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From Natural Life Magazine,
January/February 2008 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... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's online edition. Wendy Priesnitz is the Editor of Natural Life Magazine and a journalist with 30 years of experience. She has also authored nine books. Read her blog. |
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