Canada: Ontario: Lawyer Investigating Possibility of Class Action Law Suit With Respect to Electrosensitivity

Electro Sensitivity Legal Action

WEEP News, 22 March 2014

A lawyer has been retained to investigate the possibility of a Class Action law suit with respect to Electrosensitivity. A very small group of people are working with the law firm to gather research, resources and information about people who have developed sensitivities to their environment. If you would be interested in participating in the suit, please read the following questions and return this survey to Lakeshore Coalition, 7613 Chester Trail, Port Franks ON N0M 2L0. Your contact information and all answers will be treated with confidentiality as with any Solicitor/Client privilege. 

(Contact Laureen Maurizo for the questionnaire  :  laureen7@execulink.com)

Here is the first question:

1. Do you have any of these symptoms? Yes No

Switzerland: "Waves Make Me Ill": Testimony of Electrohypersensitivity

Godeliève
(photo by Matthew Cavanaugh)

« Waves make me ill »
by Jennifer Keller, Femina, 23 March 2014 (translated from French by the Editor of this blog)

Insomnia, dizziness, pain. Godeliève, 37, from Les Ponts-de-Martel, lived three hellish years until she understood the origin of her suffering. It is now one year since she has been given new life, thanks to a “biotuner.”

« It is still difficult to talk about this because the subject is taboo. Many people think it is psychological. They cannot conceive that cell phones, computers and other wireless devices, extremely practical and often tied to the notion of freedom, can be unhealthy. I myself would never have imagined the impact that they could have on health. It took me months of going from one doctor to another before understanding this.”

“It all started in spring 2010. My husband, who is American, and I were in Boston visiting his mother. We share life between the United States and Switzerland. We slept in a room where I had never really felt well. The level of electromagnetic pollution must have been very high there, in part due to the electric lines passing within several centimeters of the walls… My health deteriorated within several days. I could no longer sleep. I was seized by dizziness, suffered headaches and had the impression of being dehydrated. At the Boston hospital, I was diagnosed with a possible virus …

Switzerland: Researchers Want to Determine What Effect Radiation from Mobile Phones Has on Children and Adolescents

Several studies have shown that children and adolescents
with an intensive use of mobile phones have an anti-social
or aggressive behavior.  (Photo: Keystone/Martin Ruetschi)

Do Mobile Phones Disturb School Children’s Behavior ?
by D. Pomper, 20min.ch, 11 March 2014 (translated from German by Jennifer Siddle)

Are mobile phones the cause of school children no longer being able to concentrate and thus becoming anti-social?  Swiss researchers want to determine what effect radiation from mobile phones has on them.

To telephone and exchange SMS texts with friends, and in between, check E-mails and Facebook: the latest report is that since teenagers can now profit from flat rate offers, they have become the most intensive mobile phone users.

Maine: Wireless Industry Kills Cell Phone Radiation Warning Bill

UPDATE (20 March 2014):   Maine's cell phone radiation awareness bill, "The Wireless Information Act (LD 1013)," died today because the House of Representatives failed to enact it on a 77-60 vote. Although this is usually a routine matter after a bill has been approved by both the House and Senate, I've been informed that industry lobbyists killed the bill by co-opting the House leadership.

Besides Maine, Industry lobbyists have killed cell phone radiation awareness bills in at least four other states including California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Why does the cellular industry continue to hide from the public the RF safety information contained in the cell phone user manuals? Isn't this short-sighted from the perspective of product liability? Why isn't this industry concerned about public safety?

On 18 March 2014, the Maine Senate passed the amended cell phone radiation warning bill (LD 1013) on a 21-14 vote. The bill goes back to the House for enactment which is usually a routine manner. Then the bill goes to the Governor for signature. The Governor has 10 days to sign or veto it; otherwise, the bill becomes law. The bill stipulates that the law will take effect only after four other states adopt similar laws. 

(Ref:  Electromagnetic Radiation Safety)

As Goes Maine, So Goes the Nation: Maine Legislature Passes First in the Nation State-Wide Law Requiring Cellphone Makers to Tell the Public About Radio Frequency Radiation
Environmental Health Trust, 17 March 2014

The Hidden Dangers of iPads

So, with the death of the cell phone radiation warning bill in Maine and similar endeavors in other states to launch such a bill, people will continue to ignore the warnings contained in the manuals of all wireless devices, including this one for Apple's iPad:

"...You can further limit your exposure by limiting the amount of time using iPad Wi-Fi+3G in wireless mode since time is a factor in how much exposure a person receives, and by placing more distance between your body and iPad Wi-Fi+3G, since exposure level drops off dramatically with distance."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=480846175350083&set=a.429919780442723.1073741828.428808610553840&type=1&theater

Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain

Screen addicted brains show loss of white matter integrity.

Gray Matters: Too Much Screen Time Damages the Brain
by Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D. in Mental Wealth, 27 February 2014

Neuroimaging research shows excessive screen time damages the brain.

“Taken together, [studies show] internet addiction is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions involving emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control.”
--research authors summarizing neuro-imaging findings in internet and gaming addiction (Lin & Zhou et al, 2012)

But what about kids who aren't "addicted" per se? Addiction aside, a much broader concern that begs awareness is the risk that screen time is creating subtle damage even in children with “regular” exposure, considering that the average child clocks in more than seven hours a day (Rideout 2010). As a practitioner, I observe that many of the children I see suffer from sensory overload, lack of restorative sleep, and a hyperaroused nervous system, regardless of diagnosis—what I call electronic screen syndrome. These children are impulsive, moody, and can’t pay attention—much like the description in the quote above describing damage seen in scans.

Russians Find Electromagnetic Radiation Increasingly Worrisome

"In Russia, the pollution of the environment with electromagnetic fields as a whole, as many experts say, has acquired dangerous dimensions. Such radiation is emitted by high voltage power lines, electricity-driven transport, radars, radio transmitters, PCs, household appliances, cell communication systems, industrial microwave systems and others… Some researchers have slammed electromagnetic smog as one of the most powerful factors that affect the human body these days."

Russians find electromagnetic radiation increasingly worrisome
by Alexandrova Lyudmila, ITAR-TASS, 11 March 2014

MOSCOW, March 11. /ITAR-TASS/. A resident of the Moscow Region, Nikolai Lesnikov, has won a lawsuit he had filed a while ago demanding the removal of the cell phone tower that had been put up just 20 meters away from his home. Ever more Russians these days come to understand the risks the electromagnetic pollution of the environment is fraught with. However, no national program for studying and preventing this danger exists yet.

Presentation by Dr. Olle Johansson on the Issue of Electromagnetic Radiation - Barcelona, November 2013

This is an excellent recent presentation by Dr. Olle Johansson, neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute.

Dr. Olle Johansson en Barcelona (November 2013 - 53 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5udG8OCZWY&feature=youtu.be

Dr. Johansson begins by discussing classification by the United Nations of electrohypersensitivity (EHS) as a functional impairment.  The 2007 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states that people with functional impairments, [such as electrohypersensitive persons] are entitled to have an equal life in a society based on equality.  One of the most important principles for achieving this is the one about complete accessibility.  

Fukushima Continues to Spew Its Darkness

On the third anniversary of Fukushima, the nuclear plant "continues to spew its darkness" - for decades to come.

"While a depleted, discredited and disorganized nuclear utility moves to restart its other reactors, its stricken units at Fukushima continue to hold the rest of us at the brink of apocalyptic terror."

Fukushima Continues to Spew Its Darkness

by Harvey Wasserman, Common Dreams, 25 July 2013

Radiation leaks, steam releases, disease and death continue to spew from Fukushima and a disaster which is far from over. Its most profound threat to the global ecology—a spent fuel fire—is still very much with us. 

The latest steam leak has raised fears around the planet. A worst-case scenario of an on-going out-of-control fission reaction was dismissed by the owners, Tokyo Electric, because they didn’t find xenon in the plume. The company says the steam likely came from rain water being vaporized by residual heat in one of plant’s stricken reactors.

"We Could All Become Electrohypersensitive One Day"

Not easy to entirely protect oneself from electromagnetic
waves.

"We encourage all EHS persons to testify, raising their voices loud and clear in order for the authorities to recognize this intolerance to waves, and grant these persons a better quality of life: residential areas free of waves, compensation for protective materials and loss of employment, and adequate care." 

“We could all become electrohypersensitive one day”
Editorial by Meris Michaels, published as “Letter of the Day” in the Swiss newspaper

24 heures, 7 March 2014

Re: article entitled “Gadgets against waves, pay attention to scams” (24 heures, 15 February 2014)

Products for protection against waves emitted by wireless technologies are for the most part ineffective for electrohypersensitive (EHS) persons. EHS is not recognized, either as an illness or as a handicap, in Switzerland where 5% of the population suffer from it, a figure that is increasing. Most physicians are not trained to treat EHS. The Austrian Medical Association is more advanced in treating EHS, having elaborated directives for the diagnosis and treatment of these persons.