May Declared "Electromagnetic Sensitivity Month"

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday May 03, 2010 18:16 by getouttamyhead - Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection

The Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection (AIRP) has declared the month of May as Electromagnetic Sensitivity Month in Ireland in line with growing world-wide concern about the dangers of microwave radiation.

Microwave technology is behind the proliferation of cell phones, the use of the Tetra signal by the emergency services and the MiMAX signal developed at NUI Maynooth.

The Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection (AIRP) has declared the month of May as Electromagnetic Sensitivity Month in Ireland in line with growing world-wide concern about the dangers of microwave radiation.

Microwave technology is behind the proliferation of cell phones, the use of the Tetra signal by the emergency services and the MiMAX signal developed at NUI Maynooth.

The biggest study to date into the effects of mobile-phone usage on long-term health was launched on April 23, aiming to track at least a quarter of a million of people in five European countries for up to 30 years. The COSMOS study is recruiting participants aged 18-69 in Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. Ireland is not included in the study.

In a report by Kildare resident Dr. Elizabeth Cullen to a Joint Oireachtas Committee in February, 2005, she asked, “Because of the present fragmentary scientific database, a precautionary approach when dealing with radio and microwave frequency radiation is recommended for the individual and the general population (Roosli et al 2003). Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association earnestly requests that a full assessment of health impacts of electromagnetic radiation be undertaken.”

According to an April 29, 2010 World Health Organisation report, as of 2006, “eight out of ten published peer reviewed studies point towards positive results: microwave syndrome, increased risk of cancer, absence of psychological factors, etc.”

Again in 2007 a group of citizens appeared before the Oireachtas with no results. Con Colbert, of Dublin, a long-time sufferer and activist commented, “The group One in Four made their submission to the same Committee (as IERVIN, BEST and other groups) on the same day. Immediately after we made our submission. Should we be calling for a public enquiry as to why we were dumped?”

During the 20007 meeting, John Gormley, now Minister for the Environment, called the estimated 200,000 electromagnetic hypersensitivity victims as the “forgotten victims”. Because electromagnetic sensitivity is cumulative in nature, the number of sufferers increases over time. Children are particularly susceptible with their brains absorbing up to seventy-five percent of the radiation from cell phones, masts and other electrical equipment. Activist Pauline Keeley of Dublin West, added that standards for exposure to non-ionising radiation establish by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) are misleading. “The ICNIRP standards do not take into account long-term exposure,” she said.

Electromagnetic sensitivity gained its first publicized observance month in the United States and Canada in 2009. Since then, it has gained ground.

Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell is the first in the United States this year to declares May 2010 as Electromagnetic Sensitivity Awareness Month. "People of all ages in Connecticut and throughout the world have developed the illness of Electromagnetic Sensitivity (EMS) as a result of global electromagnetic pollution," says Rell on the proclamation.

January 2010 was observed in Canada as Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Awareness Month. "This illness may be preventable through the reduction or avoidance of electromagnetic radiation in both indoor and outdoor environments andby further medical research," says Don Coombs, Mayor of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland on his proclamation.

This is the fourth proclamation in Canada according to Christiane Tourtet in a recent news release. The first one was signed by David Saunders, Mayor of the City of Colwood, B.C. (August 2009). The second one was signed by Dennis O ´ Keefe, Mayor of St Johns´s in Newfoundland (August 2009). And the third one was signed by Mayor Fred Budgell of Norris Arms, Newfounland (October 2009).

In Iowa May has been designated at “Toxic Injury and Education Awareness Month.

"People suffering from EHS have significantly higher natural rates of membrane leakage as measured by their skin conductance (Eltiti et al. 2007). Since their leakage rates are already high, even small amounts of electromagnetic radiation that would not affect non-sensitive individuals can trigger their symptoms. Not everyone gets exactly the same symp toms, but they include false feelings of heat, touch, pressure, crawling sensations, pins and needles and pain," says Andrew Goldsworthy BSc PhD, a retired lecturer in biology at the Imperial College London. "The radiation can also affect the "hair cells of the inner ear, which work in much the same way. Leakage here can trigger false sensations of sound (tinnitus). There is a similar effect on the hair cells of the part of the inner ear that controls balance. Leakage here gives feelings of dizziness and symptoms of motion sickness, including nausea."

EMS may become a major problem for everyone in the world according to Goldsworthy. "Although only a few percent of the population are at present electrosensitive, the condition can be brought on in hitherto healthy people by repeated or prolonged exposure to the radiation. However, it sometimes takes many years to develop so, even if you are currently one of the lucky ones who are not affected, there is no guarantee that it will stay that way."

According to Leixlip resident, John Weigel, who lives facing a mast, Goldsworthy’s predictions are not far-fetched. “When they activated the mast at the new Leixlip Garda station that has five schools and 2,000 students within a 1,000 metre radius Gardai were unable to enter their cars because the remote locking sensors were over-ridden by the Tetra signal on the mast. The Tetra signal was on at full strength. How many children were damaged, their DNA damaged? How many Gardai got cancer? We’ll never know and there’s no one to keep track.”