Just a few personal thoughts after the recent European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) "Electroma
Stockholm,
November 11, 2014
Dear All on my mailing list,
As many of you already know, I had
the great honour to visit the recent European Economic and Social Committee
(EESC) "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity" meeting in Brussels,
November 4, 2014. [For an extensive summary of it, see
I was there together with, among
many, dr. Isaac Jamieson, member of the group of stake-holders on
electromagnetic fields for DG SANCO, and Mr. Marc Cendrier, Robin des
Toits (Association Nationale pour la Securité Sanitaire dans les Technologies
sans fil).
I felt that our presentations were
very well received and afterwards we were interview-ed/questioned for more
information. In addition, we could draw the committee's interest to various
research references and other types of valuable summarizing reports.
+++
After this meeting, I have had the
time to formulate a few humble thoughts which I hereby want to send you. (N.B.
There is absolutely no need to send me any detailed criticism or 'corrections';
the personal thoughts below are only mine, and it is to the primary
stakeholders any constructive suggestions of yours shall be sent.)
To me it is very clear that the EHS
community worldwide now must act in unison, this is definitely a golden
opportunity for change; persons with the functional impairment
electro-hypersensitivity and their relatives have suffered enough! --- So, for
instance, many members of the EESC were not at all sure where to go for
information - as well as to whom to send information - and also not in which
exact direction to head with their work. It is also clear that the industry
tries to steer them towards a psychiatric/psychologic explanatory model for
EHS, and away from the environment as a cause for electrohypersensitivity (as
well as a cause for the various diseases associated with EMF exposure). So it
is high time to act!
Therefore, I strongly believe the
following:
The EHS community MUST make up their
mind if they are to be regarded as a disease with a psychiatric and/or medical
diagnosis, thus to be treated as patients with behavioural therapy,
(psycho)pharmaca and/or corrective (psycho)surgery OR if they shall be regarded as having
a functional impairment, thus having their home, work and general life
environment 'treated' by technical/practical measures to make it completely
accessible.
The EHS community MUST -
to be viewed as in unison - agree on the term to describe/label them.
Personally, based on the above, I would go for "the functional impairment
electro-hypersensitivity", nothing else.
The EHS community MUST stop mixing
different scientific discussions with each other. For instance,
statistical/epidemiological associations of ELF-EMFs with childhood leukemia is
(today) not the same as the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity;
so-called chem.-trails and EHS/health effects of EMFs do not (today) belong to
the same category; such mix-ups will only badly blur the image. (It was very
interesting - and maybe telling (?) - to hear that most of the EU/EESC
presentations in Brussels did not cover the functional impairment
electrohypersensitivity but instead discussions about EMF exposure risk
assessments and risk management, health effects of EMFs [particularly the
association of mobile phone use and certain brain tumours], as well as
legal aspects of such diseases, exposure guidelines of tech-nical nature
[incl. SAR, ICNIRP, etc.], geographical mapping of exposures, the
Precaution-ary Principle, etc. That - in my eyes - definitely drew the focus
away from the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity and also away from
the much larger legal 'umbrella' that covers such impairments, something
actually pointed out by one of the EESC members (!) in the discussion.)
The EHS community MUST demand the
right to have at least one scientific expert of their own inside of the EESC
Working Group, especially since the current working document needs to be
updated/altered/corrected to quite a high degree. He/she should, of course, be
there as an independent expert but with His/Her ears directed towards the EHS
community representatives world-wide.
The EHS community MUST stop fighting
each other as well as stop fighting supportive persons/organizations.
Various campaigners and activists, as well as their organizations, MUST start
working only in unison, with one defined final goal at hand. Personally, based
on the above, I would go for complete accessability, and to live an equal life in a
society based on equality (as a consequence of the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights).
The EHS community MUST identify -
inside their very own ranks - individuals working against them and for the
'other side', and respectfully neutralize them once and for all. These persons
very often drain the actions of the EHS community down to a trickle, and obscure
as well as haze the clear sight. Do not allow it any longer, but act with
respect and love for your fellow man/woman.
+++
I repeat. --- Just
remember: Treating members of the community equally is not something that
should be done as a favour; nor is it something that any parliament or
government should politely request other inhabitants to provide others with.
Equality is not something to be done “out of the goodness of one’s heart”. It
is something one does because it is expected of every citizen, because
inaccessibility and discrimination are prohibited by law. Thus, it is not
alright to deliberately make EHS persons' symptoms worse.
The electrically hypersensitive must
therefore, in every situation and by all available means, demand respect, representation
and power. They shall very clearly reject all approaches which reflect a
mentality of “feeling pity for them” or “caring for them”. Inaccessibility is
not a personal problem. It is a problem for society. Inaccessibility is not
about attitudes. It is about discrimination. And discriminatory actions and
conduct shall not be dealt with by well-meaning talk about treatment.
Discrimination is already illegal!
At times, the view taken of the
electrohypersensitive persons has resembled a medical pogrom with frightening
overtones. Even more frightening is that the situation today, is and is allowed
to be much the same. The entire public debate has been characterized by grand
words, commitments and far-reaching promises, which have often been shown to lack
the necessary effect. This nonchalance and lack of commitment has per se been
particularly insulting. Is all this something that we should be proud about?
How much simpler, cheaper and more creditable it would have been to have
provided the electrohypersensitive per-sons immediately with the
assistance and solidarity that we like to boast about. An immediate decision on
a housing adaptation grant, disability allowance, etc., would have been
self-evident. Now we have instead endured almost 30 years of hostilities with
big losers, namely the electrohypersensitive persons and their
next-of-kin.
I say, there must be an end to
nonchalance, lack of consideration, indifference and lack of respect on the
part of society. Never accept discriminatory treatment or an insulting special
treatment. Stand up for other’s rights and in this way you’ll stand up for your
own future!
I would like to quote the very wise
words of the late Jan Åberg, a freelance writer in Troll-hättan, Sweden,“Everything that happens to
us human beings only happens as long as we accept it”. For how long will your authorities
and their civil servants accept it? Would they demand the same type of proofs
if it was about themselves, their children, their mother, their father…?
Remember we all must adhere to and follow all the
handicap laws and regulations. To do the opposite is a serious violation and
should immediately be reported/filed as an official legal complaint to your
local authorities, parliament, government, the EU and the UN. This is of
particular importance since Katri Linna, the previous Swedish
Diskrimineringsombudsman (=the Equality Ombudsman), clearly stated in the
newspaper Sydsvenskan (January 23-26, 2009;
http://sydsvenskan.se/chattarkiv/article408013.ece) that “electrohypersensitivity
is – according to the law – a functional impairment and I recommend EHS persons
that are discriminated to file a complaint”.
[These views can fully be motivated
in relation to national and international handicap laws and regulations,
including The UN 22 Standard Rules on
the Equalization of Opportunities for People with Disabilities, since 2007
upgraded into The UN Convention on Human Rights for Persons with Functional
Impairments, and the Swedish Action Plan for Persons with Impairments
(prop. 1999/2000:79 “Den nationella handlingplanen för handikappolitiken – Från
patient till medborgare”; Proposition 1999/2000:79, 1999/2000:SoU14). Also, the
Human Rights Act in the EU and the UN Universal Declaration of Human
Rights fully applies.]
Finally, do not misunderstand me:
the medical symptoms of the functional impairment electrohypersensitivity are already
classified as an occupationally-related symptom-based diagnosis (code ICD-10)
by the Nordic Council of Ministers since 2000. DIVS: 2000:839; ISBN: 92-893-0559-2 http://www.nordclass.uu.se/verksam/yrke_s.htm. In effect this means that anyone in
need for symptom-relieving medicines shall have them, just as a person with a
movement disorder shall have e.g. painkillers for His/Her backpain He/She has
got due to spending their days in a wheelchair. This does not take anything
from the impairment; the complete accessability principle is still 100% in
action.
+++
Anything else decided by you - than
the above - will, of course, be duly respected by every-one, but may result in
more difficult avenues to follow.
With my very best regards
Yours sincerely
(Olle Johansson, associate professor
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden)
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