Family fighting radiofrequency exposure
Posted: Thursday, August 15, 2013 3:00 pm
Family fighting radiofrequency exposure
Catherine Kleiber holds a transmitter radiofrequency meter and a microsurge meter, which she uses to monitor her home.
Posted on August 15, 2013
For five years in the late 90’s, Waterloo resident Catherine Kleiber suffered countless symptoms that left her and the medical community stumped.
Her symptoms could have belonged to a wide range of illnesses, but rather than settle for the catchall diagnosis she was given, she took it upon herself to research the cause-and-effect of her unknown illness.
More than 15 years later, she dedicates her time to a public service Web site that shares the health effects, solutions and legislation changes needed to address radiofrequency (RF) exposure.
Her own experience with symptoms of RF exposure came on in her early 20’s and lasted for years – sore throat, low-grade fever, muscle and nerve pain, heart palpitations, aching joints, night sweats, poor circulation and overall fatigue.
With her doctors at a loss for what to do, Kleiber was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), which is described by the Center for Disease Control as “a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity.”
“It’s just a name for people who don’t fit in all the other categories that people can actually do something about,” Kleiber said of the diagnosis.
Shortly after the diagnosis, Kleiber read an article in Wisconsin Agriculturist magazine that made a link between stray voltage, livestock and people. She contacted the article’s author, Kurt Gutknecht, and began researching RF sickness.
She learned her exposure was greatly increased due to the location of her home.
“The dead ends usually get it worse,” Kleiber said.
The high frequency signals coming into their end of the line home originated from energy efficient lights, variable speed motors, electronics, and bad electrical connections.
The symptoms only started about six months after Kleiber and her husband, Dan, moved into the home. They addressed the frequency issue in their home and just days later, Kleiber’s symptoms improved noticeably.
The degree to which a person experiences radiofrequency sickness has to do with his or her tolerance toward radiofrequency exposure, the specific frequencies involved, their body build, gender, and reserve capacity for physiological stress, Kleiber explained. She and her husband have different tolerances for different frequencies, and exhibit different symptoms, with Dan’s blood sugar often being impacted. Her youngest son is hypersensitive to radiofrequency sickness, though both sons have experienced heart arrhythmia.
It’s an issue the family is constantly aware of. Kleiber carries portable filters to filter the high frequency signal from the wiring. She also monitors the level of radiofrequency exposure in and around her home.
But because she cannot always limit her exposure to outside radiation from wireless devices sources, she is forced to stay in her home with her sons.
“If I went into the grocery store and there was somebody in the aisle, I had to stay away from them because just being near them with their phone gave me heart arrhythmias, it was awful,” Kleiber said.
Wireless Issues
There are two sources of radiofrequency exposure – high frequencies on electrical wiring (sometimes known as "dirty" electricity) and radiation from wireless devices (transmitter frequency). Transmitter radiofrequency comes from wireless technology, including cellphones, wireless Internet, Bluetooth enabled devices, transmitting towers, and other electronic devices with wireless capability emitted microwave radiation.
Another recent controversial source of microwave radiation is smart meters. The electric meters record electricity consumption and communicate the information back to the utility. The meters are being scrutinized for public health and privacy concerns.
During her years researching, Kleiber has found a link between radiofrequency exposure and various types of cancer, including leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, parotid gland tumors, esophageal, breast, testicular and possibly pancreatic cancer, all due to the placement and proximity of wireless devices to the body.
The Waterloo resident said the current standards for radiofrequency exposure are out of date and are only considered based on their thermal influence on the body, which she described as far higher than the standard levels needed to affect the body’s biology.
“You don’t have mercury levels where it’s toxic and required to pickle your body … formaldehyde levels aren’t set at the level that is required to preserve a cadaver,” Kleiber said. “We set them at the levels that are biologically active, not wishful thinking. So we should be doing that with radiofrequencies, those levels should be set at the level that we find they are biologically active. They should be below that with the safety factor.”
Electrical Pollution Solutions
Since 2002, Kleiber has been the author and webmaster of “Electrical Pollution Solutions,” (www.electricalpollution.com) a public service Web site created to inform the public about the threat radiofrequency poses to public health.
The Web site is a compilation of material from different journals and articles, and covers a wide range of topics dealing with electrical pollution – from health issues and research to solutions and legislation.
Kleiber’s biggest call for action is at the legislative arena, and said it needs to happen on the national level first.
The first step? Taking oversight of telecommunications away from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and returning it to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“[The FCC has] an ingrained conflict of interest,” Kleiber said. “Their responsibility is to promote wireless technology … they should not be responsible for regulating the safety of wireless technology. You cannot promote something and regulate the safety.”
From setting a preliminary level and assessing it every two years at the national level, the responsibility trickles down to the state government, Kleiber said.
At the state and local government level, Kleiber said providing fiber optic Internet without provider-delivered wireless Internet would be an economically beneficial step.
“Fiber optic internet is far faster than wireless. It also has a far greater capacity and, as long as it is properly engineered, it is safe,” she said.
She said a fiber optic system could also allow utilities to use smart meters without transmitters, “mitigating privacy concerns and … minimizing health problems.” Kleiber said a state law should be passed requiring utilities to allow customers to opt out of having a smart meter.
“They really should put a moratorium in place on further installations and remove the ones that have been installed and replace them with mechanical meters,” she said. “The AAEM (American Academy of Environmental Medicine) has cautioned that people with heart, neurological, and a variety of other conditions, including pregnancy, should not have smart meters and neither should their neighbors. This essentially means they are unsafe to have.”
She also encourages repeal of a provision in the recent state budget that removed local authority over siting of cell towers and broadcast radio towers.
In your home
On a personal level, Kleiber advises people to clean their electrical environment by eliminating or reducing exposure to high frequencies.
To do this, turn off or unplug devices that emit frequencies, have an electrician remove dimmer switches and halogen lights, review your electrical connections and wiring, and plug in high frequency filters.
She also recommends avoiding touch lamps, plasma televisions, compact fluorescent bulbs, wireless plug-in telephone jacks and using laptops on battery only.
Her full range of advice is included under the “Solutions” tab on the Web site.
“People are not really aware of how much this has changed recently,” she said. “The levels are just very different from what they were even five years ago. Five years ago [our family] didn’t have problems going places but you can’t see it and what you feel only are the symptoms. So if you never get to a place that’s really good, you’ll never realize that your symptoms are related to your exposure … everybody’s in a radiofrequency field now.”
http://www.hngnews.com/waterloo_marshall/news/local/article_1be0ce66-051c-11e3-b773-001a4bcf6878.html
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