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The "Non-ionizing radiation cannot do harm" myth is still being propagated

We still see the myth that 'there is no biological effect, and there is no mechanism to cause an effect from non-ionizing radiation' propagated in our news media (Stuff). But the Telecommunications industry has known for over 20 years of the potential harms from its technology. Industry unpopular science is likely to suffer 'death by de-funding,' or diversion of research funds to PR to control the damage. Such as the case of the 28.5 million-dollar Wireless Technology Research project (WTR), this was funded by the Cellular Technology Industry Association (CTIA). It employed 200 hundred scientists and was led by Dr George Carlo. The first studies failed to show harm from RF radiation, however, within this study, Drs Henry Lai and Narendra "NP" Singh were achieving unpopular results: finding the presence of micronuclei in the blood, this is evidence of DNA breakage and was caused by exposure to radio-frequency radiation in the  2.4GHz range used with cell phones, Wi-Fi, and other devices, and within the safety guidelines that protect from heating effects. This was particularly alarming in view of the strong correlation between micronuclei and cancer. After the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the presence of micronuclei found with DNA breaks in the blood was used to identify children at high risk for developing cancer.

 

Lai and Singh worked for close to 4 years being promised but never receiving the money from the WTA.  Dr Henry Lai, had to endure events such as his university receiving an anonymous call saying that he was not using their funding for its intended purpose. After Lai and Singh’s research found effects on DNA was published in 1995, Lai learned of a full-scale effort to discredit his work. In a Motorola internal company memo leaked to Microwave News (a publication that examines the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic radiation) Motorola described its plan to “war-game” and undermine Lai’s research. His science was portrayed as having questionable relevance.

 

In 1999 the full board of the Cellular Technology Industry Association was presented with the information health risks

Dr George Carlo was initially an 'insider', he was experienced at protecting toxic industries. Carlo had downplayed dioxin and tobacco health threats. He had trained telecoms employees on how to (not) answer direct questions about cell phone safety. When one of these employees Debbra Wright had recurrent brain tumours, she charged him and the CTIA with a systematic orchestration of a cover-up of health risks. Although the case was lost, it shook Carlos up and also the CTIA wouldn't cover his court costs. He became a whistleblower and continues to 'out' the industry. 

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Carlo's February 1999 presentation to the full board of CTIA presented information that the industry did not want to hear. By 1998, his group’s research showed that the nearfield electromagnetic plume of approx 17-20cms  around the antenna of the cell phone caused leakage in the blood-brain barrier, as well as rare neural epithelial cancers and double to triple the risk of benign and malignant brain tumours and DNA breakage. Instead of publishing and publicising these important findings,  a public relations company was used to damp down the findings. The PR company used was the politically well-connected Powell-Tate public relations firm. (Jody Powell was former press secretary for President Carter and Sheila Tate was spokeswomen for former First Lady Nancy Reagan). 

 

Now Carlos represented a danger to Industry. He was physically threatened, a house he owned was burnt down in an arson attack. He has written a book about this "Cell Phones, Invisible Hazards in the Wireless Age" along with journalist Martin Schram. Having been an insider he has a unique perspective on exactly how the game is being played. In his letter to the AT & T chairman in 1999, requesting AT&T’s assistance to distribute information on risks to consumers he wrote "...that some segments of the industry have ignored the scientific findings suggesting potential health effects, have repeatedly and falsely claimed that wireless phones are safe for all consumers including children, and have created an illusion of responsible follow up by calling for and supporting more research" He goes on to write"I am especially concerned about what appear to be actions by a segment of the industry to conscript the FCC, the FDA and The World Health Organization..."

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Typically, the most recent research study will be reported as a revelation to be investigated further while industry continues to treat each such study as if it were isolated in the scientific universe. Important and well-executed science is ignored and any deficits or anomalies in independent (of industry) research are portrayed as making the science inconclusive by scientists or administrators with close ties to the industry, even within organisations we should be able to trust, like the World Health Organisation (WHO). The military have consistently been misleading on health effects but are called in to advise WHO. according to this back issue Microwave news article p.19. Also, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the EU’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) (now defunct but its reports are still circulating on the Internet) and various cancer societies such as The American Cancer Society. While creditable organisations and people contribute to such organisations reports, industry influence is consistently making sure these reports are amended so that recommendations are watered down and risks are taken less seriously. 

 

The president of the CTIA managed to get safety warnings removed 

Tom Wheeler, president of the Cellular trade group (CTIA)  raised objections to a draft of a mobile-phone manual that, among other things, advised consumers how to limit radio-frequency radiation from mobile phones. Wheeler succeeded in getting warnings removed and the industry consumer safety document watered down.” Schram and Carlo conclude that Wheeler’s intervention in matters of public relations, funding and personnel ultimately undermined the scientific foundation of the WTR mobile phone-cancer research program. He has a clear conflict of interest as ex-CEO and now retired partner of Core Capital Partners which has invested in 45 companies that focus on wireless technologies. Wheeler was Obama's biggest donator and was appointed as chairman of the FCC.

 

Another example is how the World Health Organisation classified the type of radiation we get from our cell phones as being a probable carcinogen in 2011, but soon after, issued materials seemingly oblivious to this claim. What are we to believe? The confusion comes from the fact that some of WHO's advisors are Industry independent and some are not. The most influential committee who effectively set our regulatory standards and many other countries in the world, the  International Commission on Non-ionizing radiation Protection (ICNIRP) is definitely not. Our Ministries of Health and Education and the Scientific advisory to the Government refer to this agency that appears as creditable on the surface but has been found to be lacking independence from industry influence and completely lacks transparency in the way decisions are made about the science reviewed.

 

Junk science and fluorescent poop

Dr Allan Frey, the scientist who discovered that that RF radiation opened the blood-brain barrier, believes misinformation in the scientific literature may all be collateral damage of the Cold War between the USSR and the United States. The use of microwave-generating equipment, such as radar, was seen by some as critical to the security of the United States. Efforts were taken to ensure that such innovations, were not suppressed by findings that suggested that such technology be unsafe. Frey's science was knowingly mis-replicated, by Brooks Air-force base contractors. Frey's science showed that that the blood-brain-barrier was made permeable, by putting fluorescent dye into a mouse's femoral artery. When the mouse was exposed to RF frequencies dye was seen in the mouse's brain within five minutes. The contractors injected dye into the mice's stomachs instead, so did not, in fact, replicate Frey's science and did not get dye in the mouse's brain, despite claiming to do so. We expect they would have achieved fluro coloured poop.

 

Funding for EMF research was also blocked because of a military race to develop EMF weaponry so that unclassified science wasn't available to opposing military forces. Electromagnetic weaponry has been developed and used, and this why scientists that worked in this area of the military are so worried about the ubiquitous use of WiFi frequencies and also the opening up of the spectrum: they know exactly what damage can be done. 

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Our laws protect us from the effects we see in our microwave ovens

Our laws do protect us a little: they protect us from having high-powered exposures of these radio waves. Otherwise, we would be affected like the food in our microwave ovens where the radio waves are high-powered and we would be: cooked. So a regulation was made to prevent this heating effect. One large thick-skulled soldier was used to create a safety calculation: the measurements were not made on a range of people, for example, children who have much thinner skulls. 

 

Both the radiation from our cell phones and WiFi, Bluetooth etc, and the microwaves in our microwave-ovens are within the radio frequencies band. Microwave ovens came about after a radar engineer Percy Spencer noticed while working on increasing the power of a military-grade magnetron, that his pocketed peanut cluster chocolate bar had turned into a gooey mess. The next day he brought an egg to test, and that ended up with it all over his face. The following day he tried popcorn, and that was followed by the development of the microwave oven. 

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We wouldn't put our head in a microwave oven

These days we realise Spencer was probably doing something dangerous and we wouldn't put our heads in a microwave oven, but many of us do not realise that there is still harm from lower power levels of this electromagnetic radiation classified as radio waves, that come out of Bluetooth, WiFi routers, or cell phones, as well as, our microwave ovens. As Dr Gerald Goldberg author of the book titled "Would you put your head in a Microwave Oven" says "Technology has transformed this planet into an open microwave system with its satellite transmissions." and he sees the cumulative effects on our bodies as having the tell-tale pattern of injury from this. In the European Union's Reflex Report there are pictures comparing the effects of x-rays on a cell, cell-phone radiation on a cell, and a cell exposed to neither. The effects on the cell from cell-phone radiation appear very similar to that of the x-ray exposures, and without the radiation, the cell looks very different. 

 

If we do not feel quite right, we find ourselves more tired than we expect we should be, or have a chronic health issue, it is our diet, our stressful lifestyle or how we caught a germ that we blame. We are not really alerted to any sort of health impacts associated with our use of technology. In fact, we regularly encounter news articles quoting authorities and "science" that imply that any fears or suspected effects from our use of technology are both stupid and unscientific.

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