You can’t see it, smell it, hear it or feel it. But here in the urban landscape that gave rise to The Beachboys’ seminal “Good Vibrations” song, a different kind of vibration is affecting the health of Angelenos: electromagenetic radiation.
What is EMR?
Electromagnetic radiation, or EMR, results from the combination of electric and magnetic fields. These fields exist naturally—our nerves communicate with our brains through electrical signals, and the earth’s magnetic field orients compass needles north-south.
But the last two decades have brought an explosion of industry-generated EMR into our everyday lives as more and more we rely on the convenience of cell phones, video game players, microwaves, cordless phones, wireless routers and other appliances in our home, school and work environments. None of these devices are required to go through health trials before they are released.
According to the World Health Organization, we are all affected by EMR because human bodies have electrical currents. The question is, how much?
The Research
Most people know about the dangers of exposure to EMR sources, such as X-rays and microwave ovens. Yet an area of growing concern for many activists and scientists is EMR from wireless technology.
When Christine Hoch was a senior program leader at the National Safety Council’s environmental health center, her job was to raise public awareness of environmental threats. As a mother, reading about wireless research had such a profound impact on her that she started the Moms For Safe Wireless nonprofit organization to better publicize the dangers and the research.
“Children’s bodies absorb more radiation than adults,” Hoch explained. “Radiation is all around us, we are being exposed, yet we really don’t know the long-term health effects—and we’re not getting a lot of information from our federal government.”
Now the executive director of Moms For Safe Wireless, Hoch has loaded the organization’s Web site with facts and tips. “The wireless industry is so powerful,” she said. “All I can do is share the research and facts and hope people come to the right conclusions.”
For years, research results on potential links between wireless technology and ill health have been mixed, in part because many studies showing little evidence have been funded or influenced by the wireless industry as a white-noise strategy to dilute independent research findings.
In 2010, a $25-million, 13-country brain tumor risk study called Interphone revealed just these kinds of mixed results. Interphone was partly funded by the wireless industry and the experimental design seemed arranged to minimize any connection, according to Trent University EMR researcher Magda Havas, Ph.D.
For example, more than 90 percent of subjects tracked in the study had used cell phones fewer than 10 years, yet brain tumors usually take more than 10 years to develop. Despite these obstacles, the data still revealed that most brain tumors occurred in the heaviest cell phone users on the side of the head that had been in contact with cell phones.
Yet in the last few years, stronger cause-and-effect findings have emerged around the globe, in part because we have lived with wireless technology longer, allowing more long-term health problems to develop.
Health Issues Associated with Electromagnetic Radiation and Reported in Science Journals
Short-Term Symptoms
Electrosensitivity: A physiological disorder with symptoms such as headache, insomnia, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability and depression that occurs in the vicinity of technologies emitting EMR. Can progress to a disability. Symptoms decline with distance from EMR-emitting devices. Officially recognized in Canada and Sweden but not in the United States.
Long-Term Disease
Brain tumors and salivary gland tumors on the same side of the head as cell phone use (well researched)
Heart irregularities (emerging research)
Type 3 diabetes caused by electrosensitivity (emerging research)
Recently dozens of EMR researchers from top universities worldwide who belong to the International Commission for Electromagnetic Safety released a statement linking problems such as electrosensitivity, blood brain barrier changes, learning and behavioral effects, and DNA damage to EMR. “We take exception to the claim of the wireless communication industry that there is no credible scientific evidence to conclude there is a risk,” the scientists wrote. “Recent epidemiological evidence is stronger than before, which is a further reason to justify precautions be taken to lower exposure standards.”
A Wake-Up Call: Cell Phone Towers and Kids
The United States is more lenient about EMR exposure than many other countries. Federal Communications Commission guidelines regulating cell phone towers and other devices were introduced 14 years ago, have not been revisited since, and do not address biological issues.
Five years ago, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that children’s developing nervous systems, brains and bones are more vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation than adults’ bodies.
To spur federal action to tighten EMR standards and inform the public of what exposure levels are considered safe for kids, the newly released BRAG Report measured the exposure of students in Washington, D.C. and all the state capitols to cell phone tower EMR. It found many schools dangerously exposed, and recommended a setback of 1,500 feet for wireless infrastructure near schools.
Meanwhile, community members are battling new cell phone towers across the L.A. basin. In Palos Verdes, Glendale, Echo Park and Baldwin Hills, towers have been defeated, but San Pedro and Lake Balboa are still struggling to overcome towers approved for locations too close to schools, churches and residences.
Counteracting EMR with Energy Healing
When it comes to minimizing the effects of EMR on our bodies, empowerment can also come from within. Kathryn Pallakoff, a certified Rolf Structural Integration Practitioner and energy healer based in Los Angeles, explains how to deal with EMR.
“I teach clients to tune into their own bodies,” she notes. “How do you feel after holding a cell phone to your head for 20 minutes? How do you feel when you’re in nature, surrounded by trees, miles from any electricity? The proof is in the experience. The body is like an electrical conduit. We are either plugged in and grounded or we’re like a live wire—frazzled and disconnected.”
To rebalance energy, Pallakoff recommends opening the energy flow by visualizing energy coursing out of the feet to the earth below, up through the body, and out the top of the head to the sun. “We may not be able to avoid EMR, but the more we cultivate that vertical polarity of energy through ourselves, the better we feel,” she says. “We have limited control over our environment. What we do have control over is how we respond.”
—Katie Winchell
Illustration by Lindy Bostrom/Bostrom Graphics
Protect Yourself!
Minimize your electromagnetic radiation risk
• Distance yourself from wi-fi equipment, cell phones and cordless phones.
• Text when possible and when you must make cell phone calls, use speaker mode or an air tube headset instead of a Bluetooth headset.
• Don’t store your cell phone on your body, and either turn it off when you sleep or put it far from your bed.
• Plug back in—return to wired computers, peripherals and landline phones.
• Research cell phone tower locations before you choose a new home or school (www.cellreception.com).
• Stay informed about new research (www.momsforsafewireless.org, www.magdahavas.com).
• Counteract exposure effects with visualization, energy work and spending time in nature.
—KW
2 Comments
I see at trade shows and farmers markets people selling disks that attach to cell phones that claim to diminish the EMR effects. Have there been any studies that prove these objects work? If not what wireless companies are creating safer phones, if any? I have very high EMR from a unshielded high voltage line running under the ground in front of my home. The electric company stone walls me when I ask them about it and the city council will not do anything because the electric company is a major donor to their campaigns. I wonder how they would explain to an unborn child who’s nervous system is compromised why they allowed it? I am wondering where to read about the newest research in this area? Will anyone with any further information please contact me. Thanks.
Hi Bill,
Sorry for the delay — it is scary. I would say check in to the websites I listed in the article (www.momsforsafewireless.org, http://www.magdahavas.com) and contact those folks through email – two passionate and knowledgeable people on the subject.
Good luck,
Katie