” – how some electrical items leak electricity … ”

The woman freezes. “I’m sorry,” she finally says. “If I had some proof of who you are … ”

Signs outside Theo and Irma's home.
Signs outside Theo and Irma’s home.

We leave without the measurement but with a glimpse into Evans’ world. “She was probably looking for the big red button under the counter to call the Men in Black,” he jokes.

Sufferers of EHS say they are environmental refugees in their own country, moving to other cities or suburbs or retreating to remote rural hideaways to escape their symptoms. I spoke to a dozen sufferers, some of whom coat their houses in paint that reflects electromagnetic radiation (EMR), fit wire mesh over their windows, or wear protective caps made of cotton-metal-blend fabric. Shielding items cost dearly: one online business lists a five-litre pot of paint for NZ$550 and a protective iPhone 6 case for NZ$60. “The number of people contacting us with EMR-related problems is absolutely growing,” says EMR Australia director Lyn McLean.

Steve Weller, a 46-year-old IT specialist, moved his family from Melbourne to Brisbane because of EHS, but continues to search for a “haven”. He describes his symptoms as akin to “a tight-fitting hat being pulled down on your head, often accompanied by a pricking feeling over the scalp”.

Bruce Evans with his smartphone-sized digital meter.
Bruce Evans with his smartphone-sized digital meter.

Wendy McClelland, 57, has been on a government disability pension since 2003 because of her EHS symptoms. She covers her face with a shielding cloth and sunglasses when she drives into Ballarat from her isolated property in country Victoria – and has been abused at traffic lights because people think she’s Muslim.

Bruce Evans has a vision for sufferers of EHS. He wants to build a community in an area of low EMF emissions, known as a White Zone, where victims can live and thrive together. There are a handful globally, largely in northern Europe and the US. Evans’ community could take root at his dad’s farm at Myrrhee, in north-east Victoria, on land his family has worked for 150 years. It could then expand through the valley, a dead zone for mobile phone signals … for now, at least.

The WHO insists there’s “no scientific basis” for a link between EMF exposure and EHS, but agrees the symptoms are real. Estimates of EHS’s prevalence vary widely, from one in 30 people to a few in a million.

EHS sufferer Irma.
EHS sufferer Irma.

The Australian Medical Association declined to comment on EHS. Michael Repacholi, the Australian former co-ordinator of the WHO’s Radiation and Environmental Health unit, says studies show “as conclusively as possible” that sufferers’ symptoms are not due to EMF, but could have another explanation. He suggests EHS could be “psychosomatic”.

But sufferers insist their symptoms are real, and caused by EMF. “Cate”, a 43-year-old project manager in health evaluation in Sydney, doesn’t want her name published because she’s worried she’ll be “pigeon-holed by colleagues”. She believes she’s a likely EHS sufferer – it’s the only explanation for five years of severe nausea, muscle weakness, migraines and body tingling.

After she moved from her inner-city unit to outer Sydney, where a friend of hers has measured 16,000 times less EMF exposure, she says her health improved significantly. A nodule on her thyroid, which was set for surgery, stopped growing.

EHS has had some high-profile sufferers, including Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister and WHO director-general, who banned mobile phones in her office as they gave her headaches.

Chuck, a character with EHS in the Breaking Bad spin-off series Better Call Saul, confines himself to his house, which has the electricity disconnected. In one episode he sprints outside for a few seconds, wrapped in a metallic sheet that flaps behind him like Batman’s cape. His vision blurs and a howling noise rings in his ears.

Steve Weller has watched this and says the sounds were added for dramatic effect: “Some people experience tinnitus from exposure events, but not like on the program.” Weller started suffering symptoms – heart palpitations and headaches – when he installed a wireless router in his home in 2001. The symptoms immediately dissipated once he turned the router off. He went on to spend more than NZ$22,000 on shielding his house, which didn’t stop the pain and discomfort coming on when he was outdoors.

In 2013, he finally left Melbourne to escape the compulsory statewide rollout of smart meters to measure electricity use, commonly blamed by Victorian EHS sufferers as provoking symptoms.

The notion of EHS would once have been “rubbish” to Weller. “I was addicted to my smartphone and playing computer games,” he says. Wireless technology gives us so much freedom that people don’t want to accept that it may come with a cost, he adds.

Bruce Evans is gloomily contemplating an NBN tower about to go live at Moyhu, near his favourite burger joint. The north-eastern Victorian town is just over the lip of the valley in which he lives.

Evans moved to a cottage adjoining his dad’s farm in 2012 after five years of deepening health problems in Melbourne. These began when he first used an iPhone. (“Bang! It was like someone had stuck an ice-pick in my head,” he says.) His symptoms intensified in line with the rollout of the 3G mobile network and smart meters.

During Evans’ last two years in Melbourne, he only left his room to buy food. His social life disintegrated and he couldn’t attend business meetings. Years earlier, he’d met a woman with a sensitivity to chemicals who refused to get in a car. “I was like, ‘Pffft, loony’ … I met a couple of other people in similar situations and I just wrote them off as nuts, bloody sensitive little namby-pambies. Then it started happening to me.”

Evans drives up a mountain to show me the valley in which he dreams that dozens of White Zones homes could be built. He stops to read his meter. It’s hundreds of times his safe limit. “Oh f…,” he says, reversing the van, away from the danger zone. Five minutes later, he touches his top of his head. “I’ve got pressure here.”

Evans posted his idea for a community on the web. One line read: “I want this area declared a sanctuary where telcos cannot infringe.”

The post went viral and emails poured in from around Australia and abroad. Theo R, 60, contacted him from a caravan on the Gwydir River, in NSW’s Northern Tablelands, where he was living with his partner, Irma, 55. The couple had moved to the tablelands in 2014, their only guests the occasional fisherman and flocks of native birds. Irma’s EHS is so severe, Theo had to construct an EMF-blocking Faraday cage – pasting heat-reflective foil over their entire mobile home.

Clinical studies have shown that sufferers frequently can’t tell when an EMF source is present; they only have symptoms when they believe one exists. Other studies indicate that the effects of EMF on laboratory animals, plants and human cells are real. These conflicting results are cited by EHS sufferers and sceptics as proof that each side is right.

Professor Rodney Croft, of the Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research at the University of Wollongong, is keeping an open mind on whether EHS exists, despite his own research casting doubt on the claims of some sufferers, which he is now re-conducting. “My feeling is [their condition] won’t end up being due to radio frequencies, but there is a large number of people with quite serious problems,” he notes. “It’s very real.”

One way to prove EHS is real is with “provocation tests” – introducing and removing frequencies and asking sufferers to match their presence to their symptoms. According to Steve Weller, these tests can’t reliably distinguish genuine EHS victims from those suffering a possible “nocebo” effect (generating adverse symptoms themselves). Weller says that biological tests are a better way of testing for the condition.

Former Sydney University physics lecturer Jim McCaughan agrees. Provocation tests, he argues, “assume the brain is acting as a meter”. He believes that damage from EMF is cumulative.

McCaughan was forced to retire from academia after a sudden EHS onset in 2013, when he felt his brain “rippling” under his skull. “That was scary,” he says. When we meet in a Sydney cafe, he’s wearing a smart cream hat; underneath it are seven skullcaps made of shielding fabric which he says reduces his EMF exposure by 99 per cent. McCaughan speaks with a veteran lecturer’s rational tone. If he wears the shielding, he can function normally – if he doesn’t, he could pay for it later. That’s enough to prove a link, he insists.

The most high-profile official recognition of EHS in Australia occurred in 2013, when the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) awarded compensation to former CSIRO senior research scientist David McDonald. When he was hired in 1994, he told CSIRO he had EHS and was granted an assistant to help with computer work.

That help was withdrawn in 2006, and he was required to trial electronic equipment. Each time, he suffered nausea, headaches and migraines. Government insurer Comcare argued EHS is not an “ailment” as it has no diagnostic criteria, but the AAT dismissed this and ruled that CSIRO had worsened his EHS symptoms.

By 2009, as his condition worsened, McDonald, now 61, had to move with wife Lynne, 54, from their inner-city Melbourne house to a 40-hectare farm north of the city. They use a low-voltage electricity system, which runs the tiny TV on which he watches his footy team, Hawthorn, play. Going to a game is out of the question and his career is finished. “I’m not whinging about it,” he says. “I’ve just had to restrict my activities a great deal. Not working has been a huge restriction for me.”

His GP Russell Cooper’s diagnosis of EHS in 1992 formed part of the evidence at McDonald’s tribunal. While not commenting on McDonald’s case, Cooper says he sees sufferers react to WiFi in his Tasmanian practice if it is turned on. And he believes he’s identified a way to test for EHS – the first – which is being developed in a Greek laboratory, based on variations in “heat shock protein” genes that help protect people from radiation exposure. “It’s early days yet,” he says.

In the meantime, a grassroots movement is growing across Australia against new mobile or NBN towers. The community-based OREAD Project in Kyogle, NSW, adopted a biological approach to testing EMF effects ahead of a proposed NBN tower in the area. Twelve residents had their blood analysed, and the results were sent to NBN Co., Visionstream and Ericsson by Nimbin solicitor David Spain. If the tower is erected and subsequent blood tests show their health has been compromised, Spain says there could be grounds for an injunction or as a precedent in future planning cases.

If EHS is real, then the implications of more and more WiFi are scary. Lynne McDonald believes her husband could be one of the “coal-mine canaries” for EMF effects.

Bruce Evans enters a two-storey building on his dad’s farm where dormitory accommodation might be sited. The ground floor is a jumble of machinery, creating an obstacle course to the ladder leading upstairs. On the upper level, there are bird droppings on the floor and ripped cladding hanging from the ceiling. Seasonal hops pickers used to bunk here, but not recently.

His dad, John, 76, is outside. He resembles an older version of Bruce and also suffers from EHS. “I gave him an iPhone once and he was a write-off for two days,” says Bruce. “Yeah,” replies his father. What does dad think of having people with EHS here? “We’ve got all these old buildings here not being used for anything. We could have a set-up where people could come.”

The summit of a nearby hill is speckled with blackberry bushes, splats of dung and a few rabbits darting out of sight. Huts could be built here and on the facing slope. John is an irrigation engineer, so they can pump water up the hill. A dam in an adjoining hollow could be a recreation area for fishing. Evans works in the cottage at a kidney-shaped desk, with filters over the computer screens. He’s built a website called Radiation Refuge to match EHS sufferers with suitable accommodation, which had 14 listings in August.

You sense Evans thought his White Zone would be a simple undertaking: declare it open and they will come. But Diane Schou, who lives with about 50 other sufferers at the White Zone of Green Bank, West Virginia, warns there’s a lot to consider. “We are all different,” she says. “Certain frequencies seriously harm some of us, but do not harm others.”

Evans has learned that lesson the hard way, with several sufferers finding it difficult to stay there, and a recent one having problems as soon as she entered the valley. His first visitor, Kaytie Wood, felt the cottage was “not a safe place”. Wood, a 58-year-old energy healer, had an immediate headache as soon as she arrived. Evans turned off various items, including a smart meter housed 70 metres away in a shed. That helped, but over the next day she became steadily worse: her headache grew, she became nauseous and could barely move. “It was like having an all-over-the-body migraine and the power was off there,” says Wood. “It must have been something else.”

Evans convinced his sister – who runs a goat farm over the road – to turn off her electric fences, which helped. Wood camped outdoors the second night. “I think there was a lot of learning for Bruce,” she says. “He discovered we’re sensitive to different things.”

The NBN tower at Moyhu was recently turned on. Evans can’t measure any difference with his meters, but now feels like he has “termites in his head” when he goes for a run up the road.

In July, he discovered a mobile phone tower will be erected – he’s not sure when – on a hill he can see from his office window. His dream of a White Zone seems over. He doesn’t know how he will cope. He’ll have to take to the road and is hoping someone will donate a caravan for him to live in.

Theo R and Irma might have a solution. They moved in May to NSW’s Central West, to an abandoned five-room homestead on 160 hectares, owned by a friend, by the Warrumbungle National Park. Theo repaired the doors and windows and dug a new dunny pit. Irma has regained her energy and is thinking of starting a business. They’re inviting people with EHS to camp there.

“The scenery is second-to-none,” Theo says. “It’s a little miracle.”

Articolo originale al seguente link:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/71753199/brain-on-fire-living-with-electromagnetic-hypersensitivity

Marine Richard : «Il faut créer des zones blanches» [Marine Richard : «Dobbiamo creare delle zone bianche»]

27 agosto 2015 – “La Depeche”, a cura di Paul Arnaud

[Articolo in Francese]

“La Santé près de chez vous – Électrosensibilité”

AAA
“Marine Richard a vu son hypersensibilité aux ondes électromagnétiques reconnue comme handicap par la justice. Elle en appelle à la création de zones blanches pour les électrosensibles.

Elle fait la Une de tous les médias de France mais refuse les photos et tient à rester discrète et tranquille, à l’abri des ondes, dans sa maison de pierres des Pyrénées ariégeoises. Elle ? Marine Richard qui se définit comme «une réfugiée environnementale», est devenue en quelques heures le porte-voix des électrosensibles après la décision du tribunal du contentieux de l’incapacité de Toulouse qui a reconnu comme handicap son syndrome d’hypersensibilité aux ondes électromagnétiques «dont la description des signes cliniques est irréfutable» (lire notre édition du 26 août). Un syndrome dont Marine Richard, ancienne journaliste et auteur dramatique, souffre de puis 2010. Elle milite dans de nombreuses associations engagées contre les ondes électromagnétiques.

Comment êtes-vous arrivée en Ariège ?

Je me considère comme une réfugiée environnementale. J’ai cherché pendant 1 an et demi, avant d’arriver en Ariège en 2012, un endroit protégé des ondes, où je puisse survivre sans souffrir physiquement.

Vous parlez de survie…

Le mot n’est pas trop fort étant donné les troubles physiques dont j’ai été affectée.

Comment cela se traduit-il ?

Il y a plusieurs types de symptômes. Les premiers sont des douleurs intracrâniennes extrêmement violentes qui peuvent aller de la sensation d’avoir une perceuse qui vous transperce le cerveau ou une sensation d’étau qui vous écrase la tête. Ce sont des douleurs insoutenables qui descendent aussi le long de la colonne vertébrale. Vous avez l’impression que votre tête va exploser. Viennent d’autres problèmes, cardiaques et neurologiques, qui affectent la concentration.

Ces symptômes peuvent-ils disparaître ?

Ces symptômes régressent quand on se trouve à l’abri des ondes. Des études scientifiques montrent que lorsqu’une personne sensible est exposée à des ondes, elle peut avoir une oxygénation cérébrale qui est à 30 % de la normale. Quand elle est à l’abri des ondes, son cerceau fonctionne normalement. ça rend la vie impossible. Le mot survie n’est pas trop fort.

Ce syndrome se soigne ?

La seule thérapie efficace est de se protéger des champs magnétiques. Il y a aussi des palliatifs qui permettent de supporter. Cela fait régresser les symptômes mais ne soigne pas la maladie qui est environnementale.

Votre victoire devant le tribunal va-t-elle faire jurisprudence ?

Il n’y a aucune raison que cela ne le fasse pas. Au-delà de mon cas personnel, il y a des milliers de personnes qui sont dans un état de souffrance intolérable. Cette première victoire va servir d’autres contentieux en cours contre des maisons du handicap ailleurs en France.

Peut-elle faire évoluer la réglementation ?

C’est compliqué de répondre. Le problème aujourd’hui est que les instances décisionnaires sont conseillées par les lobbys. À termes, il est inéluctable que l’état créé des zones protégées pour que certaines personnes atteintes de pathologies comme l’électrosensibilité puissent survivre. Je viens de recevoir le message d’un proche d’une personne qui s’est suicidée car elle ne tolérait plus sa souffrance physique et ne trouvait pas d’endroit où se réfugier.

Selon vous, il faut créer des «réserves» sans ondes ?

Malheureusement, oui. C’est intolérable de dire une chose pareille car on affirme qu’il faut exclure ces gens mais ils sont déjà exclus et ils souffrent physiquement. Il y a urgence à créer des zones blanches, protégées des champs électromagnétiques où des personnes trop affectées peuvent survivre en attendant que la société évolue et qu’on impose aux opérateurs d’abaisser les seuils de pollution. Et ça, c’est une volonté politique qui ne dépend pas de gens comme moi.

Marine Richard a écrit un livre présenté comme « un thriller rocambolesque. » « Sans mobile », Marine Richard, Le Square éditeur.

Radiation from wireless technology affects the blood, the heart, and the autonomic nervous system

Presented at the Corporate Interference with Science and Health: Fracking, Food, and Wireless, Scandinavia House, New York, NY, March 13 and 14, 2013.

by Magda Havas

Abstract:

Exposure to electrosmog generated by electric, electronic, and wireless technology is accelerating to the point that a portion of the population is experiencing adverse reactions when they are exposed. The symptoms of electrohypersensitivity (EHS), best described as rapid aging syndrome, experienced by adults and children resemble symptoms experienced by radar operators in the 1940s to the 1960s and are well described in the literature. An increasingly common response includes clumping (rouleau formation) of the red blood cells, heart palpitations, pain or pressure in the chest accompanied by anxiety, and an upregulation of the sympathetic nervous system coincident with a downregulation of the parasympathetic nervous system typical of the “fight-orflight” response. Provocation studies presented in this article demonstrate that the response to electrosmog is physiologic and not psychosomatic. Those who experience prolonged and severe EHS may develop psychologic problems as a consequence of their inability to work, their limited ability to travel in our highly technologic environment, and the social stigma that their symptoms are imagined
rather than real.
Keywords: electrosmog; radio-frequency radiation; rouleau; tachycardia; WiFi; Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

Versione completa in PDF scaricabile al seguente link:

view.pdf HAVAS