Electrosensitivity (ES, EHS) Physiologically Explained by Professor Dominique Belpomme

The following article is a more detailed explanation by Professor Dominique Belpomme of the Electromagnetic Fields Intolerance Syndrome, or electrosensitivity.  Prof. Belpomme had delivered a presentation of this subject at the 8^th National Congress on Electrosmog which took place in Berne, Switzerland, on 30 April 2011.  The article was published in the Canadian magazine, “Maison du 21ème siècle” on 13 January 2012 by André Fauteux and translated into English by Emilie Paniagua, Robin des Toits.

Wi-Fi, EMFs:  Electrosensitivity (ES, EHS) At Last Physiologically Explained 

In 2007, a number of library employees in Paris complained about headaches, nausea... right after massive installation of Wi-Fi emitters in their offices. This led to a fight between Paris city hall and worker unions (giving way to the setting up of a citizen conference on proliferation of EMFs in Paris).

At the French National Library BNF, and more recently in the Paris subway transport company RATP, the debate takes place in the same deleterious conditions between unions and corporations concerning questions about health implications at work relating to the proliferation of these new wireless technologies in businesses. Everyone now has access for the first time to an answer regarding intolerance to EMFs published in the Canadian newspaper  "La Maison du 21ème Siècle".

French researchers have just shown that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) notably modify blood and brain physiology in electrosensitive (ES) people, and that the impact on those biological markers rises and falls with intensity of the exposure. "We do know with certainty that electrohypersensitivity is not psychosomatic", oncologist Professor Dominique Belpomme tells us in a telephone interview. "EMFs do trigger major effects in the brain. The most important effect is the opening of the blood-brain barrier. This allows mercury, organochlorates and other toxics to pervade the brain, where they cause diverse ailments and neurodegenerative diseases." Prof. Belpomme records 20 new patients per week.


An oncology professor at Paris Descartes University, Prof. Belpomme is President of the Association for Research and Treatments against Cancer (French acronym ARTAC, artac.info), which shifted to cancer prevention from 2004 on. Since May 2008, his team has been studying what he named Electromagnetic Fields Intolerance Syndrome (French acronym SICEM). "I have 450 patients and I see up to 20 new patients each week, including children with headaches, memory loss, attention or language troubles. We have the biggest cluster in Europe of electrosensitive patients. This is a major problem in public health."

ES, or SICEM, is an extreme reaction to fairly low exposure levels to electric and magnetic fields of low frequency (50-60Hz) emitted by electric wires and electrical apparatuses, up to 10MHz or 300GHz radiofrequencies, including microwaves, wireless devices and their antennas. This syndrome is recognized in Sweden as a handicap giving way to diverse modifications of the environment by protective devices for lowering exposures that can be state-subsidized.

Most sensitive cases are wrongly ascribed to psychiatry : the symptoms (cardiovascular, dermatological, neurological and muscular) of these persons are so strong that they have to protect themselves with special clothing, paints, metal shieldings, ideally connected to the electrical ground. Others move to forests, caves, and remote places, far away from EMF emissions.

Prof. Belpomme's team established a diagnostic method based on blood tests and a special type of electroencephalogram (pulsed doppler echographics) which enables them to visualize blood flows in the brain. "These patients are sure to have troubles in brain vascularization", says the oncologist.

Moreover, biological tests demonstrate that 30% have elevated histamine rates, 50% have an  elevated rate of stress proteins, most of them have a very low rate of melatonin (anticancer hormone), and 30% have antibodies and protein rates which indicate a thermal shock and brain suffering. He adds that half of his patients also develop hypersensitivity to man-made chemicals, both syndromes sharing common brain anomalies.

The oncologist explained to us there were 3 distinct levels of sensitivity to pollutants. At first, there is intolerance, triggered by pollutant polymorphism. "This means we are all different. For instance, 30% of the general population has the biggest risk of contracting cancer." Then lies susceptibility, a factor demonstrated by his Swedish colleague Lennard Hardell who observed 16 families with greater ES because of heredity. There also are active susceptibility factors "such as dental amalgams which act as antennas" catching the waves. Then, ES manifests in two stages : "the first stage is that of induction with overexposure to a specific frequency of EMFs, either acute or chronic, such as speaking on a mobile phone for 20 minutes a day, says Prof. Belpomme. The first signs of hypersensitivity are pain and a feeling of heat in the ear. The second step is constitution of the disease. Then sensitivity builds up and the person becomes intolerant to all frequencies."

The scientific council of ARTAC, a team made up of experienced researchers, is presided by Dr. Luc Montagnier, 2008 co-Nobel Prize Laureate for discovering the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  The ARTAC research coordinator, nutrition specialist Dr. Philippe Irigaray, is one of the 5 international experts to have been recently invited by Health Research Funds in Quebec and who selected the best research project in environmental cancer prevention. Philippe Irigaray emphasizes that the human brain contains magnetosomes, iron oxides which behave like magnets. ES could depend on their quantity, which varies from person to person.

These researchers are now preparing 5 articles on electrosensitivity. "This requires a lot of time, says Prof. Belpomme. They will be published in one or two years." But independent and immediate action is required to reduce overexposure of people to EMFs, he adds. In France alone, an estimate puts 5% of people as being electrosensitive, and the proportion rises with the spread of wireless technologies. "Studies show that 10 to 50% of the population will face becoming very intolerant to EMFs in the next 25 to 50 years. Two patients of mine have multiple sclerosis triggered by overuse of cell phones, 3 cases of breast cancer, among which 2 relapses after overexposure to EMFs, daily use of computers - and proof is building up of autism and Alzheimer's disease, which seem to be triggered with a higher risk than cancer by EMF exposure. Causality is really possible."

Fortunately, this practitioner provides relief to patients as he administers nervous system tonics and helps close down the blood brain barrier with antihistamines. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no established link. In 2005, WHO claimed that ES symptoms could be psychosomatic or linked to other causes (bad vision, poor air quality, poor ergonomics, etc...) "There is no such thing as clear diagnosis criteria for this health problem, neither is there any scientific basis permitting the connection of ES symptoms to EMF exposure (...) Well controlled double-blind studies showed that those symptoms were not related to EMF exposure." To Prof. Dominique Belpomme, this is utter nonsense. "This is a political backwardness which shows nothing of a scientific nature. WHO will have to revise its judgment in the coming months. This is societal denial which doesn't take into account nowadays knowledge which is accumulating permanently."

According to this oncologist, the cause-effect link between EMF fields and leukemia is no longer to be doubted. "When doses increase, the rates of leukemia increase accordingly. Dozens of toxicological lab studies show that in the most obvious way, in vivo and in vitro."

Ontario researcher Magda Havas, from Trent University, claims that negative results to ES testing are compromised by major flaws. "Researchers would presume that reactions are instant, albeit very often there is a backlash delay. People are not instantly reactive electrical switches. Those studies erroneously infer that if nothing can be felt, then it shouldn't be harmful. We know very well that you cannot detect the taste of arsenic, lead, DDT, asbestos ; yet all of these are toxic."