Serious Public Health Concerns Raised Over Exposure To Electromagnetic Fields (Emf) From Power Lines And Cell Phones

The BioInitiative Working Group quotes public health professionals as saying that regular exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) is probably hazardous to your health.

The BioInitiative Working Group, an international working group of scientists, academics, and experts in public health policy, has published a paper on the relationship between electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and health. It raises severe concerns regarding the security of current public restrictions that control the permissible levels of EMF exposure from power lines, cell phones, and numerous other sources in daily life.

“This research serves as a wake-up call that long-term exposure to some types of EMF may have major health impacts,” says public health specialist and co-editor Dr. David Carpenter, Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany in New York. To stop malignancies and neurological conditions connected to exposure to power lines and other sources of EMF, sound public health planning is now required. People and decision-makers need to be made aware that “business as usual” is unacceptable.

Cindy Sage of Sage Associates, the report’s co-editor, notes that “public health and EMF policy specialists have now provided their assessment on the weight of data. Public health is not protected by the current FCC and international regulations for exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiofrequency radiation in the workplace and in public places.

“Biologically based exposure standards are required to avoid interference with regular bodily functions. Effects on cellular communication, cellular metabolism and repair, cancer monitoring inside the body, and protection against cancer and neurological illnesses are also described. Effects on DNA damage (genotoxicity, which is directly connected to the integrity of the human genome) are also recorded. Neurological side effects have also been noted, including immune system abnormalities, sleep difficulties, cardiac side effects, and alterations in brainwave activity during cell phone conversations (allergic and inflammatory responses).

The BioInitiative Working Group is comprised of Dr. Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD, Professor at University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, an expert in brain tumours. It is widely acknowledged that his research on brain tumours, cordless phones, and mobile phones was essential to the discussion on the security of wireless radiofrequency and microwave radiation.

“When you look at people who have used these devices for 10 years or more, and when they are used mostly on one side of the brain, the evidence for dangers from chronic mobile phone and cordless phone usage is extremely high. The average time it takes for a brain tumour to form is 15 to 20 years. Brain tumours and acoustic neuromas (tumours of the auditory nerve in the brain) are connected to using a mobile or cordless phone, and symptoms might appear after just 10 years (a shorter time period than for most other known carcinogens). To fully understand the hazards, we need to do study on more long-term users, according to Dr. Hardell.

Other research on long-term users have supported Dr. Hardell’s findings. With 10 years of usage, a summary assessment of all research on brain cancers reveals an overall 20% higher risk of brain tumour (malignant glioma). However, the chance of developing a tumour on the same side of the brain that is often used for cell phone conversations rises to 200% (a doubling of risk). Recent studies that found no increased risk of brain tumours or auditory neuromas did not examine heavy users, users who had used the substance for ten years or more, or the area of the brain that would reasonably have been exposed to cause a tumour.

Dr. Martin Blank, a professor at Columbia University and expert in bioelectromagnetics who contributed to this article, states that cells in the body respond to EMFs as potentially dangerous, much like they do to other environmental pollutants like heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Living cells’ DNA may detect electromagnetic fields at very low exposure levels, leading to a physiological stress reaction. Our safety regulations are insufficient, according to scientific research, and we need to take precautions to avoid being exposed to EMF from powerlines, cell phones, and other sources.