It seems more and more common every day that our social time is spent with a device in our hands rather than talking to each other face to face. After a year of Covid-19 it seems our connections are more digital than ever before.

Image credit: Tanya and Addison 2014

Eric Pickersgill, a US photographer recently created a photo series titled “Removed”. The series depicts portraits of people posed with their electronic devices removed from their hands. The series is meant to remind us how strange it is to sit on our devices in the company of others. Take away the devices and what do we look like? The reality is we look disconnected and oftentimes sad.

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In each portrait, electronic devices have been “edited out” (removed before the photo was taken, from people who’d been using them) so that people stare at their hands, or the empty space between their hands, often ignoring beautiful surroundings or opportunities for human connection. The results are a bit sad and eerie—and a reminder, perhaps, to put our phones away.

Photographer Removes Our Smartphones to Show Our Strange and Lonely New World

Electromagnetic Radiation From Power Lines and Cell Towers Disorientates Birds, Insects, Affects Plant Health

EKLIPSE is a UK based organization that aims to, “…improve the integration of emerging issues into policy development related to or impacting on biodiversity and ecosystem services.” The Telegraph reports that the nonprofit research group analyzed 97 studies and came to the conclusion that radiation from power lines, wi-fi, broadcast transmitters, and cellular towers pose a “credible risk” to wildlife and also degrades plant health. They warn that the upcoming 5G rollout could cause greater harm.

Animals including birds, mammals, insects and many others use the earth’s geomagnetic field as a magnetic compass. The EKLIPSE report showed that the magnetic orientation of birds, insects, spiders, and other animals including mammals can be disrupted by electromagnetic radiation. The report also established that these radiations also have an adverse effect on plant metabolism.

The report stated that “…serious impacts on the environment could not be ruled out.” They are asking for 5G transmitters to be placed away from areas where placement is likely to harm wildlife. The UK charity Buglife, after reviewing the report, is suggesting that 5g transmitters not be placed near LED street lamps, due to the fact that these lights attract insects and would thereby increase their exposure to the radiation.

The authors of the review concluded that there is

…an urgent need to strengthen the scientific basis of the knowledge on EMR and their potential impacts on wildlife.

… In particular, there is a need to base future research on sound, high-quality, replicable experiments so that credible, transparent and easily accessible evidence can inform society and policy-makers to make decisions and frame their policies.”

Matt Shardlow, CEO of Buglife, brought up a very good point:

We apply limits to all types of pollution to protect the habitability of our environment, but as yet, even in Europe, the safe limits of electromagnetic radiation have not been determined, let alone applied.”

This isn’t the first report on potential dangers with Electromagnetic Radiation.

A study from 2010 suggested that this electromagnetic radiation may be accelerating or causing a decline of certain animal and insect populations.

In the mid-1990s the cell phone industry commissioned a comprehensive research group called Wireless Technology Research to study cell phone health concerns. Dr. George Carlo oversaw the research. The commission started to reveal that there were serious health concerns with cell phone usage and then the industry decided to bury the results.

Researchers have been sounding the alarm for years.

The main health concern with electromagnetic radiation emitted by smart meters and other wireless technologies is that EMF and RF cause a breakdown in the communication between cells in the body, interrupting DNA repair and weakening tissue and organ function. These are the findings of Dr. George Carlo, who oversaw a comprehensive research group commissioned by the cell phone industry in the mid-1990s.” – James F. Tracy

Have you ever wondered if your mobile phone is giving you cancer? Legally speaking, there is a link. Of course, that’s only true if you live in Italy.

Studies of the effects that cell phones have on the brain or examinations of the link between phone usage and certain cancers don’t have the same clarity. Where many studies find regular cell phone usage contributes greatly to the risk of cancer and brain tumors, other research finds the device benign. The Italian verdict is one of the first positive acknowledgments of that link. Much of that can be attributed to the Italian court’s refusal to consider studies funded by telecom industries,  but realistically there are too many variables to specifically link cellphone use to a specific condition. It is incredibly likely that cellphones are making us sick. However, they are only one aspect of a modern life designed without human health in mind.

Precedence Has Been Established

The court in the Italian town of Ivrea released an April 11th ruling ordering that a businessman receive a state-funded pension after too much phone use for work caused him to develop a benign brain tumor and resulted in the loss of his hearing. Rumors and theories surrounding the dangers of cell phone usage has swirled for years, and this is a big deal. The Italian courts had previously accepted the case of a sales manager who was on a cellphone five or six hours a day, that was subsequently rejected by a trial court. This paved the way for this ruling, as lawyers for the plaintiff, Stefano Bertone and Renato Ambrosio, pointed out “For the first time in the world, a court has recognised a causal link between inappropriate use of a mobile phone and a brain tumour…” While the court ruling is still subject to an appeal, the plaintiff in the case, Roberto Romeo, will receive 500 euros per month to be paid by INAIL, a national insurance scheme covering workplace accidents.

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So How Much is Too Much?

Cell phones have been woven into the fabric of modern life and telling people to avoid them at all costs is not realistic. But there has to be a point at which more damage has been done that the body can recover from. In the case of the plaintiff in the Italian case, Roberto Romeo, he was required to use his company mobile phone for 3 to 4 hours of every working day for 15 years. A rat study found that rats exposed to cell phone radiation nine hours a day for a two year period were more likely to develop malignant brain tumors. Another paper found that a mere 30 minutes a day of cell phone over a ten year period increased the risk of gliomas (a malignant tumor in the brain that occurs on the side of the head) by 40 percent. Yet several other significant studies have found no causal link between cellphones and brain damage, although both the U.S. and the U.K. are in the process of conducting further long-term studies.

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Why Don’t We Have A Definitive Answer

There are many things that modern society will ignore in the name of progress, even past the point at which something needs to be done. Cell phones are an area with lots of fingers in lots of pies, and the conflicting narratives presented by these studies reinforce that. There is also science’s inability to keep up with phone technology. Before researchers have time conduct long-term studies, phone configurations have changed enough for either side to proclaim the findings of any study out of date.

Is there a clear link between cell phones and brain tumors? After eliminating all telecom funded studies, an Italian court decided there is.

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Sources:

• Do Cellphones Cause Brain Cancer or Not? – The Atlantic 
• How Safe Are Cell Phones? – Toronto Sun
• Mobile phones cause lethal type of brain cancer, major study expected to declare – What Doctors Don’t Tell You
• Brain Tumour Charity cautious about Italy mobile phone ruling – BBC
• How Cellphones Can Cause Brain Tumors and Trigger Chronic Disease – Dr. Mercola

An Inconvenient Truth about a Convenient Technology

Once upon a time there was a little girl on a playground who noticed gray smoke pouring out of the windows at a school across the street.

“Fire!” the little girl shouted.

A man sat calmly on a nearby bench. “I don’t see any fire,” he said.

“Fire!” the girl cried again.

“But I only see smoke.”

“Fire!” the girl shouted over and over.

A few hours later, the school burned to the ground.

The moral of this story?  Where there’s smoke, there’s a good chance you’ll find fire. That’s the precautionary principle practiced by most governments in Europe when it comes to the 4.2 billion cell phones in the world, the electromagnetic radiation (EMFs) they emit, and protecting public health. Refusing to adhere to this “better safe than sorry” principle has caused catastrophic health and
environmental effects globally, writes David Gee, author of THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IN THE 20TH CENTURY: Late Lessons from Early Warnings. The book analyzes the dismal failures of governments around the world to respond to early danger signs from carcinogens such as lead, benzene, asbestos, and the depletion of Atlantic fisheries. In fact, David Gee recently testified in Brussels at the European Commission on EMF & Health about the profound danger posed by cell phone radiation, or electropollution, which many scientists are now calling the ”worst toxin in planetary history.”

“All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

Because of this common-sense precautionary principle, France outlawed cell phone ads to children this past January. Many other countries followed suit: Russia’s Ministry of Health issued a warning that no child under eighteen should use a cell phone, and pregnant women should avoid them completely. Israel’s Health Ministry and Canada’s Dept. of Health issued warnings as well. Germany, the UK, Belgium, India, and Finland have all publicly discouraged children’s use of cell phones, too. What are we doing here in the USA? Not long ago, Sprint signed a two billion dollar contract with Disney Corporation to market cell phones to children under twelve. Ironically, the US government makes more money from cell phone minutes than any other product besides oil.

What is the health impact of 4.2 billion microwave emitting devices on the human body and brain; wireless devices that were never pre-market tested for health?

“Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and radiation damage DNA and enhance cell death rates and therefore they are a ubiquitous, universal genotoxic carcinogen that enhances the rates of cancer, cardiac, reproductive, and neurological disease and mortality in human populations. Therefore there is no safe threshold level…”- Dr. Neil Cherry, Associate Professor of Environmental Health

There is a growing body of evidence – more than 2,000 independent studies worldwide – linking EMFs with serious health issues, from autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, to developmental delays and spectrum disorders like Autism and ADD, to various cancers such as astrocytomas and glioblastomas. Award-winning cancer specialist and
vneurosurgeon Dr. Vini Khurana went so far as to declare that cell phones were more dangerous than smoking and asbestos.

But this is not an article about giving up your cell phone, cordless phone, laptop, iPod, or Wi-Fi technology. That request would be impossible since 80% of our planet is already wireless. Cell phone towers now decorate the Himalayas.

The health risks posed by smoking and asbestos pale in comparison to cell phone radiation, which produces ICRWs (Information Carrying Radio Waves), precisely because our exposure to ICRWs is completely involuntary. We can choose to walk out of a smoky bar or re-insulate an asbestos laden home. We can no longer avoid electromagnetic radiation. One might say this has become a civil liberties issue because our exposure is non-optional, which may be why parents and teachers in Europe have marched in the streets, demanding wireless be removed from schools.

Microwave radiation, in fact, passes through everything between the cell tower and your phone (or computer) at the speed of light (186,282 miles/second) and is instantaneously absorbed into your body and brain. The compelling research from Dr. Om P. Gandhi, a professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of Utah, dramatically illustrates this: When adults makes a cell phone call, there is 30% radiation penetration into their brains; 50% radiation penetration into the brain of a 10 year old; 75% radiation penetration into a five-year-old. Professor Leif Salford, who headed the research at Sweden’s prestigious Lund University, says “the voluntary exposure of the brain to microwaves from hand held mobile phones is the largest human biological experiment ever.”

But it’s not just human cells at risk. Dr. Robert Becker, twice Nobel Prize nominee, and Dr. Neil Cherry believe EMFs may be permanently damaging all DNA material, plants and animals included, affecting the genetic integrity of all life on earth.

“I have no doubt that, at the present time, the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). I consider that to be far greater on a global scale than global warming and the increase in chemical elements in the environment.” – Dr. Robert Becker, twice Nobel Prize nominee, author, CROSS CURRENTS: The Promise of Electromedicine, the Perils of Electropollution

Children and teenagers are most at risk due to their developing brains and skulls. Dr. Lennart Hardell, M.D., Ph.D. from Sweden studied teenagers on cell phones and found they are at a five-fold increased risk of brain cancer by the time they reach their mid twenties. (Cordless phone radiation gives them a four-fold risk.) A Spanish study headed up by Dr. Michael Klieeison demonstrated that a two-minute cell phone call disrupted the electrical activity in a child’s brain for up to two hours. How many minutes does our average American teenager spend on a cell phone? Two thousand sixx hundred minutes each month.

Fortunately, there are actions you can take to mitigate the harm posed by EMFs. Thomas Jefferson insisted a free society cannot exist with an uninformed public. So whether you’re a parent, teacher, or concerned human being, educating yourself is the first step; then you can make the best decisions to support the long-term well being of your family, and this planet.

CALL TO ACTION – Ways to Thrive in a Wireless World

1. Limit exposure. Use speaker mode or landlines whenever possible.
2. Use patented noise field intervention technology on all wireless and wired devices. (Wireless routers, digital alarm clocks, and hair dryers emit high levels of EMFs.)
3. Wired headsets act as antennae, tripling the radiation to the head. Use Blue Tube headsets, not unprotected Blue Tooths.
4. Never let your child or teen sleep with their cell phone (or any other electronic device). Texting still exposes them to a near-field plume of radiation.
5. Unplug or remove all electronics from your child’s bedroom.
6. Maintain a potent, nutritionally healthy diet and lifestyle.
7. Take political action, e.g., write to your congressman, demanding that governments adhere to the standards set by the Bioinitiative Report. (www.bioinitiative.org)