Q:
I’m confused about the level of danger associated with cell phones,
cordless phones, high tension wires, wireless Internet connections
and all the other electronic stuff that people tell me isn’t good
for me. The other day, someone told me that I shouldn’t have my
electric clock radio beside the head of my bed! What do you think
about all of this? Are these things harmful?
A:
There is no doubt that the level of low frequency radio waves is increasing in
our environment and that, as a result, most of us are living in an electronic
smog. And while you’re thinking about sources, don’t forget baby monitors,
dimmer switches, computer monitors, fluorescent light bulbs, halogen lights,
radios, microwave ovens, just plain electrical wiring….all things that
researchers say can make some people ill with symptoms that can include nausea,
headaches, asthma, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, tinnitus, brain fog, restless
sleep and rashes. The illness is sometimes called electrohypersensitivity or
EHS. And it may be just the tip of the iceberg, since new research indicates
that exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) may cause damage at the cellular
level.
There is much puzzling and sometimes conflicting research on
this topic; there are studies that corporations can use to placate people’s
fears, as well as studies that could turn us all into Luddites. For instance,
one study on hands-free mobile phones (i.e. those with a wired ear attachment)
funded by the U.K. government contradicts another study by the Consumers’
Association, which found that the hands-free style tripled the radiation going
into the user’s brain; the government study found that hands-free cell phones
cut radiation by up to 80 percent!
As far back as the pre-Wi-Fi and cell phone 1950s, it was
found that relocating asthmatics to areas of low electrical fields eliminated
their symptoms. But it took until 1998 for an international panel of researchers
meeting in Vienna, Austria – including a professor from Queens University in
Canada and a representative from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – to
agree that the biological effects from low-intensity exposures to
electromagnetic fields (EMF) are well-established.
In 2004, the European Union’s EMF Reflex Research Project –
an in vitro study – was released, showing that EMF radiation can damage DNA
in human cells. The report also cautioned about the health risks of exposure to
cell phone antennas (referred to as “base stations”).
In 2006, the International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety (ICEMS)
released
a 650-page report citing more than 2,000 studies (many very recent)
which emphasizes that the accumulated evidence points to
“adverse health effects from occupational and public exposures to electric,
magnetic, and EMF at current exposure levels.” Signed by 31 leading scientists
from around the world, the resulting
Benevento
Resolution,this resolution calls for governments to “adopt
guidelines for public and occupational EMF exposure that reflect the
Precautionary Principle.
By 2007, with the increasing popularity of wireless Internet, the sense of
urgency had become stronger. The European Environment Agency (EEA) called for
immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, cell phones and
their transmission towers. It suggested that delay could lead to a health crisis
similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and leaded gasoline. The warning
followed an international scientific review which concluded that safety limits
set for EMF radiation are “thousands of times too lenient.” The review, produced
by the international BioInitiative Working Group of leading scientists and
public health and policy experts, said the “explosion of new sources has created
unprecedented levels of artificial electromagnetic fields that now cover all but
remote areas of the habitable space on Earth,” causing “long-term and cumulative
exposure” to “massively increased” radiation that “has no precedent in human
history.”
A study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment in August of 2007
describes how electrical fields from computers, cell phones, Wi-Fi systems and
everyday household devices can give people asthma, influenza and other
respiratory diseases. A team of scientists at Imperial College London’s Centre
for Environmental Policy found that electrical fields can charge minute
particles in the air such as viruses, allergens, bacteria and other toxic
particles. The problem is that the charged particles are less than 80 times the
thickness of human hair, so they are small, light and always airborne, which
means they are constantly being inhaled. Once the particles are electrically
charged, they will stick to the tissue of the lungs and respiratory tract when
they are inhaled. The greater the electrical field, the greater the charge on
the particles, which increases the speed at which they strike the tissue,
causing them to deform and embed in the tissue more firmly. Once embedded in the
tissue, they can cause infection and other health problems.
Cell phone signals utilize pulsed electromagnetic fields, which can greatly
exceed the strength of other EMF fields like those from television and radio
signals. For instance, scientists at the 1998 Vienna Resolution symposium noted
that in one study undertaken in Salzburg, Austria, they were up to 100 times
greater. Because of that – and the fact that cell phones are used in closer
proximity to the body – there has been a lot of research conducted into their
safety.
And the result of much of that research isn’t pretty, with a few studies
linking cell phone usage and cancer. One study, published in 2006 in the
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, found a
significant increase in the risk for malignant brain tumors for subjects with
first use of both cellular and cordless phones at less than 20 years of age.
Another study of 12,000 mobile phone users in Sweden and Norway found “a
statistically significant association between calling time/number of calls per
day and the prevalence of warmth behind/around or on the ear, headaches and
fatigue.” The mobile phone users studied used their phone less than two minutes
or two calls per day. The researchers also found dose/response relationships
with concentration, memory loss, fatigue and headache for people who used the
phones for over one hour per day total.
A study by Drs. Alexander Borbely, Peter Achermann and colleagues at the
Neuroscience Center in Zurich, Switzerland demonstrated that the type and
strength of electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phones can affect the
brain. Twenty-four men in their early 20s were exposed to an intermittent mobile
phone signal whilst asleep (ruling out any placebo effect) for 15 minutes on, 15
minutes off. Every time the signal was first switched on, their electro-
encephalogram patterns (tracings of the brain’s electrical activity) changed,
becoming up to 15 percent stronger in some frequency ranges. The level did not
drop immediately when the signal was switched off but reduced gradually over the
night, suggesting some adaptation mechanism.
The impact of other sources of electromagnetic fields on human health hasn’t
been as well studied. Nevertheless, there is concern. Last year, the president
of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario banned Wi-Fi on campus, likening
it to second-hand smoke. And Toronto’s public health department has questioned
plans to install a citywide wireless network.
High voltage power lines have been around much longer than Wi-Fi, but are
another controversial source of EMR. A study published in 1979 in the
American Journal of Epidemiology by Nancy Wertheimer and Ed Leeper reported
an increased incidence of childhood leukemia, lymphomas and nervous system
tumors for children exposed to very high electromagnetic fields, which related
to the distance they lived from power lines and the thickness and number of
conductors distributing electricity. More recently, a large, publicly-funded
study in the UK found that children under the age of 15 living within 100 meters
of high-voltage power lines have nearly twice the risk of developing leukemia.
The Oxford Childhood Cancer Research Group study involved 33 years of data on
35,000 children diagnosed with cancer.
Magda Havas, an environmental science professor at Trent University in
Peterborough, Ontario, has worked with citizens concerned about high voltage
transmission. In her research, she has found that symptoms of MS, diabetes and
other illnesses improve when capacitators are used to filter the radiation from
the wiring in their homes. Since 1995, Havas has been teaching a unique course
on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields at Trent’s Centre for Health
Studies.
In spite of all this research and scholarly activity, some people insist that
the science is uncertain, and many physicians say EHS is psychological. But we
must remember that the dangers of tobacco usage and second-hand smoke, not to
mention the problem of global warming, have their share of naysayers – many who
are funded by the industries whose profits are threatened by suggestions of
problems with their products.
Meanwhile, we – along with many scientists world-wide – urge the
Precautionary Principle: If there seems to be a possibility of harm, limit your
exposure. That may mean something as simple as moving an electric clock a few
feet away from your bedside table, or as complicated as rethinking your cell
phone and wireless Internet usage or where you live.
The German government is already advising its citizens to use wired Internet
connections instead of Wi-Fi and landlines instead of mobile phones. In 2005,
Canada’s top public official, Dr. David Butler-Jones, advised Canadians to limit
their and their children’s use of cell phones until science resolves
uncertainties about long-term health effects. Also in 2005, the UK’s National
Radiation Protection Board issued a warning that no child under age eight should
use a cell phone, citing the growing scientific evidence that exposure poses a
health risk. France, Germany, and England have dismantled wireless networks in
schools and public libraries, and other countries are considering the same.
Update: August, 2010
Research is continuing into the health effects of EMR. Samuel
Milham, MD, MPH is an American researcher and occupational hazards
expert who has been publishing reports since 1979 that show electrical workers
have increased mortality due to certain cancers. In 1997, he was the recipient
of the prestigious
Ramazzini Award for his contribution to the epidemiology of occupational
disease, with particular reference to carcinogenic risk from electromagnetic
fields. He is particularly concerned about something called "high frequency
voltage transients," which result from the wildly fluctuating current created by
energy-efficient appliances and electronics. He studied a California school
where teachers were developing various types of cancer. And, along with his
colleague L. Lloyd Morgan, he reported his findings in 2008 in the American
Journal of Industrial Medicine. They found that cumulative exposure to
transients in the school increased the likelihood a teacher would develop cancer
by 64 percent. A single year of working in the building raised risk by 21
percent. Although not included in the research, the risks for young students
were probably even greater due to their smaller bodies and undeveloped immune
systems.
In 2007, Professor Dennis
Henshaw, Professor of human radiation effects at the UK's Bristol University
called for an enquiry into the dangers of Wi-Fi wireless internet technology.
"The research hasn’t been done," he told the Independent
newspaper. "Therefore we cannot assume that there are no effects.
This technology is being wheeled out without any checks and balances."
In June of 2008, the above-mentioned International Commission for
Electromagnetic Safety (ICEMS) reiterated, in stronger terms that in 2006, their
warnings about the negative effects of electromagnetic radiation in its
Venice Resolution.
In September 2009, the Director of the European Environment Agency stated that the evidence for
potential risks is now strong enough to justify steps to reduce people's exposure to
radio frequency electromagnetic fields and that the current exposure limits
needed to be reconsidered.
Based on this and other recent research, even more experts are encouraging
caution. Trent University's Magda Havas issued an open letter in 2009 saying she
was "increasingly concerned" about Wi-Fi and cell phone use at schools. "It is
irresponsible to introduce Wi-Fi microwave radiation into a school environment
where young children and school employees spend hours each day," she wrote.
David Carpenter, MD, Director of the Institute for
Health and the Environment, School of Public Health, University of Albany, New
York, has said "Based on the existing science, many public health experts
believe it is possible we will face an epidemic of cancers in the future
resulting from uncontrolled use of cell phones and increased population exposure
to Wi-Fi and other wireless devices. Thus it is important that all of us, and
especially children, restrict our use of cell phones, limit exposure to
background levels of Wi-Fi, and that government and industry discover ways in
which to allow use of wireless devices without such elevated risk of serious
disease. We need to educate decision-makers that 'business as usual' is
unacceptable. The importance of this public health issue can not be
underestimated."
Learn More
The Collaborative on Health and the Environment
Powerwatch
EMR Policy Institute
International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety
Swedish Association for the Electrosensitive
Wi-Fi in Schools
Electromagnetic Man – Health and hazard in the electrical
environment by Dr. Cyril Smith and Simon Best (St Martins Press, 1990)
The Powerwatch Handbook by Alasdair Philips and Jean Philips
(Piatkus Books, 2006)
EMF Book: What You Should Know About Electromagnetic Fields,
Electromagnetic Radiation & Your Health by Mark Pinsky (Grand Central
Publishing, 1995)
Cross Currents – The Perils of Electropollution, the Promise
of Electromedicine by Robert O. Becker (Tarcher, 1990)
The Invisible Disease: The Dangers of Environmental Illnesses
Caused by Electromagnetic Fields and Chemical Emissions by Gunni Nordstrom (O
Books, 2004)