Radiofrequency Radiation- Hidden Health and Environmental Effects

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Radiofrequency Radiation- Hidden Health and
Environmental Effects

• By B. Blake Levitt

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Population is not protected from long-term,
low-level RF exposures

• Electrosmog
• Altered environment
• Thermal vs Non-thermal Effects

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

• Multi-systematic effects
• Cumulative effects
• Biological effects
• Thermal effects
• Standards set by a non-health agency

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The Body is an Electrical Organism

• Heartbeat
• Brainwaves
• Cell Division

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EPA Funding Slashed
FY 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00
Full-time Employees 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.1 2 2 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
(K) 0 40 25 543a 73b 140c 0 0 25d 0 0
a Includes grant funds (510,000) under
EPA/NIEHS Interagency Agreement DW75935939. b
Includes funds (50,000) for Cooperative
Agreement (CX823714) with the National Council on
Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). c
Includes funds (50,000) for Cooperative
Agreement (CX823714) with NCRP. d 25K completes
total funding (125,000) for Cooperative
Agreement (CX823714) with NCRP.
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Telecommunications Act of 1996Federal
government preempts local control issues

• Section 704
• Removal of our right to control for
  environmental effects health effects in humans
• Written by lobbyists for the telecom industry
• States vs federal government

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RF pollution control inadequate

• No safe level ever determined
• categorical exclusion
• Lack of monitoring
• Electrosmog / whole cities going WiFi
• Lack of epidemiological studies

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RF pollution control inadequate

• Rising complaints to doctors
• Headaches
• Sleep disorders
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Neurotransmitter diseases

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Not an aesthetic issue

• Species extinctions
• Wildlife abandoning areas with cell towers
• Collapse of honey bee colonies
• Global warming

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Real costs are hidden and Being Shifted

• Insurance Companies
• Federal Government
• EPA

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Insurance Companies

• Car accidents involving cell phone use
• Medical expenses when people are made ill
• Property damage from global warming
• Property devaluation near cell towers
• Legal expenses

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Federal Government

• Social Security- Disability payments when people
  are incapacitated
• Veterans Administration- Disability for Gulf War
  Syndrome, etc.
• US Agriculture- Lost revenue from bees whole
  colony collapse
• US Fish Wildlife Service- Bird kills and towers

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EPA

• Hazardous waste
• Cell phones contain
• Lead
• Nickel
• Zinc
• Copper - all Heavy Metals
• Ground water contamination from leachate
• Estimated 700 million discarded

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Wrong area of science in control

• Physicists and engineers setting public health
  policy
• Think in terms of mechanical functionality can
  we make it work
• Should be role of Biologists, Physicians, and
  Public Health Officials
• Think in terms of whole living systems, cause and
  effect

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Bise study (1978)

• Test exposures
• 0.1-960 MHz continuous waves (comparable to
  analog cell phones)
• 8.5-9.6 GHz pulse modulated waves (comparable to
  WiFi)
• Intensities substantially below typical urban
  levels today (1978)
• Low Power Radio frequency and Microwave Effects
  on Human Electroencephalogram and Behavior, by
  William Bise, Pacific Northwest Center for the
  study of Non-Ionizing Radiation, Portland,
  Oregon. Published in Physiolo. Chem. Physics 10
  (1978)

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Bise study conclusions (1978)

• Severe alterations in brain waves
• Mood swings
• Short-term memory impact
• Concentration problems
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Inability to work

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Problems

• No federal agency is protecting the people from
  long-term RF exposure
• FCC limits do not protect humans from long-term
  RF exposure
• The FCC, charged with deployment, relies on
  industry groups to set standards
• The EPA, charged with protecting public health,
  cannot perform its statutory duty
• RF levels increasing exponentially

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Solutions

• Need new, unbiased, independent, government
  research program at EPA and NIH
• No CRADA programs with industry
• Need government oversight of reported wireless
  hazards- not private entrepreneurs collecting
  data
• Need to refund the right agencies
• Need to rewrite the FCC standards to biological
  models
• Need far more caution

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Refund the right agencies

• FCC
• FDA
• EPA
• OSHA
• NTIA
• NIOSH
• Fish and Wildlife

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Bise Reference

• Low Power Radio frequency and Microwave Effects
  on Human Electroencephalogram and Behavior, by
  William Bise, Pacific Northwest Center for the
  study of Non-Ionizing Radiation, Portland,
  Oregon. Published in Physiolo. Chem. Physics 10
  (1978)