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Phones CAN make you ill
United Kingdom Created: 12 Sep 2005
Phones CAN make you ill

Sickening: Computer radiation can lead to illness

Radiation from mobile phones, computers and microwave ovens could be damaging your health, Government experts are to admit for the first time.
In a report next month, they will acknowledge that the items could be causing headaches, joint pain, depression and fatigue in some users who have
developed a sensitivity to electricity.
Tens of thousands of people in the UK are thought to suffer from the condition, called electrosensitivity, yet it is not formally recognised by the medical profession.
Some sufferers even become affected by the radiation in electromagnetic fields surrounding everyday items such as hairdryers and televisions.
However, their complaints are often dismissed by GPs as being purely psychological.
Campaigners hope that acknowledgement of the condition in a report by the Health Protection Agency will lead to better treatment of sufferers
and research into cures.
But it could also open the floodgates to legal action by patients who claim mobile phone masts have made them ill.
Rod Read, of the charity Electrosensitivity UK, said: "It's very difficult for people to get a diagnosis because it's not officially recognised as an illness.
"Doctors have no training in it whatsoever. Some are more sympathetic than others but most try to look for interpretations such as work stress.
"They treat individual symptoms rather than the underlying cause."

Women suffer worst

More women than men suffer from electrosensitivity, which is often triggered by intensive mobile phone or computer use.
Over time, sufferers - who often have other allergies - find they become increasingly affected by electrical equipment such as televisions,
fridges and cookers. Symptoms include headaches, "tingling" of the joints and ringing in the ears.
Many people also experience extreme tiredness, memory and concentration problems and depression.
Sufferers often claim they are being "zapped" by the electromagnetic fields emitted by electrical devices.
Mr Read said: "It's life-shattering for a lot of people in terms of employment and where they live and what they can do.
"They experience disbelief and ridicule from their partner, best friend and boss.
"People change jobs, they give up work, they drop out of view, they become isolated and depressed."
Campaign group Powerwatch believes up to five per cent of the population is severely affected by electrosensitivity.
And up to a third of people could be suffering some ill effects of our hi-tech society.

Lifestlye change

However, if electrosensitivity is diagnosed at an early stage, sufferers can make changes to their lifestyle which could stop them developing
reactions to other electrical goods.
For instance, if they realised their mobile phone was the root of the problem, they could stop using it.
Radiation from mobile phone masts can be screened out by lining walls with a layer of aluminium foil and hanging special silver-plated curtains
over windows, while a thinner form of the same material can be slung over beds.
In Sweden, where electrosensitivity is recognised, sufferers receive grants to replace electric cookers with gas stoves.
In their workplaces, electrical flexes are replaced with highly-insulated cables to reduce the emission of radiation.
Some sufferers even become affected by the radiation in electromagnetic fields surrounding everyday items such as hairdryers and televisions.
However, their complaints are often dismissed by GPs as being purely psychological.
Campaigners hope that acknowledgement of the condition in a report by the Health Protection Agency will lead to better treatment of sufferers
and research into cures.
But it could also open the floodgates to legal action by patients who claim mobile phone masts have made them ill.
Rod Read, of the charity Electrosensitivity UK, said: "It's very difficult for people to get a diagnosis because it's not officially recognised as an illness.
"Doctors have no training in it whatsoever. Some are more sympathetic than others but most try to look for interpretations such as work stress.
"They treat individual symptoms rather than the underlying cause."
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Source: by FIONA McRAE, Daily Mail 08:33am 12th September 2005

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