What is Health?
A Conversation After Reading An Electronic Silent Spring
Between Reader ZL and Author Katie Singer
www.electronicsilentspring.com
Part One
ZL: While I think that anyone would experience adverse effects by living “Six Feet Under Ten Cell Phone Antennas,” I wonder what the difference is between resilient and non-resilient folks. Could the suffering ones be helped to become more like the resiient ones?
KS: I’ve got lots of responses to these questions.
First, I think you’re looking only at the immediate effects of EMR exposure. Studies find that 3% of the population experiences Electro-Hypersensitivity (EHS) when they’re exposed to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted by powerlines, transformers, cordless landline phones, mobile phones, pads or tablets, Wi-Fi, cell towers, “smart” transmitting utility meters, electric or hybrid cars, fluorescent lights, digital electronics with switch-mode power supplies etc. Some studies show that increasing numbers of the population has EHS. They get headaches, insomnia, flu-like symptoms, nausea, bloody noses, dizziness, memory problems, tremors, depression and many other symptoms with EMR exposure.
In the U.S., even 3% of the population is about nine million adults and one million children. Every one of these people matter. But while the majority do not experience immediate effects of EMR exposure, every living creature is affected.
If every creature is affected, why focus only on 3% of the population?
Consider health effects that take years to develop; that come from 24/7/365 (chronic) exposure; that come from multiple sources.
Consider what happens when exposure begins in utero or childhood, while the brain and other organs are developing. What happens when someone sleeps with a router and/or charging phone beside their head, works in direct sight of a cell tower, has a neighborhood with “smart” transmitting utility meters on every home and has used a mobile phone for more than 30 minutes per day since turning 16? What happens when EMR exposure is combined with mercury toxicity (perhaps sourced from dental work or fish consumption) or exposure to pesticides or mold?
Why do some people smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and live apparently healthy lives, while others never smoke and get lung cancer?
Your question suggests that it’d be desirable to become “resilient” to EMR exposure; that it’s desirable to use radiation-transmitting electronics.
For me, this is like desiring to become “resilient” to mercurial dental work or DDT or GMOs.
Also, most folks agree we’ve got to decrease our use of natural resources and energy drastically for our ecosystem to survive. To do so, don’t we need to reduce our manufacturing, shipping, using and discarding of electronics?
Perhaps true resiliency means knowing how to clean water; how to grow and preserve food; build shelter from locally sourced materials; heal infections, broken bones, cancer, addiction and other behavioral problems, auto-immune diseases and others with locally sourced food and herbs. Perhaps true resiliency means having skills to resolve conflicts and how to live with a lot less technology and “comfort.”
I don’t consider tolerance of EMR emissions a sign of resilience or health. Knowing how to survive only when you’ve got a smartphone, a fridge with commercially prepared food, a car and Internet access…makes one very dependent on natural resources whose supplies continue to shrink.
Consider responses to EMR exposure from wildlife (chapter 3). Aspen seedlings, ants, frogs, white storks, migratory birds, bees and many other creatures’ mortality rates, nesting and mating behaviors, navigational ability, etc. are significantly changed by exposure to ELF and/or RF fields.
Would you say that wildlife whose behavior and mortality rates change drastically by EMR exposure are “not resilient?” Would you say that we humans need to figure out what wildlife need so that we can keep using cell phones and Wi-Fi?
As a guide, I like to First, Do No Harm; to abide by the Precautionary Principle. If we want bee colonies to survive, we’d be wise to decrease use of EMR-emitting devices and equipment, pesticides and GMOs as much as possible.
Given how ubiquitously we humans have deployed these technologies, First, Doing No Harm may no longer be possible.
What then is possible?
As for EMR- emissions and exposure, I think pediatrician Dr. Toril Jelter’s free protocol (described in my report, “Calming Behavior in Children with Autism and ADHD” https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/calming-behavior/), offers a great start. Dr. Jelter suggests:
1)Turn Wi-Fi off at night for at least 12 hours until you get hard-wired Internet access.
2)Don’t let your child near cordless landline phones or mobile devices. Restore a corded landline telephone to your home.
3)From the circuit breaker box, turn electricity off to the bedroom while you sleep. Some people install a “kill” or “demand” switch to make this easy.
Dr. Jelter reports that the behavior, sleep and digestion of children in her care have improved significantly when families try this protocol.
You don’t need autism to try the protocol. Many families who’ve noticed improvements in their behavior, sleep and/or digestion after two weeks of this experiment have been moved to decrease their EMR exposure yet more.
ZL: You report, “In Greenbank, West Virginia, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory prohibits anything that produces radiofrequencies, including satellites and wireless devices. Some electrically sensitive people find their symptoms eased in Greenbank; others find them aggravated.”
How does it make any logical sense that a radio-quiet area exacerbates symptoms of some e-sensitive folks who go there?
KS: We can’t know for sure. However, extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic fields (different from radiofrequency fields) could be the culprits, including those caused by stray/ground currents, powerlines, transformers, wiring errors and “dirty” power.
For more info, read what Dr. Don Hillman has observed about cows and ground currents (p. 48). Page 48 also has simple info about dirty power.
See Sonia Hoglander’s story on p. 54 about powerlines and magnetic fields.
Lydia Shuster tells about magnetic fields in her condo, possibly caused by a microwave oven, on p. 73.
Catherine Kleiber’s story on p. 119 describes problems possibly sourced from fluorescent lights, variable speed motors and other common appliances on our electric grid.
Powerlines and wired electronics and appliances (with switch-mode power supplies, which commonly emit magnetic fields) are allowed in Greenbank; the ELF fields they emit operate at amplitudes and frequencies that are not found in nature. Some people find these disturbing.
Also, the Observatory’s equipment could emit ELF and RF fields that disturb some people.
We’d need measurements to know more.
Part Two of “What is Health” will be blogged in a few days.