Demand accurate answers about government safety standards.

“Everyone is exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs)” says David O. Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany. While he and other experts cite a number of unwanted health risks from EMFs—ranging from brain tumors, breast cancer, and leukemia to heart rate changes, inflammation, immune system deregulation, and miscarriage—our government continues to follow outmoded radiation standards.

“The U.S. spends over $2 trillion on heath care each year, of which about 78% is from people with chronic illnesses,” writes Camilla Rees, founder of ElectromagneticHealth.org, “without adequately exploring and understanding what factors—including EMF/RF [radio-frequency]—contribute to imbalances in peoples’ bodies in the first place.” Like a growing number of experts, she adds: “It is imperative [that] our government leaders become more cognizant of the role electromagnetic factors are playing in the incidence of disease, health care costs, and in the erosion of quality of life and productivity in America.”

“During recent years there has been increasing public concern on potential health risk from power-frequency fields (extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields: ELF) and from radio-frequency/microwave radiation emission (RF) from wireless communications,” researchers recently wrote in a summary of the groundbreaking BioInitiative Report.

Yet both government agencies and the telecommunications industry “have made the erroneous assumption that the only harm that could come from cell phone radio-frequency emissions would be from a thermal or heating action,” writes Paul J. Rosch, MD, clinical professor of medicine at New York Medical College. “The late Dr. Ross Adey disproved this three decades ago by demonstrating that very similar radio-frequency fields with certain carrier and modular frequencies that had insufficient energy to produce any heating could cause the release of calcium ions from cells,” he explains.

“Since then,” Dr. Rosch adds, “numerous research reports have confirmed that non-thermal fields from cell phones, towers transmitters, power lines, and other man-made sources can significantly affect various tissue and physiological functions. We are constantly being bathed in an increasing sea of radiation from above, as well as electrical appliances, computers, Bluetooth devices, WiFi installations, and over 2,000 communications satellites that shower us with signals.”

Dr. Ann Louise’s Take:

If you’re not concerned, as the author of Zapped, I firmly believe you should be. Here are seven questions that Kerry Crofton, PhD, at www.radiationrescue.org, suggests asking cell phone retailers, staff at your kids’ schools regarding wireless exposure there, and public health officials who claim “no clear evidence of harm.” (If they don’t know or won’t say, you’ll find answers in parenthesis below. Be sure to share them!)

1. Are guidelines up to date? (In this country, exposure limits haven’t been changed since 1997, and international safety standards haven’t been updated since 1998.)

2. Have these exposure levels been proven safe for women (especially during pregnancy) and children? (No! Tests certifying exposure limits were based on a mannequin of a 200-pound man—as well as the false premise that only heating would have any effect.)

3. Do guidelines consider long-term and/or non-thermal effects? (No again, even though brain tumors can take up to 30 years to develop. Remember that DNA damage, leakage of the protection blood-brain barrier, cardiovascular effects (like arrhythmias), cognitive impairment, dizziness, and sperm damage can occur within a short time—at “low,” non-thermal, government-approved levels.)

4. Have you, as an official/expert, taken steps, like many European countries, to thoroughly investigate the current research, re-evaluate guidelines, and recommend precautions? (If not, give them a copy of Zapped or direct them to www.ElectromagneticHealth.org)

5. Will you, as an official/expert, give us your personal assurance that the guidelines you follow are accurate and safe, or share published exposure restrictions? (If not, it’s important to know that they refuse your request. See the Statement of Accountability at www.radiationrescue.org)

6. Who/what agency is monitoring any adverse health effects, including wireless Internet access in aircraft or other forms of transportation? (There has been little to no official response to EMF health problems reported to the FCC, FDA, EPA, CDC, or NIH. In contrast to the EU, which in May 2008 adopted the “precautionary principle,” putting safety first.)

7. Who/what agency measures the cumulative dose of EMFs to which we are being exposed and the potential impact of that exposure—even if we don’t use a cell phone? (It’s important to contact your elected federal and state representatives and share your concerns, as well as your right to know, about the health hazards from man-made electropollution. Sign the EMF Petition to Congress at www.ElectromagneticHealth.org)

Added Protection
While I urge you to take action, I’m not waiting around for the government to protect me and my family. That’s one reason I wrote Zapped—jam packed with ways to protect against EMFs.

Besides using digital and wireless technology wisely (as Zapped describes in great detail), it’s important to fortify yourself and your family from the 24/7 assault of electropollution. As a nutritionist, I recommend taking Osteo-Key, the most absorbable form of calcium available, daily.

Calcium is the glue that keeps your cells intact, but as Dr. Adey discovered, EMFs have been found to rupture the delicate cell membrane, causing calcium to leak out as well as changing the way calcium ions (electrically charged calcium atoms) bind to the surface of the membrane. What happens when calcium ions from a torn membrane flood the main part of the cells? If these ions pour into one or more of the brain’s 100 billion cells, which use small doses of calcium to make neurotransmitters, they can release these chemical messengers too soon, too often, or at the wrong time. This can create false messages that you’re in pain or producing neurological symptoms like headaches or numbness—part of the collection of problems experienced by people hypersensitive to EMFs.

In addition to bioavailable calcium in the form of Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite (MCHA), Osteo-Key now contains a complete vitamin K complex – vitamin K1, and two forms of vitamin K2 – balanced for maximum bone strengthening capability and increased vitamin D3. To protect against electropollution, you also need calcium in a 1:1 ratio with magnesium (its sister mineral), as Osteo-Key provides, along with boron, manganese, silica, and zinc to strengthen and protect bone health.

Sources:
Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution
http://cellphones.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=009484
http://electromagnetichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Abstract-HRV-European-Journal.pdf
www.bioinitiative.org
www.ivillage.com/cell-phones-and-cancer-risk-its-worse-than-we-thought/4-a-293224
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20429163
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20005945
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20005167
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20001702
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19964253
www.radiationrescue.org