Comments on the Graham Stetzer Filters
From Magda Havas:
Don,
This [Weblog message # 356: recent posting that mentioned the Graham Stetzer Filters ] was sent to me via a circuitous route and I feel I need to respond since I’ve done some work with the Graham Stetzer Filters (GSF).
Electromagnetic pollution (EMP) falls into 4 categories that differ but are related. They include:
1. power frequency (50/60 Hz) electromagnetic fields (EMFs)
2. dirty electricity (DE): high frequency spikes on electrical wires (transients, harmonics, etc.)
3. ground current and contact current problems (GC/CC): both 50/60 Hz as well as higher frequency events (similar to dirty electricity)
4. radio frequency radiation: MHz and GHz range from wireless technology.
People react to some combination of the EMP I mention above and there are different ways of dealing with each of these problems.
The Graham Stetzer filters are designed to remove frequencies primarily in the 4 to 100 kHz range that ride on electrical wires. They do not affect ground current, the 50/60 Hz fields, or RFR. These filters can make a significant difference in health as our studies have shown. I include 2 of them for you to read as an example.
[Attachments not included on this posting but abstracts included at the end of this message – Don ]
However, the filters are NOT the complete answer for people with electrical hypersensitivity (EHS) if they are exposed to other forms of EMP.
If they live near cell phone antennas then they have to shield themselves from RFR. Some of this can come into the home along wires.
Dave Stetzer and I measured this in Bermuda and found a radio station (103 FM) coming in through the wiring in a guest house where we were staying. We were able to measure it on a brass lamp next to my bed and also on my bed. When we unplug the lamp the radiation on the wire disappeared but we were still measuring RFR in the air from the radio antenna. We did these measurements because Dave is sensitive and he began to feel ill when he sat in a chair next to the lamp. The brass acted like an antenna because when we measured a different lamp the readings were much lower. So shielding a window, wall or roof may not eliminate the problem entirely if it is on the wire.
If people have serious ground current problems, the GS filters are not going to solve that either. The utility has to put the current back on the wire where it belongs.
If people live near transmission lines and are exposed to high electric and magnetic fields, once again these filters will do nothing to reduce those fields. We know that mu metal can block some of the magnetic field and the electric field is shielded by the building so levels inside a home should be much lower.
Some individuals are deliberately trying to provide misleading information and I don’t tolerate that in science and I won’t tolerate it when it comes to firms competing for a market either.
Don, I have a great deal of respect for you and what you do but you must be able to see through what Katharina Gustavs writes below.
I would be very interested to learn what experiments she did and what she found since she writes:
“It took me a little while to borrow some Stetzer filters and do some experimentation. I never had luck with those filters on the projects I was consulted on.”
When I first tested the filters it was at the request of a parent who was concerned about her daughter’s health in a new school she was attending. This student was EHS. I did the study fully expecting to find that the filters did NOT work. What I found instead is that both students and teachers improved when we did a blind study. We have now repeated that study at two other schools (also blinded) and have very similar results. These filters are helping people and this is very exciting. None of the schools was near high voltage transmission lines so I don’t know if we would get the same results if we did the same study near one.
But I did work with a man who has MS and he lived adjacent to a HVTL and the progression of his MS decreased after we installed the GS Filters. He was a crusty man in his mid 60s and was very bitter about his disability. He had only one functioning arm that was beginning to go. He spent his day in bed or in a wheel chair. His wife is a nurse and she was amazed at his response after the filters were installed (this was not a blind study). She told me that his mood improved and she felt as though she had her husband back. The pain in his good arm left and he was sleeping better. It took him several weeks to respond and when I visited them, his mood and energy level were definitely better. He was smiling, joking, playing cards. Some could say that this was a placebo effect and I won’t argue with that because the study wasn’t blinded. All I can say is that when I first installed the filters the man didn’t think they would work and was rather unpleasant and rude to me. But he agreed to participate because it didn’t cost him anything. The placebo effect can work even if the person doesn’t believe in something. If it is the placebo effect it has worked with quite a few MS patients and with diabetics as well. The next stage would be to do a double blind study with a larger population size but I just don’t have funds to do that.
All I really want to say is that we have had very good results for a variety of illnesses with the GS filters. They do not solve ground current problems nor do they affect the 50/60 Hz energy. A few people have complained of poor health after they installed the filters. I can’t explain that. A complete analysis of their exposure would be necessary to determine what they are exposed to. In my studies I measured ELF EMFs and RFR in the home as well to rule it out as a possible source of exposure. I didn’t measure ground current but plan to do that in future studies.
-magda
ABSTRACTS FOLLOW:
Biological Effects of EMFs, 3rd International Workshop, Kos, Greece, 4-8 October, 2004, pp:311-317.
TEACHER AND STUDENT RESPONSE TO THE REMOVAL OF DIRTY ELECTRICITY BY THE GRAHAM/STETZER FILTER AT WILLOW WOOD SCHOOL IN TORONTO, CANADA.
MAGDA HAVAS, MICHELLE ILLIATOVITCH and CAMERON PROCTOR
ENVIRONMENTAL & RESOURCE STUDIES, TRENT UNIVERSITY
Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada, mhavas@trentu.ca
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the effect of the Graham/Stetzer microsurge filters on the wellbeing of teachers and on the behavior of their students in a private school (grades 1 to 12) in Toronto, Canada. GS filters remove electromagnetic frequencies from 4 to 100 kHz on indoor wiring and they were installed in this school because one of the students is electrically sensitive. Teachers were asked in a single blind study to complete a questionnaire daily between January and March 2003 for a 6-week period (3 weeks with and 3 weeks without
filters). Eighteen teachers out of 49 completed the questionnaire enough times to enable statistical analysis.
Symptoms improved for 55% of the teachers and got worse for 11% of the teachers while the filters were installed. Three teachers (16%) had no response to the filters and another three (16%) had mixed reactions (some symptoms improved and some got worse). Overall teacher wellbeing improved while the filters were in
place. Teachers were less frustrated, less tired, less irritable. They were better able to focus and had better health, improved mood, and greater sense of accomplishment. Student response appeared to be age-specific with younger students responding more favorably than older students. This preliminary study needs to be repeated in other schools. If the Graham/Stetzer filters are as effective as they appear to be, then the dirty electricity in schools, homes, and offices can be reduced until other methods are in place to minimize the production and distribution of this form of electrical pollution.
World Health Organization Workshop on Electrical Hypersensitivity, 25-26 October, 2004, Prague, Czech Republic.
Dirty Electricity and Electrical Hypersensitivity: Five Case Studies
Magda Havas1 and David Stetzer2
1Environmental & Resource Studies, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada; mhavas@trentu.ca 2Stetzer Electric Inc., 520 West Broadway St., Blair, WI 54616, USA; dave@stetzerelectric.com
Abstract
Deteriorating power quality is becoming increasingly common in developed countries. Poor power quality, also known as dirty electricity, refers to a combination of harmonics and transients generated primarily by electronic devices and by non-linear loads. We have assumed, until recently, that this form of energy is not biologically active. However, when Graham/Stetzer? filters were installed in homes and schools, symptoms associated with electrical hypersensitivity (such as chronic fatigue, depression, headaches, body aches and pains, ringing in the ears, dizziness, impaired sleep, memory loss, and confusion) were reduced. Five case studies are presented that include one healthy individual; one person with
electrical hypersensitivity; another with diabetes; and a person with multiple sclerosis.
Results for 18 teachers and their classes at a school in Toronto are also presented. These individuals experienced major to moderate improvements in their health and wellbeing after Graham/Stetzer filters improved power quality in their home or work environment. The results suggest that poor power quality may be contributing to electrical hypersensitivity and that as much as 50% of the population may be hypersensitive; children may be more sensitive than adults and dirty electricity in schools may be interfering with education and possibly
contributing to disruptive behavior associated with attention deficit disorder (ADD); dirty electricity may elevate plasma glucose levels among diabetics, and exacerbate symptoms for those with multiple sclerosis and tinnitus. Graham/Stetzer filters and meters enable individuals to monitor and improve power quality in buildings and they provide scientists with a tool for studying the effects of dirty electricity. For the first time we can progress from simply documenting electrical hypersensitivity to alleviating some of the symptoms.
These results are dramatic and warrant further investigation. If they are representative of what is happening worldwide, then dirty electricity is adversely affecting the lives of millions of people.
Key words: ADD, ADHD, electrical hypersensitivity, EHS, dirty electricity, diabetes,
Graham/Stetzer filter, multiple sclerosis, MS, power quality, tinnitus, Stetzerizer