BY B.A. GEARY

Remember when people with a heart pacemaker were warned of the presence of a microwave oven – lest the radiation from the oven interfere with the electricity in the pacemaker? Where are the warnings now for ALL of us?

We are surrounded by electricity that is not kept safely within wires. It is not instantly lethal like lightning, and in fact seems utterly un-intrusive and harmless [not being seen, heard, felt, or smelled]. We have enthusiastically welcomed its convenience into our homes, our schools, and our libraries, easily becoming addicted to such devices as cell phones, WiFi, and microwave ovens. [Controversial ‘smart’ meters also abound, though not necessarily as welcome, in our neighborhoods.]

But the electromagnetic radiation that these wireless devices emits actually has a cumulative effect on every cell in our bodies – in our hearts, our brains, our nervous systems.

The Federal Communications Commission, a regulatory agency with no expertise in matters of health, ignores this fact, and its permissible exposure levels are – per the U.S. Department of the Interior – 30 years out of date. Swisscom, the Swiss telecommunications company, however, admits damage from non-thermal wireless radiation, stating in a patent application: “When, for example, human blood cells are irradiated with electromagnetic fields, clear damage to hereditary material [DNA] has been demonstrated and there have been indications of an increased cancer risk [Mashevich et al., 2003].”

Retired military personnel like Capt. Jerry Flynn of Canada, well acquainted with electromagnetic radiation as a weapon, issue dire warnings. Militaries have catalogued frequencies harmful to humans –especially to the brain, the central nervous system and the immune system – since the 1950s, and have known that frequencies within the band 700MHz to 5GHz penetrate all organ systems in the body.

Alert! That is the band where all of today’s wireless consumer products and “smart” meters operate!

The BioInitiative 2012 Report, available at  www.bioinitiative.org, the work of  29 independent scientists and health experts from 10 countries, reviewed over 1,800 new scientific studies about biological harm from electromagnetic radiation. Co-editor was David Carpenter, MD, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany. The report concludes that current prescribed safety limits around the world are 1,000 to 10,000 times too high.

The International Association of  Fire Fighters, acknowledging that firefighters living with cell towers on or adjacent to their stations pay a substantial price in terms of physical and mental health, resolved in 2014 that firefighters should be protected under the Precautionary Principle of Science, and opposed the use of fire stations as base stations for antennas and cell towers. [A pilot study in 2004 of six firefighters working and sleeping in stations with towers had revealed delayed reaction time, lack of impulse control, and difficulty in maintaining mental focus.]

In May 2015, 190 scientists from 39 nations submitted an appeal to the United Nations, UN member states, and the World Health Organization [WHO], requesting they adopt more protective exposure guidelines for electromagnetic fields [EMF] and wireless technology in the face of increasing evidence of risk.

In May 2016, Otis W. Brawley, MD, the American Cancer Society’s Chief Medical Officer, commenting on a $25-million study of cell phones by the U.S. National Toxicology Program [NTP], stated:

“The NTP report linking radiofrequency radiation [RFR] to two types of cancer [malignant glioma and schwannoma, an extremely rare tumor] marks a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk. The findings are unexpected; we wouldn’t reasonably expect non-ionizing radiation to cause these tumors. This is a striking example of why serious study is so important in evaluating cancer risk.”

Indeed, there have been thousands of studies of the biological effects of non-ionizing radiation, with various adverse effects known for decades. In a study [by the research group Wireless Technology Research] for the cell phone industry in the mid 1990s, all five engineers who tested cell phones developed brain cancer. [“Cellular Telephone Russian Roulette” was written by Robert C. Kane, Ph.D., one of the engineers who lost his life to a brain tumor.]

It seems noteworthy that the American Brain Tumor Association found in February 2016 that malignant brain tumors are the most common cancer occurring among 15- to 19-year-olds, and also the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in adolescents and young adults aged 15-39.

Who face the greatest risks of neurologic and biologic damage from wireless? It is children and unborn babies.

The rate of radiation absorption is much higher in a child than in an adult because of the child’s more absorbent brain tissue, thinner skull, and smaller size.

We, the public, didn’t expect wireless to harm us or our families, but now we know it does and we must protect ourselves and future generations from a myriad of devices. Even a two-minute cell phone call has been found to alter the natural electrical activity of the brain for up to an hour afterwards! To limit cell phone radiation, I suggest steps available at www.linkedin.com/pulse/cell-phone-radiation-boosts-cancer-rates-animals-25-million-boyd.

It would appear that today’s rampant wireless technology has already earned a place in history beside other horrendous mistakes like lead water pipes, asbestos insulation, thalidomide and DDT.

How soon we take our heads out of the sand will determine how soon we can scale back incidence of conditions like Alzheimer’s, autism, autoimmune diseases, brain cancer, and birth defects.

We need an all-out commitment to the precautionary principle applied in non-corrupt regulation by the FCC and state corporation commissions, in strong legislation controlling the telecom industry [the Telecommunications Act of 1996 needs to be replaced by consumer-friendly, health-oriented legislation], and in appropriate citizen protection by attorneys general –just for a start.

– B.A. Geary lives in Tulsa, OK