Invisible Assailant - A Tracker

Last summer my young nephew visited by train and stayed overnight. Questioning him on arrival, “Yes” he’d turned off his smart-phone and his tablet computer as well as his e-reader and  Bluetooth^® headphones and left his Fit-Bit^® at home. He assured me he had nothing else wireless.
 
I checked with my EMFields Acousticom2 just to be sure and everything was quiet. We had dinner together and talked until late. He went to bed in the guest room and I turned off the mains, as I routinely do. Imagine then my surprise at about 6am the following morning soundly asleep in the room next door, when I was suddenly and brutally yanked wide awake by repeated slams to my head. I could not endure the beating and had to immediately get up and flee. I checked with my Acousticom2 and sure enough, there was what I deduced was a Bluetooth^® transmitting device somewhere in the house. From downstairs it was clear the signal was coming from his room. I went for a walk to get out of range, reluctant to wake my nephew after his long journey and upon my return a couple of hours later I questioned him, quite vigorously. 

“No”, he assured me, he “really did not have anything else that could be transmitting.”

A moment later he said,“Ah....It could be the Chipolo^®.”

“What the hell is a Chipolo^®?” I said, unimpressed. 

“Dad gave it to me because I kept losing my keys.” he said. “Its a tracker.” 
 
He ferreted in his bag and produced a little black disc attached to his keys. My meter confirmed it was indeed the offending source of the sudden attack that had catapulted me from my bed. 

A Chipolo^® is sealed-for-life, a little larger than a 50 pence piece and costs around £20. A quick on-line search revealed it also comes in a credit-card sized equivalent. Battery life is advertised as a year. Unable to turn it off, we removed the little bugger, wrapped it in aluminium foil in a vain attempt to isolate it and resorted to placing it in the shed far away from the house. 

Electro hyper sensitives (EHS) are often affected more severely when they are inactive i.e. when stationary/sleeping so how had I been fine all evening and able to sleep soundly through the night?

It appears, to save battery life, the device hibernates when it gets no response. At around 6am each day, forestry lorries start to come past the house. I can only conclude that a smart-phone in one of the passing cabs, constantly sniffing for any Bluetooth^® device, had woken the Chipolo^® and me, up. By co-opting other people’s Bluetooth^® devices, the short-range Chipolo^® transmitter can hop, skip and jump via Wi-Fi and the Internet to anywhere in the world. Low-powered Bluetooth^® tracking devices can thus be located even when their paired device is out of range.

How on earth is an EHS sufferer to counter similar silent and insidious attacks from now common personal wireless devices that are typically hidden from view?

How is anyone else supposed to believe the poor unfortunate (and oft ridiculed) EHS sufferer when such occurrences are so far beyond public awareness?

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How Can I Convince My Husband...

I often get callers to the Electric Forester EMR Advice Line (01591 610167) who say desperate things like “How can I convince my husband* the wireless devices in our home are making my life a misery?” It’s a variation on the theme “How can I get my partner to stop polluting my living space with his cigarette smoke?” and the fundamental issue is just the same.

New information is the place to start. When people gain new knowledge they did not have before, it opens up the opportunity for them to change their attitude without losing face. Change the environment and it becomes easier to change behaviour.

There is masses of information now available on-line about the dangers of man-made electromagnetic radiation but some of it is heavily spun by vested interests and you may have to read between the lines to discern the truth. For every argument there is a counter-argument. Where to start? What is beyond dispute is your first-hand experience of what is going on inside your own body. But is man-made EMR the cause? Investigation and experimentation may provide the answer. Sometimes this is as simple as feeling better after a few days away from home.

Some good places to start understanding other people’s challenges are:

www.mast-victims.org

http://electricforester.blogspot.co.uk - this blog

A comprehensive EMR survey may provide insights into EMR exposure and a post-survey consultation and custom-written property-specific report may be sufficient to convince your partner of the need for, and virtue of, a Precautionary Approach to man-made EMR in line with Government recommendations.

www.electricforester.co.uk - Professional domestic and commercial EMR Surveys - since 2006.

In extreme cases, protective clothing may be beneficial and EMR shielding could be necessary, particularly in bedrooms where the body spends much time repairing the damage of the waking day.

www.emfclothing.co.uk

If new information, professional advice and protection measures do not achieve the desired results, you could  brush up on your assertiveness skills and learn the art of effective negotiation. Your health and well-being, and that of your children and pets if you have any, are at stake. You could of course try appealing to your partner’s better nature and self-interests if you’ve not tried that tack before. You may even consider resorting to bribery or blackmail but that may not get you what you ultimately want, and this is the key - Respect.  It seems people in general, and men in particular, cannot imagine any harm coming from their favourite toys and sometimes neighbours too can feel threatened and be unwilling to understand or be willing to accommodate other’s needs.  You may find the word ‘respect’ unusual in a blog post about EHS but it is central to getting an outcome that will endure. Respect is one of life’s double-edged-swords - if you demand it you have to be willing to give it. If none of the above is getting you anywhere, you might consider taking unilateral action - after all, it’s your home too. Serious situations justify firm and resolute action.

1. Buy a new corded speakerphone and throw the DECT Cordless away (don’t inflict its toxic always-on emissions on anyone else by giving it away or selling it). Have a wired telephone extension socket installed first if necessary.

2. If your neighbours’ cordless phones are adding to your EMR burden, consider paying for an extension-socket to be installed in their home and buy them a corded phone (provided they agree to ditch the DECT). If their DECT base station includes and answer phone, they may be able to get Callminder® or a similar answering service for free.

3. Keep your mobile/tablet/laptop/computer/e-reader/xBox/Wii etc. in Flight Mode (Airplane Mode) when not connected to the Internet. Better still, replace all wireless LAN/network connections with wired alternatives.

http://electricforester.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/disabling-wireless-on-windows-computers.html

http://electricforester.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/alternatives-to-school-wi-fi-cat-5.html

4. Turn off routers when not in use and especially at night. Use a time switch if necessary connected to a power strip so that all computer related devices go off at night. You might also buy a time clock and power strip for your neighbours' computer setup.

5. If you’re still not getting anywhere, move out, albeit temporarily. Actions speak louder than words. Go and stay with a friend. A single night away may be all it takes to make your point and for your partner to come to their senses. (They may not appreciate what they’ve got till it’s gone). You may be able to achieve leverage by making your return conditional but you don’t want to end up homeless. If your health and well-being are important to you (and hopefully also to your partner) then resolute action is called for.

If you are successful in significantly reducing your EMR exposure, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that both you and your partner’s lives become easier as sleep and relationships improve.


Note: Three times more women are affected by ES/EHS than men. It is perhaps unsurprising that many men have difficulty appreciating the scope and impact of environmental intolerance to man-made EMR on their partner’s lives. The number of children adversely affected is presently unknown. They have no effective voice or control over their environment, dependant as they are on the knowledge, wisdom and lifestyle choices of their parents or guardians.

http://electricforester.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/problem-children-abused-by-electrosmog.html


*Husband, wife, partner, parents, children, neighbours, boss, fellow residents …

v0_22

Where Would We All Be Without Electricity?

Where would we all be if it were not for the hard work of the electricity companies? The answer is clear. We would all be in a very sorry state, our lives and prospects immeasurably diminished. For some however, the EHS, their lives have been and continue to be both improved and blighted by electromagnetism.

The electrical power industries surely would not want their linesman's lives jeopardised any more than they have to be. It may be in their best interests to encourage research into the how and why of Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity - EHS. By selecting-out job applicants who may be predisposed to succumb to EHS they will not only be doing applicants a service but will be acting responsibly and with due diligence. They will also not be squandering their training and safety budgets on workers who may ultimately be unable to perform the dangerous roles for which they have been prepared. Of course there are occupational hazards involved in the work of electricity supply, generation and distribution. That in itself should not cause those involved concern as it is self-evident that there are risks associated with electromagnetism, as indeed there are around most of the powerful industrial forces that now enhance our lives.

But, can running high-voltage cables over people's houses still be justified in a fair and decent society, where treating others as one would wish to be treated is something to which we can all aspire?

Criticism of Distribution Network Operators may not be entirely fair as a lot of the infrastructure is a legacy of times past when questioning the adequacy of electricity safeguards was considered unpatriotic. The less obvious dangers were glossed-over then. Today, undue influence on policies and the media ensure the effects are just as invisible. So too is the suffering of those living with the consequences and it will remain invisible as long as denial and ignorance prevail in society.

Incredibly, new houses are still being built under power lines, a practice the Government continues to allow as it prevaricates year after year, allowing risks to perpetuate, generation after generation.

Where, in all of this, are the people we elected to represent us? Where is the honour and integrity amongst civil servants and industry members whose safeguards, we the people, demand adequately protect workers and all members of British society?

Are those struck down by EHS just so much collateral damage? Are the injustices they endure merely so much water to be callously shrugged off the backs of those who supposedly took on the role of society’s protectors?

You may feel this issue does not affect you or anyone you care about. Sufferers of EHS have had this functional impairment bestowed upon them slowly, over time or suddenly, overnight. To-date there is no certain remedy for EHS except avoidance of all things electrical. Be cautious if you dismiss the suffering of the EHS out-of-hand. In the future, you too could find yourself an unwilling pioneer and come to realise for better or worse, there is no way back to the life you know now.

Do You Feel The Cold?

Being electromagnetically hypersensitive (EHS) is like suffering with the cold. Not a must-put-on-a-cotton-sweater kind of cold but the intolerable six-layers-and-a-hat-and-gloves-indoors kind of cold. When the cold is that overwhelming everything else has to be put on hold while the imperatives of keeping body and soul together are dealt with. When survival itself is at stake there is nothing left to progress one’s life. That must come later, if ever at all. The shakes, mental confusion, inattention, distress, worry, clumsiness and many other effects of EHS are shared with sensitivity to extreme cold. 

The effects of microwave radiation on those who have become sensitised to it can be very similar to hyperthermia. Unlike strategies for dealing with unremitting cold such as turning up the heating or putting on extra clothes, nothing offers relief from microwave radiation in the wider environment. The surrounding temperature may be the same for everyone but some are less able to tolerate the cold and for them it becomes an attack. Similarly some people feel microwave radiation more than others. Based largely on their own first-hand experience, The EHS Canaries have over the last decade or so been trying to alert the world to what for them at least are the devastating effects of microwave radiation at presently permitted exposure levels.

Such is the strength of attraction between people (especially the young) and wireless gadgets that few have been able to hear these warning cries and even less have been prepared to act on them. Until people have exceeded their lifetime tolerance and become sensitised themselves they may well think this is all “a-storm-in-a-teacup”. Until then the signs that they are spending their valuable lifetime tolerance may go unnoticed.

The message cannot be clearer:  


Everyone is now engulfed in man-made digital microwave radiation of a type that has never existed before. At current exposure levels it makes people sick - as yet, apparently not everyone. Are you or your loved ones in danger?

Basking in the summer sun, it is easy to forget that winter’s bone-chilling cold is only a few short months away.

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'Problem Children' - Abused By Electrosmog?

A few years ago I was playing with my young godson when I got an all too familiar whack in the head from a nearby mobile phone, central locking or maybe a wireless mouse in the house next door. As I reeled I was not sure of the precise device but I knew it was a burst of microwave radiation that had assaulted me. What made this particularly attack memorable was that my godson, who was about 18 months old at the time, put his hand up to his temples and got that far-away-pained-look I get, as illustrated here by my little 'traumatised tiger', at precisely the same moment I felt the impact.
This attack out of nowhere distressed us both. I at least knew what it was about. It was apparently not out of the ordinary for my godson either as judging by his expression it had clearly happened to him before. The implications of this incident are frighteningly clear. He too was electro hypersensitive at that stage in his development but he could not tell me what was happening to him somewhere inside his head as he had not yet learned to talk. His eyes said that for which he had no words "I know what just hit me also attacked you. I don't know what it is. It just happens."
I wonder how many parents would see similar pain written across the faces of their young ones if they only knew what to look for? How might any child behave when subjected to similar invisible silent apparently random attacks that they don't deserve, they cannot describe and which go unnoticed by the grown-ups who are supposed to protect them? It is not a very great leap of the imagnination to think that what may present as 'behavioural problems' could be driven by a vulnerable child's fundamental need for safety and protection.

Christmas - A Special Peril - EHS

When I was a kid, it was a standing joke in my family that by Christmas Eve I would be unwell. The less charitable put it down to youthful excitement and anticipation, though none of us understood why it was a recurring pattern I did not seem to grow out of. That was until a couple of years ago when I had Christmas at my sister’s.

One of the strings of Christmas tree lights had packed up and I offered to fix them, as I had frequently done as a youngster. No sooner had I reached into the tree than I was overcome by an intense feeling of nausea. Like a light bulb going on, for the first time in over 40 years I suddenly realised that it was the electric field from the Christmas lights that was affecting me so significantly. Recollections of Christmas Past suggested what we had all failed to grasp at the time, a time way before anybody in our family understood anything about Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity - EHS. It was electromagnetism that was making me sick and spoiling my Christmas each year.

After Christmas Dinner, we’d all settle down in the sitting room to open presents. It was our job as children to dive under the tree and distribute parcels and this of course further added to my repeated exposure. By the time all the presents were unwrapped, I was typically feeling jaded, ill, perplexed and not very happy.

Between Christmas and New Year, when everyone is playing with their new gizmos, many EHS find it particularly difficult to cope. Often they have no idea what is affecting them. With the excitement of many new things and the season’s festivities, it is easy not to make associations between cause and effect.

Electromagnetic emissions (Electrosmog) from new wireless / mobile devices, electronic toys, even Christmas tree lights may affect some people. If it is unclear why some of your friends and family are unhappy at Christmas-time, could it be because of novel forms of electromagnetic exposure?

Multiple Environmental Sensitivities - MES - WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

If your home-life is in terminal decline, it is important to put the brakes on. I have generally found that “Brake first - before even thinking about swerving” has been a strategy that on occasion has served me well. That way you will be moving towards disaster slower and have more time to think and take appropriate avoiding action. In practical terms for the MES (sufferers of Electro Sensitive - ES / Electromagnetic HyperSensitivity - EHS, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity -MCS, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue - ME/CFS, Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome - PVFS) that probably means either of two strategies: Leave your home or maximise the protection it affords you. Leaving ones home is not done lightly and is frequently a matter of last resort so we’ll come back to that strategy after we’ve looked at alternatives.
1. Minimise all electromagnetic and chemical exposure you ask your body to deal with. That means things like hair driers, electric toothbrushes, electric blankets, radiant heaters and so on. The list is endless and being added to all the time so stop using anything with either a plug on it or a battery in it or if fragranced. If you absolutely must, then minimise the time you are exposed to such things and maximise your separation distance. E.g. put the washing machine on then move away at least a couple of meters (the strong magnetic fields they produce pass easily through walls and floors) or go for a walk.

2. Turn off circuits at the Consumer Unit (Fuse-box), especially heating, while you sleep. Use a hot water bottle or a triangular  whiskey bottle in a sock that does not outgas and a woolly hat if that‘s more comfortable (You are in a battle for your home, it is not about looking good!). If you must, leave the fridge/freezer circuits enabled. Learn to do without some modern conveniences or find non-electrical / manual alternatives.

3. Ask neighbours to turn off their offending devices, especially at night while you are trying to sleep and while your body is trying to repair the damage of the day. These may be Wi-Fi routers / hubs, printers or other wireless enabled computer devices. It could be a Wii or xBox360 or other games console or it might be a DECT phone, Home Hub or Sky+HD box. Plasma TV‘s and Freeview / Satellite systems too adversely affect some people. Whatever it is that’s causing your exposure tolerance to be exceeded, even if they won‘t turn it off during the day, maybe if you bought them a time clock it could at least be off during the small hours. If it’s a DECT phone and they cannot be convinced to give up the cordless convenience buy them a Siemens Eco-DECT Plus (make sure it the model that silences the radio emissions from the base station when not in use) and exchange it with them for their existing one.

4. Sleep in another room. Sleep away from phones and phone cables, whether or not you have broadband. Reducing your night time exposure by sleeping in a room with lower electromagnetic radiation is of paramount importance. How will you know which room to choose? Distance is a clue or buy an Electrosmog Detector or other more sensitive microwave radiation detector. They are not cheap, but then neither is good health. Don’t forget magnetic fields. The Electrosensor is a cheap and largely adequate magnetic field strength meter.

5. Invest in shielding fabric and make your own tent or bed canopy. If that’s too difficult, single layer pre-made shielding bed canopies are available but you may need two layers so making your own may be the best option. If you have children, don’t forget them too. Unlike shielding paint, fabrics can be taken with you when you move.

Some of this costs money but do not panic because that will not help you defend your home. The assaults inflicted on you by  your neighbours should not be underestimated whether they are intentional or not. Neither should they be compounded by your own ignorance or lack of attention, so it is important for you to find out as much as you can about common everyday sources of man-made electromagnetic radiation (Electrosmog) and minimise your exposure. For reasons that are not yet entirely clear, this situation, this battle has been brought to your door. Like rising flood water, its not enough to deal with some of it. You need to be creative and radical if you are to deal with all of it and safeguard yourself until society recognises the plight of the MES. Whether you have a technical background or not, for you to successfully beat this dragon, you will need to know as much about it and its effects as you possibly can. Research is continuing and understanding the causes, effects and biological mechanisms is developing all the time. Many good people are searching for answers even while Government, Regulators and Industry continue to deny the reality of what is happing to people across our society. In the meantime, minimise your exposure.

If all you can do is run, then invest now in shielding materials and relationships with people who are at least sympathetic and might be supportive. Only when your life is restored to some sort of normality can you afford to divert your energies to those who do not yet understand MES and who you might have left behind.
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Electrosmog - What Is It and Why Should You Be Concerned?

Are you unwell for a reason doctors are unable to diagnose? Are you suffering sleeping problems? Is your concentration less than you expect? Are you having trouble conceiving? Are you more stressed/less tolerant than you used to be? Then maybe what's troubling you is the amount of Electrosmog (e-smog) to which you are now exposed.

Like sunlight, electrosmog is a form of electromagnetic radiation. Just like sunlight, we now know we must manage our exposure if we are to remain well and live a long and happy life. Perhaps like sunlight, a little is not bad for us but get too much exposure and maybe our bodies will start to malfunction. Radiation has long been known to effect genetics and reproduction. The study of epi-genetics is now suggesting that effects may not appear for a few generations. What we are exposed to now could have profound and irreversible effects on our children, grand children or generations even further in the future. Man-made electromagnetic radiation has increased enormously over the last decade and in consequence, the amount of electrosmog that we are all exposed to in our lifetimes is increasing every day. Independent research is now revealing the likely biological and physiological mechanisms by which our bodies are affected. Even though mankind only has limited experience of the health effects of digital microwave radiation, more and more people are saying when the reports from the field are pointing to a serious problem for at least some people, we dare not wait for absolute proof.

Exposure to electromagnetism can produce transient symptoms, ones from which people recover after a few hours or days, or it can produce no symptoms at all. Exposures at levels too low to alert the immune system are likely to go unrecognised by the conscious mind. Severe over-exposure can have immediate and lasting effects.

You might well ask "Aren't there regulations to protect us?" and indeed there are. However they were formulated long before the digital age and rely entirely on heating effects. The ICNIRP guidelines refered to by Governments and trade bodies around the world look only at gross power levels (and ignore other important aspects of electromagnetic radiation such as frequency, waveform, pulsing etc.). They are massively lenient by the standards that people who have become electromagnetically hypersensitive (the EHS Canaries) must adhere to if they are to survive in the modern world.

What we know now is that the cells of the body are able to pick up digitally-pulsed microwaves signals that penetrate the body and this causes them to behave abnormally. Cells behaving abnormally are only one step away from Cancer and is a mechanism that can account for many of the varied and debilitating symptoms now being reported. Cumulative electromagnetic exposure over a person's lifetime, much like sunlight, can have profound effects.

It makes sense to manage your lifetime dose, especially until more is known about the risks.

Trouble & Strife - Electromagnetic Diet

Is your wife giving you trouble? Is she rarely happy and giving you grief because of it? Could it be that its not really you that she's upset with but your Wife-i that's causing her distress?
You may not realise it, and nor may she, but WiFi along with many other sources of microwave radiation is today making some peoples* lives miserable.


Wireless keyboards and mice, mobiles, cordless phones, alarm systems, low energy and fluorescent lights, the list goes on and on. There are now so many sources of electromagnetic radiation in our normal working and living environments that some people can no longer cope. People deal with the rise in levels of this environmental stressor in many different ways. Lethargy, alcoholism, drugs, other addictions, outburst of anger and in any number of other unpleasant and often self-destructive ways.


"Oh," you might say, "you can't blame all society's ills on electromagnetic exposure."


Maybe not, but until we know how and why uncontrolled Electrosmog makes some people ill, nobody can know its not a cause or a significant co-factor.
So before you give up on an unsatisfactory marriage, take a look at your own and your wife's daily electromagnetic diet and ask yourself whether sinister, silent, ubiquitous Electrosmog isn't quietly sucking the joy out of your lives.


* the increasing number of people (4 times as many women) from all walks of life who now suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity - EHS

FAQs 1 - 17

The following list of FAQ’s is compiled from questions raised at various Electric Forester talks, presentations and workshops since 2006.

1. Why do people who are Electromagnetically HyperSensitive go on about mobile phones? After all, practically everyone has one, so what’s the big deal? The emissions from mobile and cordless phones and their associated base stations are a major problem for many EHS. It is because mobile phones and cordless devices are now everywhere that their lives are so restricted. It is not simply about choice. Being within range of mobile phones and base stations makes them ill.

2. But most people aren’t affected, right? Most people (that is more than half) do not seem to be affected, as far as they are aware, but that does not mean that they are entirely unaffected. The more we learn about people who have become EHS, the more it becomes plain that for some people at least, once they have become sensitized by one form of electromagnetism through perhaps heavy or excessive mobile phone use, they become more likely to develop similar symptoms caused by exposure to other forms of electromagnetism, with the consequent disruption to their lives such sensitivities entail.

3. Can’t such people be cured? It’s not so much a question of a cure as that implies an illness and the EHS are not sick. It’s a bit like saying to a person who lives next door to a motorway ‘we can cure the noise in your head if you agree to wear these ear defenders all the time’. Likewise we could say we’ll cure your allergy to cigarette smoke by getting you to wear a respirator whenever you go out in public. Clearly such approaches are disingenuous to those people whose lives are curtailed by the activities of others.

4. How is people’s exposure monitored? How can I find out how exposed I am and make informed judgments about risk? As people go about their daily business, environmental exposure monitoring is extremely difficult. Imagine trying to record a person’s sunshine exposure while they are on holiday. With sunshine, in practice our skin does the job for us and lets us know in no uncertain fashion if we are over-doing it. And its not just overall or average exposure that counts. Anyone who’s ever had the backs of their knees sunburnt will know that some surprisingly small parts of our bodies are highly susceptible to electromagnetic radiation, of which sunshine is but one part.

5. What sort of people develop EHS? Am I at risk? As more and more people discover that they are electrically sensitive (ES), simultaneously the uses to which electromagnetism can be put are proliferating as never before. The result is that unless people who become ES take action to manage their EM exposure, they are at increased risk of developing very much more inconvenient and debilitating EHS. Despite the multi-factorial, multi-disciplinary nature of the problem, some useful deductions can be made by simply listening to EHS sufferer’s stories. Similar themes crop up time and again and it is from these first-hand testimonies (commonly dismissed as anecdotal or hearsay) that the following partial list is drawn: History of:
Electric shock/lightning strike or ‘splash’
Chemical overload, MCS, Allergy, Food/Chemical Intolerance
Non Invasive Brain Trauma/Concussion
Trauma/Limb Fracture implies X-rays

6. Surely, with wireless, WLAN, WiFi, WiMAX, DECT cordless and even low energy bulbs now everywhere, there are many places that EHS cannot go? Yes that is increasingly true. They may be able to tolerate say 20 minutes in a supermarket but have to walk out if someone else in the checkout queue gets on their mobile phone. It is very difficult in practice. If the EHS exceed their tolerance, their health may be compromised for hours, days or even weeks afterwards. Consequently their options are often severely curtailed and this is one of the reasons that EHS people are often not noticed – because they go about their business when there are few people (and mobiles) about.

7. But surely, if they could put up with it, they’d be able to have a much more normal life? It’s a bit like telling a person who is already suffering the effects of sunstroke (nausea, burning red skin, general feeling of being unwell) that a bit longer in the sun can’t hurt them, after all, look at all these other people sunbathing quite happily.

8. Are some people naturally more at risk? It is not surprising that amongst the 6,500 million people on the planet today, some have greater tolerance to environmental stressors than others. Ginger haired people may, for example, be more readily affected by the sun. There is no question of them being ‘cured’, for they are not sick. Nevertheless, they are able to manage their exposure and lead normal lives, unlike the EHS when exposed to man-made electromagnetic radiation (Electrosmog) which they cannot see and cannot control.

9. Why are more people experiencing EHS symptoms now when electricity and wireless have been around for over 100 years? Two things have changed: Firstly, we are all surrounded by more electricity and electrical devices than ever before and for a much greater proportion of our lives; Secondly, much of the Electrosmog which surrounds us is digital. Digital signals are completely unheard of in nature. They are an entirely man-made phenomenon, one which our bodies have not grown up to tolerate.

10. What’s the difference between Analogue and Digital? The old analogue systems used curved (Sine) waves to carry information. There were limits as to how much information could be passed and it was subject to interference. Modern digital systems use stepped (Square) waves which are much easier for electronics to distinguish (partly because there is nothing like them in the natural environment).

11. How is it that digital signals can transmit say speech, which is analogue, using only 0’s and 1’s? Each part of the audio waveform is analyzed and given a numeric value. The number is converted into binary (0’s & 1’s) and transmitted using the 0’s and 1’s of the digital waveform. The higher the frequency used the more information can be carried. That’s why WiFi which started off at 2.4 GHz is now available at 5.8 GHz with consequently higher data rates. At the receiving end, the process is reversed and speech reproduced. Digital allows signals to be chopped up and multiple messages to be sent along the same path at the same time. That’s how broadband and phone lines can share the same path simultaneously.

12. I still don’t understand binary/digital and all those noughts and one’s. For example, a decimal number such as 1152 is made up of 1 x 10^3 + 1 x 10^2 + 5 x 10^1 + 2 x 10^0. The position of each number tells you how many 10’s it needs to be multiplied by: In binary (to the base 2 instead of to the base 10) the position of each digit is likewise important. 1152 would be written: 1 x 2 ^10 (i.e. 1024) + 0 x 2 ^9 + 0 x 2^8 + 1x 2^7 (i.e. 128) + 0 x 2^6 + 0 x 2^5 etc. or 10010000000.

13. Why has this got anything to do with EHS? It seems that some people’s cells are able to perceive these new pulsed digital radio waves - microwaves that penetrate the skin, unlike the older AM/FM frequencies we are familiar with. Because the frequencies, pulses and power densities are similar to those used by the body for self-regulation, cells don’t know how to behave. Any kind of disorder within the body’s cells or their regulatory systems can lead to all manner of unforeseen consequences, not least of them diseases, particularly cancer.

14. Are there other kinds of consequences we should be looking out for? We are only now learning about some of them, and for many the links to electromagnetic exposures have not been universally agreed. Those we have good reason to suspect include Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, Leukaemia, Diabetes and many others. In time, many of todays poorly understood diseases will be associated with EMF exposure. We do not yet understand the links let alone the mechanisms by which they are connected but it seems the relationship we have enjoyed with electromagnetism has dismissed some of the dangers, dangers that are only now becoming apparent.

15. So what should I do if I am concerned for my own health and that of the people I care about? We now know that for some, electromagnetism (in many of its forms – electric, magnetic, electromagnetic etc.) has dangers of which we have previously been unaware. Given that we are still learning about the whys and the wherefores of ElectroMagnetic Force (EMF)’s amazing capabilities and its biological consequences, it makes sense to minimize EMF exposure wherever it occurs. Thus adopting an ALARA policy – As Low As Reasonably Achievable is consistent with the known science and is in line with the UK Government’s advice to adopt a precautionary approach.

16. Why doesn’t industry make people more aware of the dangers that electromagnetism poses for some people? Despite industry’s encouragement for us to make use of all things electrical, electrical energy inherently produces potentially harmful emissions during transmission and at point of use (Electrosmog). During the course of a normal day we are often subjected to very many EMF sources and there is little desire amongst suppliers and regulators to minimise such emissions or to educate users in minimizing exposure. Because it is society’s collective responsibility, it seems nobody is responsible.

17. Are some types of appliance worse than others? Magnetic field emissions from household appliances are often linked to how much power they use. Thus an immersion heater is likely to produce more Electrosmog than an ordinary light bulb. But its often not that simple. Electrosmog includes radio emissions and Low Energy (LE) light bulbs give off more Electrosmog than ordinary incandescent bulbs. It’s difficult to be truly green.