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'The precautionary principle' and EMF
USA Created: 23 Jun 2016
We humans are bioelectric beings - Independent sources confirm that the rapid proliferation of technology that emits artificial electromagnetic fields/radio frequency (EMF/RF) increasingly is conflicting with our natural EMF matrix and posing significant danger to health and well being of all life. Culprits include wireless computers, wireless utility “smart meters," microwave ovens, cell phones, mobile devices and associated infrastructure.

With Columbia University's Martin Blank, Ph.D., taking the lead, 220 scientists and engineers from around the globe last year petitioned the United Nations, its member states and the World Health Organization (WHO) to take action against an emerging public health crisis.

“The biological facts are being ignored and as a result, the (EMF/RF) safety limits are much too high," Professor Blank said. "The international exposure guidelines for electromagnetic fields must be strengthened to reflect the reality of the impact on our bodies and in particular on our DNA.”

​Studies have found that pregnant women, potential parents, individuals with preexisting conditions, children and electromagnetically hypersensitive (EHS) individuals are among especially vulnerable human populations. ​

​​The Bioinitiative Report of 2012​, co-edited by​ David ​O. ​Carpenter, M.D.​, a professor of environmental health science at the ​University of Albany ​School of Public Health and director of the Institute of Health and the Environment at the university, ​ presents 1,800 ​s​tudies and is one of many non-industry sources citing the risks. "Good evidence … that many toxic exposures to the fetus and very young child have especially detrimental consequences,” the report summary states.

Conventional medical literature defines electromagnetic hypersensitivity as an idiopathic (unknown cause) environmental intolerance that's attributed to electromagnetic fields. WHO​, which says it can't prove cause and effect, does say that reported symptoms are real and that some sufferers report that they ​ “are so severely affected that they cease work and change their entire lifestyle.” ​​Dr. Carpenter​, however, says “… the evidence is strong enough to declare that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is real.” EHS symptoms include, insomnia, concentration difficulties, tinnitus, dizziness, headache, anxiety, nausea, heart palpitation and digestive disturbances. U.S. sufferers who ​have ​describe​d​ their condition as “a nightmare you don’t wake up from” ​serve as canaries in the coal mine​, an early warning.​ ​An estimate of 9.8 million ​sufferers in America will likely grow in step with the escalation of radiation pollution.

Concern about proliferation of wireless devices and infrastructure is a global worry. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO) has assigned EMF/RF a 2​B classification, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain tumor, the same category as DDT and Hexachlorobenzene, now a globally banned fungicide. In contrast, non-industry scientists around the globe consider the “possibly carcinogenic” classification insufficient for public health protection. ​​The recently released results of ​cell phone frequencies on rodents by the U.S. National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has added fuel to that fire.​​ "A pediatrician would be acting irresponsibly if he or she knew and understood the implications of the human and animal cancer data on cell phone radiation and did not offer precautionary advice to the parents of his or her patients," said Ronald L. Melnick, Ph.D., who led the design of the Toxicology study.​

The ​appeal from the 220 scientists and engineers organized by Columbia's Professor Blank is very clear: “We have created something that is harming us … The time to deal with … harmful biological health effects is long overdue.” Their warning urges precautionary measures to limit EMF exposures.

Here in Worcester, National Grid’s January 2015 rollout of the “smart meter" pilot program, renamed Smart Energy Solutions, raised the already heightened concern of residents who object not only to health hazards, but to being guinea pigs for a flawed technology that in 2012, then Attorney General Martha Coakley ​criticized the proposed pilot as too large, too expensive​, potentially subject to cyber-security threats, and lacking consumer choice. The cornerstone of the security-vulnerable smart grid, wireless utility meters, has no place in an authentically “​green” agenda.

With self-congratulatory excitement last year, New York City announced the Big Apple is looking to convert old phone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots, giving new meaning to repurposing​. In contrast, France last year adopted legislation banning Wi-Fi in nursery schools while requiring wireless devices be turned off when not in use in schools serving older children.

The railroad track warning to “Stop, Look and Listen” echoes the protective call from those engaged in reasonable discourse about wireless utility meters and runaway technology. The urgent call is for policies that adopt The Precautionary Principle to act for protection when considerable evidence demonstrating harm has been established.

We’re at a crossroads. Those sounding the alarm are not rejecting technology or looking to take away your cell phone. The call is to consider, that supported by​ credible information there are responsible choices we can make together that will reduce risk and create an authentically sustainable grid, such as wired applications using DSL or fiberoptics.

​It's time to ​change the ​conversation away from the insatiable preoccupation with profit​, fed by the seduction of wireless devices, to judicious, fully-examined responsible action requiring a willingness to examine credible evidence. Adopting The Precautionary Principle is the sanest path we can embrace at this juncture. Otherwise, we remain passengers addictively hooked into wireless accommodation on a runaway train.

- Leslie Saffer of Worcester is an environmentalist, writer and musician, and is involved in the movement to promote public awareness of hazards from "smart meters" and other wireless devices. She has previously worked with the natural electromagnetic field as an energy medicine practitioner.
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Source: Worcester Telegram, Leslie Saffer, 21 Jun 2016

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