How bad is Cell Phone Radiation, Really? Eric Dollard

How bad is Cell Phone Radiation, Really?

Eric Dollard

Smart meters coming - but only to those who want them

Smart meters coming - but only to those who want them

By Tom Adams Published: Oct 2, 2013 at 6:27 PM PDT Last Updated: Oct 2, 2013 at 10:47 PM PDT

»PLAY VIDEO

EUGENE, Ore. - Eugene Water & Electric Board directors say energy saving/smart meters are coming, but only for customers who want them. Program opponents argue the new policy doesn't go far enough.

That's the upshot of action from the EWEB board Tuesday night, going with a voluntary smart meter program.

"If they don't want one, they don't have to have one, It's pretty simple," explains utility spokesman Joe Harwood.

He says customer choice, not public criticism is driving the new go slow approach.  Harwood adds long term, the smart meters will save money through fewer meter readers and conservation. 

"We believe we can shave our peak consumption and that will in the long run allow us to not build new generating plants," said Harwood.
Instead of rolling out the program in 2017, EWEB would build it up through voluntary pilot projects.

Harwood adds, however, costs may not drop much from the initial $24 million estimate. He explained customers who don't want to make the switch and stick with the old meters won't be hit with $200 fines.  Still - that doesn't go far enough for smart meter opponents.

"I don't trust EWEB's judgment. I don't trust anything that Roger Gray says," says Jack Dresser, referring to EWEB's General Manager, Roger Gray.

Dresser of the group Families for Safe Meters says the utility is not being up front about possible costs and health risks from the radio frequency (RF) emitted from the meters.
"The precautionary principle means that this is potentially dangerous; there's evidence that it's dangerous; there's evidence that it's carcinogenic," he added. 

Harwood maintains the RF danger is blown out of proportion, comparing it to a cellphone.

"It's a 1 watt radio, but you don't go walking around town with your electric meter up to your head," says Harwood.

Opponents Tuesday night urged EWEB to hold off installing smart meters for ten years until all the health concerns are fully settled. Meanwhile, Harwood says the first pilot programs could be launched next year.

http://www.kval.com/news/consumertips/Smart-meters-coming--but-only-for-those-who-want-them-226229691.html

Cell Phone Radio Frequency Causes Cell Death

Cell Phone Radio Frequency Causes Cell Death

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Environment/cell_phones_can_kill_cells_1003130733.html

EMF Stories – How I Dealt With The Magnetic Fields In My Home

EMF Stories – How I Dealt With The Magnetic Fields In My Home

Posted by Lloyd Burrell on September 19, 2013 under EMF Stories, EMFs in your home, EMFs in your life | 2 Comments to Read

ElectricSense allows me to help people and I like that.

People ask me questions. I answer.

With most people it stops there.

Some write back and thank me there and then.

Which is great.

But often I don’t hear any more from them.

So I don’t know if what I’ve said has helped them.

No matter, it still feels good to have done the right thing.

But occasionally someone will write back to me in the most glowing terms, to explain how I’ve helped them.

This is what one of my readers, Luke, did recently. Here’s the message he sent me a few day’s ago:

“Hi Lloyd,

I’m writing to thank you for the work you’ve done. It’s changed my life and my exposure to electronics. Most incredibly, thanks to the Trifield meter I purchased through your recommendation, I discovered I had an extremely strong magnetic field extending up from the floor throughout my dining area that exceeded the max reading on the meter. Turns out the copper plumbing was bringing that up from the earth – right where we sat for extended periods of time! I bought some copper wire and brackets, attached that to the pipe near the earth and rerouted that along the earth and out of the house, attached to the ground. Now the pipe under the floor is reading 1 to 2 milligauss. So, you never know what you’re going to find with a meter! Thank you so much, again 

Best regards,

Luke Ragle

Colorado, USA”

I thanked Luke for his kind words and asked if he would mind explaining a bit more about how he dealt with his EMF problem. He kindly accepted and here’s what he sent me:

An Unexpected Source of EMF and an Easy Solution

Copper Plumbing’s Magnetic Field- Rerouted

by Luke Ragle

“I purchased the Trifield 100XE EMF Meter, on the recommendation of Lloyd at ElectricSense.com, with the intention of finding problem items in my home that I could then remove or avoid. Suspect items gave expected high readings: clock radios, power strips, transformers on electric gadgets, overhead fluorescent lights, and the back of the refrigerator – right through the wall… This was solid confirmation by the Trifield meter which made the fields visible, measurable, and a more real concern to my family members.

Unexpected Magnetic Field

By chance I picked up a reading in my dining room, away from any anticipated source. I moved the meter around and upon approaching the tile floor, the magnetic reading maxed out. I discovered the home’s copper water plumbing was bringing up an extremely strong magnetic field from the earth. The field was extending from the pipe running under the floor, up to about knee height, right where we sat for extended periods of time every day!

Rerouting the Magnetic Field

Through trial and error, I found that using jumper cables to connect the incoming copper water pipe to the home’s ground wire did in fact reroute the magnetic field. So, I bought some copper wire and brackets, attached the wire to the pipe near the earth and very effectively rerouted the magnetic field down away from the floor and out of the house by connecting to the home’s ground wire. Now the pipe under the dining room is reading 1 to 2 milligauss on the magnetic setting.

More Discoveries

The dining room discovery led me to check all the surfaces in my home. While surveying the floors, I also found an electric transformer tucked up between the floor joists, part of the wiring for a powered window awning. As it is producing a strong field up from the floor where I like to sit, I will have an electrician move that box to another location away from the floor.

Finally, the kitchen fluorescent light (to be replaced), creates a strong field not just in the kitchen at head height, but also up from the floor in the room above! Lights ON, left picture / Lights OFF, right picture. So, yes, the Trifield meter is a very valuable tool that has made some key, unexpected discoveries in the quest to identify and remove EMFs from my home.

 Trifield reading – with lights on.

Trifield reading – with lights off.

Conclusion

I’m very grateful to have investigated my home with the Trifield meter. In addition to getting rid of my electric foot and back massagers, electric toothbrush and shaver, clock radio, cordless phone, Wi-Fi router and fluorescent lights – I was able to find and eliminate unexpected EMF sources. Many thanks to Lloyd Burrell for all the research, articles, videos, and product reviews – work that has changed my use of electronics and exposure to EMFs.”

I’m sure this information is going help a lot of other people. Thanks again Luke for sharing this, and I’m also sure if you’ve any questions about what Luke did he will be happy to answer them here.

For more information about the Trifield meter, as used by Luke, click here to read my review.

If you have an EMF story to share send it to me – the more awareness and understanding that can be brought to this issue the better it is for everybody.

- See more at: http://www.electricsense.com/6893/emfs-magnetic-field-reduction-home/#sthash.u9zkeUYB.dpuf

LAUSD Halts Local iPad Usage for Students After Security Breach [VIDEO]

LAUSD Halts Local iPad Usage for Students After Security Breach [VIDEO]

by Usman on Thursday, September 26th, 2013 - 11:07am PDT

L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD) students have reportedly figured out how to bypass security restrictions on iPads issued to them by the school district, giving them access to non-educational internet sites, according to the L.A. Times. As a result, the district has decided to delay distribution of the devices till further notice.

The source details that almost 300 students at Theodore Roosevelt High School hacked through security so they could surf the Web on their new school-issued iPads. A couple of senior administrators reported the breach to the Board of education through a memo that said, ”As student safety is of paramount concern, breach of the … system must not occur.” Other schools reporting the problem were Westchester High and the Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills.

Students began to tinker with the security lock on the tablets because “they took them home and they can’t do anything with them,” said Roosevelt senior Alfredo Garcia. Roosevelt students matter-of-factly explained their technique Tuesday outside school. The trick, they said, was to delete their personal profile information. With the profile deleted, a student was free to surf.

L.A. Unified School District Police Chief Steven Zipperman suggested, in a confidential memo to senior staff obtained by The Times, that the district might want to delay distribution of the devices.

“I’m guessing this is just a sample of what will likely occur on other campuses once this hits Twitter, YouTube or other social media sites explaining to our students how to breach or compromise the security of these devices,” Zipperman wrote.

Roosevelt High School was the first school to start distributing the iPads to its students, as part of a rollout aimed a putting an iPad in the hands of every student in the country’s 2nd largest school system.

Usman

A technology enthusiast, writer and doctor (specialized in diagnostic radiology). Love: F1, gadgets, console games, movies, music and designer clothes. Follow me on Twitter @DrUsmanQ

L.A. Unified takes back iPads as $1-billion plan hits hurdles

L.A. Unified takes back iPads as $1-billion plan hits hurdles

School staff and students report that iPads were collected Friday at some schools. One official says only two-thirds of the $700 devices were turned in.

By Howard Blume

September 30, 2013, 8:38 p.m.

Los Angeles school officials have taken back iPads from students at Westchester and Roosevelt high schools and possibly other campuses as well until further notice, the latest fallout from student hacking of the devices.

The move is another complication in efforts to provide aniPad to every student as part of a $1-billion technology plan in the nation's second-largest school system.

The first devices are going to 47 schools, a process that has involved working out more kinks than expected.

Staff at Roosevelt in Boyle Heights and students at Westchester confirmed that the $700 tablets were taken back Friday by school officials. But a Roosevelt teacher said only about two-thirds of about 2,100 devices were immediately returned by students.

A week ago, L.A. Unified School District administrators were scrambling to respond when they learned that students skirted security measures that were intended to block free browsing of the Internet. In interviews, students said they had been disappointed at their inability to get to social networking and music streaming sites. Their work-around involved a couple of clicks — and soon hundreds of students were reaching any website they wanted.

The district tally of hackers was 260 students at Roosevelt, 10 students from Angelou Community High School in South Park and 70 at Westchester High. The numbers could be higher, based on reports from students and employees at the campuses.

District officials last week expressed some admiration for the students' ingenuity, and they discussed the possibility of enlisting students' help on an anti-hacking committee.

At the schools, however, students reported a less sanguine response, with some expressing concern about threats of discipline. District technicians had been able to tell immediately which devices had bypassed the security filter.

The district did not respond to questions Monday about having students surrender the devices.

Students, however, said they were directed to turn in the devices indefinitely.

"They carted them out of every classroom in sixth period," Westchester senior Brian Young said Monday after school. "There has been no word of when they'll be back."

He added that teachers were talking about the possibility that the tablets might not be returned until late December, although administrators were making no such predictions, he said.

At Roosevelt, "we don't know when or if we will able to use the iPads again for classroom instruction — this week, this semester or this year," said Lisa Alva, the coordinator for academic services to low-income students.

She added that the administration told her it had collected only about two-thirds of the iPads from students by the end of school Friday. If that's accurate, then many students may have violated recent instructions to keep the iPads on campus.

Last week, officials said that security was only an issue off school grounds and that the devices could and would be used at school.

Roosevelt had been one of 13 schools to test iPads last year, but the 400 students who participated did not take the devices home during the spring semester trial.

A district spokesman focused Monday on the issue of when students could take the tablets off campus again.

"We are working with Apple to develop a solution" that would allow students to use the devices at home, spokesman Thomas Waldman said in a statement. "In the meantime, our team is working with each school to assist them with options for allowing students to use the devices at their school only."

howard.blume@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-1001-lausd-ipads-20131001,0,270074.story

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

Don’t take any ad hoc decision on cell phone towers, IIT professors request Centre

Author(s): Kundan Pandey @kundanmcu 

Date:Oct 1, 2013

They say radiation from these towers too low to be harmful; health activists accuse them of conflict of interest

Photo: Meeta Ahlawat

Even as concerns about the harmful health effects of electromagnetic radiations from mobile phone towers persist, a group of experts from different IITs has written a letter to the Centre, requesting it to put on hold any “ad hoc decision” to restrict location of towers.

Citing the government’s decision to reduce the emission levels from mobile towers in the country to 1/10th of international standard, the IIT experts, mostly faculty members, claimed that India is among the countries having the most stringent norms for electromagnetic radiation exposure.

In the letter, the experts from the IITs of Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Madras, Mandi, Bengaluru and Kanpur have claimed that the radio frequency (RF) radiation from cell phone towers is too low to cause damage. The radiation is “in the frequency range from a few KHz to several GHz and are all radiations are non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. Unlike ionizing radiation, such as X-rays, non-ionizing radiations cannot break chemical bonds nor cause ionization in the human body,” the letter states. For this reason, radiation cannot cause cancer through mutations, says the group led by Ashok Jhujhunwala of IIT-Madras.

On August 19, citizens’ forum based in Mumbai, Mumbaikars, had written to Union information technology and communications minister Kapil Sibal, demanding reduction of health hazards by reducing radiation levels. This letter by Mumbaikars could have been the reason for the IIT experts sending their missive, said Prakash Munshi who is associated with non-profit Indians for Safe Environments of Radiation from Mobile towers and Associated Hazards.

Activists who have been highlighting adverse health effects of radiation criticised the letter. They accused the group of experts of having conflict of interest and demanded that the government should investigate their motive for their writing such a letter.

The letter by IIT professors accepts that there are people who claim to have suffered a variety of symptoms because of exposure to low-level wireless antenna emissions, such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, loss of memory and disturbance in digestion. But it has not gone into the details of these claims.

The IIT experts have also cited a World Health Organisation (WHO) report which says there is no insufficient evidence to prove adverse health effects of radiation from cell phone towers “Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from cell phone towers and wireless networks cause adverse health effects,” the letter has quoted WHO recommendations on guidelines for International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). (Notably, another IIT faculty member, Girish Kumar from Mumbai IIT has countered this claim and said that WHO claims that the electromagnetic fields produced by mobile phones are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as possibly carcinogenic to humans.)

The experts go on to acknowledge that wireless communication will continue to grow and that, therefore, there has been some concern that these may affect health in the long run, even though nothing may be known today. The letter emphasises the need for careful examination of new research and people’s claim but requests government not to take any ad hoc decision.

When contacted, Jhunjhunwala, IIT-Madras faculty member and signatory to the controversial letter, declined to elaborate on the letter. “At present, we have nothing more to add beyond what is written in the statement. The statement evolved following several months of deliberations. There was no immediate provocation for the statement, except that the issue was in media for some-time and we felt clarity was needed. It took us time to come to consensus. We have thus presented our view to Department of Telecommunications,” said Jhunjhunwala.

Radiation, how harmful?

Earlier in 2011, an inter-ministerial committee of government of India examined the matter and recommended a policy of abundant precautions. Based on this, the department of telecommunications onSeptember 1, 2012 implemented reduction of emission levels from mobile towers in the country to 1/10th of the ICNIRP standards.

Munshi said the claim of the IIT experts that India’s norms for cell phone towers and its radiation being safest in the world is false.

He said the decisions taken by government so far are not ad hoc in nature but taken after serious discussions and in light of incontrovertible facts.

Contradicting the claim of IIT professors, he said that electromagnetic field radiation (EMF) is harmful. Prolonged exposure to radiation from WiFi and microwaves is harmful just like prolonged exposure to sunlight he said. Munshi added that towers as such are not harmful, but the antennas are. He said no guidelines mention how many antennas can be installed on one tower. “We have written to Sibal and are awaiting his reply,” said Munshi.

Munshi said there is enough information available with the government to prove that EMF radiation is carcinogenic, otherwise, the government would not have reduced the earlier ICNIRP norms of 4,500 mili wat/sq metre to 450 mili watt/ square per metre.

Munshi rebutted other points in the letter as well. India does not have the most stringent law as the IIT professors have claimed; other countries are more serious—Chile, Belgium, Austria, China, Russia have further lowered their radiation level norms, said Munshi.

“The recommendations of the IIT professors are not acceptable. We will not wait for another twenty years. We will have to apply the precautionary principle as is the case in the European Union and Chile,” said Munshi, adding that if some serious affects come to light later, these private companies would escape leaving common people to suffer.

Adopt precautionary principle: activists

Jaipur-based activist Sudhir Kasliwal has accused the experts of conflict of interest. “Twenty-four out of the 25 who have written letter to the government have conflict of interest. If they are working with cellular companies and being paid by them, they will definitely talk in the benefit of these companies,” he said. (Three members in Kasliwals’s family were found suffering from cancer after a mobile tower was installed on top of the building he stays in.)

“It is true that there is no sufficient evidence to conclude anything but the government should focus on independent research,” he said.

He cited the example of tobacco industry which denied there is sufficient proof to conclude tobacco products cause cancer. “After 20 years, they are now forced to write ‘tobacco kills’ on the wrapper. Have they idea how many people have been killed in these 20 years because of tobacco use?” asked Kasliwal.

IIT faculty member Girish Kumar, who has done pioneering work in India on radiation from mobile phone towers, said, “it (the letter) is clear case of conflict of interest”. He said the government has reduced radiation norms to one-tenth but people are still affected by radiation. “We want further reduction in the radiation, but the cellular companies are trying to get the government to decide in their favour,” he said.

In their letter, the IIT professors have mentioned their conflict of interest. They have written in the letter that all of them have worked with the telecom sector for 5 to 35 years. Some of their work has been funded by telecom companies. Some of them have been consultants to telecom manufacturing and operations companies and have also been independent board members of these companies. However, they have claimed to sign the statement as responsible citizens.

Meanwhile, in specially convened media symposium on September 27, the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has also claimed that the radiation from mobile phone towers have no adverse side-effects on the health of people. When state secretary of DMA K K Kohali was asked about the immediate reason for raising the issue, he declined to comment.

Mumbai drafts new guidelines

Meanwhile, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai revised draft policy guidelines for installation of mobile towers in Mumbai on   September 11. The guidelines, which are yet to be notified, mandate the consent of at least 70 per cent of individual occupants, including tenants, prior to installation of mobile phone towers. It also mandates consent of every person living on the top floor of a building.

There will be only one tower allowed on one building / wing of the building, the guidelines say.

The guidelines ban installation of mobile tower antennas on top of and within 100 metres of educational institutions (nurseries, schools and colleges), hospitals, children correction homes, old age homes and hostels / orphanages for children.

There are 3,705 mobile towers in Mumbai of which 1,830 are said to be illegal. The municipal corporation has tried to remove illegal towers but the companies have taken stay from the court, said Munshi.

He said the draft guidelines talk about towers but not antennas, while adding that policy makers must focus on high quality of equipments and technology to reduce radiation levels.

http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/don-t-take-any-ad-hoc-decision-cell-phone-towers-iit-professors-request-centre

Shocking: Nearly nine million Americans now take pharmaceutical drugs just to sleep at night

Shocking: Nearly nine million Americans now take pharmaceutical drugs just to sleep at night

Wednesday, October 02, 2013 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: sleeping pills, pharmaceutical drugs, insomnia

(NaturalNews) An increasing number of Americans are having trouble falling asleep at night and staying that way, says a new government report on sleeping pill use. According to data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly nine million Americans now pop pharmaceutical sleeping drugs like Ambien (zolpidem) and Lunesta (eszopiclone) on a regular basis just to get some normal shut-eye, a disturbing trend that appears to be ever-escalating.

For their study, Yinong Chong, an epidemiologist at the CDC, and her colleagues looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on 17,000 individuals aged 20 years or older. The survey evaluated patterns of sleeping pill use among participants between the years of 2005 and 2010 and included various demographic distinctions such as race, sex and education level.

It was discovered that about four percent of U.S. adults aged 20 or older, which tabulates out to about 8.6 million people, had used a prescription sleep aid within the past month. Additionally, a shocking one in six adults with a diagnosed sleep disorder, and one in eight adults with reported sleeping troubles, admitted to using prescription sleep aids. As far as the demographic group with the highest reported use, older, non-hispanic, white, female adults with an education were the most prone to using sleeping pills.

"So far, studies on sleep aid use are mostly based on administrative claims data, which describe the number of times sleep aid prescriptions are filled rather than how many people have actually used prescription sleep aids," explains the CDC. "This report provides the first person-based national data on prescription sleep aid use among the noninstitutionalized U.S. adult population."

While older adults, mostly seniors, were found to be the most common users of sleeping pills, younger people are also becoming addicts. A 2008 marketing research study conducted by Thomson Reuters found that, between the years of 1998 and 2006, sleeping pill use among young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 tripled. And based on this fresh data from the CDC, sleeping pill use within this demographic is only expected to continue increasing.

"What's surprising is how rapidly [sleeping pill] use is growing among the young," said William Marder, senior vice president and general manager for the health care business of Thomson Reuters to The New York Times back in 2009. "It's pretty rapid growth for a group that is generally not one of [the] high-utilizers."

Sleeping pills are deadly, so why not try a natural approach?

The reason this is so problematic, of course, is that sleeping pills are not safe and can actually kill you. Ambien users, for instance, commonly report erratic behavior, amnesia and even "sleep driving" and other dangerous activities. Worse, a 2012 study published in the British Medical Journal found that people who take prescription sleeping pills regularly are nearly five times more likely to die within 2.5 years compared to people who do not take the drugs.

"I was praying to God and crying, 'Help me find the exit,'" explained Chicago resident Yvonne Oby, a 60-year-old manager of a legal firm, to NBC News about the effects of Ambien CR on her mental acuity. Oby reportedly suffered a panic-like attack while driving after taking Ambien CR, which made her believe she was driving at a dangerously high speed. "It felt like I had no control."

If you suffer from abnormal or lack of sleep, try getting more exercise and exerting yourself physically at least once a day, whether it be by running, hitting the gym, rough-housing with your children or doing chores at home. If this is not enough, there are other natural ways that you can help promote restful sleep at night, including supplementation with valerian root and melatonin as well as sleep therapy protocols such as keeping a sleep log and engaging in mind relaxation techniques.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.nbcnews.com

http://www.nytimes.com


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042306_sleeping_pills_pharmaceutical_drugs_insomnia.html#ixzz2gd74mC6F

OCMA Corner: Surgeon Addresses Cancer - Cell Phone Link on ‘Dr. Oz Show’

Posted: Sunday, September 15, 2013 6:03 pm

Dr. John West

Dr. John West, a breast cancer surgeon at Breastlink in Orange County, recently traveled to New York City to film an upcoming episode with Dr. Oz’s TV show.

The episode focuses on suspected cell phone-related breast cancer in young women.

Dr. West, who is also the co-founder of the Be Aware Foundation, which funds clinical research through a partnership with Breastlink, said the Dr. Oz show contacted him after linking him to Tiffany Frantz.

The young woman drew wide media attention after being diagnosed with breast cancer in the area where she’s been storing her call phone inside her bra.

“We don’t have any scientific proof that cell phones cause cancer,” Dr. West told PNN last week. “It could be coincidence that women develop an unusual cancer right there on the breast, or this could be the tip of the iceberg.”

Today about 40% of college women keep their cell phones inside the bra.

Dr. West, who had corresponded with Frantz and reviewed her radiology and pathology test results, said for him this raises concern to keep cell phones away from the skin of the body.

He noted that even cell phone manufacturers suggest to users to keep the phone at least one-half inch or more away from any body part.

But most of all, he said, he’s pleased that Dr. Oz will help create awareness among doctors, young women and the public about this critical issue.

“Dr. Oz asks good questions, and he will become a major advocate to get the word out about this issue. He wants to make the bra a ‘no-cell zone,’” Dr. West said.

The TV episode was filmed on Aug. 21. Dr. West couldn’t provide a date when the show will air on television.

He said the intention is not to create panic over cell phone use—with millions of TV viewers tuning out—but rather, to draw attention.

“This is not a time for panic,” he said. “Be alert and follow some simple guidelines. This will put pressure on the scientific community to put more energy toward determining if this is safe. The old standards don’t apply. We need an update on safety guidelines.”

He also hopes that more women will go to his website at www.beawarefoundation.org to read up about self-examination of the breast.

The Be Aware Foundation centers are dedicated to providing the full continuum of care for individuals with breast cancer. The centers are located in Southern California, including Hawthorne, Orange County, Encino and Rancho Mirage.

http://www.physiciansnewsnetwork.com/orange_county/article_45af0cb6-1c10-11e3-8822-001a4bcf6878.html

For scientists in a democracy, to dissent is to be reasonable

For scientists in a democracy, to dissent is to be reasonable

Government policy in Britain, Canada and Australia is crushing academic integrity on behalf of corporate power

• 
• • George Monbiot
  • The Guardian, Monday 30 September 2013 12.30 EDT
  • Jump to comments (552)

Illustration by Daniel Pudles

It's as clear and chilling a statement of intent as you're likely to read. Scientists should be "the voice of reason, rather than dissent, in the public arena". Vladimir Putin? Kim Jong-un? No, Professor Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser at the UK's Department for Environment.

Boyd's doctrine is a neat distillation of government policy in Britain, Canada and Australia. These governments have suppressed or misrepresented inconvenient findings on climate change, pollution, pesticides, fisheries and wildlife. They have shut down programmes that produce unwelcome findings and sought to muzzle scientists. This is a modern version of Soviet Lysenkoism: crushing academic dissent on behalf of bad science and corporate power.

Writing in an online journal, Boyd argued that if scientists speak freely, they create conflict between themselves and policymakers, leading to a "chronically deep-seated mistrust of scientists that can undermine the delicate foundation upon which science builds relevance". This, in turn, "could set back the cause of science in government". So they should avoid "suggesting that policies are either right or wrong". If they must speak out, they should do so through "embedded advisers (such as myself), and by being the voice of reason, rather than dissent, in the public arena".

Shut up, speak through me, don't dissent – or your behaviour will ensure that science becomes irrelevant. Note that the conflicts between science and policy are caused by scientists, rather than by politicians ignoring or abusing the evidence. Or by chief scientific advisers.

In an online question and answer session hosted by his department, Professor Boyd maintained that 50% of tuberculosis infections among cattle herds are caused by badgers. He repeated the claim in an official document called Science to Inform TB Policy. But as the analyst Jamie McMillan points out, the figure has been sexed up from inadequate data. Like the 45-minute claim in the Iraq debate, it is "spurious, simple to take on board, and crucial in convincing parliament".

The badger cull as a whole defies the findings of the £49m study the previous government commissioned. It has been thoroughly dissected by the leading scientists in the field, which might explain why Boyd is so keen to shut them up. It's one of many ways in which his department has binned the evidence in setting its policies.

Yesterday Boyd's boss, environment secretary Owen Paterson, told the Tory party conference not to worry about global warming. "I think we should just accept that the climate has been changing for centuries." A few weeks ago on Any Questions, he managed to repeat 10 discredited claims about climate change in one short contribution.

His department repeatedly misrepresents science to appease industrial lobbyists. It claimed that its field trials of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees showed that "effects on bees do not occur under normal circumstances". Hopelessly contaminated, the study was in fact worthless, which is why it was not submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

Similar distortions surround the department's refusal to establish meaningful marine reserves, its attempt to cull buzzards on behalf of pheasant shoots, and its determination to allow farmers to start dredging streams again, turning them into featureless gutters.

There's one consolation: Boyd, in his efforts to establish a tinpot dictatorship, has not yet achieved the control enjoyed by his counterparts in Canada. There, scientists with government grants working on any issue that could affect industrial interests – tar sands, climate change, mining, sewage, salmon farms, water trading – are forbidden to speak freely to the public. They are shadowed by government minders and, when they must present their findings, given scripts to memorise and recite. Dozens of turbulent research programmes and institutes have either been cut to the bone or closed altogether.

In Australia, the new government has chosen not to appoint a science minister. Tony Abbott, who once described man-made climate change as "absolute crap", has already shut down the government's climate commission and climate change authority. But at least Australians are fighting back: the climate commission has been reconvened as an NGO, funded by donations. In Britain we allowed the government to shut down the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the Sustainable Development Commission with scarcely a groan of protest.

David Cameron's government claimed that the tiny savings it made were required to reduce the deficit. Yet somehow it manages to fund a lavish range of planet-wrecking programmes. The latest is the Centre for Doctoral Training in Oil and Gas, just launched by the Natural Environment Research Council. Its aim is "to support the oil and gas sector" by providing "focused training" in fracking, in exploiting tar deposits, and in searching for oil in polar regions. In other words, it is subsidising fossil fuel companies while promoting climate change. How many people believe this is a good use of public money?

To be reasonable, when a government is manipulating and misrepresenting scientific findings, is to dissent. To be reasonable, when it is helping to destroy human life and the natural world, is to dissent. As Julien Benda argued in La Trahison des Clercs, democracy and civilisation depend on intellectuals resisting conformity and power.

A world in which scientists speak only through minders and in which dissent is considered the antithesis of reason is a world shorn of meaningful democratic choices. You can judge a government by its treatment of inconvenient facts and the people who expose them. This one does not emerge well.

Twitter: @georgemonbiot A fully referenced version of this article can be found at monbiot.com

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/30/scientists-democracy-dissent-reasonable-boyd

Navy Yard Shooter: driven to delusion or toxic and electrically sensitive?

Navy Yard Shooter: driven to delusion or toxic and electrically sensitive?

Wednesday | October 2, 2013

Dr. Amy Dean, DO, FAAEM

This is not the blog post I had planned to write. However, I believe this information is vitally important to share and discuss.

Several news outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post, reported last week that Aaron Alexis, the navy yard shooter, was driven by delusions and a belief that he was being controlled and influenced by electromagnetic waves.  According to Reuters, Alexis suffered from insomnia and reportedly “felt vibrations through his hotel room wall”.

What could have possibly caused this to happen?

Was Aaron Alexis delusional? Did he feel affected by electromagnetic waves? It is entirely possible that he was afflicted with what millions of people suffer from every day – toxicity and electromagnetic sensitivity.

Toxic brain from a toxic cloud

How does someone become toxic and electromagnetically sensitive – to the point of being driven over the edge? For Aaron Alexis, it most likely started with a severe toxic exposure he would have received on 9/11.  Reportedly, he was leaving the subway when the first World Trade Center tower collapsed and rushed in to rescue people from the rubble.  He couldn’t sleep for three days. Over the years, he sought help for insomnia, ending up in an emergency room as recently as August 28, 2013.

The toxic cloud that Aaron Alexis and other first responders at the World Trade Center were exposed to contained several chemicals that are known neurotoxins including jet fuel, PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), solvents, and heavy metals (lead and aluminum)¹,². In fact, many of these toxins are  neuropsychiatric toxins that cause impairment in psychological performance, personality changes, and insomnia.^3-6  Jet fuel exposure can even cause slow, steady personality changes over the years progressing to anxiety and hyperreactivity.⁷

We know that 9/11 first responders have a 15% increased cancer risk⁸, likely due to toxin exposure.  Toxic brain syndrome is just a different manifestation of the same chemical exposure. Aaron Alexis was most likely suffering from undiagnosed and untreated neurotoxicity. Unfortunately, this diagnosis was probably not considered in his treatment and care.

So, where do these electromagnetic waves fit in?

Many of the toxins Aaron Alexis was exposed to on 9/11 not only create brain toxicity, they can lead to the development of electromagnetic sensitivity to computers, cell phones, wifi and other low-level electromagnetic fields. Organophosphates found in jet fuel and heavy metals are some examples of toxins Aaron Alexis was exposed to that would set the stage for for him to develop electromagnetic sensitivity.

Electromagnetic sensitivity

Electromagnetic sensitivity manifests differently in different individuals. Sensitive people often experience heart arrythmias, migraines, pain syndromes, fatigue.  They also can experience debilitating sleep disturbances and insomnia.^9,10 A 2001 survey done in Switzerland showed sleep disorders, nervousness and distress to be among the most common complaints associated with EMF exposure.¹¹   Think Aaron Alexis.

Electromagnetically sensitive patients also report experiencing pulsations and vibrations in their bodies with exposure to electromagnetic fields, not unlike Aaron Alexis.  Electromagnetic field measurements often confirm that there are fields that patients are feeling and reacting to.

Aaron Alexis was a computer programmer. He would have been exposed to low level electromagnetic fields for hours on a daily basis. He most certainly was experiencing brain toxicity and had been exposed to toxins that could have made his nervous system hypersensitive to electromagnetic fields – unable to sleep, feeling vibrations, driven over the edge.  Is it possible that Alexis was delusional not because of a psychiatric condition, but was neurotoxicand electromagnetically sensitive?

Help

It is important to understand the root cause of illness so that individuals can receive help before catastrophe and tragedy happen.

Anxiety, insomnia, mood and personality changes have environmental based causes and need environmental medical treatment and care.

Here are some steps you can take to find the cause and get help if needed.

• Take the survey that starts on page 15 of the Austrian Medical Association’s Diagnosis and Treatment of EMF syndrome guidelines

• Check out the Environmental Exposure History created by Dr. Lynn Marshall, MD available through the Ontario College of Family Physicians. This is the foundation of the environmental medical history used by environmental physicians. It often reveals environmental exposures that, over time, can cause disease and negatively impact your health.

• Get help – you can find doctors in your area trained in environmental medicine through the American Academy of Environmental Medicine at www.aaemonline.org

——–

Dr. Dean is dedicated to finding and treating the cause of disease, which is often rooted in the environment. She is board certified in environmental medicine and internal medicine. She is president of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

REFERENCES

[1] Case Report: Lung Disease in World Trade Center Responders Exposed to Dust and Smoke: Carbon Nanotubes Found in the Lungs of World Trade Center Patients and Dust Samples. Wu M., et al. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2010 April; 118(4):499-504.

[2] Biomonitoring of Chemical Exposure Among New York City Firefighters Responding tothe World Trade Center Fire and Collapse. Edelman, P., et al. Environmental Health Perspectives.2003 December; 111(16): 1906-1911.

[3] Benzo(a)pyrene-induced acute neurotoxicity in the F-344 rat: role of oxidative stress. Saunders, CR. et al. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 2006 September-October; 26(5): 427-438.

[4] Behavioral effects of long term exposure to organic solvents. Hanninen H, et al. Scand J Work Environ. & Health. 1976 December; 2(4): 240-255.

[5] Toxic trace metals in the mentally ill patients. Stanly PC, Wakwe VC. Niger Postgraduate Med J. 2002 Dec; 9(4): 199-204

[6] Sleep disturbances and exposure to organic solvents. Lindelof B, Almkvist O, Gothe CJ. Arch Environ Health. 1992 Mar-April; 47(2): 104-106.

[7] Neurospychiatric symptoms in workers occupationally exposed to jet fuel – a combined epidemiological and casuistic study. Struwe G, Knave B, Mindus P. 1983 March; 67(s303): 55-67.

[8] Cancer incidence in World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers, 2001-2008. Solan S, et al. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2013 April; 121: 699-704.

[9] AAEM position paper on electromagnetic and radiofrequency field effect on human health. Dean AL, Rea WJ, Smith C, Barrier A. American Academy of Environmental Medicine. 2012 April.

[10] AAEM recommendations regarding electromagnetic and radiofrequency field exposure. Dean AL, Rea WJ. American Academy of Environmental Medicine. 2012 July.

[11] Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure – a questionnaire survey. Roosli M, et al. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2004 Feb; 207(2): 141-50.

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