As the Planetary Health Alliance progresses, it’s time to discuss the global spread of artificial electromagnetic fields, especially the surge in radiofrequency radiation (mainly microwaves) from wireless technologies. Mounting evidence links prolonged exposure to serious health effects, yet most public safety regulations are based on outdated 1990s guidelines that focus solely on thermal effects. Research shows non-thermal exposure alters brain metabolism, electrical activity, immune responses, and chronic exposure increases oxidative stress, DNA damage, and cancer risk. Studies by the US National Toxicology Program and Italy’s Ramazzini Institute confirm these effects in animals.
Wireless communication use has caused radiofrequency levels to soar by 10¹⁸ times over natural levels. Technologies like 5G and the Internet of Things will further increase exposure. This unprecedented lifelong exposure raises concerns about neurodevelopmental changes, neurodegenerative diseases, and behavioural disorders in children, with prenatal exposure linked to ADHD-like behaviours, as shown in Yale studies.
The Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association has compiled the largest database of studies on these effects. Among 2266 reviewed studies, 68% found significant biological impacts, with 89% of oxidative stress studies confirming harm. This challenges claims that current non-thermal exposure levels are safe and supports the International EMF Scientist Appeal, urging the WHO and UN to reduce public exposure.
Environmental effects are also evident, such as declining bee populations, linked to electromagnetic interference affecting their magnetoreception. Anthropogenic electromagnetic fields might also disrupt natural phenomena like the Schumann Resonance and the ionosphere. Despite claims that non-ionising radiation is harmless, experiments show radiofrequency radiation damages DNA through oxidative stress.
As we tackle global environmental challenges, addressing “electrosmog” is vital. Some governments have begun regulating children’s use of wireless devices and promoting wired alternatives, but a coordinated international approach is needed to protect public health and the planet.
Achieving gigabit speeds requires 5G to operate on high frequencies necessitating millions of small transmitters and immense energy to power the network, process signals, and meet user demands.
Despite potential efficiency improvements the rise in data consumption, driven by streaming, virtual reality, and the “metaverse” is projected to push global electricity usage sky-high. Ultra-HD streams and VR glasses, while visually stunning demand far more power than their 4G predecessors.
Ericsson anticipates mobile data usage will grow fivefold by 2026 compared to 2020. By 2030 global data traffic may increase twentyfold, fuelling concerns about energy sustainability. Wireless networks also have a heavier environmental impact than wired ones, requiring significantly more energy per data unit transmitted.
Adding to this strain the production of 5G devices and replacing older technologies will drive the demand for rare earth metals posing further ecological challenges. Telecom providers already predict a 150-170% increase in energy costs by 2026 due to 5G infrastructure. A single 5G station consumes as much power as dozens of households, tripling energy use compared to 4G sites.
To mitigate these impacts the shift toward wired fibre-optic connections which are both more energy-efficient and radiation-free may hold promise. However as 5G adoption accelerates, the environmental footprint of this technology demands urgent attention. Can we justify the trade-offs for faster connectivity and immersive experiences?
In March 2020, ICNIRP (the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) published a set of guidelines for limiting exposure to electromagnetic fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz). ICNIRP claims this publication’s view on EMF and health, a view usually termed “the thermal-only paradigm”, is consistent with current scientific understanding. We investigated the literature referenced in ICNIRP 2020 to assess if the variation in authors and research groups behind it meets the fundamental requirement of constituting a broad scientific base and thus a view consistent with current scientific understanding, a requirement that such an important set of guidelines is expected to satisfy. To assess if this requirement has been met, we investigated the span of authors and research groups of the referenced literature of the ICNIRP 2020 Guidelines and annexes. Our analysis shows that ICNIRP 2020 itself, and in practice all its referenced supporting literature stem from a network of co-authors with just 17 researchers at its core, most of them affiliated with ICNIRP and/or the IEEE, and some of them being ICNIRP 2020 authors themselves. Moreover, literature reviews presented by ICNIRP 2020 as being from independent committees, are in fact products of this same informal network of collaborating authors, all committees having ICNIRP 2020 authors as members. This shows that the ICNIRP 2020 Guidelines fail to meet fundamental scientific quality requirements and are therefore not suited as the basis on which to set RF EMF exposure limits for the protection of human health. With its thermal-only view, ICNIRP contrasts with the majority of research findings, and would therefore need a particularly solid scientific foundation. Our analysis demonstrates the contrary to be the case. Hence, the ICNIRP 2020 Guidelines cannot offer a basis for good governance.
Read the full paper here: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2022-0037/html
The name of the disease comes from the word “influence” as it was thought to be caused by the influence of the cosmic bodies; the sun, moon and stars.
The correlation between sun spot activity – which is electromagnetic in nature – and influenza epidemics is seen in the following article from the magazine Nature.
In 1901 Nicola Tesla was granted a patent for harvesting radiant energy. In earlier lectures Tesla explained that this radiant energy was caused mainly by radiation from the sun. I’m bringing this up here to establish that cosmic electromagnetic fields have been understood for at least 120 years. You will see in a few paragraphs the link between historical influenza and these natural EMFs, which paves the way to understanding what happened in 1889.
Previously in 1888 Tesla invented the polyphase AC motor which was to revolutionise industry allowing them to use alternating current for power, not just lighting and telephony. The industrial use of AC spread like wild-fire.
And now to quote from Arthur Firstenberg’s masterful history:
In 1889, most historians agree, the modern electrical era opened. And in 1889, as if the heavens had suddenly opened as well, doctors in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia were overwhelmed by a flood of critically ill patients suffering from a strange disease that seemed to have come like a thunderbolt from nowhere, a disease that many of these doctors had never seen before. That disease was influenza, and that pandemic lasted four continuous years and killed at least one million people. Influenza is an Electrical Disease. Suddenly and inexplicably, influenza, whose descriptions had remained consistent for thousands of years, changed its character in 1889. Flu had last seized most of England in November 1847, over half a century earlier. The last flu epidemic in the United States had raged in the winter of 1874–1875. Since ancient times, influenza had been known as a capricious, unpredictable disease, a wild animal that came from nowhere, terrorized whole populations at once without warning and without a schedule, and disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as it had arrived, not to be seen again for years or decades. It behaved unlike any other illness, was thought not to be contagious, and received its name because its comings and goings were said to be governed by the “influence” of the stars.
But in 1889 influenza was tamed. From that year forward it would be present always, in every part of the world. It would vanish mysteriously as before, but it could be counted on to return, at more or less the same time, the following year. And it has never been absent since.
Like “anxiety disorder,” influenza is so common and so seemingly familiar that a thorough review of its history is necessary to unmask this stranger and convey the enormity of the public health disaster that occurred one hundred and thirty years ago. It’s not that we don’t know enough about the influenza virus. We know more than enough. The microscopic virus associated with this disease has been so exhaustively studied that scientists know more about its tiny life cycle than about any other single microorganism. But this has been a reason to ignore many unusual facts about this disease, including the fact that it is not contagious. In 2001, Canadian astronomer Ken Tapping, together with two British Columbia physicians, were the latest scientists to confirm, yet again, that for at least the last three centuries influenza pandemics have been most likely to occur during peaks of solar magnetic activity—that is, at the height of each eleven-year sun cycle.
Pages 80–81 of The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life
Most people (I was one of them) PRESUME that flu is transmitted from person to person. Did you know that there is no clinical evidence to support this position? Dr. Sam Bailey does a great job at exposing the lock of evidence in the video below.
Influenza now looks like an electrical disease that presents with a virus. So are viruses contagious; and what actually is a virus? These questions opens up a whole new fascinating world – or at least it did for me. This is a wonderful rabbit hole to dive into. There has been a wealth of research for over 100 years which has run parallel to the mainstream popular theories of contagion and germ theory. Other theories like exosome theory and terrain theory fit better with empirical data. To make a start down this rabbit hole I can recommend you check out Dr. Andrew Kauffman and Dr. Tom Cowan. Look these guys up.
https://roguemale.org/2021/03/24/the-great-virus-swindle This articles looks at the biological fact that viruses are not living entities and the theory that they are simply intracellular particles which are the building blocks of cells.
In the video below there is a 22-minute explanation by Dr. Andrew Kauffman. The virus in question is not influenza but the exact same mechanisms apply.
For more in-depth look at the history of electricity, and the ailments that have followed – check out The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life by Arthur Firstenberg.
Here’s a great tip for those of us who enjoy cruciferous vegetables – cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts…
There is a compound in these types of vegetables called sulforaphane that is renowned for it’s crazy health benefits. It aids in detoxing and immunity building among other noble qualities. But in order to be made bio-available this compound needs converting by the enzyme myrosinase. However myrosinase is destroyed by heat, so when you cook your cruciferous veg the sulforaphane is left in a form that is not well digested by the body.
In the video below are details of trials which found that adding 1 gram of powdered mustard seed – which contains myrosinase – resulted in the sulphoraphane of cooked broccoli increasing by 400% in it’s bio-availability.
So you can cook your veg, add back the enzyme, and all is well.
Here is a link to a paper showing the detoxing qualities of sulforaphane: https://bit.ly/3bDddcQ
This post is mostly just a summary of the published science on the association between EMFs and vertigo/dizziness.
In a study of 420,000 cases of hospitalisations in Denmark, there was a 10–20% increase of of vertigo and migraine above the standard ratio. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632742/
According to Dr Martin Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences, Washington State University – in his review of Neuropsychiatric disorders attributed to EMFs – vertigo/Dizzyness is the 7th most studied disorder. His full list of EMF disorders are:
In a Polish study (587 participants), dizziness was reported by 18.6% of them (https://bit.ly/3pHVkzZ). The average number of daily calls was 5 and the average duration of call was 3 minutes or less.
In a Saudi study it was found that 2.4% of participants experienced dizziness related to mobile phone use (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15195201)
In a questionnaire of 17 Radiology hospital operators of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) devices 35% said they experiences vertigo/dizziness. Obviously the general public are not exposed to MRI machines, I include this only to establish a link between magnetic fields and vertigo. (https://bit.ly/2HfCSgz)
In the following video we look at a typical “dirty electricity” example where a mains adapter powering an electronic device (the home broadband router) is adding copious amounts of current spikes to the household wiring.
This adapter is a common 240v to 12v adapter. It has a CE mark and various “Safety Marks” claiming to be in compliance with UK regulation. It could just be a faulty component in this power supply. Notice that the oscilloscope was showing current spikes at the main breaker box. When current spikes are introduced at any point in the house they will be present throughout the whole house. So the wiring in the floor under your bed, and in the sockets which are turned off next to your bed, the current spikes will be present even if you have an adapter that is charging a phone downstairs.
The example in this video is of a particularly bad power adapter, but to one degree or another every switched-mode power supply I have come across adds current spikes to the household mains.
As part of the House EMF Survey I check for bad power supplies like this.
In this post we will take a look at the “modern curse” of sleep issues, as we investigate the following questions:
Is there historical evidence for EMFs and sleep disturbance?
Is household wiring a source of sleep disturbance?
Can you become sensitised to EMFs, similar to allergy?
Do non-ironising (non-thermal) radiations – such as mobile phones and WIFI – have biological effects that can disturb sleep?
Do EMFs reduce your body’s production of the sleep hormone, melatonin?
Actually sleep issues are not a modern curse but have been a symptom of exposure to electromagnetic fields since at least 1790 according to the research of Arthur Firstenberg, author of The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life.
In the 19th Century Ernest Onimus described the affliction of workers in Paris in the 1870s who were exposed to the EMFs of the telegraph machine:
These patients suffered from heart palpitations, dizziness, insomnia, weakened eyesight, and a feeling “as though a vice were gripping the back of their head.” They suffered from exhaustion, depression, and memory loss, and after some years of work a few descended into insanity.
And in 1903 Dr. E. Cronbach in Berlin gave case histories for seventeen of his telegraphist patients:
Six had either excessive perspiration or extreme dryness of hands, feet, or body. Five had insomnia. Five had deteriorating eyesight. Five had tremors of the tongue. Four had lost a degree of their hearing. Three had irregular heartbeats. Ten were nervous and irritable both at work and at home.
Here is an extract from a more recent study from Arthur Firstenberg’s book – notice the mention of insomnia:
In 2014, Japanese physician Tetsuharu Shinjyo published a before-and-after study that is a harbinger of the direction in which the world needs to go. He evaluated the health of the residents of an apartment building in Okinawa, upon whose roof cell phone antennas had been operating for a number of years. One hundred and twenty-two individuals, representing 39 of the 47 apartments, were interviewed and examined. Prior to the removal of the antennas, 21 people suffered from chronic fatigue; 14 from dizziness, vertigo, or Ménière’s disease; 14 from headaches; 17 from eye pain, dry eyes, or repeated eye infections; 14 from insomnia; 10 from chronic nosebleeds. Five months after the antennas were removed, no one in the building had chronic fatigue. No one had nosebleeds any more. No one had eye problems. Only two people still had insomnia. One still had dizziness. One still had headaches. Cases of gastritis and glaucoma resolved. Like the residents of that building before the study, the majority of the people in the world today do not know that their acute and chronic illnesses are in large part caused by electromagnetic pollution. They do not talk to each other about their health problems, and are unaware that they are shared by many of their neighbors.
And here is a study that shows Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) electricity negatively affected sleep. Note that that the exposure level was lower than occupational permissible limits as defined by ICNIRP. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3561068/
House Wiring – ELF Radiation
Extremely Low Frequency radiation is usually defined in the range of 0.5–300 hertz, and the UK mains frequency of 50 hz falls into this bracket. The following short video shows the body voltage measurement of a person in a typical sleeping area. Bear in mind that, even when there are no electrical devices or lights turned on, the household wiring – particularly in the floor space – is active and transmitting a voltage signal into the sleeping area above at a frequency of 50 hertz (cycles per second).
So there is a voltage on your skin oscillating at 50 times a second while your are trying to sleep. When asleep your brain waves are supposed to be below 13 cycles per second (alpha, theta and delta waves). Can this 50 cycles per second electrical signal on your skin affect your brain’s electrical frequency in a negative way? Frequencies in the audio range can be used to slow down or speed up our brain waves through techniques such as binaural rhythms. So there is science to show that our brain waves can be brought into sync with an external frequency.
An important point surfaces here: I am not suggesting that an AC signal of 50 hertz on your skin will force your brain into sync with this. However I am suggesting it will be a factor of disturbance. Will it be a 5% factor of disturbance for you? Will it be 10% or 20%, or perhaps 50%? It depends entirely on your biology. An increasing number of the population are becoming sensitised to these artificial frequencies. What do I mean when I say sensitised?
In healthy individuals, when the immune system registers a substance as a threat, B cells, a type of white blood cell, produce antibodies. This is a process known as sensitisation and is part of the normal immune response.
The following is an excerpt from a peer-reviewed paper published by Elsevier, by Professor M.L. Pall:
Among the more commonly reported changes [of EMFs] are sleep disturbance/insomnia, headache, depression/depressive symptoms, fatigue/tiredness, dysesthesia, concentration/attention dysfunction, memory changes, dizziness, irritability, loss of appetite/body weight, restlessness/anxiety, nausea, skin burning/tingling/dermographism and EEG changes. In summary, then, the mechanism of action of microwave EMFs, the role of the VGCCs in the brain, the impact of non-thermal EMFs on the brain, extensive epidemiological studies performed over the past 50 years, and five criteria testing for causality, all collectively show that various non-thermal microwave EMF exposures produce diverse neuropsychiatric effects.
Another EMF-related cause of poor sleep could be due to their effects on the sleep hormone, melatonin. It has been seen in a number of studies that electromagnetic fields reduce the ability of the pineal gland to produce this vital sleep and detox hormone.
It is note-worthy that melatonin is one of the body’s main antioxidant and detox hormone – not just sleep hormone. Melatonin is important in the proper function of the oesophagus sphincter and lack of melatonin can result in acid reflux, AKA Gerd. It also plays a significant role in the immune system.
The following video explains how melatonin production is affected by EMFs, leading to “almost conclusive” evidence that this is a big factor in poor sleep for at least a percentage of the population.
In the following study on workers who repaired electronic equipment it was found:
The electronic equipment repairers, exposed to ELF-EMF, are at a risk of oxidative stress and sleep insufficiency, which could be explained by lower plasma melatonin levels and higher MDA levels. Health education about the hazards of ELF-EMF, shortening of exposure time per day, and taking antioxidant vitamins should be done to ameliorate the oxidative effect of EMF on those workers.
Bear in mind that if you work on a computer all day you could well fall into a similar category as the workers in the above study. I have personally measured an electric field of over 1,000 V/m coming from my laptop when it is on charge.
Remedies
So how do we go about addressing our exposure to these EMFs discussed above? What can we do about it?
Firstly it’s a good thing to identify and quantify exactly what it is you are being exposed to on a regular basis.
Successful remedies will take into consideration the following factors: Time; Duration of Effect; Distance from Source; Removal or Shielding. I address these issues in the post Reduce Your EMF Exposure.
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