Telephone Mast Review - Personal account of effects of electromagnetic fields - Submission - 19 Janu

From:

To: scrutiny@gov.je

Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 10:34 AM

Subject: Mobile phone base stations -health hazards

I would like to explain to the Scrutiny Committee why you should resist the mobile industry attempts to erect mobile phone base stations on Jersey. I am incidentally qualified as a psychologist and i strongly refute the assertions of the mobile industry and their acolytes that EMR from their transmitters does not damage health or cause electrosensitivity to develop in soome individuals.

Yours faithfully,

My personal account of the effects of electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations

In early 2005, I developed a weird sleep pattern. I could only sleep between 2-5 am.

I also experienced severe headaches in specific areas of my home - bedrooms/upstairs landing/ staircase/inner hall at the bottom of the staircase but NOT downstairs in the dining room/lounge/kitchen/study. There was no obvious cause.

It was not until June 2005,when I attended a public phone mast meeting with Mrs. Eileen O'Connor (Radiation Research Trust) and Dr. Gerard Hyland, that I became aware of the adverse health effects of microwave radiation from mobile telecommunications transmitters.

I had been disabled/ house bound for several years whilst waiting for a total knee replacement joint. I had absolutely no idea that there were mobile phone base stations several hundred meters away. My radiation exposure was 24/7 because I seldom left the house.

I discussed the weird sleeping problem and the headache problems that I developed upstairs - but not downstairs - with Dr. Gerard Hyland and Mrs. Eileen O'Connor at a mast meeting. At their suggestion, I measured the microwave radiation using a COM Meter hired from Powerwatch <www.powerwatch.org.uk>. The radiation was coming in through the bedroom windows/landing window and there were much higher levels upstairs than downstairs. I then arranged for the environmental officer to carry out confirmatory testing. The microwave radiation level found in the bedrooms was ~ 1.32 V/m [~4620 microwatts per square metre]. The environmental officer recorded high microwave levels upstairs but not downstairs. The sites with high radiation levels were also those where I experienced the symptoms. Radiation was coming into the house through the roof/bedroom ceilings/bedroom walls and it was also piggy-backing' in the electrical lighting and power frequency cables in the bedroom. I had to fit ferrites to the central dangling room light cables to stop them acting as radiating antennae in the middle of the room.

Unfortunately, the local authority has given permission for yet another mobile phone mast [UMTS] to be erected just 100 metres from the nearest house and 250 metres from our house. It has not yet been erected but, when it is operational we shall be receiving the maximum output at a distance of 250 metres – both upstairs and downstairs. And, we shall be forced to leave our home.

Whilst below the present ludicrously high ICNIRP guideline levels that prevent thermal effects only, much lower levels produce non-thermal effects in many people, including myself.

I now have a titanium replacement knee joint and I am again physically mobile.

Following screening measures, the background microwave radiation has considerably reduced and this has improved my sleeping and headache problems.

However, the long term EMF exposure has caused mild electrosensitivity outdoors.

I now find that whenever I am close to GSM/UMTS base stations I develop pains in the head.

Furthermore, I sometimes get tingling in the lower lip and itching skin.

Or, a sudden pain in the shoulder blade/back of neck /sudden pain & tightening of the muscles around right knee joint replacement area. In two nearby towns, there are mobile phonetransmitters/ microcells/ picocells, WiFi access everywhere, Bluetooth and RFID technology in certain departmental stores. I feel particularly uncomfortable when I visit these towns. I do not spend a lot of money in the town because I do not stay there longer than absolutely necessary!

The effects of prolonged HF-EMF radiation:

HF-EMF frequencies make my skin tingle and itch. The most troubling problem is that I also get breast pains [where - nipples and area 1-2 cm from nipples] when exposed for long to microwave radiation. Physical breast examination by my doctor and a mammogram revealed no breast problems. I now wear silver covered Swiss Shield netting in my bra when in the town. I find that this helps.

My lower lip [ a highly sensitive, vascular structure like the nipples] also start tingling with [non- ionising] HF-EMF. Interestingly, my face/neck/chest turned bright red immediately after the [ionising] X-ray. The radiographers commented on the colour change and that I seemed to be unusually sensitive to the X-rays.

I am also affected by WiFi (2.45 GHz) used by surveillance cameras and also Bluetooth loud speakers occasionally used at a local venue. Also, sometimes, when I am in a room where mobile phones are being used I get a strange, sudden tightening feeling on the top/back of head. These kinds of effect are highly relevant to the work of Professor Olle Johansson at karolinsk Institutet in Sweden..

Since increasing numbers of people are becoming affected by electrosensitivity there is an urgent need for independent researchers to carry out this research?

The research by Eger et al. (2005) and Wolf & Wolf (2005) shows that microwave radiation increases cancers in people living near to mobile phone base stations.

The mobile industry does not fund studies that will show adverse effects of their mobile phone base stations.

My symptoms are relatively mild. Some people are totally debilitated.

I entirely agree with the conclusions of Dr. Cornelia Waldman-Selsam M.D. and the other doctors in Bamberg, Germany who wrote that the only effective treatment for electrosensitivity and HF-EMF related symptoms is to avoid the HF-EMF source.

If the power flux density of a single HF-EMF source or a combination of sources from these HF- EMF sources [GSM/UMTS/TETRA/ Bluetooth /WiFi/WIMAX] is sufficient to cause breast irritation and affect breast cells/tissues then it is reasonable to assume that longer term HF-EMF exposure may lead to harmful and irreversible changes, as shown by the research of Eger etal. (2005) and Wolf & Wolf (2005). And, now there is a 7x breast cancer incidence reported in Steinbach- Hall enberg in Germany. It would be interesting to know whether these women had experienced any earlier breast/nipple tingling, would it not? Would the members of the Scrutiny Committee be happy of they or a family member experienced painful breasts as a direct result of EMR? Please listen to those who have already experienced adverse effects from these mobile phone masts and ban them preferably.

As a Scrutiny Committee you have the opportunity to protect the long term health of the Jersey population.

Yours sincerely, Attachment B

It is essential that HF-EMF research is carried out by truly independent researchers who are not controlled by the mobile industry. It has been found in a recent study that the research outcome depends on whether or not the study is funded by the mobile industry.

Statistical research into analyses of funding and outcome of studies

See:

Source of funding and result of studies of health effects of mobile phone use.

Huss etal (2006).

Available online here: http://dx.doi.org/

Adverse effects simply do not get presented in mobile industry research.

Independent researchers who are not influenced by mobile operators do the research properly, find the health effects and publish them. That is why it is so important to have truly independent researchers such as Professor Olle Johansson carrying out research into microwave radiation effects.

Professor Olle Johansson is regarded as an independent researcher of the highest integrity by medical researchers and mast groups. His outstanding work has resulted in electrosensitivity being recognised in Sweden.

The UK media and the medical journals seldom report published studies which find adverse radiation effects. The media deliberately suppress studies that find adverse effects of mobile radiation. Perhaps, this is unsurprising considering their links to the mobile telecommunications industry.

The mobile operators claim that there are hundreds of studies showing that GSM/UMTS etc. are safe' and that no studies have shown adverse effects. This is simply untrue. In fact there are few epidemiological studies that have been carried out in the West and ALL of them have shown positive adverse effects on health.

The problems of microwave induced health damage have been known by medical researchers for decades in Russia and other East European countries. Have you seen Professor Hecht's recent presentation to the Bavarian Government?

However, the German, French & Russian research has been ignored by bodies concerned with setting limits in Western Europe.

For example, the EHS Study for NRPB considered only English language studies.

The Naila Study, Germany (Eger et al, November 2004) – found a three-fold increase in the incidence of malignant tumours after 5 years exposure from a mobile phone mast transmitter for up to 400 metres distance, compared to those patients living further away.

Ronni Wolf MD and Danny Wolf MD, Kaplan Medical Centre, Israel (April 2004) discovered a fourfold increase in cancer within 350 metres after long-term exposure to microwave radiation from a mobile phone mast and a ten-fold increase specifically among women, compared to patients living away from the masts.

Recently, concerns have been raised in the hamlet of Steinbach- Hall enbad, Germany in Germany because of an alleged seven-fold increase in breast cancer close to mobile phone base station. The residents measured the radiation levels using Gigahertz-Solutions meters.

Six other short-term mobile phone mast studies have also found significant health effects such as headaches, dizziness, depression, fatigue, sleep disorder, difficulty in concentration and cardiovascular problems:

Dr. Waldman-Selsam in Bamberg, Germany and other Bamberg doctors have added a Gigahertz- Solutions HF-38B Meter to their medical bag. They have been monitoring radiation levels and symptoms – unpaid and in their own time. Dr Waldman-Selsam has also been speaking at public meeting educating the general public about the hazards of radiation from mobile phone transmitters, DECT and WiFi.

See: The Bamberger Appell and The Bamberger Symposium.

Patients are also purchasing these meters or employing building biologists [Baubiologen] to carry out full spectrum analysis in their homes.

I have just purchased a Gigahertz-Solutions HFE-35C Meter myself and I am carrying out longitudinal monitoring of the radiation levels in my own home and the surrounding area.

It is clear that symptom clusters occur especially in homes that are situated close to the phone masts and in a side lobe or a main beam. Research by a British physicist,

Dr John Walker , is finding increased cancers at levels of just 1.5 V/m.

The Bamberger Aertzte Inititative publication entitled:

Demonstrierte Gesundheitsschaeden von hochfrequenter Strahlungen - Mobilfunk, DECT, WLAN u.a.

shows very clearly the adverse health effects that the mobile industry deny but show just how correct the Russian were in their assessment of the microwave health hazards. The Bamberg Study found that symptoms occurred at levels of 10 microwatts per square metre.

The WHO EMF Group is in my opinion no more than just another face of the mobile industry. The WHO EMF Group leader, Dr. Michael Repacholi, was recently dismissed from his post because he accepted 150,000 dollars annually from the mobile industry!

The WHO Workshop in Prague was little more than a meeting for the mobile industry and their supporters. Medical doctors, such as Dr Eger, who wanted to present their paper on effects of microwave radiation on cancer were barred from attending the meeting by Dr. Repacholi. Mast group representatives were also barred from attending. There was just one medical doctor who attended.

To date, the WHO EMF team have demonstrated how the mobile industry is able to infiltrate their mobile industry personnel into the WHO and promote mobile industry interests!

As a psychologist, I am furious about Dr. Repacholi's mobile industry propaganda:

- microwave syndrome and electrosensitivity are psychological/psychiatric conditions

- doctors should ignore patient complaints about mobile phone masts etc.

- doctors should not request radiation monitoring in patient homes

It is appalling that the background exposures in patients' homes and workplaces are not analysed for both low frequency and high frequency fields.

It is also appalling that the research designs used for the electrosensitivity studies promoted by the mobile industry are so poor and that subjects are not subject to the actual full spectrum of frequencies and modulations from mobile phone base stations that they are exposed to in their homes/workplaces.Modulated signals have the most effect on physiological functions.

Studies should investigate health effects in patients' homes.

All studies that have investigated health around actual mobile phone base stations have found adverse effects.

1)H-P Hutter, H Moshammer, P Wallner and M Kundi

http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/5/307

Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations: Conclusion: Despite very low exposure to HF-EMF, effects on wellbeing and performance cannot be ruled out, as shown by recently obtained experimental results; however,

mechanisms of action at these low levels are unknown.

2. Santini et al (Paris) [Pathologie Biologie (Paris)] 2002http://www.emrnetwork.org/position/santini_hearing_march6_02.pdf
3. Netherlands Ministries of Economic Affairs, Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment and Health Welfare and Sport. (TNO) 2003 http://www.unizh.ch/phar/sleep/handy/tnoabstractE.htm

4)The Microwave Syndrome – Further Aspect of a Spanish Study – Oberfeld Gerd. Press International Conference in Kos (Greece), 2004 http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2004/Microwave-Syndrome-Oberfeld1may04.htm

5) Austrian scientists Dr Gerd Oberfeld send out a press release 1 May 2005 with this report: A study in Austria examined radiation from a mobile phone mast at a distance of 80 metres; EEG tests of 12 electro-sensitive people proved significant changes in the electrical currents of the brains. Volunteers for the test reported symptoms like buzzing in the head, palpitations of the heart, un- wellness, light headedness, anxiety, breathlessness, respiratory problems, nervousness, agitation, headache, tinnitus, heat sensation and depression.

6)Bamberg, Germany  26-April, 2005

Dr C Waldmann-Selsam, Dr U. Säeger,

Bamberg, Oberfranken evaluated the medical complaints of 356 people who have had long-term [radiation] exposure in their homes from pulsed high frequency magnetic fields (from mobile phone base stations, from cord-less DECT telephones, amongst others).

People suffer from one, several or many of the following symptoms:

Sleep disturbances, tiredness, disturbance in concentration, forgetfulness, problem with finding words, depressive mood, ear noises, sudden loss of hearing, hearing loss, giddiness, nose bleeds, visual disturbances, frequent infections, sinusitis, joint and limb pains, nerve and soft tissue pains, feeling of numbness, heart rhythm disturbances, increased blood pressure episodes, hormonal disturbances, night-time sweats, nausea: Open letter to German Prime Minister following from the Bamberger study http://www.tetrawatch.net/links/links.php?id=stoiberlet

If you compare the results of the"Bamberger Appell" study to "The Microwave Syndrome – Further Aspects of a Spanish Study Oberfeld & Navarro 2004". Both studies seem to show the same symptoms being reported at the same level of power flux density.

The most recent study in Egypt shows that neurological effects occur near base stations (Abdel- Roussel. 2006. Neurobehavioral effects among inhabitants around mobile phone base stations. Neurotoxicology. 2006 Aug 1].

There are plenty of problems being caused by microwave radiation and research into the effects and mechanisms by independent researchers is urgently needed. But, the mobile telecommunications technology is being rolled out without ever being proved safe.