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MAN: The Human Receiver
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MAN: The Human Receiver
This article appeared in Monitoring Times, March, 1991 issue.
by Bob Grove
Two types of radiation, ionizing and non-ionizing, pervade our planet.
Ionizing radiation is produced by nuclear energy?radioactivity?as unleashed
by nuclear explosions and power plant accidents. It is also present in nature
as attested to by the continuing concerns about radon gas in our homes.
Non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (NIEMR) is more
insidious?everywhere we look in our electric world we see its evidence?in
our homes, offices, vehicles and even on the open road.
The suspicion that radio waves and other forms of electromagnetic
(EM) pollution may be harmful has been with us for decades. Early radar
experiments cooked the experimenters; now scientists suspect that weaker
energy fields like those produced by electric power lines may have delayed
effects.
Some Alarming Statistics
Dr. Genevieve Matanoski of Johns Hopkins University claims that there
is a disturbing link between human cancer and exposure to power lines. She
cites the high level of cancer among telephone linemen and breast cancer
among male repairmen working on central office switching equipment.
Data collected by the University of North Carolina suggest that pregnant
women who use electric blankets are 70% more likely to induce leukemia
and 130% more likely to induce brain cancer into their unborn children.
Young children using electric blankets seem to have a 50% higher cancer
rate and 90% higher leukemia incidence than non-electric-blanket users.
Even electrically-heated water beds are suspect. Fortunately, the actual
numbers of these cases are small.
So what is the government?s official stance on the NIEMR question?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement in June
1990 in which they observed that ?there is a small but statistically
significant correlation between electromagnetic fields and cancer.? It is the
magnetic, not electric, component of the fields that the EPA holds suspect.
White House Science Advisor D. Allan Bromley and Assistant Secretary
of Health James Mason withheld from the public for six months, ostensibly
to prevent alarm, a portion of the report which concluded that there is ?a
consistent pattern of response which suggests?a causal link? between
electric power line radiation and leukemia, brain cancer and lymphoma
among children. A summary of the EPA study was finally released in full in
mid-December 1990.
Not unexpected, the U.S. Air Force, with its extensive deployment of
video terminals and other electronics, blasted the report and EPA, saying
that Air Force reviewers have never found any evidence of a link between
electromagnetic fields and cancer. Further, they charged that the EPA
?biased the entire document? to establish such a link.
We know very little about the hazards of electromagnetic radiation
because of its recency, but when unexplained trash fires erupt spontaneously
near power lines in Honolulu, or the incidence of Down?s Syndrome
(Mongolism) is unusually high in Vernon, New Jersey, the site of an
enormous satellite transmitting complex, there is cause for concern.
Paul Brodeur, author of the books, Currents of Death and The Zapping of
America (both published by Simon and Schuster), accuses the White House
of ?suppression and politicization of a major health issue.? In the July 9,
1990, issue of the New Yorker, Brodeur reports increased cases of
miscarriages, brain tumors, birth defects and cancers among residents near
power lines. Some experts disagree with Brodeur whom they see as an
alarmist fanning the flames of the popular press.
Most researchers do seem to agree, however, that long-term, nearby
exposures are more hazardous that short-term, distant exposures, and that
simply restringing power line cables so that they are close together
dramatically reduces their radiation. With this information now public, what
are the legal ramifications for power companies who have done nothing to
correct the problem?
The hazards of computer video display terminals have been well
publicized, but how are they different from TV screens? They?re not. But
computer operators sit right in front of their screens, and only terminal
couch potatoes get that close to their vidiot boxes! The lesson is to sit at
least an arm?s length away from the screen to significantly reduce the
radiation hazard.
The December 1990 issue of the American Journal of Industrial
Medicine reports a sharp increase in brain cancer cases over the last few
years. There are concerns as well about antenna radiation from
walkie-talkies, ham and CB radios, broadcasting transmitters, and cellular
and cordless telephones. While some of these technologies may be relatively
new, critics claim that the government is purposely avoiding such studies,
afraid of the political consequences of revealing the truth.
In a faltering economy, homeowners near power lines are doubly hurt,
finding their property values plummeting. Power companies could face
lawsuits for maintaining wide-spaced, overhead power lines when they are
aware that close spacing and underground placement dramatically reduce
electromagnetic exposure. Obviously, homes, playgrounds and schools
should not be close to high tension lines.
Other industries as well face staggering lawsuits brought by employees
who feel that their disabilities were caused by electric and electronic
equipment to which they were exposed. Computer operators should stay at
least 30 inches from their screens (and 36 inches from the sides and back).
Like other forms of pollution, the cost to clean up the electromagnetic
environment would filter down to the consumer who is already burdened by
high taxes and economic recession.
A generation of experimentation?
In the early 1970s, Dr. Ross Adey discovered that low-level 16 Hz
radiation would alter the flow of calcium ions in the brain; the U.S. Navy
pulses their 420 MHz long-distance radar bursts at 18.5 Hz, well within the
?calcium window.?
Dan Lyle, an associate of Adey?s, discovered that a 60-Hz-modulated 450
MHz signal could alter the immune system. In England, Richard Dixey and
Glen Rein showed that pulsed 600 Hz fields affect the body?s
neurotransmitters. What effect does the Navy?s Project ELF 76 Hz
transmitters have?
EM experiments with humans were reported long ago: 6.6 Hz caused
depression, 11 Hz caused agitation and riotous behavior, 8 Hz produced
elated feelings, and frequencies below 6.26 Hz induced confusion and
anxiety. What are the consequences of the global 10 Hz radio pulses from
the Russian ?woodpecker??
Red, green and blue color perception may be enhanced by placing
electrodes on the subject?s temples and introducing 42.5 and 77 Hz voltages.
Robert Becker, in his recent book, The Body Electric Electromagnetism and
the Foundations of Life, states that 30-100 Hz electric fields, weaker than
even the earth?s natural magnetic field, interfere with the body?s cycles and
rhythms, producing chronic stress and impairment disease.
The human body?s nervous-system works on very minute pulses of
electrical energy, typically a few millionths of a volt. The heart depolarizes,
producing a beat, in only a quarter second. It doesn?t take much induced EM
to interfere with those tiny signal levels. Currents as low as 10 milliamperes
produce pain, while those in the 100-200 milliampere ranges are lethal.
Our earth is constantly bathed in waves of electromagnetic energy from
the sun, the planets and even more distant heavenly bodies. How do these
emanations influence our daily lives? What are their long term effects?
30 years ago Charles Susskind at the University of California, under a
U.S. Air Force grant, demonstrated that 3-cm radar transmissions killed
laboratory mice in front of a radar horn when their body temperature
exceeded 111 degrees (your tax dollars inventing the microwave oven!). In
1962 Susskind and his assistant, Susan Prausnitz, published their daring
conclusion that pulsed microwaves could cause leukemia.
In another experiment, ants lined up in a 3-cm EM field, aligning their
antennae parallel to the field in an effort to minimize the effect. Not
surprising, since the antenna of an ant is very nearly a quarter wave
resonator at 3 cm. The ant-alignment behavior was observed at frequencies
as low as 9 MHz.
It was during that period that a report from the National Institute for
Neurological Diseases warned that the frequency 388 MHz was noted to have
a lethal effect on monkeys. Subsequent experiments with a milliwatt-power
oscillator positioned several feet away from human subjects and swept
through the 380-500 MHz range elicited a ?pulsing in the brain,? ringing in
the ears ? and a powerful urge to sink their teeth into the experimenter!
In that experiment, each individual appeared to have his own
?resonant? frequency, probably a function of the height of the body acting as
a half-wave antenna. Most humans should resonate at around 82-85 MHz
(TV channel 6; do you live near a TV transmitter?).
Extremely low frequency brain waves have long been identified; delta
(1-3 Hz) are related to deep sleep; theta (4-7 Hz) reflect mood; alpha (8-12
Hz) imply relaxation; and beta (13-22 Hz) are tied to conscious thought.
Externally-pulsed lights can alter behavior in the human: 6-7 Hz
induces anger; 10 Hz is soothing but may trigger epileptic seizures in
vulnerable subjects by synchronizing with the alpha waves. And there is the
story about a man who involuntarily tries to strangle an adjacent patron every
time he visits a movie house, triggered by the 24-frame-per-second film
flicker!
Animals have their own sets of frequencies. Some snakes ?hypnotize?
their prey with a 3 Hz dance; many animals flea in terror when they hear
vibrations in the 7-15 Hz range, possibly a primordial reaction to
earthquakes. Infrasound (under 20 Hz) can take its toll in human
adjustment as well, producing disorientation and even euphoria.
Professor Geraud, a French engineer, became ill from the continuous 7
Hz vibration of an office air conditioner. Noting that the sound generated by
French police whistles had low frequency components, he built a six-foot,
air-powered replica ? which killed his laboratory assistant with one blast!
Later experiments showed that high-intensity infrasound could destroy
buildings at distances of five miles. Pulsing rock music mesmerize its
audience while the soft 1.2 Hz beat of a mother?s heart soothes her baby.
By 1930 Nrunori claimed that humans react to radio emissions at 129
MHz and its harmonics, while in the 1920?s Cazzamalli bombarded volunteer
subjects with VHF radiation to induce hallucinations. He also claimed to
have recorded re-radiated ?beats? of emotional reactions using an untuned
galena crystal receiver and a galvanometer during the RF blitz from his
?oscillatori telegrafica.?
More recently, UHF fields reportedly change brainwave patterns in
rabbits, alter the heartbeat of chicken embryos, change the optical
properties of glycogen (which supplies our muscles with energy), reduce
conditioned reflexes in laboratory animals, increase visual sensitivity (while
reducing color perception), expedite the regrowth of severed nerve tissue
(in short exposures only; long-term exposure suppresses the regrowth), and
affect our reaction to pain (weak fields are an analgesic while strong fields
are painful). Fifteen-meter (21 MHz) signals increase the germination of
gladiolus bulbs while ten meter (29 MHz) energy kills bugs in bread!
?And experimentation on a generation
The earth?s natural magnetic field varies from place to place; could it
have correspondingly varying effects on the human body as well as variably
alter the effects of radiation?
One hypothesis suggests that NIEMR causes cancer by increasing the
rate of cell reproduction (DNA and RNA alteration), by suppressing the
immune system and by making abnormal cells resistant to the body?s natural
defense system.
Could it be that pulsed EM waves are the modern-day equivalent of the
Chinese water torture, taking its toll on human mental health a little at a
time? Could this partly explain our accelerating crime rate? Are we
changing our evolution by altering our genetic structure?
Perhaps most important of all, can we do anything to protect ourselves?
Absolutely. Don?t live near high tension lines. Use underground power lines
to your home and have them enter at an unoccupied part of the dwelling like
the garage.
Keep at least an arm?s length from CRT video screens. Install ham or
CB transmitting antennas at least 20 feet away from occupied parts of the
house. The higher the frequency, the greater the effect on tissue, especially
the lens of the eye and the testicles. Use low transmit power ? linears are
for sissies! Keep walkie-talkie transmissions short; portable cellular
telephones at 800 MHz are particularly suspect. Warm your bed with an
electric blanket before you get in, then switch it off when you slip under it.
Keep several feet away from electric appliances ? line operated clocks,
mixers, toasters and the like.
Activism
Suits against the perpetrators of this uninvited blitz of toxicity will
probably increase. Charges of negligence, liability, nuisance, trespass and
even battery have been successfully brought recently in similar cases. Join a
recognized consumer lobby group. A collected voice IS heard in Washington!
For those readers who wish additional information, an excellent
overview of NIEMR health hazard studies and legal cases, complete with
bibliography, appeared in the August 1990, issue of Trial magazine, a publication of the American Tryers Association.
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