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EMFacts Blog

    • 08 DEC 18

    Planetary electromagnetic pollution: it is time to assess its impact

    As the Planetary Health Alliance moves forward after a productive second annual meeting, a discussion on the rapid global proliferation of artificial electromagnetic fields would now be apt. The most notable is the blanket of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation, largely microwave radiation generated for wireless communication and surveillance technologies, as mounting scientific evidence suggests that prolonged exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation has serious biological and health effects. However, public exposure regulations in most countries continue to be based on the guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
    and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which were established in the 1990s on the belief that only acute thermal effects are hazardous. Prevention of tissue heating by radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation is now proven to be ineffective in preventing biochemical and physiological interference…SNIP

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    • 08 DEC 18

    Compliance Problems for 5G rollout detailed in new technical paper

    From Cindy Sage:

    A newly released paper by Esra Neufeld and Niels Kuster identifies serious compliance problems for the 5G millimeter wave rollout and says existing IEEE and ICNIRP safety guidelines urgently need to be revised.

    Cindy Sage

    SYSTEMATIC DERIVATION OF SAFETY LIMITS FOR TIME-VARYING 5G RADIOFREQUENCY EXPOSURE BASED ON ANALYTICAL MODELS AND THERMAL DOSE.

    Health Physics, December 2018, Volume 115, Number 6

    Esra Neufeld1 and Niels Kuster1,2 Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT’IS), Zeughausstrasse 43, 8004 Zurich, Switzerland; 2Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.

    The paper says is that permanent tissue damage from heating may occur even after short exposures
    to 5G millimeter wave pulse trains (where repetitive pulses can cause rapid, localized heating).

    It says there is an urgent need for new thermal safety standards to address the kind of health risks possible with this new technology…SNIP

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    • 04 DEC 18

    US Senator presses FCC Commissioner to Disclose his claim of evidence of 5G Safety

    Excerpt:
    From Business Wire:

    Blumenthal Presses FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to Disclose Evidence of ‘5G Safety’
    December 03, 2018 05:43 PM Eastern Standard Time

    WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy (NISLAPP) applauds Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) for pressing FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Esq. to provide documentation substantiating the Commissioner’s remarks defending ‘5G safety.’

    “clear direction, talking points, studies that have been done that show that there is no harm to our constituents and to the taxpayers on putting these small cells on towers close to libraries, close to schools, close to their homes.”

    NISLAPP seconds this request. Jim Turner, Esq., President of NISLAPP, says:

    “NISLAPP considers it a mistake to place new high-frequency radiating antennas in local communities, in very close proximity to homes, offices and schools, when no pre-market health testing at scale has been conducted on the effects of the radiation emitted, to our knowledge, and when much safer hard-wired internet access technologies are readily available. We strongly support Senator Blumenthal’s request of FCC Commissioner Carr to provide the documentation evidencing the FCC’s ‘safety determination for 5G,’ along with the supporting scientific citations used in making that determination.”…SNIP

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    • 30 NOV 18

    The Insect Apocalypse Is Here: What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?

    The New York Times Magazine

    By Brooke Jarvis, Nov. 27, 2018

    Excerpt

    Sune Boye Riis was on a bike ride with his youngest son, enjoying the sun slanting over the fields and woodlands near their home north of Copenhagen, when it suddenly occurred to him that something about the experience was amiss. Specifically, something was missing. It was summer. He was out in the country, moving fast. But strangely, he wasn’t eating any bugs. For a moment, Riis was transported to his childhood on the Danish island of Lolland, in the Baltic Sea. Back then, summer bike rides meant closing his mouth to cruise through thick clouds of insects, but inevitably he swallowed some anyway. When his parents took him driving, he remembered, the car’s windshield was frequently so smeared with insect carcasses that you almost couldn’t see through it. But all that seemed distant now. He couldn’t recall the last time he needed to wash bugs from his windshield; he even wondered, vaguely, whether car manufacturers had invented some fancy new coating to keep off insects. But this absence, he now realized with some alarm, seemed to be all around him. Where had all those insects gone? And when? And why hadn’t he noticed?…SNIP

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    • 29 NOV 18

    A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley

    The New York Times

    By Nellie Bowle, Oct. 26, 2018

    Excerpt
    SAN FRANCISCO — The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them.

    A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is O.K.

    “Doing no screen time is almost easier than doing a little,” said Kristin Stecher, a former social computing researcher married to a Facebook engineer. “If my kids do get it at all, they just want it more.”…SNIP

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    • 22 NOV 18

    Telstra launches its first 5G-enabled sites in Tasmania

    Excerpt:
    Media Release

    Telstra launches its first 5G-enabled sites in Tasmania

    Embargoed until 8am 22 November 2018 – Telstra has switched on two 5G-enabled base stations
    in Launceston, bringing 5G technology to Tasmania for the first time.

    Speaking at the TasICT Industry Breakfast in Hobart, Telstra’s Network Engineering Executive, Mr
    Channa Seneviratne, said the sites, at Invermay and Norwood, marked an important milestone in Telstra’s
    5G network strategy.

    “This is an exciting first step for our 5G rollout in Tasmania with Launceston now among the first cities in
    Australia to have sites upgraded with 5G technology,” Mr Seneviratne said. “This investment is part of our planning to bring 5G services to as many of our customers as possible once 5G compatible devices are commercially available next year. “Telstra is leading the Australian market on 5G with a series of world and Australian firsts in 5G testing and network development and over the coming months we will continue expanding our 5G roadmap with plans to roll out to more capital cities, regional centres and other high demand areas across Australia.” SNIP

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    • 14 NOV 18

    There’s a clear cell phone-cancer link, but FDA is downplaying it

    Excerpts: Ronald Melnick, Opinion Contributor, The Hill, Nov 13, 2018
    A recent study by the National Toxicology Program/National Institutes of Health (NTP/NIH) shows clear evidence of a causal link between cancer and exposure to wireless cell phone signals. Results from the $30 million NTP studies demonstrated that cell phone radiation caused Schwann cell cancers of the heart and brain gliomas in rats, as well as DNA damage in the brain….Exposure levels in the brains of rats in the NTP study were similar to or only slightly higher than the FCC’s limit for maximum permissible exposure to local tissue exposures from cell phones held next to the head. This point is most important because, when an individual uses a cell phone, body tissues located nearest to the cell phone antenna receive much higher exposures than parts of the body that are located distant from the antenna….The FDA needs to fulfill the intent of their nomination to the NTP and conduct a quantitative risk assessment so that the FCC can develop health-protective exposure standards…. Also, health concerns for children may be greater than that for adults due to increased penetration of cell phone radiation within the brains of children. Simply ignoring the cancer data from the NTP studies is not in the interest of public health. Because of the widespread use of cell phones among the general public, even a small increase in cancer risk would have a serious public health impact.

    An important lesson that should be learned from the NTP studies is that we can no longer assume that any current or future wireless technology, including 5G, is safe without adequate testing. SNIP

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    • 08 NOV 18

    Petition: Stop Mobile Towers Staining our World Heritage Landscapes:

    From Melissa Hallett
    Stop Mobile Towers Staining our World Heritage Landscapes: Wollumbin (Mt Warning), Border Ranges, Nightcap Range, Mullumbimby, Byron Bay & surrounding Hinterlands.

    To all on the EMFacts list:

    I have been working on behalf of our regional community residents regarding our concerns for the saturation of mobile phone towers being proposed within our World Heritage parks and the surrounding landscapes ; of the Northern rivers, NSW. Our World heritage region between the majestic Wollumbin (Mt warning) the Border Ranges and across to the Nightcap & McPherson range, spreads also out over the Queensland border into the lamington ranges and way back across to Byron Bay and more. “These rainforests hold half of Australia’s plant species” (National Geographic). These regions have existing ongoing cultural and ceremonial significant heritage for the Bundjalung Nation. Many of these mobile phone towers are being placed in environmentally sensitive areas within the caldera of these magnificent places, imposing on the corridors that connect and enable wildlife that seek out food, breeding migration and pollination between these places which are of complex and ancient biodiversity. We want to stop these massive towers going up. They are staining the very integrity of these landscapes…SNIP

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    • 08 NOV 18

    How the Tech Industry Uses Psychology to Hook Children

    Excerpt:
    From Psychology Today
    How the Tech Industry Uses Psychology to Hook Children
    Why do kids struggle to look up from devices? The answer is persuasive design.

    Posted Oct 24, 2018 Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D.,

    This guest post is written by Richard Freed, Ph.D., psychologist and author of Wired Child: Reclaiming Childhood in a Digital Age, and Meghan Owenz, Ph.D., assistant teaching professor at Penn State University and founder of ScreenFreeParenting.com.
    Excerpt:

    “Something’s wrong with my son. He won’t spend time with us, won’t do his homework… all he wants to do is be in his room and play his game.”

    Parents, educators, and health professionals around the world are expressing frustration and alarm that children are being lost to video games, social media, and phones. What’s vital to understand is that children’s fixation with gadgets and entertainment applications is by design. Actually, a relatively new concept called persuasive design.

    Persuasive design has been in the news a lot recently. Put simply, persuasive design is the practice of combining psychology and technology to change people’s behavior. Gadgets and applications are developed by psychologists and other user experience (UX) researchers who apply behavioral change techniques to manipulate users. The concept can sound scary, however, these techniques can be used to encourage positive behaviors, such as exercise, healthy eating, and smoking cessation…SNIP

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    • 02 NOV 18

    Cell Phone Radiation Leads to Cancer, Says U.S. NTP in Final Report Cancer Link Was Once Thought Impossible

    From Louis Slesin, Microwave News:

    Excerpt:
    November 1, 2018

    “We believe that the link between radiofrequency (RF) radiation and tumors in male rats is real,” says John Bucher, the former associate director of the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP).

    The announcement accompanies this morning’s release of the NTP final reports of studies on cancer in rats and mice exposed to cell phone radiation. Bucher’s project, the largest in NTP history, cost $30 million and took more than ten years to complete….SNIP

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    • 01 NOV 18

    Aggressive Brain Tumors Tell a Story

    From Louis Slesin, Microwave News:
    Location, Location, Location, Aggressive Brain Tumors Tell a Story
    GBM Rise Only in Frontal and Temporal Lobes

    This one is important.

    A U.K. epidemiologist has confirmed that glioblastoma (GBM), the most aggressive type of brain tumor, is on the rise in England. Frank de Vocht of the University of Bristol is reporting that he sees a significant and consistent increase in GBM in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain over the last 20-30 years.

    Alasdair Philips, an independent researcher based in Scotland, first documented the increase last March.

    But when it comes to the cause, they see things differently. De Vocht says it can’t be cell phones. Philips can’t think what else it could be. To make his case, Philips sent me a graph of GBM by location in the brain in England over the last 20 years.

    Please take a look. I think you’ll agree: It looks like we have a public health problem on our hands.

    Louis Slesin

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    • 28 OCT 18

    Hacking a Smart Meter and Killing the Grid

    Excerpts
    The following article raises the very real possibility that smart meters and the smart grid itself could be hacked and disabled by rogue chips embedded into electronic circuit boards. A prime suspect in this is China, where most of the equipment is made. This should be of the upmost concern to the Australian government considering the significant penetration of Chinese companies in Australia’s power grids as reported the ABC report: “Chinese investment in Australia’s power grid explained:…SNIP
    Nick Hunn of Creative Connectivity published an article this month entitled, “How to Hack a Smart Meter and Kill the Grid … And then all the lights went out.” Hunn says his new article is one he “would have preferred not to write” but felt obligated to issue a formal warning before “the lights go out.” Hunn is more convinced than ever that evidence now exists that rogue chips may be embedded into electronic circuit boards during the manufacturing process, such as those contained within utility smart meters. Smart meters can be considered high value targets for hackers due to the existence of the “remote disconnect” feature included as an option for most smart meters deployed today. Read on…

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    • 26 OCT 18

    Submissions to the Parliamentary Sleep Health Awareness inquiry are now online

    From the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Sleep Health Awareness in Australia

    Following a referral on 13 September 2018 from the Minister for Health, Aged Care and Sport, The Hon Greg Hunt MP, the Committee will inquire into and report on Sleep Health Awareness in Australia. The Committee invites interested persons and organisations to make submissions addressing the terms of reference by Thursday, 18 October 2018. Information that may assist in preparing a submission to the Committee may be viewed here. 113 Submissions to the inquiry are now available online…SNIP

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    • 19 OCT 18

    NSW high school leading the way in wireless technology safety advice to students

    Castle Hill High School
    P&C Committee – Mobile Phone Safety Tips & Cyberbullying Information
    Excerpt:
    Without doubt mobile phones are very useful devices. The P&C have paid due attention to the substantial evidence that has emerged over the recent years indicating that their use must be controlled – more importantly in children. It is clear that we must train ourselves to become smart users of our “smartphones” in particular, in order to minimise the negative side associated with them. For example, the addictive behaviour is a risk to children and adolescents that gets in the way of learning and socialising….SNIP

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    • 16 OCT 18

    ‘Hyperalarming’ study shows massive insect loss

    From the Washington Post
    By Ben Guarino

    October 15 at 3:00 PM

    Insects around the world are in a crisis, according to a small but growing number of long-term studies showing dramatic declines in invertebrate populations. A new report suggests that the problem is more widespread than scientists realized. Huge numbers of bugs have been lost in a pristine national forest in Puerto Rico, the study found, and the forest’s insect-eating animals have gone missing, too.

    In 2014, an international team of biologists estimated that, in the past 35 years, the abundance of invertebrates such as beetles and bees had decreased by 45 percent. In places where long-term insect data are available, mainly in Europe, insect numbers are plummeting. A study last year showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects in the past few decades in German nature preserves…SNIP

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    • 12 OCT 18

    US Scientist Criticizes ICNIRP’s Exposure Guideline Spin

    From the Environmental Health Trust:   US Scientist Criticizes ICNIRP’s Refusal to Reassess Cell Phone Radiation Exposure Guidelines after US National Toxicology Program Studies Show Clear Evidence of Cancer in Experimental Animals   US Scientist Criticizes ICNIRP’s Refusal To Reassess Cell Phone Radiation Exposure Guidelines After US National Toxicology Program Studies Show “Clear Evidence Of

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    • 08 OCT 18

    Get your anti 5G, etc. stickers here!

    I normally have a policy not to promote products (other than the excellent book, Corporate Ties that Bind) on my web site but the range of products aimed to increase public awareness of the downside of the wireless age, such as 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) is a great idea in my opinion! AND they do not sell protective devices! 10% of sales through the link below will go to my nominated charity. In this case Stop Smart Meters Australia. Note that I make no money from this. Read on….

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    • 02 OCT 18

    EHT: What You Need To Know About 5G Wireless and “Small” Cells

    From the Environmental Health Trust
    20 Facts About 5G
    Nationwide, communities are being told by wireless companies that it is necessary to build “small cell” wireless facilities in neighborhoods on streetlight and utility poles in order to offer 5G, a new technology that will connect the Internet of Things (IoT). At the local, state, and federal level, new legislation and new zoning aim to streamline the installation of these 5G “small cell” antennas in public rights-of-way.

    1. 5G “small cell antennas are to be placed in neighborhoods everywhere.

    Street lights
    Trashcans
    Utility poles
    Bus stops
    Sides of buildings
    ….SNIP

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    • 19 SEP 18

    Mobile tower warning ( A Currant Affair), 18 Sept, 2018

    From A Current Affair

    There used to be just one mobile tower in every suburb, now there could be one in every street.

    Local families are worried about the constant exposure to radiation.

    See the video story and statement from the Department of Communications and the Arts here…SNIP

    Read more →
    • 18 SEP 18

    Implications for 5G: Property owner can be forced to cut trees if they interfere with Wi-Fi

    The New Zealand Herald

    18 Sep, 2018 12:20pm
    By: Chris Keall

    A property owner could be forced to trim their trees if they interfere with their neighbour’s wireless broadband, according to a High Court judgment – and a top lawyer says the decision could spark a flurry of legal action.

    An August hearing pitted Kaipara Flats land owners Ian and Karen Vickery against their neighbour Christine Thoroughgood….SNIP

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