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Radio Frequency EMFs This page last updated April 10, 2012. You can be exposed to potentially harmful radio frequencies from multiple sources both outside as well as within a building. Outside sources include broadcast radio and television antennas, cellular telephone antennas mounted on towers and buildings, other broadcast antennas (police, fire, airport radar), and now, neighborhood wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) antennas on utility poles. The most common sources of wireless frequencies inside your home include wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) routers, cell phones, cordless telephones, and now, smart electric, water and gas meters mounted outside or inside your home. All of these sources can generate pulsed digital frequencies that produce a harmful influence that is not well tolerated by the human physiology. Their presence in a building produces a subtle but harmful effect on the natural bioelectric processes of the body, causing stress and reducing our energy and vitality. Electronic dimmer switches and compact fluorescent lamps can also be a problem. Specifically, pulsed, digital frequencies cause harm to cell membranes and inhibit their ability to take in nutrients and give off waste products. Low frequency man-made information-carrying radio waves in wireless communications that are superimposed upon the faster broadcast carrier frequencies in the microwave range produce a distorted, pulsed digital waveform that is not recognized as healthy by the human body. When cells are exposed to these low-frequency pulsed digital frequencies, a cascade of events occurs within the membrane, causing it to close down, resulting in "membrane sensitivity syndrome." As a result, premature cell death and formation of tumors can occur (see BioInitiative Report). This can cause, among other effects:
The net effect of long-term exposure to cell phones, cordless telephones and Wi-Fi routers is disruption of normal physiological processes, causing ill health in tissues and organs. Health effects from these low-frequency waves are cumulative, and there is no safe exposure level or "Specific Absorption Rate" (SAR), as there is with the carrier waves in the microwave range. Long-term symptoms can include memory loss, "brain fog," headache, fatigue, insomnia, attention deficit disorder, ringing in the ears, and numbness. It is therefore recommended that these devices be avoided and that hard-wired alternatives be used whenever possible. You can maintain your mobility within the home for telephones and Internet use by using hardwired alternatives, discussed on the pages on this website, Steps to Protect Yourself from Harmful Cell Phone Frequencies and Safer Use of Computers. See Cell Phone and Radio Frequency Risks on this website for research documentation that substantiates these statements. These include a study published by the University of Albany, New York, the The BioInitiative Report stating that current "safe" exposure levels in the US and Europe are "thousands of times too lenient" and do not protect human health. Other summaries of research conducted on the adverse health effects from exposure to wireless communication devices include two excellent reviews of the health effects of exposure to wireless devices. The first is entitled, "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: Evidence for a Novel Neurological Syndrome," by Andrew Marino, PhD and his team at the Department of Neurology, LSU Health Sciences Center, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana. The second is entitled, "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields", written by Andrew Goldsworthy. Another comprehensive summary of research articles has been created by Elizabeth Barris of the
American Association For Cell Phone Safety and the
The People's Initiative
in Southern California. Liz can be reached at (310) 828-6808 or (310) 281-9639. These documents can be downloaded
directly from Liz's websites listed above, and they can also be downloaded through the links listed below. These research
summaries include: In regards to the last reference, read the June 1, 2011 Letter to The Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), sent from U.S. Representatives Edward Markey, Henry Waxman, and Anna Eshoo. Regarding cancer, it is known that it normally takes fifteen to twenty years for tumors to develop, yet researchers are now finding that tumors are appearing in users of cell phones after only ten years of use. These and other studies have led the German government and the European Union's Environmental Agency to recommend that their citizens decrease their daily exposure to Wi-Fi, cell phones and cell towers ("EU calls for urgent action on wi-fi radiation"). Europe is far ahead of our country on this issue and we should pay attention to what they recommend. Researchers in Europe are concerned that the world's population potentially faces a public health crisis similar to that which occurred from the chronic use of tobacco and exposure to asbestos and the use of lead in gasoline. These studies have also led the Parliamentary Assembly of the 47-member Council of Europe to pass a resolution on May 27, 2011 recommending sweeping changes to the way cell phones are used, how they are marketed, and how safe exposure limits are determined. A summary article on this resolution appears on this website at here. Also in May of 2011, the World Health Organization's International Agency on Research on Cancer reclassified cell phones and other sources of wireless frequencies as a category 2(b) "possible" carcinogen (see here). This is a big step for the WHO, which up until May 2011 held the position of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) that cell phones and other wireless devices did not have any significant or proven cancer link. To see Cindy Sage's perspective on the IARC report, click International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). It is important to understand that there is a wide discrepancy between what our country's governmental regulatory agencies, most notably the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), compared to the regulatory agencies in countries throughout the world, most notably in Europe. To fully understand how great the discrepancy is, we need to start with the FCC document that cell phone companies and electric utilities always refer to as the definitive word on why their wireless devices or smart meters are completely safe. That document is FCC Bulletin OET 65, entitled "Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields," Edition 97-01, published in August 1997. To view the bulletin, click here. Then click on "oet65.pdf" to view or download the PDF version, or click on "oet65.wp" for the Word Perfect version. Scroll down to page 72 of the PDF version to see Table 1, "Limits for Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE)" and "Section (B) Limits for General Population/Uncontrolled Exposure." Look under Power Density (S) in milliWatts per centimeter squared (mW/cm2) on this table. Scroll down to Frequency Range 1500-100,000 MegaHertz (MHz) to see what the FCC considers to be the safe level for exposure to radio frequencies from cell phones, cell towers, wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) routers and smart meters. That value is a power density reading of 1.0 milliWatts per centimeter squared (mW/cm2). While this sounds like a small number, the unit of measurement used by the FCC, milliWatts per centimeters squared, is not the same unit used by Europe and the rest of the world, where much more stringent standards are in place. The rest of the world chooses instead to use the more stringent unit of measurement, microWatts per meter squared (uW/m2), as their standard. In that unit of measurement, the FCC's safe exposure level of 1.0 milliWatts/centimeter squared (mW/cm2) equates to a whopping 10 million microWatts/meter squared (uW/m2). Click here to view a conversion table showing how this seemingly low FCC value translates to a much higher number when viewed in the units used by the Europens. To give you an idea of just how conservative some agencies are in Europe compared to the US, countries such as Italy, Russia, China and Switzerland are 100 times more stringent than the FCC; Vienna is 1,000 times more stringent; and the European Parliament at 100 uW/m2 is 100,000 times more stringent than our country's FCC. In fact, Salzburg province in Austria considers a safe outdoor exposure level to be only 10 uW/m2 and only 1.0 uW/m2 indoors. To see the table published by Powerwatch in England summarizing this data, click here. You will see our country's FCC sadly way at the top of the list compared to these more conservative countries. The most important question is, at what point does biological harm occur from long-term chronic exposure to radio frequencies? That level appears to be below 10 uW/m2, even below 1.0 uW/m2. On the basis of this, the building biology profession agrees with the standards adopted by the European Parliament and Salzburg province. We recommend daytime exposure levels below 100 microWatts/meter squared. More importantly, we further recommend that nighttime sleeping exposure levels must be below 10 microWatts/meter squared before they can be considered of only "Slight Concern." We ulitmately feel that levels below 0.1 microWatts/meter squared are the target number for ideal health in the sleeping area, a value that is considered by our profession to be of "No Concern." You can see the building biology standards by clicking here. The building biology profession therefore sets safe exposure guidelines for radio frequency (and other EMF) exposure that are considerably more stringent than the safe exposure guidelines adopted by the FCC and other governmental agencies, which only take into consideration the heating, or thermal, effects of radio frequencies on human cells and tissues. We, on the other hand, join with a growing number of concerned citizens and organizations that accept the mounting evidence that non-thermal, biological effects can and do occur from long-term exposure to wireless frequencies generated by the devices now in regular use by the vast majority of the world's population, many of whom are already symptomatic. We must bear in mind that EMF consultants like myself deal with two groups of people in our work. The first is those who are known to be electro-hypersensitive, or EHS. This group is conservatively estimated to be 3-5% of the current population (Levallois, Neutra, Lee and Hristova, 2002; Schreirer, Huss and Roosli, 2006). EHS is a recognized, compensable disability in the Swedish health care system. Studies by medical researchers show that electrical hypersensitivity has a biological basis, however the syndrome is much more studied and accepted by researchers and doctors in Europe than in this country. Committee Resolution 1815 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe urges recognition of these people and creation of areas within each country that are "wavefree." Here is the actual passage in the resolution pertaining to the EHS: "8.1.4. pay particular attention to 'electrosensitive' people who suffer from a syndrome of intolerance to electromagnetic fields and introduce special measures to protect them, including the creation of wave-free areas not covered by the wireless network;" The building biology profession is planning an upcoming annual conference to be held this October 2012 in Washington, DC, entitled, "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Buildings; Creating Safe Havens in a Toxic, ElectroMagnetic World". Our committee is planning to have several presentations, as you can see from the speaker lineup, specifically on the health impact of EMFs on the electro-hypersensitive population and on the public in general presented by nationally renowned MDs and researchers. There is a physiological basis for electro-hypersensitivity as documented in the following publications:
These electrically-sensitive people, as well as anyone with chronic illness and those segments of the population that are at high risk, including children, the elderly, and pregnant women, all require a higher standard or threshold when deciding what a safe exposure level should be for any type of EMF. These people cannot tolerate what otherwise healthy people can and they are at much higher risk for adverse biological effects according to extensive research and their own experience. For those reasons, we adhere more strictly to the safe exposure guidelines recommended by my profession. The other population we deal with is everyone else in society who is normally healthy and asymptomatic around various EMFs. What is a safe exposure level for them? Again, we generally recommend the same safe exposure limits we do for electrically-sensitive individuals as a precautionary measure. Our goal is to protect people from possible harm if at all possible. The standards can be relaxed under certain circumstances, but as long as the individual is made aware of what the research shows and what the potential risks have been shown to be, they can take their own measurements and consider those taken by building biologists and other EMF experts and decide for themselves what level of potential risk they are willing to expose themselves to on a long-term basis. Precaution is our primary goal. We therefore urge everyone to consider adopting the general recommendations, based upon the precautionary principle, to "reduce use and increase distance" as discussed in detail on the pages on this website, Steps to Protect Yourself from Harmful Cell Phone Frequencies and Safer Use of Computers. To view an extensive list of links to web sites documenting the health effects of exposure to EMFs caused by wireless devices, including cell phones, cordless telephones and wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) routers, click here. To learn about Smart electric meters, click here. To view an extensive list of links to web sites documenting the health effects of exposure to EMFs in general, click here. To return to the main Articles on EMFs page, click here. © 2012 Create Healthy Homes. All rights reserved.
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