European Environment Agency: Pay Attention to Early Warning Signs on Technology Health Risks

"In the absence of more solid scientific evidence on potential harmful effects caused by new technologies it would be prudent to take a precautionary approach, so as to avoid damage to human and ecosystem health…We cannot ignore the past lessons which tell us that the costs of inaction are often higher and more tragic than those of early action," warns the European Environment Agency’s Executive Director, Professor Jacqueline McGlade.  Here is the link to the report.

Europe: Pay attention to early warning signs on technology health risks 
by Emily Beament, Independent.ie, 23 January 2013

MORE attention should be paid to early warnings that technology ranging from mobile phones to pesticides could be harmful to health and the environment, it was urged today.

Danger signals of the potential risks of different technologies often go unheeded or suppressed until they are causing death, illness or environmental destruction, according a new report from the European Environment Agency.

World Economic Forum 2013 : Global Risks : "the X Factor" of the "Costs of Living Longer"

The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will begin tomorrow,
23 January 2013. The last section of a Forum report, "Global Risks 2013" considers five “X factors” beyond high-risk concerns of the moment which could present serious future risks - or opportunities : runaway climate change, significant cognitive enhancement, rogue deployment of geoengineering, costs of living longer, and discovery of alien life. The Report makes interesting reading and is available here. See also the cover page of the World Economic Forum site which offers a short video on global risks. 

Following is the section on “costs of living longer”. Perhaps I am paranoid, but reading the description and assessment of these risks makes me wonder whether discussion of these issues will lead to a human-centered approach to dealing with these risks (current and future) or a harsher reaction which would include ways to cut down on health care costs, as we see happening in the United Kingdom.  The rogue geo-engineering risk, which will be posted later, is disturbing because events seem to be moving in this direction. Several years ago, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation requested patents on methods to control hurricanes, which would offer 18 years of legal rights to the idea for Bill Gates and co-inventors. This sounds very much like placing weather control into the hands of a few private individuals, as the report says, “a well funded individual with good intentions who may take matters into their own hands.”

Costs of Living Longer – extract from “Global Risks 2013”

We are getting better at keeping people alive for longer. Are we setting up a future society struggling to cope with a mass of arthritic, demented and, above all, expensive, elderly who are in need of long term care and palliative solutions?

Media Silent on Fukushima Radiation Impact in U.S.

by Brian Lynch, OpEdNews Op Eds, 8 January 2013

Sometimes big news stories can only be seen by the shadows they cast. You would think that it should be easy to find detailed updates on theFukushima disaster‘s impact on our fishing industry, milk production, global radiation distribution patterns, etc. You would be mistaken. The massive media coverage following the initial disaster has fallen nearly silent. Some frustrated environmental advocates have suggested that there is a media blackout. Probably not, but media follow-up stories are few and far between these days.

In July of last year there were major stories about Fukushima and the plume of radiation reaching across the Pacific Ocean towards North America. On July 16, 2012, Deborah Dupre of the Examiner reported the following:

“As hair falls out of a Fukushima victim’s head, a new German study reports that North America’s West Coast will be the area most contaminated by Fukushima cesium of all regions in Pacific in 10 years, an “order-of-magnitude higher” than waters off Japan, according to a new German study followed by a former New York Times journalist going inside the no-entry zone and reporting radiation levels over 10 times higher than Tepco’s data.”

The article was accompanied by this scary graphic:

Attention! This Contraceptive Can Harm Your Health

Reposted:   On 8 December 2011, the Swiss TV – Télévision Suisse romande – showed a documentary on the dangers of this contraceptive, “Attention, cette pilule peut nuire à votre santé” (“Attention, this pill can harm your health”).

Update (17 January 2013): As of March 2012, approximately 12,000 lawsuits have been brought against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the manufacturer of Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and Safyral, alleging an increased risk of blood clots (deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE)) and gallbladder problems. Ocella, the generic version of Yasmin, is also associated with serious side effects. As well as blood clots, DVT and pulmonary embolism, all of the oral contraceptives containing ethinyl estradiol and the new "fourth generation" progestin drospirenone (DRSP) have been linked to: blood clots, gallbladder disease, stroke, cerebrovascular accidents (CVA), heart attack, myocardial infarction, death. (Ref: Lawyers and Settlements.com : Yasmin / Yaz Birth Control Side Effects)

9th National Congress on Electrosmog, Bern, 20 April 2013

A Congress that you should not miss will take place Saturday, 20 April 2013 at the Hotel Bern in the Swiss capital. From 9.30 to 17.30, the presenters will give diverse public lectures on the influence of electromagnetic waves from mobile telephony on living organisms. The speakers, coming from Brazil, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, will also answer questions from the public. 

The lectures will be interpreted simultaneously in German, French and English by professionals. The earphones are powered by infrarouge light and are free of electromagnetic radiation. 

Venue: HOTELBERN, Zeughausgasse 9, CH-3011 Bern, in the Old Town, 7 minutes by foot from the main train station.

Presentations:

Mortality by neoplasia and cellular telephony base stations in Belo Horizonte, Brazil 

Dr. Adilza Condessa Dode, PhD, MSc, is professor of Electromagnetic Pollution Control at the Minas Methodist University Center Izabela Hendrix in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. She is Security Engineer in the Municipal Health Department at Municipal Government of Belo Horizonte. She is also Director of the “MRE Engenharia” (Electromagnetic Radiations Measurement-Engineering).

www.mreengenharia.com.br

News from Geneva: Dead in a Studio and Forgotten for 28 Months

Michel Christen enjoying his family

A social crime ? Yesterday evening, RTS1 (Radio télévision suisse romande) showed a documentary revealing new details about the death of Michel Christen. On 12 May 2005, this 53-year-old man, reduce to a skeleton, was discovered 28 months after his death, in his studio in the center of the city of Geneva. His ex-wife and daughter live in the same city. “The forgotten dead” are not so rare. The Press Officer of the Vaudois cantonal police, Jean-Christophe Sauterel, says, “We discover one a month on average persons in their homes several days or several weeks after their death”. It is not possible to find the original article by Thierry Mertenat, reporting on this tragic incident, which appeared in the Tribune de Genève on 6 June 2005. The documentary in French is available for viewing on the RTS1 site until 23 January 2013. 

This is perhaps an indication of the passivity of Geneva : its inhabitants, its social services … This is one major reason why advocates can barely make a dent in awareness regarding vital issues concerning society, health, and the environment. Nor does one advocacy group join forces with another to enhance power. In the case of Mr. Christen, administrative services were slow to react and did not co-ordinate with one another. Although he had been treated at the cantonal hospital (HUG) for a serious illness, no one ever enquired when he failed to show for a follow-up appointment. The post piled up in his mailbox, social services continued to pay his allowances, then cut them off, enquiries were made to neighbors, the bad smell coming from the flat in the days following his death was attributed to a dead rat. His café “friends” never considered he might have died … people said he was in hospital, away. And where were his ex-wife and daughter who also lived in the same city? People commented that Mr. Christen “wanted to erase his life”. I don’t think so. Such a desire is also a call for help. A lady committed suicide in the flat next to mine in Geneva. A social service worker discovered her body, perhaps a day or two later. We live in a very cold society in the city of Geneva. We are all guilty of allowing this tragic incident to happen.

Are Cell Phones Killing Bees?

"If the decline of the bee population continues as it has, we may eventually end up with a global food crisis of unthinkable proportions. So far, the erection of cell towers has few restrictions. And the usage of cell phones continues to explode. What will it take for people to finally link cell phones and bees—and see the danger we all face?"  Have a look at this very short videoclip : after installation of a smart meter, a bee colony, which had existed for nearly 10 years in a nearby tree, disappeared.

Are Cell Phones Killing Bees?

by Vidya, Editor, Earthcalm, 2012

I have never much liked bees. Probably because I’ve been stung by them in the past, and it’s always hurt like hell.

So when I began hearing about the decline of bee populations in the world, I found it kind of an interesting phenomenon to contemplate, along with all the other strange changes that seem to be happening in our natural world. But not something to really be concerned about.

Until someone pointed out the obvious to me: that bees are totally essential to the growing of food on this planet—that at least 75% of what we eat is dependent on bee pollination. That got my attention.

BioInitiative 2012 Report Issues New Warnings on Wireless and Electromagnetic Fields

Far more serious health risks of EMF and wireless technologies
include glioma (a malignant brain tumor), acoustic neuroma,
and sperm damage.  

BioInitiative 2012 Report Issues New Warnings on Wireless and EMF 

Posted on EMFacts Consultancy, 5 January 2013

PRESS RELEASE

University at Albany, Rensselaer, New York

A new report by the BioInitiative Working Group 2012 says that evidence for risks to health has substantially increased since 2007 from electromagnetic fields and wireless technologies (radiofrequency radiation). The Report reviews over 1800 new scientific studies.  Cell phone users, parents-to-be, young children and pregnant women are at particular risk.

“There is a consistent pattern of increased risk for glioma (a malignant brain tumor) and acoustic neuroma with use of mobile and cordless phones” says Lennart Hardell, MD at Orebro University, Sweden. “Epidemiological evidence shows that radiofrequency should be classified as a human carcinogen. The existing FCC/IEE and ICNIRP public safety limits and reference levels are not adequate to protect public health.”

$120 Million Civil Lawsuit Alleging Wireless Smart Meter Health Effects Filed Against San Diego Gas and Electric

Deborah Cooney

Acting as her own attorney, Deborah Cooney has filed a 12,000-word $120 million civil lawsuit [attached] blaming San Diego Gas and Electric and others for the loss of her ability to live in California and the company's failure to protect her from harm due to the presence of smart meters in her neighborhood. She “could feel the immediate effects of radiation when she walked in the front door, experiencing a pins-and-needles feeling all over her skin, muscle contractions, stiffness, and pain, ataxia, dehydration, etc. Plaintiff felt a shock to her heart … at exactly 1:00, 5:00, and 9:00, as if something was being transmitted every four hours, on the hour. The shock would initiate cascading heart attack symptoms: chest pain, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, nausea, circulatory problems, edema, numbness and an impending sense of doom”.   Cooney has been forced to flee California to live in Green Bank, West Viriginia, an area free of electromagnetic waves, as a “radiation refugee”. 

May this be the first of many lawsuits against companies installing wireless smart meters.  

 
‘Radiation Refugee’ Files $120 Million Suit vs. Calif., SDG&E from W. Virginia
by Ken Stone, La Jolla Patch, 29 December 2012

Professional musician claims wireless smart meter health effects forced her to flee San Diego home.

"More Than Honey"

Recently, I saw Swiss filmmaker, Markus Imhoof’s documentary, « More Than Honey » (click here for official trailer). It was disturbing, especially the scene in the almond grove monoculture of California, stretching as far as the eye can see, where bees are treated as “money”.  It requires 1.3 million colonies of bees to pollinate the groves, and bees add a value of $15 billion to crops such as these.  Here bees are trucked in to pollinate the almond and cherry trees, then taken half way across the country, first to Washington State to pollinate the apple orchards, then as far as the Dakotas and back to California. It reminds us of poor migrant workers being trucked from orchard to farm, living in sometimes salubrious conditions, or worse, industrial farm animals, being trucked from green pastures to feed lots to slaughterhouses. This affects the health of bees so that they must be treated with vitamins and antibiotics, just as we treat industrial farm animals.  

At the end of the film, one beekeeper is shown with his colonies of “killer bees”. Looking for a better place to be, the colony moved from a cactus to a cave, just like electrosensitive persons fleeing the harmful environment for a healthier one to live in caves. Only, what made me uneasy is that these were killer bees, more aggressive, hardier creatures – and if they must flee, what is happening to the rest of the bees and to us? Einstein said if bees were to disappear, man would follow four years later. Is this where we are headed? The film makes no mention of the effect of electromagnetic radiation from wireless technologies on bees, despite a Swiss scientist and others conducting research on this subject.  The reason may be that the filmmaker would not have found adequate funding for his film.

Following is a review from the Locarno Film Festival.