This is the 9th 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 me Canadian links and stories.
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.*
Lots today, including:
1. NEW MAGAZINE
2. HAVAS TO SPEAK
3. SCOTT SIMMS TO SPEAK IN PARLIAMENT, submitted by Lorna Wilson
4. EHS ARTICLE FROM TORONTO STAR, submitted by Magda Havas
5. BRITISH GOV’T REPORT ON ELECTROSENSITIVITY
6. TOWER MAPPING, submitted by EMF Canada
7. SURPRISE POWER LINE RULING IN BC, submitted by Hans Karow
8. NOTES FROM SWEDEN, from Anna Jonsson
9. MARTIN WEATHERALL’S LETTER TO THE WHO CONCERNING EHS
MORE NEXT TIME (not enough space!)
10. AN EHS TESMONIAL, from the archives of Robert Riedlinger.
11. THE GARAGE DOOR ‘MYSTERY’, submitted by EMF Canada
12. MORE USEFUL WEBSITES, thanks to R. Johnson, M. Weatherall
13. FROM THE ARCHIVES, submitted by Richard Johnson
1. NEW MAGAZINE
A new magazine entitled EMR and Health is being generated in Australia, please
contact Lyn for more information or for a sample copy. Visit their website at:
www.emraustralia.com.au and www.emrandhealth.com
2. HAVAS TO SPEAK
Magda Havas will be speaking Tuesday November 15 from 7 to 8:30 pm in Richmond
Hill (Toronto) to the Nutritionists' Networking Group. If you are interested
in attending, contact the event organizer, Susan Baker at:
healthy_for_life@rogers.com.
3. SCOTT SIMMS TO SPEAK IN PARLIAMENT, from Lorna Wilson
Hi all:
I heard from Gerry Higgins last night that Scott Simms, MP for Gander, NFLD will
be speaking in the house about our EMF stories.
Gerry asked that I pass the word.
Lorna
4. EHS ARTICLE FROM TORONTO STAR, submitted by Magda Havas
Hello Everyone,
This just came out in the Toronto Star (November 11 2005). It is an excellent
article on electrosensitivity written by Tyler Hamilton who, with his
co-author, wrote a series of articles on cell phones that appeared in the
Toronto Star this past summer.
-magda
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1131663011758&call_pageid=968332188492&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Toronto Star, Friday November 11, 2005
Distress signals
by Tyler Hamilton
Nov. 11, 2005. 01:00 AM
It started with nausea and vomiting in the morning, followed by insomnia and the
annoying sound of clicking in her ears.
Marika Bandera, sitting in her east-end Toronto apartment, begins to cry as she
recalls how her symptoms gradually got worse over the course of a year. They
included everything from shaking hands and blurred vision to burning skin and
mild convulsions. Sessions at a sleep clinic, brain scans, an epilepsy test and
numerous visits to her family doctor and various specialists in Toronto failed
to determine the cause.
"They would not listen, they are not hearing their patients," she says.
It wasn't until a trip to Europe that a doctor there suggested her symptoms may
be related to extreme electrical sensitivity, or ES, a suspected allergic-like
reaction to radio and electrical frequencies associated with cellphones,
wireless base stations, computer screens, power lines and common household
appliances that use electricity.
Little is known about the phenomenon of ES or how many people think they have
it, but the government of the United Kingdom took a small step last week toward
recognizing the controversial condition after its health protection agency
released a report calling for more research into sufferers' stories.
"The starting point for this review is recognition ... of the need to consider
ES in terms other than its etiology (causes), as this position alone is failing
to meet the needs of those who consider themselves affected by ES," the report
stated.
The report emphasized there's no scientifically proven link between symptoms and
exposure to electrical and magnetic fields. It's the main reason health
agencies in countries such as Canada don't recognize ES.
This hasn't stopped Sweden, with an estimated 250,000 suffers, from accepting ES
as a physical impairment. Dr. Olle Johansson, associate professor of
experimental dermatology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, says
residents of some municipalities can get their home "sanitized" from
electromagnetic frequencies.
Ordinary electricity cables in the home are often replaced with special cables
and electric stoves can be changed to natural gas. If the problem persists,
roofs and floors can be covered with special wallpaper and paint that can block
outside frequencies. Windows can also be fitted with tinfoil.
"If these alterations turn out not to be optimal, they have the possibility to
rent small cottages in the countryside that the Stockholm municipality owns,"
says Johansson, who investigates cases of ES. "The municipality also intends to
build a village with houses that are specially designed for persons who are
electrohypersensitive."
In the workplace, Swedish employees can request special computer monitors and
lighting fixtures that dramatically cut down frequency emissions.
The issue of electrical sensitivity first gained a profile in 2002 when Dr. Gro
Harlem Brundtland, then director-general of the World Health Organization,
confirmed in a media report that she banned cellphones from her office because
they gave her headaches.
Brundtland, a medical doctor and former prime minister of Norway, told the Star
during a visit to Toronto late last month that the condition needs to be taken
more seriously by health authorities, and that little is known because research
to date has focused largely on the potential links between electromagnetic
frequencies and more severe illnesses, particularly cancers.
"I get headaches and feel terrible when I am in contact with mobile phones, even
if I'm not using it but it's 1 or 2 metres away. I can identify it by feeling a
mobile phone in a room without knowing it's there," says Brundtland, adding
that it may not be life-threatening but can affect quality of life.
The U.K. health agency was quick to point out that the conclusions of its review
were drawn largely from the study of electromagnetic fields from power lines
and electrical appliances, as the widespread use of mobile phones is relatively
new. "Similar symptoms have been reported from exposure to radio frequency
transmissions and there is some research being carried out in the U.K. on this
topic," according to the agency.
Acknowledging that the prevalence of ES — also known as electrohypersensitivity
— has not been measured in the United Kingdom, it estimates as many as a few
people per thousand among the population could be affected.
Dr. Magda Havas, a professor of the environmental and resource studies program
at Trent University in Peterborough, is one of the few trying to track the
condition in Canada.
Havas estimates as much as 35 per cent of the population may be suffering from
moderate ES, with the severe form Bandera experiences affecting 2 per cent. She
speculates that ES may have an association with diseases such as multiple
sclerosis and diabetes.
"MS and diabetes are both on the increase and I wonder how much of this is due
to dirty electricity and our inundation with radio frequency radiation," says
Havas, who has experimented with filters that help block what she calls
"electropollution."
"I have videos of MS patients who walked with a cane and can now walk unassisted
after a few days or weeks with the filters."
In a church basement in St. Catharines last month, dozens of people gathered to
hear Havas talk about ES. It was part of an event organized by the SWEEP
Initiative, which stands for "safe wireless electrical and electromagnetic
policies."
The group, led by Brock University professor David Fancy, was created in the
summer as part of a grassroots effort to raise awareness and begin documenting
cases of ES in Canada. The hope is that health authorities and politicians will
recognize it as a problem.
"There is a lot of front-line work happening, as people reach out to those with
a variety of symptoms who are having to move out of suburbia and live in the
woods," says Fancy, who wears special protective clothing to help block
signals.
He compares the condition to an allergy that affects certain people in different
ways. Other SWEEP members, such as retired police officer Martin Weatherall,
former head of legal services at the Toronto Police Association, prefer to
think of it like a poison that accumulates in the body.
Havas says one of her missions is to engage medical professionals in Canada to
help them understand ES. Many of those at the St. Catharines event were
doctors, she says.
One physician, working at a high-profile Toronto hospital, told the Star she's
seeing an increasing number of patients exhibiting unexplainable, often
disabling, ES-like symptoms and feels compelled to learn more. But she's afraid
to speak openly about it because of skepticism in the medical community, which
tends to treat such patients like they're crazy.
"They think it's a bunch of hooey," she says, asking that her name be withheld.
"But we don't understand everything. We don't know everything. So we have to
take these people seriously."
Bandera, suspecting that nearby hydro lines and a neighbour's home wireless
network may have contributed to her symptoms, moved a few weeks ago to a
different apartment, only to find a wireless phone tower nearby. Her symptoms
persist, but so does denial from the medical community.
"I'm still searching to get well from this," she says, sounding tired and
defeated. "People need to be aware that this condition exists."
Tyler Hamilton is the Star's technology reporter. <fontfamily>
5. BRITISH GOV’T REPORT ON ELECTROSENSITIVITY, available at:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/radiation/publications/hpa_rpd_reports/2005/hpa_rpd_010.htm
6. TOWER MAPPING, submitted by EMF Canada
As SWEEP moves towards mapping all Canadian communications towers, let’s
familiarize ourselves with some similar initiatives.
See lower part of this IC page
http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/tafl/tafindxe.html
http://apollo.ic.gc.ca/pls/eng_alpha/web_search.geographical_input
>From Simon Fraser University
http://www.sfu.ca/geog452spring00/project5/downloads.html
http://www.sfu.ca/geog452spring00/project5/index.html
http://www.sfu.ca/geog452spring00/project5/gallery.html
>From Israel:
http://www.iddd.de/umtsno/emfkrebs/israel.htm#us1802
7. SURPRISE POWER LINE RULING IN BC, submitted by Hans Karow
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Campaigns_and_Programs/Climate_Change/News_Releases/newsclimatechange11090504.asp
News Releases
Federal Court kills Sumas Energy appeal
November 09, 2005
VANCOUVER – In a startling end to a long running dispute, the Federal Court of
Appeal today dismissed Sumas Energy 2’s challenge to the National Energy
Board’s March 2004 decision. The original ruling denied SE2 permission to build
an international power line connecting its Washington State power plant to BC
Hydro’s power grid near Abbotsford.
After two full days of argument, the Court took the rare step of immediately
issuing a decision on the appeal, finding that SE2's appeal has no merit and
should be dismissed. It also ordered SE2 to pay the costs of the parties that
have opposed its appeal.
“This is a huge, huge victory for opponents of SE2" said Sierra Legal Defence
Fund lawyer Tim Howard. "It is extremely rare for the Court to dismiss an
appeal right at the hearing, and the Court's decision to do so states loud and
clear that SE2's appeal has no merit whatsoever."
Sierra Legal worked with Thomas Berger, Q.C. who spoke on behalf of the Society
Promoting Environmental Conservation and the David Suzuki Foundation at the
Federal Court of Appeal hearing. SE2 had argued that the NEB decision was not
valid and that the Board overstepped its jurisdiction by making a decision
involving a foreign company. The American Company unsuccessfully tried to use
NAFTA to justify going ahead with the power project.
“This is good news for Abbotsford and everyone living near the U.S. border. It
sets an important precedent for U.S. power companies looking to set up shop on
the border, where their emissions will pollute Canadian air sheds, so that they
don’t have to deal with strict state laws governing domestic air pollution,”
said SPEC Executive Director Karen Wristen. “Our national regulators have a
duty to protect the health of Canadians too, and the Court has confirmed it
today.
Morag Carter, climate change program director for the David Suzuki Foundation
added, “This is a huge victory for British Columbians. The judge’s decision
sends a clear message that air pollution and public health should be major
considerations when it comes to energy supply. It bolsters the case for clean,
renewable energy and a new focus on conservation and efficiency.”
While the Court issued the decision denying the appeal today, it will still
write detailed reasons to support that decision for release at a later date.
SE2 could apply to the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to bring a
further appeal. Background on the Sumas 2 hearings can be found online at
www.sierralegal.org.
For more information, please contact:
Sierra Legal Defence Fund: Tim Howard, lawyer, Cell: (604) 313-3132, (604)
681-4146
David Suzuki Foundation: Morag Carter. Climate change program director,(604)
732-4228 ext. 280, cell: (778) 386-1448
SPEC: Karen Wristen, Executive Director,(604) 736-7732, cell: (604) 788-5634
Sierra Legal Defence Fund (www.sierralegal.org) is a national non-profit
organization dedicated to environmental justice.
8. NOTES FROM SWEDEN, from Anna Jonsson
I called a couple of people in Sweden today and they were very excited to hear
that things are finally shaking loose in Canada.
Bosse and Sonja Fredberg, the main organizers of the Wavebreakers, are always
generous with their information and ideas. With the support of a
Green Party member they decided to start the Wavebreakers after one of Olle
Johansson's informative lectures about 5 years ago. This was the time when
the 3G system was being expanded to cover 98% of Sweden. The original 7-8
members wrote their policies and procedures and sent out their message to a
select group of organizations and individuals they found in their local Yellow
Pages. The Wavebreakers is a loose national organization with several chapters
across the country. They have, an informative website, and have staged
informative events, protests, and make sure that they are a part of any event
where EMF is discussed.
An interesting story from the Wavebreakers - When they were campaigning in one
of the suburbs of Stockholm an old soldier approached them quite agitated. He
thought they were promoting the 3G system and scolded them for being so
uninformed, because he knew how dangerous radiation is from having been in the
army for such a long time. Interestingly, Bosse Fredberg is also an ex-marine
and now EMF injured. A lot of very skilled but sick people in Sweden. This is
what the authorities cannot turn away from - their skilled workforce is sick
with unspecified diagnoses. Naturally the psych diagnoses have been dominant in
this country too, but now even the Swedish Radiation Authority is admitting
that people can also get sick from non-ionizing radiation. A huge step forward
for the grassroots organizations. However, the government rejected all 34
motions on EMF between 2003-2004. The Social Democrats still rule and make sure
that the hi-tech investments in the country are safe. Ericsson is grateful. My
point here is that the Swedes with ES do not think that we should kill the myth
on Sweden as a fair country. Everything they have achieved they had to fight
for. Sweden is a democratic state but at the same time quite authoritarian.
I thought it would be a good idea to ask them to write something for SWEEP. What
do you think the readership would like them to write about? Could you ask
anyone in STOP what they would like to know from their 'colleagues' in Sweden?
(Please send dfancy@brocku.ca any questions you have for the Swedes and I will
forward them to Anna.)
9. MARTIN WEATHERALL’S LETTER TO THE WHO CONCERNING EHS
Please follow with similar letters!
866729 Township Road 10
RR#3
Bright, Ontario
N0J 1B0
Canada
519 463 6251
10 November 2005
Director-General Lee Jong-wook
World Health Organization Headquarters
Avenue Appia 20
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Dear Director-General:
I have recently read the document entitled “WHO Workshop on Electrical
Hypersensitivity, Prague, Czech Republic, October 25-27, 2004. Working Group
Meeting”. I am now writing to advise you how disappointed I am with some of
the recommendations. In particular, I am referring to the recommendations on
page 8 under the headings Information for the General Public and Advice to
Governments, both of which include the point: “discourage measurements in
homes”.
This advice to the General Public and to Governments is so completely contrary
to sensible thinking and so fundamentally wrong that the World Health
Organization may be criminally liable for offences in the countries that follow
these guidelines. I base this statement on my own experience and situations
where I have had personal involvement.
If the WHO is considering only simple EMFs as being the cause of many people’s
illnesses, the WHO is quite wrong. A better way to describe the real problem
is “electrical pollution” or “electrosmog”. This includes:
1. Electromagnetic fields
2. Electrical fields
3. Ground current electricity
4. Dirty electricity on the power distribution systems
5. Broadcast signals from a variety of different sources, including cellular
telephones, radar and wireless devices.
If the WHO is not willing to consider how all of these problems interact and
cause health problems, the WHO will fail to diagnose the true cause of many
severe illnesses and will fail in its duties to the world population.
In the WHO document, the working group has chosen a description other than
electro hypersensitivity and has called the illnesses “Idiopathic Environmental
Intolerance’ (IEI). My description is a little more simple to understand and
is more to the point – “electrical and radio frequency radiation poisoning”.
The persons that you refer to as IEI suffer their illnesses only after being
exposed to dangerous levels of electrical pollution. They have been poisoned,
possibly by one of the above named toxic ingredients, but it is more likely
that a mixture of two or more elements caused their illnesses.
It is totally irresponsible for the WHO to discourage the testing of homes of
persons suffering from EMFs and other forms of electrical pollution. Severe
suffering and even death may result for those who do not get help. The WHO
should reverse the current recommendations, and advise complete and thorough
testing of victims’ homes and, possibly, their workplaces. It is very
important to identify and quantify the reasons why so many people are being
made sick by electrical pollution. Missing any one of the above “ingredients”
of electrical pollution may fail to find the real reason for a victim’s
sickness and cause further suffering and danger. If several new viruses were
causing death and suffering throughout the world, surely the WHO would not
simply say to Governments - “do not try to identify them”. Why, then, has the
WHO ignored the significant health damage already occurring in many countries
because of electrical pollution? Is the WHO going to wait until a catastrophic
amount of harm is visible to all the population, before taking action?
My own situation is an example of the need to identify and measure the different
elements of electrical pollution. Considerable ground current electricity was
found inside my home even when all of the electricity was disconnected. High
electrical fields were located throughout the basement and on the telephone
lines. Electromagnetic fields covered the whole house and were particularly
high at the outdoor drilled water well. Various low and high frequencies were
located on the electricity flowing through the house. I suffered a variety of
very adverse health symptoms and developed prostate cancer within one year of
living at my home. My wife and I have been unable to live in our own house for
ten months now, and we have been forced to find alternate accommodation because
the electrical utility company has refused to correct problems with their
distribution system. Canadian health care and government authorities have
failed to provide any meaningful assistance or advice about our electrical
pollution problem. Without the assistance of an electronics expert who
provided detailed measurements, I would not have known what was causing my
illness and would have probably continued to grow increasingly ill. Your
recommendations enable governments and utility companies to continue their bad
and dangerous practices, while at the same time leaving sufferers helpless to
correct their situations.
Within the last few weeks, I have been involved in three situations where the
measurement of victims’ homes resulted in the discovery of dangerous electrical
pollution that was causing serious illness. In a rural house northwest of
Toronto, a wireless plug-in telephone jack was causing massive amounts of high
frequency radiation inside the home. After the wireless jack and other
problematic items were unplugged, a female occupant of the home reported a
drastic improvement to her health. She was able to walk properly, climb
stairs, and sleep all night, which she had not been able to accomplish
previously. She also reported that she was no longer experiencing many severe
migraines, only “normal” headaches. Only the use of special instruments
located the problematic devices that were causing so much harm.
Upon request, I recently attended in Toronto at the apartment of a woman who was
disabled by electrical pollution. A defective fluorescent light fixture in the
apartment below seemed to be the cause of very high levels of EMFs that were
emanating from the kitchen floor. In the bedroom of the same apartment, near
to the place where the victim’s head lies when she is sleeping, a very high
amount of high frequency radiation was discovered coming from the wall. The
problem was eventually located in the next apartment, where an almost new
wireless telephone was found to be the source of extremely high amounts of
radio frequencies. This was a problem even when the telephone was not in use,
and simply resting in its cradle. Only careful testing with a variety of
different sensitive instruments managed to locate these very serious electrical
pollution problems. Unfortunately, the victim is so electrically
hypersensitive that she still suffers greatly. In her previous efforts to get
help from doctors, she had been referred to psychiatrists and had not been
provided with any meaningful help. The WHO recommendations actually encourage
this type of treatment by failing, as an organization, to explore the
connection between electrical pollution and sickness, and by advising
physicians not to search for causal factors when treating victims.
Furthermore, the WHO undermines the serious nature of this problem by advising
governments that there are no grounds to use IEI as a diagnostic
classification.
In a different situation, in a rural home located west of Toronto, I found
another wireless telephone that was producing and transmitting very high levels
of high frequency radiation, but only when the telephone was turned on and in
use. The victim complained of tinnitus, severe ear pain in the area where the
receiver was normally held against her head, and severe pain linked to her neck
and back. In the short amount of time since this problem was identified and
she stopped using the wireless phone, the victim has reported that her injuries
have improved by fifty percent.
In the workplace of an assistant professor at a Canadian University, extremely
high levels of ground current electricity were located flowing through his
office. He has developed such severe sensitivities to the electrical
pollution, that he cannot work in that office and is experiencing great
difficulty finding a place to live where he does not feel ill. A university
office tower located near his office houses many different broadcast and cell
phone antennae. Amongst the workers in the top floors of that tower, there are
several persons who have developed cancer.
In each of these situations, it was difficult to locate and identify the cause
of the harm. Even simple EMF measurements, which you discourage, would have
been inadequate. The victims would have continued to be harmed, their quality
of life would have been degraded, and their lives would have been at risk. If
the WHO continues with its recommendations to discourage the measurement of
homes, you will be ensuring that many people will suffer, become ill, and
possibly die, and that the real causes of their sicknesses will not be
identified by health authorities.
There are clear signs that electrical pollution is becoming a major health
problem throughout the developed world. The recommendations from this working
group will ensure that the WHO stays “willfully blind” to the causes of what
appears to be a major environmental disaster. This health threat is so
significant that the WHO should give it highest priority. Instead, your feeble
response to date is compromising the safety of those you should be protecting.
In conclusion, I recommend that the health dangers of electrical pollution be
brought to the attention of all governments and health authorities throughout
the world. Also, thorough and complete testing of victims’ homes should be
recommended to governments, health authorities and health care professionals,
so that the electrical pollution harming citizens can be identified. Only by
this means will the WHO be able to properly recognize the real causes of these
illnesses and be in a position to make recommendations for a safer world
environment in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Weatherall
Cc Mr. Dave Stetzer, Electrical Specialist & Consultant, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Dr. David Fancy, Director - Safe Wireless, Electrical and Electromagnetic
Policies.
Dr. Magda Havas, Environmental and Resource Studies Program, Trent
University.
--
Dr. David Fancy
Department of Dramatic Arts
Brock University
St. Catharines, Ontario,
Canada L2S 3A1
tel: 905-688-5550 ext 3584
fax: 905-984-4861