by Lance McKee, July 26, 2017
Almost universally, people have assumed that non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation is harmless unless energy intensity exposure levels are high enough to heat living tissue. However, there is growing consensus among scientists that this is a false assumption. Around the world, a growing number of governments, associations and other institutions are implementing policies to reduce electromagnetic radiation health risks from cellphones and other wireless devices.
The research supporting caution continues to accumulate. In May 2016, the U.S. National Toxicology Program released, earlier than planned, partial results of its 16-year, $25 million “National Toxicology Program Carcinogenesis Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation.” Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society remarked that, “The NTP report linking RFR (radiofrequency radiation) to two types of cancer marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk.” This was an about-face for the American Cancer Society, which has long denied the health risks of cell phones.
Physicists and engineers tend to believe that physics proves that biological effects cannot be caused by such low levels of exposure. I refer them to a study published in the March 2016 IEEE Power Electronics Magazine: “Some Effects of Weak Magnetic Fields on Biological Systems,” by eminent researchers Frank Barnes and Ben Greenebaum. “Stuff is going on,”Barnes told Microwave News, “We can see changes with very small fields.” Barnes is a distinguished professor emeritus of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado in Boulder and a long-time member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Many studies suggestother risks besides cancer. (See the BioInitiative Report.) Harvard neurology professor Martha Herbert co-authored a paper containing 560 references on a plausible link between electromagnetic fields and autism. She has written, “The more sensitive our scientific measurement instruments become, the more we learn that every cell in our body uses electromagnetic signaling”. To appreciate the truth of this statement, read about Tufts University’s Levin Lab, funded by Microsoft founder Paul Allen. Researchers there can cause a frog eye to grow on a frog embryo’s tail by applying carefully calibrated electrical signals. One example of a negative biological effect of wireless device emissions: household-level electromagnetic radiation has been shown repeatedly to raise oxidative stress, which is a risk factor in many chronic diseases as well as cancer. Electromagnetic radiation is thus not necessarily the sole cause, but rather an important contributing factor in many diseases, some of which are important factors in the rising cost of healthcare. Consider, too, that numerous studies show negative effects of low-level electromagnetic radiation on wildlife.
Read the full article here: https://www.directionsmag.com/article/1065
