Switzerland: Geneva: New Association "RUNE" Requests Moratorium on Department of Education's Plan for Use of Digital Technology in Primary School

A new association has recently been established in Geneva: "RUNE" (Reflect on the use of digital technology and screens) whose purpose is to bring together parents of primary school students wanting meticulous analyses to be carried out before deciding to digitize the elementary school. "The digitization of daily life, which has become a public health issue, should not be taken lightly." 
https://runegeneve.wordpress.com/

On 29 October 2020, the group launched a petition to the Geneva government (Grand Conseil) requesting a moratorium on the Department of Education's plan for digital education in primary school:

• Should the State finance the equipment of primary schools with digital tablets, interactive whiteboards and wireless networks when the added value of using this technology in education has not been demonstrated at all?
• What about the economic and ecological cost, and the damage to children's health? 

The group is not technophobic, but believe that a critical distance and a careful analysis of the social, environmental, financial and health costs of the use of digital technology by primary school students is necessary. Digital tools have multiple positive aspects, which should not be denied, but their potentially harmful or simply ineffective aspects must also be taken into account. 

Here is what the group says about the use of screens and children's health.

The Use of Screens and Children's Health (translation)

[Links to documents in English only are provided.]

Several studies and professionals in the fields of health and children have noted that frequent and prolonged exposure to screens of all kinds can affect the physical, psychological and social development of children. Faced with the risks raised by the multiplication of screens in our children's lives, shouldn't school play a protective role?

Effects on vision, risks of screen addiction or psycho-social risks: many concerns have been raised in recent years by health and child health professionals, who believe that overexposure to screens is a major public health issue. 

Why The Race To 5G Is A Mirage

Why The Race To 5G Is A Mirage
by Dr. Devra Davis, ibtimes.com, 13 December 2020

KEY POINTS

• Former national finance minister, Lou Jiwei warned last month that existing 5G technology in China is immature and quite expensive.
• The next stimulus package should contain billions of dollars to produce, distribute, install, build out, maintain and monitor municipal fiber-optic broadband cable around the nation.
• Until and unless a much safer, more cost-effective and less-energy intensive system can be produced, we should revise plans for continued expansion of the 5G albatross.

You may have heard that we are locked in a technology battle with China over commercializing 5G. That conflict turns out to be more hype than happening, designed to whet American appetites for competition and pave the way for more subsidies to the global multi-trillion dollar telecom industry. 

Former national finance minister, Lou Jiwei warned last month that existing 5G technology in China is immature and quite expensive. Increased electricity costs to fuel 5G in 2019, he recently warned look to be 10 times the profit of China Telecom -- one of three state telecom companies of China.

New Review Study Finds Cell Phone Radiation Increases Breast Cancer Risk

New Review Study finds that Radiofrequency Radiation from Cellphones and Computers Increases Breast Cancer Risk
Environmental Health Trust, December 5, 2020

A systematic review and meta-analysis supported by the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology investigated the association between exposure to radiofrequency radiation and the risk of breast cancer and found a significant association between radiofrequency radiation exposure and breast cancer risk.

The study ” Exposure to radiofrequency radiation increases the risk of breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis” published in the journal Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine performed a quantitative analysis and is what the authors state is “the first meta-analysis” aiming to evaluate and obtain more precise and comprehensive estimates of the association between radiofrequency radiation exposure and the risk of breast cancer.

“It was concluded that radiofrequency radiation exposure significantly increased the risk of breast cancer, especially in women aged ≥50 years and in individuals who used electric appliances, such as mobile phones and computers.” While breast cancer risk doubled for women ≥50 yrs old, no significant increase was seen among younger women, nor among those occupational exposed or those living near RF transmitters.

Smartphone Overuse and Visual Impairment in Children and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Smartphone Overuse and Visual Impairment in Children and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
by Jian Wang1, MSc,  Mei Li2, MD, PhD, Daqiao Zhu1, PhD, Yang Cao3, PhD

Published on 08.12.20 in Vol 22, No 12 (2020): December
J Med Internet Res 2020;22(12):e21923

Conclusions: Longer smartphone use may increase the likelihood of ocular symptoms, including myopia, asthenopia, and ocular surface disease, especially in children. Thus, regulating use time and restricting the prolonged use of smartphones may prevent ocular and visual symptoms. Further research on the patterns of use, with longer follow up on the longitudinal associations, will help to inform detailed guidelines and recommendations for smartphone use in children and young adults.

doi:10.2196/21923

https://www.jmir.org/2020/12/e21923/?fbclid=IwAR3Am7F2ZJ8Ljx7FU34dTTDyzohWLwiAw6K466i4r1bPux6zXaDrPTYqnf0

Is the Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in the Nordic Countries Caused by Use of Mobile Phones?

NEW PAPER: Is the Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in the Nordic Countries Caused by Use of Mobile Phones? Open access.
By Michael Carlberg, Tarmo Koppel, Lena K. Hedendahl, and Lennart Hardell

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(23), 9129; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17239129
Received: 29 October 2020 / Revised: 3 December 2020 / Accepted: 5 December 2020 / Published: 7 December 2020

Figure 1 shows the increasing incidence in women from 1999. Note, 

especially from 2010, a steep increasing curve.

Abstract

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) at the World Health Organization (WHO) categorized in 2011 radiofrequency (RF) as a possible human carcinogen, Group 2B. During use of the handheld wireless phone, especially the smartphone, the thyroid gland is a target organ. During the 21st century, the incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing in many countries. 

Questions sent to ICNIRP Chairman Dr. Rodney Croft in Fall of 2020

Questions sent to ICNIRP Chairman Dr. Rodney Croft include those regarding the effects of radiofrequency to trees, plants, birds;  research linking thyroid cancer to cell phone radiation; exposure to pregnant women and children and many more.

Questions sent to ICNIRP Chairman Dr. Rodney Croft in Fall of 2020
Environmental Health Trust, 29 November 2020

In response to the below questions send in November 2020, Croft stated, “In terms of the questions that you sent before, as I advised before, I do not have time to address these within my University of Wollongong capacity. However, if you would like to request that ICNIRP comment on your questions that is fine. The best thing would be to submit the questions via the website (https://www.icnirp.org/en/contact/contact/index.html), or if you feel that you cannot restrict your questions to the required format, to contact the ICNIRP secretariat (info@icnirp.org). I would note though that some of the questions have been asked in a way that, in order to address them, would require a journal publication (or equivalent piece) to outline how science works and how the literature is put together to arrive at a conclusion, whereas others are of a form that would allow simple answers. As the former type would take a substantial amount of time to provide (if ICNIRP decided that it was sufficiently important to dedicate its resources to do so), given your timeline, you might like to consider asking questions that would make it possible for ICNIRP to answer quickly.”

Phonegate: the Safety Factor of 50 for Local SARs Never Existed!

For Dr. Marc Arazi, who has just published “Phonegate” at Massot Editions to, among other things, denounce this lie of the State:

“This is a new step forward in our action to achieve greater transparency in the health and industrial scandal of “Phonegate”. We are counting on the seriousness and sense of responsibility of journalists to update the numerous articles and reports that mention this false safety factor of 50 concerning the local SAR.”

[Last minute] Phonegate: the safety factor of 50 for local SARs never existed!
Equipe Phonegate 9 déc 2020

For more than twenty years, governments, the European Commission, national agencies, international scientists and in turn, major media, have knowingly misled billions of cell phone users about the health risks associated with a pseudo safety factor of 50 surrounding the measurement of local specific absorption rates (SARs) (head, trunk and limbs).

This is why almost all international authorities have suggested that the thermal effects of the waves measured during the SAR controls were subject, according to the recommendations of ICNIRP, to a factor of protection of the health of the population of 50. This falsely suggested that SAR levels as high as 100 W/kg could be achieved, i.e. the regulatory level of 2W/kg multiplied by 50. This is a real godsend for all manufacturers whose cell phones are well above the regulatory limit of 2W/kg.

New Study on Honeybees and Electromagnetic Radiation

DOES ENHANCED ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION DISTURB HONEYBEES’ BEHAVIOUR? OBSERVATIONS DURING NEW YEAR’S EVE 2019 

New study by Dr. Daniel Favre, co-signed by Prof. Olle Johansson

November 2020

Link to study in English

Daniel Favre 

Olle Johansson, Associate Professor, retired from the Karolinska Institute (in Nov 2017, still active), Department of Neuroscience, head of The Experimental Dermatology Unit, Stockholm, Sweden, and Adjunct Professor, previously at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

DOI: https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v8.i11.2020.2151

Abstract

Insects, and especially honeybees, are under major threat everywhere around the globe. Current studies lack in the consideration of potential effects which may directly affect other organisms or ecosystems, because of the very limited attention which is usually received by the potential adverse ecological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Here, it is hypothesized that planetary enhancement of electromagnetic radiation produces a disturbing pollution for honeybees. In order to test this hypothesis, a bi-directional wide frequency range microphone was placed during the New Year’s Eve night 2019 in a honeybee hive, in order to detect and analyze potential changes in the acoustic behaviour of the bees due to increased phone induced RF- EM radiation. It was observed that the honeybees produced strong worker piping signals. Such signals are typically produced shortly before takeoff of a swarm, or as the sign of a disturbed colony. It is therefore hypothesized that planetary enhancement of electromagnetic radiation produces a disturbing pollution for honeybees, such as during the New Year’s Eve night. Evidence of proof of such electromagnetic waves taking place at New Year's Eve should be investigated worldwide during forthcoming similar events based on a global network of long term EM measurements.

https://www.granthaalayahpublication.org/.../IJRG20_B11_3868

France : 5G: MEP Michèle Rivasi is ready to take the case to the European Court of Justice

On December 7, 2020, a health study and an environmental study will be discussed in the European Parliament, with scientists from all over the world, to discuss possible health effects. A Webinar in French will be open to the public upon inscription, Monday 7 December from 10h to 12h on line.

Links to: 

INSCRIPTION

AGENDA

5G: Michèle Rivasi is ready to take the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union

by Renaud Gardette, franceinfo, 2 Dec. 2020 - translation 

Nearly 70 mayors from the Drôme region and France are opposed to the 5G technology soon to be rolled out nationwide. At issue: "the health risks for living organisms have not been evaluated". Michèle Rivasi, MEP, says she is ready to go to the European Court of Justice.

70 mayors are asking the government for a mora-
torium on 5G, which is due to be rolled out in
France in a few years. Archive photo:
© N Asfouri / AFP

More than 70 elected officials, including the mayors of major cities such as Grenoble, Marseille, Tours and Bordeaux, as well as Dieulefit, Montjoux and La Roche-Saint-Secret in the Drôme, are calling for a moratorium on the deployment of 5G technology in France.

Michèle Rivasi: "There is a lack of democratic debate".

In a videoconference organized Wednesday evening, December 2 from the European Parliament, Michèle Rivasi, MEP (EELV), spoke loud and clear. "There is a lack of democratic debate. 5G has not been discussed in the Parliament, it is an industrial project that brings us towards cyber-surveillance. This poses a problem for society. It is over-consumption. We want a democratic debate, and we want to wait for the conclusions of public health organizations."

Health risks still unassessed

Letter from Rhode Island: Declaration Opposing 5G Deployment

"WE THE PEOPLE, at this time when the world is focused on protecting individual health and immunity, demand that you act in a moral and ethical way to promote health and wellbeing, rather than jeopardize these things for the sake of profit by exposing humans, plants and animals to a proven harm."

Declaration opposing 5G deployment
Letter, South Rhode Island Newspapers, 30 November 2020

To the Executives of the local telecoms and to the Public Officials who enable them:

As of 1 Sep 2020, 403 scientists and doctors from
47 nations have signed the 5G Appeal calling for 
a moratorium on the deployment of 5G.
See: http://www.5gappeal.eu/

WE THE PEOPLE demand that you STOP the implementation of 5G cell nodes in our neighborhoods immediately. We do NOT give you our permission to install these antennas near our homes, devaluing our property and endangering the safety and health of our families.

WE THE PEOPLE do NOT give permission for you to cause constant radiofrequency (RF) microwave radiation (“wireless radiation”) to enter our homes and properties 24/7 with no way for us to escape or turn it off, even if we are not using your service.

WE THE PEOPLE do NOT give permission to you to conduct your private, for-profit business using nearly 25-year-old, obsolete wireless “human exposure guidelines” adopted by the FCC and falsely misleading the public into thinking your technology

is safe.