Switzerland: Press Release from Doctors for the Protection of the Environment: Easing of Radiation Protection for Mobile Phone Installations

Press release from Doctors for the Protection of the Environment (MfE)
22 February 2018 

Easing of radiation protection for mobile phone installations

Health concerns and no technical need

One year ago, the Council of States refused, for reasons of health concerns, a motion for raising limit values of mobile phone installations.  The Parliament must once again vote on a motion relating to revision of the Ordinance on Protection against Non-Ionizing Radiation (ORNI).  The easing of ORNI, requested in a motion is not without health concerns and is not necessary for the expansion of mobile telephony and the guarantee of digitization.  The association, Doctors for the Protection of the Environment, and physicians in Parliament are recommending once again  to the Parliament to refuse the motion.  The  Swiss Farmers' Union (USP), l'HabitatDurable Suisse and the Swiss Federation of Patients endorse this request.

Maryland Bill Proposed: Health and Safety Guidelines for Digital Devices"

Maryland Bill Proposed: Health and Safety Guidelines for Digital Devices"
safetechforschoolsmaryland.blogspot.ch, 27 February 2018

Press Release
February 22, 2018
(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND)

HB1110: "Public Schools - Health and Safety Guidelines and Procedures - Digital Devices" directs the Maryland State Department of Education, consulting with the Maryland Department of Health to convene a group of medical experts and stakeholders to develop health and safety guidelines for the schools' technology equipment.

Sponsored by Delegate Steven Arentz (R-District 36, Eastern Shore) and 32 co-sponsors - representing statewide bipartisan support - the legislation is in response to the mounting scientific data that underscores the need to protect children from visual, physical and mental health risks posed by the unsafe use of classroom devices.

Delegate Arentz reports, "The research just continues to mount - our kids need to be protected, while they learn how to compete in the world today."

Power-Frequency EMFs Promote Cancer in Massive Animal Study

Re-POSTED 27 February 2018 - interesting 2016 article from Microwave News on studies of animals exposed to non-ionizing radiation.  Re-posted here in view of the recent results of the two draft reports from the NTP and the soon-to-be published study by the Ramazzini Institute in Italy. 

Power-Frequency EMFs Promote Cancer in Massive Animal Study
microwavenews.com, 27 February 2016

Italians Call for a “Reevaluation of the Safety of Non-Ionizing Radiation”

Once again, power-frequency magnetic fields have been found to act as a cancer promoter.

Eighteen months ago an international team led by Elisabeth Cardis in Spain showed cancer promotion in workers exposed to chemicals and extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs. Now an Italian team has found essentially the same promotional effect in animals exposed to ionizing radiation and ELF EMFs.

Rats, which received a single low-dose of gamma radiation early in life and were exposed to magnetic fields for their entire lifetime, developed higher than expected rates of three different types of cancer: Breast cancer and leukemia/lymphoma, as well as an extremely rare and obscure tumor, called malignant schwannoma of the heart.

Cancer and Cell Phones: "Let's Distinguish Between Truth and Falsehood!"

"Cancer: Let's Distinguish Between Truth and Falsehood!"

We do not wish to place the text of this misleading article on cancer here: "Cancer: Let's Distinguish Between Truth and Falsehood!"  http://www.illustre.ch/magazine/cancer-distinguons-le-vrai-du-faux [article no longer available].

The Swiss neuro-oncologist Andreas Hottinger replies to the most commonly asked questions:

Does use of the cell phone increase the risk of cancer?

Dr. Andréas Hottinger

"No.  The latest studies clearly show that use of the cell phone has no effect on the increase in the number of brain cancers.  This is mainly due to aging of the population.  Given that cell phones were democratized towards the end of the 1990's, one can say today that there is no risk since we have been using them for more than 20 years."

Our comment

We are very angry that these so-called "specialists" continue to downplay the risks of radiofrequency radiation emitted by cell phones and other wireless technology. thus misleading users, letting them believe that there is no reason the take precautionary measures to reduce exposure to waves.

Switzerland: What Interests Does Martin Röösli Represent? Corruption at the Level of the Swiss Federal Council?

Martin Röösli

What interests does Martin Röösli represent?

funkstrahlung.ch, posted 26 February 2018 (Translation)

On the one hand, experts recommend protective measures against excessive radiation exposure, but claim that the applicable limit values ​​would offer sufficient protection. Why do they make such recommendations when everything is okay? 

Why does Professor Martin Röösli in particular argue that there are supposedly no indications of health effects below the limit values? He is well aware of the many industry-independent studies that prove just the opposite. Does he simply ignore them because they do not fit into the concept? Does he rather refer to studies that are influenced by the industry and give the all-clear as desired?

It pays to have a closer look behind the person of Martin Röösli.

Swisscom's Aggressive Marketing Campaign

UPDATE (22 février 2018):  Swisscom has announced it will install the first test 5G antenna in Ittigen in March and if all goes well, the Swisscom mobile network will be connected to 5G at the end of 2018. No mobile phone, however, in Switzerland will be equipped with this technology which is expected to arrive on the market only in 2019. Installation of 5G technology will greatly increase the harm being done to the health of the population from exposure to radiofrequency radiaiton.

Limit values for mobile phone antennas must be raised to accommodate 5G. There is great resistance from the Swiss population, however parliamentarians say they do not want to receive any more letters from individuals with regard to this issue. The next vote on the increase of limit values will take place in early March by the National Councillors, members of the Committee on Transport and Communications. Do we have a hope of a vote in our favor? The Confederation has the majority of shares in Swisscom and most likely, once again, money will take precedence over health.

Swisscom's Aggressive Marketing Campaign

1st April 2017

“More Than a Coincidence” - A Second Large Study has Found Schwannomas in the Hearts of Male Rats Exposed to Cell Phone Radiation

“More Than a Coincidence”
Microwave News, 20 February 2018

New Large Animal Study, Like NTP’s, Links RF to Schwannoma of the Heart

It’s happened again.

A second large study has found tumors in the Schwann cells —schwannomas— in the hearts of male rats exposed to cell phone radiation.

The new finding comes from the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy.

The malignant schwannomas of the heart seen in the Italian study are the same as those described by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP) earlier this month as the basis for their concern that cell phone radiation, both GSM and CDMA, can lead to cancer. Ramazzini embarked on its RF project in 2005, about the same time as the NTP effort was taking off.

A Concerning New Study Links Miscarriages to Cellphone Radiation. How Worried Should We Be?

Good article on the Kaiser Permanente study.

A concerning new study links miscarriages to cellphone radiation. How worried should we be?
By Julia Belluz @juliaoftoronto julia.belluz@voxmedia.com, 15 February 2018

Non-ionizing radiation may have more of a biological effect than we thought.

(Photo): The vast majority of miscarriages are caused by genetic factors — but environmental factors are also believed to play a significant role. Getty Images

There’s emerging evidence that exposure to one type of radiation from cellphones and other devices might be linked to a major adverse health outcome in women: miscarriages.

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports found a strong link between higher levels of exposure to a type of radiation called magnetic field non-ionizing radiation and higher risk of miscarriage in a group of nearly 1,000 women living in the Bay Area of California.

Specifically, the researchers, from Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, found that a woman’s miscarriage risk rose from 10 percent to 24 percent as she was exposed to higher levels of magnetic field non-ionizing radiation.

Largest Animal Study of Cell Phone Radiation and Cancer Risk

Good article on NTP study.

Largest Animal Study of Cell Phone Radiation and Cancer Risk
by Roxanne Nelson, RN, BSN, medscape.com, 6 February 2018

Data from the largest-ever animal study of cell phone radiation effects, released last week by the federal National Toxicology Program (NTP), found an association between cell phone radiation and an increased risk for cancer.

NTP senior scientist John Bucher, PhD, emphasized that the animals (rats and mice) in the study were exposed to a high dosage of cell phone radiation.

"The levels and duration of exposure to RFR [radiofrequency radiation] were much greater than what people experience with even the highest level of cell phone use, and exposed the rodents' whole bodies," Dr Bucher said in a statement. "So, these findings should not be directly extrapolated to human cell phone usage.

[Press Release] Phonegate: Ministerial Reply Not Equal to the Importance of the Public Health Issues

The reply from the two French ministers is disappointing and not equal to the importance of the public health issues. Mobile phone manufacturers are exposing consumers to levels of radiofrequency radiation higher than those tested on animals in the laboratory.

[Press Release] Phonegate: Ministerial reply not equal to the importance of the public health issues
Par Marc Arazi, arazi.fr, 16 février 2018

After more than seven months of waiting, a reply was received on February 12, to the letters of June 19, 2017 and January 5, 2018 addressed to Nicolas Hulot, Minister of State and Minister of the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, and Agnès Buzyn, Minister of Solidarity and Health. It was signed by Professor Jérôme Salomon, Director-General for Health, and Marc Mortureux, Director-General for Risk Prevention. This letter, more technocratic than policy-related, does not at all respond to the public health emergency and the vital measures that are needed in the face of this new health and industrial scandal, Phonegate.

5G and IoT: a Trojan Horse

5G and IoT: a Trojan horse
by Paul Heroux, maisonsaine.ca, 11 February 2018

http://scientists4wiredtech.com

By Paul Héroux, Ph.D., Professor of Electromagnetic Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University

Endorsed by Dr David O. Carpenter M.D., Richard Conrad, Ph.D., Devra Davis Ph.D., Olle Johansson Ph.D., Don Maisch, Ph.D., Sam Milham, M.D., Anthony B. Miller, M.D., L. Lloyd Morgan, Eng., Hugo Schooneveld, Ph.D., Fernand Turcotte, M.D., Louise Vandelac, Ph.D.

Version française

The wireless industry dreams of deploying its new 5G (fifth generation) infrastructure in your neighbourhood soon, as it has begun doing in California. Boxes the size of a PC could be placed every 150 meters or so on utility poles, sometimes with small-refrigerator-sized boxes on the ground. 5G technology uses pulsed, millimeter-sized microwaves that are easily blocked by obstacles such as leaves, hence the need to install millions of cell signal boosters near homes.

The telecoms say this is the most efficient way to ease the digital congestion caused by audio-video streaming, whose global traffic, according to American giant Cisco, will be eleven times higher in 2018 than in 2014. Data would move through fibre optic cables, but rather than bringing these cables to your home, the last leg of the data’s journey would generally be wireless… As markets work, personal mobile phone subscriptions are more profitable than the higher speed fibre optic connections linked to desktops through your own router.

What Changed at NTP?

What Changed at NTP?
microwavenews.com, 7 February 2018

Same RF Cancer Data, Different Outlook
Why was the NTP so ambivalent about its cell phone cancer findings at the press conference last Friday when two years ago the same scientific evidence prompted a public health warning?

Some of the pathology numbers got tweaked since they were first released in 2016, but the changes were minor. It’s the same data set —but with a very different interpretation. The NTP mindset somehow shifted from we need to release this important new health data nowto this is “not a high-risk situation.”

Who or what moved the NTP managers to change their outlook? There’s no shortage of suspects and suspicions. Here are a few making the rounds:

Statement On National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Cancer Study By Devra Davis PhD, MPH

"We are in the midst of a vast and uncontrolled experiment on ourselves and our children... 

"Urgent measures are needed to reduce exposures to the public and especially for children."

Statement On National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Cancer Study By Devra Davis PhD, MPH

ehtrust.org, 6 February 2018

Federal Action Needed: Expert Reaction To NIH $25 Million Study Linking Cell Phone Radiation To Cancer

Statement By Devra Davis PhD, MPH, President And Founder Of Environmental Health Trust

The National Toxicology Program Findings of Tumors Confirm Adverse Biological Effects of Radiofrequency

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) found carcinogenic activity. These results from the largest study ever done in animals on cell phone radiation at levels that approximate those that humans experience are important and troubling. They show increases in the same types of cancers in animals parallel to tumors that we find in humans who have been regular cell phone users for a decade or more.

We test animals in order to predict effects on humans and to prevent adverse effects. That is how drugs are developed. Every compound known to cause cancer in humans also produces it in animals when adequately tested, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization.

Cancer Researcher States That $25 Million NIH Study Confirms That Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Cancer

"Even a small rise in very rare cancers from cell phone radiation would constitute a serious public health concern due to the fact that billions of people are using cell phones."

Cancer Researcher States That $25 Million NIH Study Confirms That Cell Phone Radiation Can Cause Cancer
Environmental Health Trust, 5 February 2018

Anthony Miller MD issues statement on the NIH/NIEHS National Toxicology Program (NTP) study linking cell phone radiation to tumors.

Anthony B. Miller MD, a longtime advisor to the World Health Organization and senior advisor to Environmental Health Trust (EHT) has issued a statement that the recently released findings from the $25 million NIH/NIEHS National Toxicology Program (NTP) cell phone radiofrequency radiation carcinogenicity studies combined with human epidemiology studies “conclusively confirms that radiofrequency radiation is a category 1 human carcinogen.” EHT is a scientific think tank focused on preventable environmental health risks and will be publishing a series of expert reactions to the NTP technical reports this week.

Statement of Anthony Miller MD

“In the NTP rat study there was a significant increase in incidence of schwannomas of the heart in the animals exposed to radiofrequency radiation, with a dose-response relationship in male rats, as well as the occurrence of gliomas of the brain, though this increase was not statistically significant. Further, a significant increase in DNA damage was observed in hippocampus cells of the brain of male rats exposed to radiofrequency radiation.

Myth Vs Fact On The The National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Cancer Study

Myth Vs Fact On The The National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Cancer Study
Environmental Health Trust, February 2018

23 Myths About the National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Radiation Cancer Study
Correcting the Misinformation

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) study found an association between cell phone radiation and cancer prompting an astonishing chorus of criticism from almost every prominent media outlet in the country.

Environmental Health Trust analyzed the media response and found a pattern of consistent inaccurate and misleading statements repeated over and over again in literally hundreds of news articles. Most of the criticisms levied at the NTP findings are inaccurate and simply do not hold up to scientific scrutiny.

We have counted a total of 23 myths. Sometimes they are quotes and sometimes they are the journalists statements. Either way, the more such false facts are put forth without scientific response, the more DOUBT is perpetuated. These myths inaccurately portray the NTP study and allow the important results to be downplayed.

Please take the time to inform yourself of the FACTS about the study.

23 Myths About the National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Radiation Study

Click on the Myth below

Myth 1: The rats radiation exposure was far too high to be relevant to human health.
Myth 2: Rat research does not relate to human health risk.

Phonegate: Interview with Dr. Marc Arazi, Jackson Hole, U.S., 30 July 2017

Interview with Dr.Marc Arazi on Phonegate (with English sub-titles), 10 mn

Interview by Silas Hagerty, American documentary filmmaker.

Dr. Marc Arazi's site : http://arazi.fr/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE_v9Ju9PJs&feature=youtu.be

Where’s Your Phone? A Survey of Where Women Aged 15-40 Carry Their Smartphone and Related Risk Perception: A Survey and Pilot Study

RE-POSTED 5 February 2018:
"More than three quarters of participants had carried their phone in a skirt or trouser pocket, which places the phone adjacent to the skin of the lower abdomen or buttock sitting over or near the colon and near reproductive organs, and a quarter of them had carried it tucked into clothing against the breast. Overall, there was not a perception of risk from exposure to RF-EMFs generally..."

Where’s Your Phone? A Survey of Where Women Aged 15-40 Carry Their Smartphone and Related Risk Perception: A Survey and Pilot Study 
Mary Redmayne, plos.org, Published: January 6, 2017

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167996

Full text available.

Abstract and Conclusions below:

Why the Largest Study Ever on Cellphones and Cancer Won’t Settle the Debate​

Why the Largest Study Ever on Cellphones and Cancer Won’t Settle the Debate​
By Ryan Knutson, The Wall Street Journal, 2 February 2018

Research found small increases in tumors and DNA damage in some rats; ‘No smoking gun’

U.S. researchers spent nearly two decades to design and carry out a definitive study on the health effects of cellphone radiation. The final results, released Friday, are likely to fuel rather than dispel the long-running debate about the planet’s most ubiquitous electronic device.

Among the observations: Male rats exposed to the radiation had small increases of tumors in their hearts and brains. Females didn’t. Exposed animals also showed signs of DNA damage, which experts thought wasn’t possible. But they also lived longer and had a significant reduction in a type of kidney disease.

Taken together, scientists at the National Toxicology Program, which carried out the study, said the research showed that cellphone energy did have biological effects but that it wasn’t clear what it meant for humans. The animals were exposed at levels greater than what people normally get from their devices.

“Typical cellphone use is not going to be directly related to the kind of exposures that we used in these studies,” said John Bucher, a senior scientist at the NTP.

Even so, experts have long believed cellphone radiation was too weak to cause effects like damage DNA, which carries genetic instructions for growth, development and reproduction. NTP scientists were quick to say they weren’t certain the damage was a result of the cellphone radiation exposure or some other factor.

[First reaction] Phonegate : Radiation levels at the center of cancer and non-cancer risks in the U.S. NTP study

[First reaction] Phonegate : Radiation levels at the center of cancer and non-cancer risks in the U.S. NTP study
by Marc Arazi, arazi.fr, 3 February 2018

The study of the scientists from the National Toxicology Program (NTP), the agency attached to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS/NIH), marks a new turning point in the understanding of the risks to human and animal health related to the strength of mobile phone radiation.

Lasting ten years with a budget of 25 million dollars, serious findings of the two reports (on rats and mice) released on February 2, 2018 should put an end to the strategy of the denial of risk and doubt orchestrated by the manufacturers in the sector to promote their economic development. It is a safe bet that they will embark on a new campaign of disparagement at the NTP meeting on March 28 to render their conclusions after the scientific community has been able to present all their observations and comments.

The findings of this study confirm an increase in malignant and benign tumors of the brain (gliomas) in rats more than in mice and also tumors of the heart (schwannomas) as well as many and varied more or less serious pathologies affecting the heart (cardiomyopathy), thyroid and prostate (hyperplasia).

"Phonegate": Finnish Deputy at European Parliament Raises Issue of Impact of Mobile Phone Radiation on Health of European Citizens

Parliamentary questions
10 January 2018
E-000081-18

Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 130
Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL)

Subject: Impact of mobile phone radiation on the health of European citizens

The results of the 2015 measurement tests of 95 mobile phones in body contact positions by the French National Frequencies Agency (ANFR) showed that nine out of 10 tested mobile phones in contact with the skin exceeded the regulatory SAR threshold of 2 W/kg, set by the ICNIRP and used by the EU.

Most members of the public are not aware that mobile phones emit radiation waves even when in pockets, so direct skin contact is not even needed, and, moreover, the information on the allegedly safe distance between the phone and the body is currently in phone manuals, about which serious doubts have been expressed as to this not being the most effective place in terms of a source of information.