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The Warning Signal
By John Weigel
Nurse Maeve Clifford in Carlow town has joined the ranks of people around the world who believe they are fighting for their lives and the lives of their children. “What caught my attention about the mast in Carlow,” she said, “was the very possible adverse health impact this facility could have on our family and local community should the proposed development proceed.” As a mother she is concerned
about the increased risk of childhood leukemia from the microwave signals from communications masts currently under consideration by the Irish government.
“We also had serious concerns in relation to the regulation
of and, specifically, the monitoring of emissions from this structure,” said Clifford,describing a cell phone tower in the center of town already festooned with communications
equipment. The owner of the mast applied
to have even more arrays installed. “We were horrified to learn that this existing site was last tested
and inspected in 2006 and, while operating within guidelines
at the time of inspection, had not been tested since, despite the addition in 2009 of further transmitting equipment. We also expressed concern about the cumulative
impact of the numerous antenna and dishes. This (a planning application) was submitted in the one week we had to object which unfortunately was very short.”
Maeve Clifford and the rest of the world is watching Ireland
and the hi-tech patrimony that has spread around the globe with the potential for social control, illness and the possibility of mass death on a planetary scale from microwave pollution. The stakes could not be higher.
Members of the Joint Oireachtas (pronounced
The stakes
could not
be higher...
ore-rock-tas - both houses of the Irish parliament)
Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture
and Gaeltacht are discussing the effects of microwaves from mobile phones, government com-
munications systems, so- called Smart Meters for utilities such as water and electricity and the proposed fifth generation of electromagnetic wizardry which will allow for rapid delivery
of audio-visual materials such as film and live television.
.
The country’s electricity provider, the Electricity Supply
Board (ESB), has been installing the meters surreptitiously
in industrial parks and has conducted tests in preparation for the general installation of the meters on all domestic structures using a mesh system where the meters communicate (ping) with each other resulting
in the radiological equivalent of up to 10,000 mobile phone calls per day emanating from the side of a house. Against the current economic climate of austerity and the recurrence of mass emigration, the government has issued
a call for the ESB to become more profitable, punishing
the public with higher electricity bills amid a host of other new taxes and the egregious metering of water.
This issue is complicated because it has been government
policy to woo companies responsible for developing
these technologies to a country with few natural
resources. So extreme was the perceived need to allow testing of new technologies in a live environment in violation of the Nuremberg Code which bans experimentation
on human beings without their consent.
The committee has received submissions from home and abroad, from victims of the technology as well as experts in human biology, physics and epidemiology. Submissions from eminent experts such as Dr. Magda Havas, of the Environmental
and Resource Studies Program from Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Prof. Olle Johansson, of
the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and Dr. Annie Sasco,
from Bordeaux University in France all have urged caution. Lawyer Sven Leistikow of Berlin forwarded the work of Dr. Horst Eger regarding the increase in cancers in the Upper Franconia town of Naila in Bavaria near the Czech border. From the United States Dr. Bill Deagle, a broadcaster in California, submitted strong information
to the committee as did therapist Felicia N. Trujillo, of Santa Fe, New Mexico and computer engineer Victor
Nixon, an ex-pat Englishman living in Pennsylvania.
From New Zealand Penny Hargreaves, a horse breeder
and farmer in Ouruhia, gave her experiences of the effects of microwaves as well as tracking down the Irish provenance of Smart Meter technology.
Closer to home, physicist Dr. Karl Moore, formerly of the Scripps Institute, added the weight of science and his experience to make recommendations. Con Colbert, of the Irish Electromagnetic Radiation Victims Network (IERVN), offered the testimony of various members who suffer the effects of the microwave radiation poisoning.
IERVN has campaigned for nearly 20 years on behalf of people who have suffered the consequences of living near communication masts or in the paths of signals.
The Alliance for Irish Radiation Protec-
tion (AIRP), a loose confederation of groups
fighting masts locally, added to the weight of public opinion
against the proliferation of microwave technology.
The participation in the Oireachtas enquiry by three well-know scientists is important because all three have been the subjects of personal criticism with the attempt to dislodge them from their positions at their respective universities.
Canadian Dr. Havas is the woman credited with helping
Californian Camilla Rees draw the attention of the City of San Francisco to the dangers of microwave pollution.
Her first victory led to abandonment of city-wide wi-fi in San Francisco in 2007. Their work in 2011 led to The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voting 10-1 for the “Cell Phone Right-to- Know” ordinance in 2011. The law, promptly challenged by CTIA-The Wireless Association, required retailers to “prominently” display
a poster in shops, supply every customer with a cell phone “fact sheet,” and requires placement of an information
sticker on all display literature. Ruling in favour of CTIA December last, U.S. District Judge William Alsup
found the message of the proposed poster and fact-sheet as “misleading by omission” while admitting that
the Board of Supervisors were well-intended by trying to
(Continued on Page 2)
WORLD WATCHES OIREACHTAS
DECISION ON MAST RADIATION
March 2012
From Canada
implement the much-heralded Precautionary Principle.
Four years ago, Havas warned the people of Leixlip, Co. Kildare - home to both Hewlett- Packard and Intel,
two of the leading purveyors of microwave technology
- that they were in jeopardy from the Tetra signal
proposed for the Leixlip Garda station. “I find this news disturbing,” she said, “especially since so many schools are close to the new Tetra Police Tower and so many children will be exposed to this radiation.”
The Gardai responded by barring additional equipment on the mast for “operational reasons”. However, when the mast was eventually activated, gardai were locked out of their cars because the Tetra signal on the new mast over-rode electric car locks and had to be turned down.
Havas also recommended on-going reading of radio frequency radiation to document exposure and radiation level. This request was ignored by then-Irish Minister for Health, Mary Harney, who left government with a €300,000 pension package and an annual pension of €120,000.
In her submission to the Oireachtas, Havas said, “Today,
mobile phones, cell phone base stations, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, even baby monitors and some Smart Meters
emit microwave radiation. This is now a pollutant
that we cannot avoid. An appropriate name has been coined for this exposure and that is ‘electrosmog’.
“Once again scientists are sounding the alarm, as this electrosmog affects not only those who use mobile phones but also those who have Smart Meters in their homes (this is growing globally) and those who live near cell phone antennas. As we develop stronger transmitters like the 4G (4th generation) technology people will be affected at greater distances from these transmitters. Today the scientific studies show that people who live within 300 to 400 meters from mobile phone base stations have a greater risk of developing cancer and having symptoms that are commonly referred to as electrosensitivity (poor sleep, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, cognitive dysfunction, tinnitus, etc.). With 4G the distance
is likely to be in the neighbourhood of 10 to 20 km.”
Havas noted that microwave radiation affects
approximately 30 percent of the popula
tion and reasoned that authorities should act in accordance with the Precautionary Principle. “As a scientist,” she said, “I ask that you examine the scientific literature–rather than rely on the opinions of others–and decide if the risk of not acting to reduce electrosmog is the correct action to take. Whatever you do you will face opposition but for those of you who value health, the right road to take is clear. ”
Currently working on replication studies of Hava’s ground-breaking research, Prof. Olle Johansson, associate
professor with the Experimental Dermatology unit in the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, began his submission
with a warning about the failings of epidemiology
- the study of epidemics which the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland is predicting. His words prompted an angry response from Dr. Annie Sasco in France.
Johansson’s attack was based on Australian Dr. Don Maish’s book, “The Procrustean Approach” which claims that the present confusion over the safety of electromagnetic
communications is due, in large part, to the field of risk assessment. The Swiss Re group, the leading international
wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer, refuses to insure
the microwave communications industry. This simple fact is proof beyond doubt that there are unresolved questions
about the safety of microwave-based technology.
Johansson called for:
• a rigorous multidisciplinary assessment of electromag
netic fields’ risks
• abandonment of an industry-sponsored risk assess
ment methodology
• replacement of inconclusive, unreliable epidemiology-
risk assessment
With specific regard to Ireland, Johansson told the Oireachtas,
“The Seletun Scientific Panel urges governments to make explicit that the burden of proof of safety rests with the producers and providers of EMF-producing
technologies, not with the users and consumers.
(N.B. This means that the current use of whole - or parts of – populations as ‘test rabbits’ in a live environment
must end. I am aware of the fact that the Irish
government ‘rents’ frequencies for anybody
to come and test their technology through a programme called ‘Test and Trial’.)”
The third international authority to address the Orieachtas committee is Dr. Annie Sasco, a courageous
woman by anyone’s standards. Along with Johansson
and Dr. Dimitris Panagopoulos, of the University
of Athens, she too faced professional suicide after testifying before the Canadian government.
After her testimony, her team of researchers was dismantled
and she was forced to become a junior member
of another team and assigned an office over-looking
the building’s rubbish bins. The fact that they both offered submissions to the Irish government is testimony to their passionate beliefs and bravery.
As co-founder and vice-president of the European Society
of Environmental Health and a member of the Ethics and Philosophy group of the International Society
of Environmental Epidemiology, her innate integrity
and Basque defiance served her well when she challenged
the the World Health Organization (WHO) in a
document signed by Desmond Guinness called “A call
GLOBAL FIGHT OVER MICROWAVES In Kilcock...
Kilcock GAA is looking for funding from masts because the club is “on its knees“ financially.
Clondalkin athlete Ciaran Carr died while training with Round Tower GAA club in Dublin on Friday, January 20, 2011. The 20-year-old only child is suspected to be a victim of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS), which also caused the death of Tyrone footballer Cormac McAnallen in 2004 and Mayo footballer Jason Morley earlier in January.
The Round Tower GAA is overlooked by a mast atop a building on the
Monastery Road, Dublin.
Are microwaves killing young athletes?
In Clondalkin...
From France
From Sweden
to the government of Ireland and the governments of the world for specific action on environment and health: The specific case of human exposure to microwave
radiation”. Guinness took the warning seriously enough to have a mast removed from his lands. “I have
decided not to renew the lease when it comes around,” he told the Sunday Times in 2009, ”I just don’t think it is worth the risk anymore.”
As an Inserm (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) researcher on secondment to IARC-WHO, Sasco worked for WHO for 22 years. At the heart
of her argument is the claim that human health is being impacted by environmental factors like never before.
The open letter to the WHO was a direct assault on marketing
and corporate capitalism. After recognizing both individual and collective responsibility for human health as well as the usual prescription for a healthy life - no tobacco,
healthy diet, low in refined sugars, saturated fats and salt, the meat of the letter is delivered with the words, “We cannot accept that economic interests undermine the efforts of the international health community to help populations change behaviours in a responsible way.”
Sasco’s work is underscored by the work by Swedish researcher
and author Mona Nilson and Kerstin Stenberg who report that a new industry-sponsored study on brain tumour risks in children who use mobile phones was presented to the media in July 2011. The press-release claimed that the results were ”reassuring”
whereas the study itself indicated an increased risk. Apart from playing down the results, there is evidence that the scientists also manipulated the research in order to underestimate the risks, especially of cordless phones.
The CEFALO study on the possible link between brain tumours
and mobile phone use among children showed an increased risk for children and adolescents who used a mobile
phone regularly. Cefalo indicates in fact significantly increased risks, and the risks increase with increased use, says the Swedish oncologist and epidemiologist Lennart Hardell one of the experts who participated in the recent WHO evaluation on mobile phone radiation and cancer.
Writing from Epidemiology for Cancer Prevention (INSERM
- U 897) at Bordeaux Segalen University, Sasco said, “The link between scientific fraud and conflict of interest
has long been very clear. Yet, it may become more blurred. The industry learnt from the past and became much more cautious. The days when the tobacco industry people stood in front of the US senate swearing on the Bible that they did not know tobacco was dangerous or addictive are gone. Now, in the same setting they say they are industry people, producing products respecting regulations and legislation
but are not experts on health and therefore do not comment on these issues. So, who is now doing the job? So called “independent”, clean looking scientists, belonging to public institutions (Universities, international or national
organizations, including the most authoritative (WHO, national academies of science or medicine). They produce exceedingly well thought of studies where everything has been cleverly designed to make sure the study will come out negative and even in the case the results turn out to be positive, then they are ‘explained away’ in the text by ‘biases’
or the role of chance, and sometimes do not even appear
in the summary (which in this day and age is the only part most people, including scientists and students, read.”
From Germany, lawyer Sven Leistikow submitted the work of Dr. Horst Eger. Following a call by Wolfram König, President of the Bundesamt (Federal Agency for Radiation Protection) to all doctors of medicine to collaborate
actively in the assessment of the risk posed by cellular
radiation, the aim of the study was to examine whether people living close to cellular transmitter antennas were exposed to a heightened risk of taking ill with malignant tumours. Dr. Eger concluded, “In the years 1999-2004, ie after five years’ operation of the transmitting installation,
the relative risk of getting cancer had trebled for the residents of the area in the proximity of the installation compared to the inhabitants of Naila outside the area.”
The significance of Eger’s work is not only in the findings
of his team. It is in direct contrast to what is happening
in Ireland where there is no governmental oversight and industry has been left literally to it’s own devices.
Furthermore, doctors of medicine in Ireland have been instructed
to either treat a patient’s symptoms or regard complaints
as psychological in origin. In which case patients are to be referred for psychiatric assessment. This is an issued touched upon by Imelda O’Connor, of Carrigaline, Co. Cork who wrote, “I am electrosensitive / electro-hypersensitive
(ES/EHS). That is my reason for this submission to you. I have direct experience of how devastating it is
to be misdiagnosed as psychotic and deemed delusional when I insisted I was adversely affected by EMR (electromagnetic
radiation). My case, sadly, is identical to what is happening to almost all EHS sufferers who seek medical help: current practice is to refer them for psychiatric
treatment and /or prescribe anti-psychotic medication.
This appalling medical intervention must stop.”
O’Connor cited a letter written 10 years ago on behalf of another sufferer in which she explained that the failure to
correct medical misdiagnoses is tantamount to human rights violations. “And here we are,” she said, “a decade later, and this barbaric practice of shooing EHS sufferers into psychiatric care continues. And will continue until
medical doctors are properly educated about EHS and the medical establishment accepts the reality of the condition.”
Electromagnetism’s effects on the human organism are not taught in Irish medical schools and there is evidence
going back to a briefing for the HSE-South Acute Hospital Services and Population Committee by Dr. Sarah
Doyle, acting specialist in Public Health Medicine in 2007. According to the briefing document, “GPs in Ireland should be provided with information about the appropriate
treatment for EHS symptoms and be informed that the symptoms are not due to EMF exposure.”
Most doctors, because their incomes depend on compliance,
avoid the issue.
One of the few to break ranks is Dr. Lisa Staunton, of the Killybegs Family Health Centre in Co. Donegal. In a public statement in support of residents in the town, she asked, “What is the problem with our planning de
partments in Ireland? Do they have no regard to safety, local
residents’ rights to live comfortably and safely in their own homes. Do they sleep well at night knowing
that young children in the town schools are being exposed to levels of electromagnetic radiation
on a daily basis and at these magnitudes?
“I bring to your attention,” Dr. Staunton said, “one of the 11 recommendations made in a report by the Joint Committee
of the Marine and Natural Resources in 2005. Item 10 stated: ‘that planning guidelines and planning exemptions
to be examined with a view to ensuring that no electromagnetic
emissions or radiofrequency emissions equip
ment be permitted to be sited near health centres, schools or other sensitive sites such as playgrounds or pitches, etc...’”
Another informed doctor who is planning his own class-action law suit in the United States is no-nonsense broadcaster
Dr. Bill Deagle. Based in California with an internet listenership in the millions, Dr. Deagle broadcasts on the Genesis Communications Network three hours a day, five
days a week. In his submission, he planned to prepare a brief based on the specific danger areas:
Dr. Deagle on ‘Smart Meters‘
And as if those issues were not enough, Deagle added, “There are issues with fire hazard to homes and businesses caused by power surges that can damage power lines and wires, also wiretapping fraud and invasion of privacy.”
Deagle also noted that Smart Meters carry an “increased risk of hacking and destruction of the power grid network and home appliances...” Smart Meters operate on a mesh system
and communicate with each other. According to Deagle, the meters can emit the equivalent of up to 10,000 mobile phone calls a day for the side of a home with radiation premeating
the interior of the house and the occupants as well.
The issue of Smart Meters has a timely resonance in Ireland.
Reporter Mark Paul, writing for the Sunday Times (4 March 2011), revealed that the government is developing an “implementation plan” with a view to creating a privatized water authority called Irish Water to be operational by 2018. At present there are no charges for domestic water usage. Ireland
has a history of semi-state bodies where the government holds a share in ownership and profits. The same commercial
arrangement exists with electricity which is controlled by another semi-state, the Electricity Supply Board, known for short as the ESB. While historically a monopoly, the ESB now operates as a commercial semi-state concern in a liberalised
and competitive market. It is a statutory corporation whose members are appointed by the government. After a whopping 20 percent-plus increase in electricity charges last October, the government has issued new demands for greater
profits which could include Smart Meters for electricity too. The ESB also provides electricity to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), a subsidiary of the ESB, is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the electricity
network in Northern Ireland, and has been part of the ESB following acquisition from Viridian in December 2010.
MICROWAVES COMES HOME TO IRELAND
Friend of Ireland persecuted in Sweden
Prof. Olle Johansson was turfed out of his offices and lab at The Karolinska Institute. He first came to public attention when he raised the danger to workers using cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors in the 1980. His work led to Sweden being the only country
in the world where electrosensitivity is recognized as a legitimate disability. He is pictured here with three of the 12 trolleys of equipment and research records he was forced to discard when he was forced into a much smaller premises after being subjected to a programme of personal and professional character asassinattion.
Simultaneously, the Irish Times reported in May, 2011 remarks by Irish Higher Education Authority chairman John Hennessy, a former head of Ericsson Ireland, that third level colleges should be able to “hire and fire” staff and called tor higher level educational institutions to move towards the values of the private sector.
Hennessy’s former employer, Ericsson, has its only research facility outside of Sweden in Ireland in Athlone, Co. Meath, in the constituency of former Minister for Transport, Sen. Mary O’Rourke. Ericsson sponsors many of the activities surrounding the Karolinska’s
Nobel Prize celebrations and Trinity College Dublin awarded the Karolinska’s President Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson an honorary doctorate in November 2011.
From Germany
From Co. Cork
From Co. Donegal
From San Diego
Pittsburgh computer engineer blames From Pennsylvania
Victor Nixon is an ex-pat Englishman living in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. As a computer engineer he stumbled across a source of electromagnetic radiation which has world-wide ramifications and its been tried and tested in Ireland. Nixon lists six damaging emissions attributable to Broadband over Power Lines (BPL/B-PLC) which was tested by the ESB in Tuam, Co. Galway, a town of 6,000 residents in 2006 . These include: signal leakage; signal reflection with audible Standing Waves, audible low frequency
subharmonics, high power signal transmitter dish with audible low frequency subharmonics and fast-switching capacitor bank (FSCB) reactance. (For a full explanation of the Tuam experiment see http://www.engineersireland.
ie/sector_papers/ Technical_Trial_of_Broadband_
IPInternet_over_ESB_Power_Networks.pdf, slide 14.)
In Ireland, if the Royal College of Physicians (RCPI) are correct about the pending epidemic of cancers, and if, as evidence suggests, people are being diagnosed and medicated
because they hear things or suffer tinnitus, these emissions could prove to be the cause because no one is looking. Ailbhe Conneely, reported on the national television
station, RTE, in June 2010 that “one in two people are expected to get some form of cancer in this country by 2025” predicated on information held by the RCPI.
According to Nixon, “Historically power line communication
has existed and has been active for over 40 years. Present day electrical utility SCADA systems utilize the ultra-fast computing power that is readily available today.
A few ‘clever’ people thought up a newer, faster way to get data along a power line and Smart Grid was born. To add to the electrical industry’s already swollen coffers, they found that it was actually fast enough to be termed “Internet Service Provider” (ISP) speed and that they could sell the service to other ISP’s and the public.
“The only problem with this new method,” claims Nixon, “is that the data signals produce audible subharmonics in the <48Hz range. This was, in reality, a partial fix to earlier attempts over the last four decades – those attempts could be heard all across the lower end of the power spectrum. This was why earlier attempts were kept geophysically widespread
and clandestine; so that no group of people could figure out what was going on. This “new” power line communication
is called Broadband over Power Lines (BPL).
“It is global, it is in operation, and it immediately affects
10 percent of a population audibly when it is energized.
BPL emissions affect everyone, animals included.
The RF and ELF components of BPL wipe out entire wildlife populations. There is a very large probability
that BPL is the Schmallenberg virus, responsible
for the recent livestock deaths across Europe.”
The Schmallenberg virus surfaced last August and is considered a potential cause of death or birth defects in farm animals. A report in The Guardian estimated that as many as 1,129 farms have been affected across Europe, including the U.K. Was it the Schmallenberg virus or BPL that caused the deaths of five cattle in a field in Wexford
last year? No one knows because the farmer will not talk for fear that he will not be able to market his cattle.
“Wherever you are in the world” claims Nixon, “if you hear an untraceable and persistent hum, it is very likely that it is BPL – It is that widespread. BPL is the most malignant and malevolent technology ever to be rolled out by humankind, it affects entire populations.”
Also from the United States, Felicia Trujillo, a founding member of DOCTORS W.A.R.N. from Santa Fe, New Mexico implored the Oireachtas committee to act responsibly.
“In speaking for over 500 US citizens,”
she said, “who are fighting the propagation of this involuntary exposure to microwave radiation across our country, and across the world, I beg of you to not believe
industry spin, and to defend your country from this very real, very documented menace. You will surely join many European countries who already have discovered the health and security implications of this technology.”
Trujillo noted moves in New Mexico and New York as well as opinions by presidential candidates Congressman Dennis
J. Kucinich and Senator Ron Paul to control the explosive
growth in microwave technology until it is proven to be safe. Noting that a federal law dating from 1996 actively
prohibits municipalities from regulating wireless technology on the basis of health and environment, Trujillo quoted Senator Paul: “As a physician, this alarms me. I believe
health and environmental effects are the main issues for us to consider when we evaluate new technologies.”
Speaking for the Irish diaspora abroad, Trujillo said, “You may well ask what has raised such concern across the US and Canada? Please consider the research that is being provided to you. I would ask you -- Must you wreak such dangers upon Ireland if you have any power to save your own population? Many of us in the US are descended from your country and we are concerned.”
Con Colbert, a sufferer of the effects of electromagnetic
radiation, is treasurer of another doctors’ group, the Irish Doctors Environmental Association as well as a group he founded on Dublin’s north side called Irish Electromagnetic Radiation Victims Network (IERVN). He has seen government inaction for many years. In 2006, along with others, Colbert told of his experience of being electromagnetically sensitive which forced him to sleep in a chalet at the end of the garden of his Raheny
home to try and escape the burning sensation he suffers from radiation emitted by nearby phone masts.
At the 2006 hearing, then TD John Gormley called Colbert and his group “the forgotten victims of a lucrative
business”. Later, as Minister for the Environment
representing the Green Party, Gormley forgot them as well and nothing was done to protect them.
Their experiences are remarkably similar to those described
by Amy O’Hair (stopsmartmeters.org) in San Francisco. Her doctor diagnosed her physical problems and inability to sleep as being associated with menopause. Unwilling to accept the diagnosis she began the process embarked upon by many sufferers. As recently as last year she realised that she lived in close proximity to a cell tower. She took readings and purchased shielding materials,
including a special paint for the walls of her bedroom. These efforts paid off with an improvement in her sleep which has “held steady”, noting that while she still suffers
occasional insomnia, the waking from 2 to 4 a.m. has ceased.
She reported another condition, heart arrhythmia, which her doctor dismissed. This too improved after she installed a wire connection for her computer. “Although I am in good health, and seem to have found some remediation for myself,” she said, “I cannot but help thinking about the older or much less robust members of our communities
who are exposed to low-intensity RF radiation, unbeknownst
to them, and whose health may be compromised—
even severely—as a result.”
“Please, Ireland,” she asked the Oireachtas, “help lead the way into a new future, where human well-being is not unnecessarily
sacrificed to the short-term requirements of high technology.”
‘I think that even in 1998 the ICNIRP guidelines were out of date. I think they were highly biased in favour of the electric shocks and thermal effects
and not the non-thermal effect.’
- Dr. Gerd Oberfeld
Department of Health
Salzburg, Austria
IDEA, meanwhile, has hosted free lectures to inform the general public of the risks they face from microwaves. A year ago, epidemiologist Dr. Gerd Oberfeld, of the Salzburg
Dept. of Health, explained the mechanism by which microwave disrupts living organisms at a molecular level throught the creation of free radicals.
“When it comes to standards and recommendations, you might be aware of the recommendation of ICNIRP which is the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation
Protection which is based in Munich,” said Oberfeld, “which is taken by the WHO and the European Union which is 100 μT. This guideline value is okay if you add, t h a t i t doesn’t cover long term effects. There are some countries, that have for power lines, in order to reduce the exposure and in order to reduce the risk, lower limit values. For example Italy 3 μT and Switzerland 1 μT. In Austria new power lines that need an environmental
impact assessment have to apply to 1 μT as well. The BioInitiative working group recommended in 2007 0. 1 μT and this is for long-term effects.”“I think that even in 1998
the ICNIRP guidelines were out of date. I think they were highly biased in favour of the electric shocks and thermal effects and not the non-thermal effect,” said Oberfeld.
This confusion over ICNIRP guidelines was reiterated by Monkstown, Co. Dublin resident, Shirley O’Brien, who offered a 10 point submission to the Oireachtas. Her testimony encapsulates the industry’s attitude: Prove It. She noted the erection of a second mast near her home and the process between the DunLaoghaire / Rathdown County
Council and An Bord Pleanala which had has had a devastating
effect on her life. “The outcome of these referrals is that there are now two antennae, Vodafone and Meteor, operating within 60 meters of my residence. There is also a creche in the immediate vicinity. I do not propose to go into the details of these referrals here, I would however invite you look at the above mentioned planning referrals with a view to investigating the circumstances which led two antennae to be permitted by the Irish administrative planning system, to be erected 60 meters from my residence
and even closer to other dwellings without consideration
of the applicability of the EIA Directive, the effect on human health or the Precautionary Principle. It has been found that microwave radiation interferes with the body’s biological production of melatonin and it has been found that melatonin is a cancer inhibitor. I wish to point out that two years after the second mast went up on the roof of 16A Monkstown Crescent my partner developed an aggressive cancer which led to his premature death. There is no history
of cancer in his family and there was an established history of longevity. My neighbour who lives on the link road in 15A Longford Terrace in the dwelling directly opposite 16A Monkstown Crescent recently developed a black growth on his head which had to be removed it
was growing so fast.”
This poignant circumstance, the death of a loved-one, is easy for individuals to turn their heads from and a possible unfortunate casualty in the course of conducting a multi-billion dollar-euro-pound business like the communication industry which can not be insured. The problem becomes magnified with the presence of multiple deaths occurring in proximity to a mast. These deaths are called “clusters”. In 2007 the Evening Herald carried the story by Cormac Looney entitled, “Three gardai with brain tumours, one fatal,
all based at the same station. Coincidence? Or could it be because of a mobile phone mast?” Garda Stephen Sheerin told of one garda death and two officers suffering
brain haemorrhages in Ballyfermot. He retired shortly afterward, others have been peremptorily transferred, and yet, the cancers and deaths have continued among the both police and civilian population in surrounding areas such as
From New Mexico
From Dublin
From San Francisco
ESB experimented
on people of Tuam
This entire Smart Grid installation is about
nothing more than money in the pockets
of “them” – the major corporations. This
will occur while the rest of us have to deal
with the fallout of this poorly engineered
and deadly experimental monstrosity.
Ultimately, Smart Grid and its BPL
backbone communication system will
get shut down and the equipment
removed. Meanwhile it is killing
people and animals around the
globe; ruining millions of lives, and devastating
ecosystems. But “they” will get to keep the money.
- Victor Nixon
According to the ESB, it was only
testing equipment. Physics, human
illness and radiation were not
connected in the rush to roll out
Broadband internet services.
The term “Broadband“ has become
confused in the mind of the public
because it is used to mean many
different things. Internet services can
be delivered via landlines using
ordinary wired of fibre optic cables. It
can be delivered wirelessly via cell phone
masts.
For the people of Tuam, Co. Galway there
is little comfort in the report from Engineers
Ireland that 15 customers used the service successfully.
(See: http://www.engineersireland.ie/sector_papers/ESB_Power_Networks.pdf) where The ESB itself admitted Will the people of Tuam become guinea pigs for the
blames global ‘hum’ on microwaves
successfully.
papers/Technical_Trial_of_Broadband_IPInternet_over_
admitted that it was still too early to roll out the system.
the ESB for the next round of tests?
the Neilstown Garda station in Clondalkin.
The signal being used by An Garda Siochana is called Tetra which operates roughly at the same frequency as the human brain. At present a signal from the Neilstown Garda tower is detectable in the kitchen of Doris Russell’s well-kept home at St. Ronan’s Gardens. The signal passes through the kitchen wall into the sitting room of her house. It was here in 2006 that her 20-year-old son, Brian, was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Other members of the family
became ill. Other families became ill and there were unusual deaths.
There is symbolism to be found in the statue of Our Lady under the power lines, her back to the Garda station mast. Young Brian survived removal of most of the tumour and what remains is dormant. He now lives in the United States.
In support of the stricken families, demonstrations were organized (http:// www.indymedia.ie/article/83473). People
took to the streets. Petitions were circulated. Then Minister for Health, Mary Harney, local representative to the Irish parliament - the very person they elected to represent
them, blocked all attempts to research the cause of the community’s health problems. To this day, what research that was undertaken has yet to be released to the community.
According to community activist Pauline Keeley, “Communities
from Donegal to Kerry and Dublin to Galway are suffering the effects of microwave radiation from phone masts. The government con the people with their so called ICNIRP permitted levels of emissions. The ICNIRP certificate
states that these levels are only for short term exposure,
yet no matter what level of radiation the antennae emit , they say it is within the guidelines permitted. We have asked time and time again what are the cumulative
levels from a mast with 12 antennae operating on it and we have yet to get an answer. Cancer clusters are all over Ireland and it is no coincidence that they are located wherever mast are placed. Denial by government and the circumventing of the democratic planning process by the mobile operators are the order of the day. Profit is the motive.
Minister Conor Lenihan had a mast removed from the school his children attend. If ministers are afraid of the health effects of these masts then why do they expect the general public to accept them in their community. We need more people protesting and marching.”
This hidden information is dangerous according to Penny Hargreaves of Christchurch, New Zealand and reflects on Irish publisher and business tycoon Sir Anthony O’Reilly
and his dynasty. “I am currently in a High Court case against the Radio Network which is part owned by Irishman
Sir Antony O’Reilly who purchased the Ouruhia radio
tower in August 1996 at the same time as a cluster of illness was found to be occurring only where the most power was focused and only after power was increased,” Hargreaves told the Oireachtas.
After slipping in recent years, O’Reilly is back near the top of his own newspaper’s Rich List 2012, weighing in at No. 11. With titles including the Irish Independent, O’Reilly’s Independent News and Media group owns more than 200 print titles, 130 radio stations and over 100 websites and billboard locations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and India. In addition to media, the dynasty made a hefty profit from the sale of a Smart Meter manufacturer, Landis and Gyr, to Toshiba for a reported €2.3bn. It was O’Reilly’s son, Cameron, who directed the development of the Smart Meter on behalf of his Bayard Capital group based in Zug, Switzerland, hidey-hole to the Rothschild billions.
The link to global finance is more than substantial. A shareholder in the O’Reilly empire - and not necessarily a friendly partner - is fellow Irishman, Denis O’Brien, a Corkman who at age 39, wrested a mobile phone telephone license from the Irish government through payment to a political insider according to a government enquiry. His global vision led to owning the largest mobile company in the Caribbean. Indeed, following the devastating earthquake,
he toured the destruction with former U.S. president,
Bill Clinton, as part of the Clinton Global Initiative. Other global interests include establishment of the Dublin registered company, Aergo Capitol, with offices in Nairobi,
Singapore, Santiago and Johannesburg which owns and operates a fleet of 103 commercial aircraft. O’Brien’s other company is involved with numerous radio stations in Ireland and the Czech Republic. O’Brien is a benefactor to Amnesty International as well as the Irish Cancer Society.
Calls to Amnesty International regarding the violation of human rights through exposure to microwave radiation
remain unanswered. Following in Clinton’s footsteps, U.S. President Barrack Obama has endorsed Smart Meters,
with the system being implemented in Washington, D.C. as well as being mandated in Obama’s home state of Illinois. Obama, of course, was given the Nobel Prize by the same university, the Karolinska Institute, which tried to oust Prof. Johansson.
During the recent Irish presidential elections, in a field of seven, O’Brien supported four candidates including the winner, Michael D. Higgins. The leading contender until
‘The evidence of harms at my farm implicates radio frequency interaction
with metal increasing
exposure between 4 and 27 times and causing
horses and people sudden deaths...’
- Penny Hargreaves
Horse breeder & trainer
Ouruhia, New Zealand
the last moment was Sean Gallagher, also supported by O’Brien, who founded a company established to promote and sell Smart Homes to be connected to a Smart Grid via Smart Meters. As a promoter of the struggling Smart Home company, Gallagher may yet be proven right. Arm Holdings, a U.K.-based intellectual property company has announced that its Flycatcher chip design will connect 50 billion everyday objects to the internet by the year 2020. Juliet Garside, writing for The Guardian, explained that a trial of the chip in San Francisco allows drivers to select
and reserve parking spaces via their cell phones and pay over the internet. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/
2012/mar/13/flycatcher- computer-chip-arm-holdings)
“My case, which is of international importance,” claims Hargreaves, “involving a low sited AM radio tower which is only 150 mtrs from my farm boundary and after FM was added without consent many animals and people in the vicinity of the tower have become sick with symptoms
similar to those international research has found in clusters similar to Ouruhia.” Hargreaves claims information
was manipulated and that the reach of the damage from the tower stretched up to 40 kms.
“The evidence of harms at my farm implicates radio frequency interaction with metal increasing exposure between 4 and 27 times and causing horses and people sudden deaths,” she said, adding, “In my own case I was diagnosed by ex-Telstra Doctor Hocking with the symptoms
of radiation sickness. After leaving Telstra, Dr. Hocking
documented increased cluster harm found near transmission
towers in Sydney.” Bruce Hocking was relieved of his position after referring several staff to a neurologist. He was told his position had been abolished because his activities “were not relevant to core business” and the staff appointments were cancelled by company lawyers. (http://www.wave-guide.org/ archives/emf-l/Dec2000/Doctor-s-job-cut-after-phone-concerns-raised-(Benson)-.html)
Also from New Zealand, Stephanie Honeychurch cautioned
the Oireachtas against “willful ignorance”.
“Ireland has a chance to protect it’s future,” she said, “by now implementing the Precautionary Principle (a number of other countries such as Italy, Switzeland and Austria, already do). Should the Irish politicians fail to take heed of the clear warnings given by the 2007 Bioinitiative Report,
the Russian scientists of RNCIRP, and the cancer experts
of the IARC and many others, the health effects in the years to come, may be catastrophic beyond imagining and these politicians must bear the burden of guilt for the genocide their willful ignorance caused.”
As with other submissions, Honeychurch drew attention to out of date ICNIRP guidelines and the issue of risk assessment
raised by Dr. Don Maisch. She pointed out the WHO International Agency for Cancer Research, (IARC) classification of electromagnetic field / microwaves as a possibly carcinogenic along with asbestos, DDT and dry cleaning chemicals such as napthalene. “Cancer and many other diseases and conditions, take decades to develop (eg. a smoker does not get lung cancer until they have been smoking for some years). Phone masts emit constantly, 24 hours a day year after year,” she reasoned,
“Does anyone reading this, seriously believe that continuously
exposing populations, over years to any one of the Category 2B substances will be harmless?”
On the opposite of the planet Irish physicist and homeopath,
Dr. Karl Morre, from DunLaoghaire, Co. Dublin, agrees with Honeychurch’s assessment of current safety standards. “The ICNIRP is not the only standard for radiation
safety,” he said. “There are others, more up to date ones, such as the Salzburg Standard (2002), the BioInitiative
Standard (2007), and even BMW have come up with their own, which recommend safety levels with radiation
levels that are thousands of times less. This should be indicative of the discord and lack of understanding of the health ramifications concerning the telecommunications industry and of what constitutes a safe level.”
As a physicist and homeopath, Moore is aware of the intricacies
of the natural world but that does not mean he is unrealistic. “Technology is not bad. Neither is it my wish to stop it or dismantle its progress,” he said.
“What we need are appropriate guidelines for its use and installation that live up to the health concerns of the public.
If current technology is not able to supply safe devices and technologies for public use then technology can move on and innovate communications technologies that are. But this must come from public pressure. Certainly, safety and health improvements for the existing technology
can be had by implementing simple solutions such as burying cables underground, using fibre-optics, keeping cell phone mast a certain distance away, and their power outputs below certain thresholds.
“In the meantime,” advised Dr. Moore, “the best response is to enact the Precautionary Principle until such health concerns are seriously evaluated.”
The Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection, a loose groups of experts and concerned citizens noted that the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland are turning the practice of medicine on it’s head. The doctors were accused of requesting
funds for the protection of cancer patients while under their care which could reflect the fact that doctors are not trained to recognise the effects of microwave radiation.
“This is in complete violation of medical tradition,”
noted the submission, “which requires the removal of the patient from the cause of his / her disease before commencing treatment.”
The Alliance noted that large corporations have been able to combat criticism of microwave technology by creating confusion. “Thus,” noted the alliance, “there is the situation
where are largely uninformed population is being manipulated
into a position of vulnerability through the at
From New Zealand
From Dun Laoghaire
From across Ireland
traction of new electronic gadgetry and a lack of respect for the scientific research which has created those gadgets.
Even vendors of mobile telephones call them ‘instruments’
but to the purchaser they are a ‘phone’, a social link and an entertainment medium.”
A sine qua non for government is the abandonment of the Test & Trail programme as noted by Prof. Johansson, which allows testing of equipment in a live environment which is in violation of the Nuremberg Code forbidding experimentation on people without their consent. As noted in San Francisco where mobile phones are being trialled to communicate with parking meters, engineers claim they are testing the equipment, ignoring the effects of the equipment on human beings.
The first item on the Alliance’s “to do” list if for the Irish Parliament to pass the Aarhus Convention, a piece of legislation
aimed at opening the European legal system to resident individuals. Although Ireland signed up for the convention enabling legislation has not been ratified and the rights of Irish citizens to legal redress in Europe have been swempt under the carpet.
Other recommendations include establishment of safe distances
of mast to schools, an educational programme for school children regarding the use of mobile phone / wireless
technology, activation and implementation of a long-promised Radiological Protection Unit and legal recognition
of electromagnetic sensitivity as a bona fide medical condition.
The ESB represents two areas of concern: 1) co-location of communications masts on ESB properties and 2) testing
new electronic technologies without the knowledge of the general public with possible dangerous outcomes.
“Based on a collective experience of more than 200 years and evidence from experts, the Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection demands that you, as legislators, act responsibly,”
said the Alliance, ending with a warning about the use of Smart Meters: “There are many threats to human health because the signal penetrates into the home, exposing
people to the radiation 24 hours a day. Further, already washing machines which operate on electromagnetic principles
rather than belts these also produce electromagnetic frequencies. Thus home of the future will become an electromagnetic
cage with the home’s wiring containing the radiation inside.”
As she has become more educated about the effects of microwaves
and electromagnetic field, Nurse Maeve Clifford has become more concerned. “I have researched more and my concern has grown deeper,” she said.
From her community perspective, she lists seven issues which need to be addressed:
• adoption of the BioIniative report’s recommended
radiation levels;
• continuous monitoring, particularly in areas of high population density;
• notification if a Test & Trail experiment is proposed
for an area;
• notification of exposure levels and the location of beams of highest intensity;
• adoption of the Precautionary Principle at sensitive
site;
• transparency, discussion, debate and best practice;
and
• insurance of operators and site owners to protect the community.
Her shopping list closely parallels the concerns of people around the world. What members of the the Joint Oireachtas
Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and Gaeltacht decide will resonate across Ireland and the planet. And the world is watching the committee.
This article was prepared using submissions currently available. The complete list of submission will be available
after the Joint Oireachtas committee meets.
NOTE: Members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and Gaeltacht include:
Ciaran Lynch, Chair, ciaran.lynch@oireachtas.ie
Noel Coonan, Deputy Chair, noel.coonan@oireachtas.ie
Deputies:
James Bannon, Fine Gael, james.bannon@oireachtas.ie Paudie Coffey, Fine Gael , paudie.coffey@oireachtas.ie
Terence Flanagan, Fine Gael, terence.flanagan@oireachtas.
ie
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, Fine Gael,
marcella.corcorankennedy@oireachtas.ie
Tony McLoughlin, Fine Gael,
tony.mcloughlin@oireachtas.ie
Patrick O’Donovan, Fine Gael,
patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie
Brian Walsh, Fine Gael, gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie
Kevin Humphreys, Labour Party,
kevin.humphreys@oireachtas.ie
Gerald Nash, Labour Party, gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie
Seán Kenny, Labour Party, sean.kenny@oireachtas.ie
Robert Troy, Fianna Fáil, robert.troy@oireachtas.ie
Timmy Dooley, Fianne Fáil, timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie
Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil, niall.collins@oireachtas.ie
Sandra McLellan, Sinn Féin, sandra.mclellan@oireachtas.ie
Dessie Ellis, Sinn Féin, dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie
Brian Stanley, Sinn Féin, brian.stanley@oireachtas.ie
Clare Daly, Socialist Party, clare.daly@oireachtas.ie
Catherine Murphy, Independent,
catherine.murphy@oireachtas.ie
The book you couldn’t buy
in Irish
bookshops
l l l
‘I feel like
I’m watching
an epidemic in
motion. If we do not make major
changes in the way
that we use phones today, I fear we will be suffering
consequences for generations.’
- Dr. Devra Davis
EUROPEAN COMMISSION - PRESS RELEASE
Digital Agenda: Commission welcomes step forward
for wireless broadband with adoption of Radio
Spectrum Policy Programme
Brussels, 15 February 2012 - Radio spectrum supports 3.5 million jobs and more than €250 billion of economic activity each year in Europe, including incredibly popular services such as wireless broadband. The Commission therefore welcomes the European Parliament’s adoption of the five-year Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP) which will allow sufficient spectrum to be made available for wireless applications and services such as high speed 4th generation (4G) wireless broadband. The RSPP also supports entertainment/culture (mobile TV or wireless
electronic books), transport systems, health (such as medical appliances and devices to assist disabled persons), research, civil protection, the environment and energy (including smart energy grids and smart metering systems), without affecting the requirements of other policies such as defence. European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said: “Adoption of the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme will help reduce the digital divide, make Europe a
connected and competitive continent and introduce more wireless broadband choices.”
Wireless broadband is also playing an important role ensuring every European access to basic broadband by 2013 and to fast and ultrafast broadband by 2020 (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200).
Specific steps to be taken by the EU Member States and the Commission before 1st July 2015 include:
- By the end of 2012, Member States should have authorised the use of the harmonised 2.5-2.69 GHz, 3.4-3.8 GHz and 900/1800 MHz bands for use by wireless broadband communications, including 3rd & 4th generation mobile
communication services.
- By 1 January 2013, all Member States (unless an individual exemption has been obtained before that date), should have authorised the use of the 800 MHz band for wireless broadband communications. One of the main objectives
here is to cover sparsely populated areas.
- By mid-2013 at the latest, the Commission, in cooperation with Member States, will set out the details for an inventory
to analyse efficient spectrum use, in the 400 MHz to 6 GHz range, in the EU. This will form the basis of possible further action on the coordinated allocation of spectrum bands to specific uses, such
as wireless broadband.
Additional action by 2015 at the latest include:
- Spectrum trading between spectrum users in a set of harmonised bands where flexible use has already been introduced;
- The Commission and Member States ensuring sufficient harmonised spectrum becomes available for safety services
and civil protection.
2 More generally, the RSPP sets out the EU principles to ensure efficient management and use of spectrum, and to promote investment, competition and innovation.
Background
The RSPP was proposed by the European Commission in September 2010 (see MEMO/10/425).
The European wireless electronic communications industry supports 3.5 million jobs, 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product
and generates around €130 billion annually in tax revenues in Europe.
For more information
Digital Agenda website
Neelie Kroes’ website - Follow Neelie Kroes on Twitter
Contacts : Ryan Heath (+32 2 296 17 16), Twitter: @ECspokesRyan
Linda Cain (+32 2 299 90 19)
It’s about money - not safety - EU release plans for microwaves & you have no say