Is the tide slowly turning against ICNIRP’s “end of history” ideology?
Francis Fukuyama (1992) termed the phrase “The end of history” for his theory that modern liberal democracy has been so successful as a system of government, conquering rival ideologies such as hereditary monarchy, fascism and communism, that it was the “end point of mankind´s ideological evolution”. Fukuyama called it the “final form of human government”, and as such constitutes the “end of history.”
This may have seemed perfectly obvious in 1992 but Sept 11, 2001 proved that history has a way of throwing unexpected curve balls. The resulting “war on terror” and the ascendency to political power of the Republican/corporate/religious right/neo-conservative ideology in the US (and to a certain extent Australia as well) now sees liberal democracy as more of a threatened species than an inevitable outcome of history.
However Fukuyama´s “end of history” metaphor is a very apt concept to apply to the current state of play with efforts to internationalise the ICNIRP guidelines through a process of harmonization with ICNIRP´s exposure limits by all national standards agencies. In this context, the ICNIRP guidelines are being promoted at international conferences and private meetings with government officials as, in effect, a ?Gold Standard´ that all national governments should adopt for their national standards. An ?unproblematic body of sure and certain knowledge´ that is above reproach. — The “end of history” for humanity’s half century quest to devise EMR exposure standards to provide “health protection for people of all ages and health conditions, including children”. And of cource, these exposure standards also conveniently allow the unrestricted introduction of any wireless device the industry can dream up. A perfect wireless world driven by a perfect ideology.
As pointed out however by Martin Kelly, in his blog, The G-Gnome Rides Again, all ideologies share one critical historical feature. At some point, events confront the ideology with a situation for which it cannot provide a solution. At that point, the ideology suffers a mortal blow to its prestige and is rendered untenable.
Michael Repacholi’s long sought dream of global ICNIRP hegemony may be realized if Russia and China acquiesce to WTO requirements to adopt WHO / ICNIRP’s thermal effects only ideology, but will this then be “an end of history” to the issue? I think not.
ICNIRP’s achilles heel
ICNIRP’s dominance can only be maintained in the absence of evidence of harm, validating their claim to provide “health protection for people of all ages and health conditions, including children”. This ideology is maintained by an industry effectively controlling the science, and the scientists who feed on industry funding. Motorola knows this all too well.
What ICNIRP and industry cannot control however is what happens in countless GP consulting rooms if increasingly thousands of doctors are confronted by new unspecified mystery illnesses, well documented in Russian literature but largely unknown in the West. Even more difficult for ICNIRP/WHO to claim it’s just a new strain of virus if this condition is found to be associated with a particular blood condition only seen with exposure to EMR.
For Michael Repacholi and ICNIRP the end of their history may not be what they planned for.
Read on…..
Don
The Sunday Times – Britain
September 11, 2005
Electrical fields can make you sick
Sarah-Kate Templeton, Medical Correspondent
A GOVERNMENT agency has acknowledged for the first time that people can suffer nausea, headaches and muscle pains when exposed to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones, electricity pylons and computer screens.
The condition known as electrosensitivity, a heightened reaction to electrical energy, will be recognised as a physical impairment.
A report by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), to be published next month, will state that increasing numbers of British people are suffering from the syndrome. While the total figure is not known, thousands are believed to be affected to some extent.
The report, by the agency´s radiation protection division, is expected to say that GPs do not know how to treat sufferers and that more research is needed to find cures. It will give a full list of the symptoms, which can include dizziness, irregular heartbeat and loss of memory.
Although most European countries do not recognise the condition, Britain will follow Sweden where electrosensitivity was recognised as a physical impairment in 2000. About 300,000 Swedish men and women are sufferers.
The acknowledgement may fuel legal action by sufferers who claim mobile phone masts have made them ill.
In January Sir William Stewart, chairman of the HPA and the government´s adviser on mobile phones, warned that a small proportion of the population could be harmed by exposure to electromagnetic fields, and called for careful examination of the problem.
The HPA has now reviewed all scientific literature on electrosensitivity and concluded that it is a real syndrome. The condition had previously been dismissed as psychological.
The findings should lead to better treatment for sufferers. In Sweden people who are allergic to electrical energy receive government support to reduce exposure in their homes and workplaces.
Special cables are installed in sufferers´ homes while electric cookers are replaced with gas stoves. Walls, roofs, floors and windows can be covered with a thin aluminium foil to keep out the electromagnetic field ? the area of energy that occurs round any electrically conductive item.
British campaigners believe electrical devices in the home and the workplace, as well as mobile phones emitting microwave radiation, have created an environmental trigger for the syndrome.
There is particular concern about exposure to emissions from mobile phone masts or base stations, often located near schools or hospitals.
In January Stewart also called for a national review of planning rules for masts. The review was launched by the government in April.
British sufferers report feeling they are being “zapped? by electromagnetic fields from appliances and go out of their way to avoid them.
Some have moved to remote areas where electromagnetic pollution is lower.
The HPA report is eagerly awaited by campaigners. Alasdair Philips, director of the campaign group Powerwatch, said: “This will help the increasing number of people who tell us their GPs do not know how to treat them.?
Rod Read, chairman of Electrosensitivity UK, added: “This will be the beginning of an awareness of a new form of pollution from electrical energy.?
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