This is the 15th installment of the Canadian SWEEP Initiative e-bulletin (Safe
Wireless, Electric and Electromagnetic Policy). This newsletter serves as a
roundup of what has been occurring on the EMF/EMR awareness and advocacy front
in Canada. Please send links and stories of relevance to Canadians.
SWEEP is assisted by the Breast Cancer Research and Education Fund of Niagara:
we couldn't do this without your foresight and generous support.
*Please return to sender with a brief note if you wish to be removed from this
list.*
1. GLOBAL TV INTERVIEW POSTPONED UNTIL MONDAY FEB !3th AT 6PM
2. STETZER AND HAVAS IN MARKHAM
3. STEZTZER AND HAVAS IN PETERBOROUGH
4. B. BLAKE LEVITT, JANET NEWTON AND DOUG LORANGER INTERVIEWED
5. INVITATION FROM MICHEAL MOORE
6. TSAWWASSEN IN THE NEWS
7. WHO PETITION
8. LETTER FROM JANICE
1. GLOBAL TV INTERVIEW POSTPONED UNTIL MONDAY FEB !3th AT 6PM
2. STETZER AND HAVAS IN MARKHAM
No Place To Hide: How dirty electricity may be affecting you.
Learn strategies to minimize your exposure.
Wednesday February 15th 2006 7-9pm
Free Admission
La Rosa Grand Hall
25 Lanark Road, Markham Ontario, South of Highway 7, West off Woodbine.
Contact achow@econice.com
3. STEZTZER AND HAVAS IN PETERBOROUGH
I am very pleased to announce that both Dave Stetzer (the co-inventor of the
Graham-Stetzer filters I have been selling for the past year) and Dr Magda
Havas from Trent University, who is the pioneering researcher in this field,
will be speaking at the Peterborough Public Library, Thursday Feb 16, at 7pm.
I would love to see you there. It will be a very interesting and enlightening
evening.
For more information contact Cammie at:
cammie@getpurepower.ca
4. B. BLAKE LEVITT, JANET NEWTON AND DOUG LORANGER INTERVIEWED. Submitted by
Shivani Arjuna
Do you live in a municipality planning to put up citywide WiFi? Do
you have a "smart" utility meter attached to your house? Use a cordless or
mobile phone? Live near a communications tower? Listen in!
The Dark Side Of Wireless Technologies
Interview with B. Blake Levitt, Janet Newton and Doug Loranger
2/7/06 1-2 PM Time Zone Six (US Pacific Time)
Layna Berman, host and producer of "Your Own Health and Fitness" on
Pacifica Network will interview award-winning science journalist and author, B.
Blake Levitt, activists Janet Newton, President of the EMR Policy Institute and
Doug Loranger, Producer & Director of "Bad Reception" on the disturbing science
showing wireless technology's dangers to humans and the environment.
Included will be information on how the public can protect itself in the
absence of clear public health policy on this emerging issue. Ms. Levitt's
book, "Electromagnetic Fields, A Consumer's Guide to the Issues and How to
Protect Ourselves" (Harcourt Brace, 1995) will be a featured premium item in
KPFA's
biannual fundraiser, as will Mr. Loranger's documentary.
To listen to the live Webcast via your computer, go to http://www.kpfa.org
and follow the links to listen live to "Your Own Health and Fitness."
A full hour version of the program will be archived on "Your Own Health
and Fitness" website, available 24/7, for one week at
http://www.yourownhealthandfitness.org -- Click on "LISTEN to the latest
show".
5. TSAWWASSEN IN THE NEWS. Submitted by Richard Jonsson
B.C. community in power struggle with electricity utility
Susan Lazaruk, CanWest News Service; Vancouver Province
Published: Sunday, January 15, 2006
TSAWWASSEN, B.C. - Tsawwassen homeowners talked about cancer scares, decreasing
property values, losing their beloved gardens and backyard fluorescent light
tubes shining without being plugged in at a hearing into plans to upgrade power
lines in their neighbours.
About 100 sometimes angry and often emotional residents took their turns
Saturday to try to persuade the B.C. Utilities Commission to relocate a ditch a
plan to upgrade powerful transmissions lines in a four-kilometre 20-metre-wide
swath through the suburb.
The plan by the new B.C. Transmission Corp. which operates power lines for B.C.
Hydro is necessary to feed more electricity to Vancouver Island and southern
Gulf Islands and needs to be finished by 2008. "We know they (the islands) need
power, but it shouldn't be on the back of our communities," said the residents'
spokeswoman, Maureen Broadfoot.
After residents protested the original plan to almost double the power on the
existing overhead lines that cut through the Lower Mainland's most southernmost
community, BCTC is now recommending the new lines be buried about 1.5 metres
underground, following the same route.
The final decision is up to the utilities commission, an independent body that
regulates utilities.
The proposed route passes through 147 backyards, public parks, preschools and a
high school sports field.
Residents are worried the increase in power will mean an increase in the
electromagnetic field to a level they say some studies have linked to adverse
health effects.
Broadfoot said an informal survey of 58 families living under the current power
lines showed that 40 per cent of them had some type of cancer, 11 reported
miscarriages and 31 had pets who died of or have cancer. "We don't know for
sure if the lines caused the cancer, but we're alarmed," said Broadfoot, who
said the survey was unscientific.
She urged the commission to practice "prudent avoidance" as recommended by the
World Health Organization by reducing people's exposure when planning new
transmission lines.
slazaruk@png.canwest.com
Vancouver
6. INVITATION FOM MICHEAL MOORE. Submitted by EMFCanada
Filmmaker Michael Moore invites you to e-mail your "health care horror story" to
him at michael@michaelmoore.com. Remember, he likes Canadians.
BELOW he promises, "I will read every read every single one of them," and says
he may film you for his new documentary_Sicko_ about the health care industry.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=193
Friday, February 3rd, 2006
Send Me Your Health Care Horror
Stories... An Appeal from Michael Moore
Friends,
How would you like to be in my next movie? I know you've probably heard
I'mmaking a documentary about the health care industry (but the HMOs don't know
this, so don't tell them -- they think I'm making a romantic comedy).
If you've followed my work over the years, you know that I keep a pretty
low profile while I'm making my movies. I don't give interviews, I don't go on
TV and I don't defrost my refrigerator. I do keep my website updated on a daily
basis (there's been something like 4,000,000 visitors just this week alone) and
the rest of the time I'm... well, I can't tell you what I'm doing, but you can
pretty much guess. It gets harder and harder sneaking into corporate
headquarters, but I've found that just dying my hair black and wearing a skort
really helps.
Back to my invitation to be in my movie. Have you ever found yourself getting
ready to file for bankruptcy because you can't pay your kid's hospital bill,
and then you say to yourself, "Boy, I sure would like to be in Michael Moore's
health care movie!"?
Or, after being turned down for the third time by your HMO for an operation
they should be paying for, do you ever think to yourself, "Now THIS travesty
should be in that 'Sicko' movie!"?
Or maybe you've just been told that your father is going to have to just, well,
die because he can't afford the drugs he needs to get better - and it's then
that you say, "Damn, what did I do with Michael Moore's home number?!"
Ok, here's your chance. As you can imagine, we've got the goods on these
bastards. All we need now is to put a few of you in the movie and let the world
see what the greatest country ever in the history of the universe does to its
own people, simply because they have the misfortune of getting sick. Because
getting sick, unless you are rich, is a crime - a crime for which you must pay,
sometimes with your own life.
About four hundred years from now, historians will look back at us like we
were some sort of barbarians, but for now we're just the laughing stock of the
Western world.
Send me a short, factual account of what has happened to you - and what IS
happening to you right now if you have been unable to get the health care you
need. Send it to michael@michaelmoore.com. I will read every single one of them
(even if Ican't respond to or help everyone, I will be able to bring to light a
few of your stories).
Thank you in advance for sharing them with me and trusting me to try and do
something about a very corrupt system that simply has to go.
Yours,
Michael Moore
michael@michaelmoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com
7. WHO PETITION. Submitted by Hans Karow
This Is Vital to Public Health
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 5:50 AM
Subject: Repacholi petition...a reminder!!!!!!!!!!
The EMR mess we are in is thanks also- if not mainly – to Michael Repacholi,
head of WHO’s EMF department and also member of ICNIRP:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/409444403?ltl=1123880420
Please, if you have not signed the petition yet, then do so, and send to all
people you are related and befriended and acquainted!
You can be choose to have your name hidden on the list…. I however did not, I
have nothing to hide and I don’t fear anything!
I signed back in last year, # 155….you will find names that you recognize,
including EMF experts!
When writing to other people, write some personal notes as well!
Thanks, cheers, Hans.
8. LETTER FROM JANICE
Dear Everyone, Hans has some good ideas that we need to act on. Rewording the
petition so that it is easily understood by anyone who reads it is necessary so
that even WHO will understand what the real issue is. A petition can be a
powerful tool and unless there is momentum (the will of the people) behind this
issue nothing will ever be done because the corporate muscle behind this
technology is awesome. We can imagine that a few of us can have an effect, but
let’s face the reality that this issue has been around for a really long time
and the technology just keeps advancing with no end in sight. There is
literally nowhere that we or our children can be safe anymore.
I am a teacher, and I have been examining the statistics within my own school.
In my own Junior Grade 4 class of 8/9 year olds, 30% have a learning
disability or are functioning at or below a D level. In the Grade 5 class of
9/10 year olds, 50% of the children have a learning disability and are working
at or below a D level, and in the Grade 6 class of 11/12 years olds 50% of the
children as well have learning disabilities. The Primary division has similar
statistics. This represents a decade of digital TV, cell/remote phones,
computer/video games, microwave ovens, wireless notebooks/classrooms, WAN and
WLAN. The teachers in my school are alarmed as we examine the extent of the
learning exceptionalities and the lack of resources to deal with it. I have
been teaching for over 20 years and it seems that there are more and more
children who simply cannot function within the expectations of a normal
curriculum. The number of children who are MID (Mildly Intellectually
Delayed), dyslexic, autistic, ADHD etc. continues to grow each year. And now
despite my valiant efforts, we have a wireless communication tower complete
with parabolic dishes (with more to be added) attached right to our school
building sanctioned by our School Board (the profits to be made are just too
seductive to consider what is happening to our children. The Board’s argument
is that there is no conclusive proof that there is causation for any
deleterious effects so wireless technology must be safe).
The general population must be educated as to what electromagnetic energies are
before the people/parents can make a decision that they need to distance
themselves from it, or use it for less time each day, or to use protective
screens/clothing or not use it at all. Gaussmeters need to be universally
available at the local hardware store. You all realize the reason why meters
are difficult (close to impossible) to find….because then the people will have
“the knowledge” and knowledge is POWER and corporations do not want people to
have this power because then they will have to be ACCOUNTABLE for their
actions. Corporate profit margins may go down or they may have to spend more
money in design and production to make technology that is actually
people-friendly. It may even mean that technology that we already have and are
presently using should no longer be used because the risk is too high.
What will become of the children of this generation who at the first decade
marker of their lives have not a hope of a bright and prosperous future because
they are already damaged beyond repair? I see how they struggle with simple
concepts, their inability to process information, their inability for creative
innovation, their inability to even focus and remain at task to complete an
assignment. Years ago, children like this were an anomaly; now they are making
up a larger and larger part of our classes (at least where I live). These are
the children who are supposed to grow up and take up where we left off. What
if a large part of the present working population becomes prematurely senile
from RF/MW which can cause toxins to pass the blood brain barrier into the
brain causing Alzheimer’s disease?
Will our society/economy have to go into such a downward spiral towards
destruction in the loss of our intellectual resources before anyone/everyone
takes a stand to say enough is enough (Will we even be able to remember that
this is what we must do?) At the very least, we must protect the children now!
If we do nothing, we are just as culpable as Dr. Repacholi in our own inaction.
We must look at this petition as another opportunity to make a statement of
our concern.
Dr. Repacholi MUST be held accountable, NOW. Waiting for him to “self-destruct”
just wastes precious time when our children are destructing before our very
eyes. I do not believe that the children of this generation have the luxury of
several years wait until “the situation change[s]…in such a way that the
concerns of the informed members of the public (us) will become much more
influential.” (Marjorie) FOR STARTERS, we need a statement from the WHO, clear
and unequivocal, that children/students with developing brains (the newest
evidence from U. of Pennsylvania is that the brain does not complete
development until age 25!) should not be using cell phones at all, except in
dire emergencies. If you watch TV with your children, you will of course be
apprised of the intense advertising to children/teenagers to have the newest
technology such as downloading favourite music right to his/her cell.
Statements such as the following, hidden in the back of the “Motomanual” (2005)
for a Motorola cell phone, serve only as a means to nullify corporate
liability: “Present scientific information does not indicate the need for any
special precautions for the use of mobile phones. If you are concerned, you
may want to limit your own or your children’s RF exposure by limiting the
length of calls or by using handsfree devices to keep mobile phones away from
your head and body - Source WHO Fact Sheet 193.” Which kid reads the back pages
anyway?- certainly not the one who is excited about choosing ringtones and
learning how to text-message. And which kid is concerned bout limiting the
length of calls – certainly not the one with a girlfriend or boyfriend. And
where is the cell phone carried – the front pocket of the jeans or jacket. And
most of the time, the cell is turned ON.
In my opinion, we all should sign the WHO petition to put our mark in the sand,
then rewrite it as Hans suggested so that laypeople understand what the issues
are and sign it again! If the trend in learning difficulties in my own school
is representative of what is happening in other communities, within ten years
we are going to have a people problem that will be impossible to solve.
Best regards, Janice