Health concerns limit wireless Internet at Lakehead University

Concordia, Carleton and others debate the dangers of EMF transmissions

1/23/2006 5:00:00 PM

by Kathleen Sibley

There are many benefits to studying at Lakehead University. Ubiquitous wireless Internet access, however, isn’t one of them.

That’s because president Fred Gilbert won’t allow it until he’s satisfied EMF (electric and magnetic fields) exposure doesn’t pose a health risk, particularly to young people.

Gilbert, who was interviewed last week on the CBC about the university’s policy as stated in a town hall meeting last fall, told ITBusiness.ca he based his decision on scientific literature that indicates the potential for “some fairly significant” health consequences.

“These are particularly relevant in younger people (who have) fast-growing tissues, and most of our student body are late teenagers and still growing, so it’s just a matter of taking precautions and providing an environment that doesn’t have a potential risk associated risk,” he said.

Gilbert cited studies done by scientists for the California Public Utilities Commission, whose findings boil down to the fact that while there is no proven link between EMFs exposure and diseases such as leukemia and brain tumours, the possible risk warrants further investigation.

He also said Canadian regulation allows for a higher minimum degree of exposure to EMFs than do some other countries.

“All I’m saying is while the jury’s out on this one, I’m not going to put in place what is potential chronic exposure for our students,” he said. “Admittedly that’s highest around the locations of the antenna sites and the wireless hotspots, but those are the places people tend to gravitate to because they get the best reception.”

Gilbert added he believes there are many environmental impacts that are not manifest for 30 to 40 years after exposure. “Second-hand tobacco exposure is a case in point,” he said. “We’re just finding out now what some of those impacts are. Asbestos is another example.”

Lakehead, which is located at the head of Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Ont., has some wireless access, but only where the university’s fibre optic network doesn’t reach. There are plenty of computers around campus where students can access the Internet 24 hours a day, so it’s not like they’re cut off, Gilbert said.

And it doesn’t necessarily mean there will never be ubiquitous wireless at Lakehead, he said.

“When we get to the stage where the evidence is conclusive there is no health impact I have no problem putting wireless in place,” said Gilbert. “Even the World Health Organization in its international review says it doesn’t have a great deal of concern but it admits the information is not 100 per cent.”

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=38093&PageMem=1

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/7997
http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/health-fears-halt-wifi-rollout/2006/02/24/1140670234956.html#

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Dr. Frederick F. Gilbert
http://www.lakeheadu.ca/about/bios.php?id=7

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Health risks of Wi-Fi and WLAN on our health
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/1122031/



http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Fred+Gilbert

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-rxcell01feb01,0,7105692.story

By Nancy McVicar

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Health Writer

Posted February 1 2006
(AP/Damian Dovarganes)

CELL PHONES & YOUR HEALTH

Adding new fuel to the debate over cell phone safety, three European research groups in separate studies have found an increased risk of brain tumors in people who have used the phones for 10 years or more.

Two of the studies found a correlation between the tumor's location and the side of the head where people reported they held the phone. One also suggests the greatest risk is in people who began using the phones before age 20, but researchers said the study group was small and more research should be done.

Two of the studies, one in England and one in Germany, are part of the 13-nation Interphone Study, an effort sanctioned by the World Health Organization to assess possible health risks from the radiation emitted by cell phones.

Both studies found an increased risk of glioma, an often deadly brain cancer, in people who had used cell phones 10 years or more.

An earlier Interphone study, reported in October 2004 by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, found an increased risk for a non-cancerous brain tumor called acoustic neuroma after 10 years of cell phone use, but not for glioma. "When you put the three large Interphone results together -- the German, English and Swedish -- they tell a story, and it begs for attention," said Louis Slesin, publisher of Microwave News, who has been reporting on the health effects of such radiation for two decades.

John Walls, vice president of public affairs for CTIA, The Wireless Association, a cell phone industry trade group in Washington, D.C., said the increase in glioma in people who had used the phones more than 10 years was "statistically insignificant," and said there is no cause for concern.

The German study, conducted by Joachim Schu[e]z and colleagues at the University of Mainz, was published online by the American Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers compared a group of 749 brain tumor patients with 1,494 similar people who had not used cell phones and found a doubling of the risk of gliomas after 10 years of use.

They said numbers of people in the study who had used the phones for 10 years was small, and the findings need to be confirmed by other studies.

The British researchers compared a group of 966 brain tumor patients with a group of 1,716 healthy patients who had not used cell phones. They found a 20 percent increase in cancers among long-term users, but no overall increased risk in people who used cell phones.

The study, funded largely by the cell phone industry and published online by the British Medical Journal, found a significantly increased risk for tumors that developed on the same side of the head where patients said they most often held the phone. But lead researcher Patricia McKinney said that finding probably was due to many patients not accurately recalling which ear they'd used most of the time.

Critics said conclusions drawn by the researchers were "highly misleading" and might give cell phone users a false sense of security.

George Carlo, who headed the American cell phone industry's 1990s research program, said the findings indicate a 24 percent increase in tumors among people who used the phone on the same side as the tumor.

Alasdair Philips, director of Powerwatch, an independent watchdog group in England, also said the claim of no association of risk is unjustified because the study excluded half the people who developed gliomas because they died before they could be interviewed.

McKinney, an epidemiologist at the Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, said "we have no reason to believe the findings were affected by the [exclusion of half the cases]."

In an e-mail to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, she defended the decision to discount the high number of cases reported on the same side of the head where the phone was held.

A third study, in the February edition of International Journal of Oncology, found an increased risk of acoustic neuromas in long-term users. Dr. Lennart Hardell and colleagues at Orebro University in Sweden analyzed the cases of 1,254 people diagnosed with benign brain tumors between 1997 and 2003, and compared them with a similar group of 2,162 people who had not used cell phones.

They found that people who used analog cell phones starting 15 years before diagnosis developed acoustic neuromas at a rate almost four times higher than the comparison group.

Walls, of the CTIA, said he had not seen the Swedish study, but questioned the validity of the findings and the researchers' study design.

An analysis late last year by Dr. Henry Lai, who heads the Bioelectromagnetics Research Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle, said of 271 laboratory or clinical studies done in recent years, about 60 percent have shown a biological effect in cells or animals exposed to radio frequency radiation.

Nancy McVicar can be reached at nmcvicar@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4593.


Cell phones and radiation

Because questions remain about the long-term safety of cell phones, users who want to reduce their exposure to radio frequency radiation can follow these strategies:

* Use a landline phone when one is available.

* Keep cell phone calls short.

* Don't carry a cell phone in a pocket.

* Use a hands-free headset or use a speakerphone so that the phone is not placed against the head.

* When using a hands-free headset, allow the wire to fall naturally down the torso to the phone clipped at the waist, which allows any radiation to be absorbed in small amounts along the body rather than concentrated in the head.

SOURCES: MOTOROLA, U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, NATIONAL RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION BOARD, UNITED KINGDOM; VERUM FOUNDATION, GERMANY -- NANCY MCVICAR

Copyright 2006, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive Inc.


Informant: Gotemf

Would you stick your head in a microwave oven?

http://openpr.com/news/5356
http://at-de.i-newswire.com/pr15550.html

"Would you put your head in a Microwave Oven"

New book on microwave radiation & health

I have not yet read the new book by Gerald Goldberg but what he says about his findings reminds me of the Swedish book “New Diagnosis” (1999) by Professor Robert Olin which unfortunately for most of us, was never published in English. After Gerald’s notice (below) I have copied and pasted some brief exerpts from Olin’s book which seems to back up Goldberg’s viewpoints.

Don Maisch


Book notice from Gerald Goldberg MD:

Hello, I am a medical doctor and researcher in the US. I have just published a book on microwave radiation. Check it out at:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~36093.aspx

From the above website:

Would you stick your head in a microwave oven? Well would you? Of course not.

Technology has transformed this planet into an open microwave system with its satellite transmissions. This book examines what the health consequences are. This book simply points out that the gradual rise in illness across broad geographic areas are an early indicator of microwave illness, independently of what the experts lead you to believe. The handwriting is already on the wall and most of know that something is wrong. This book discusses in simple terms the effects of microwave radiation on the human body. I utilize dosimetry studies done by the US Air Force, which outline in clear terms what organs of the body are most vulnerable to cumulative microwave exposure. I outline the mechanisms by which slow exposure is masquerading as various illnesses across this country.

We are on the verge of a health care crisis which threatens to bankrupt our society and health care system. Whether we like to consider it or not the planet that we are living on has been transformed into an open microwave system.

In this book I examine the common link between microwave radiation and seemingly unrelated illnesses. The book demonstrates that the rising incidence of certain illnesses and cancers across broad geographic regions parallels the increasing rise in exposure and use of microwave radiation.

This book is a common sense approach to the subject which is presented in a clear language that the laymen can understand. Also it is liberally referenced from the scientific literature. The book is designed to be generally informative as well as a reference source for the average reader. Additionally I have provided a wealth of resources that have been shown to be beneficial to offset the consequences of excess microwave exposure.

About the Author

I am a medical internist with over 30 years of clinical experience. Additionally I have been researching the biomedical literature from a traditional and holistic perspective for the last 15 years. I have training in herbology, Chinese medicine, nutritional approaches to health and other modalities. I have done extensive research on the causality of disease and its relationship to environmental factors as will as researching approaches to deal with these issues. I have been a radio show host involved in sharing information with the public on alternative health issues and perspectives in the NYC area for the past 5 years and have been actively involved with a nutritional pharmacy.

This manuscript was written to present the data to the average reader so that they could judge the issue for themselves.

The health consequences from continuous low level exposure from microwave radiation can be catastrophic. The transmission of microwave transmission can be handled in a safe and effective manner to provide for global communication without affecting the overall health of our planet.

The book starts by examining dosimetry which shows which parts of the body are most sensitive to microwave radiation based on studies done by our Armed Forces. Dosimetry is also predictive of the pattern of injury that one would expect to find.

The second chapter explains how microwave radiation produces disease. It examines the mechanisms of disease production in living systems. It also explains how microwave injury manifests as specific organ system dysfunction, be it neurological, behavioral, immune, cancer etc.

The third chapter links the rise of radiation against the simultaneous rise of certain illnesses in society. It demonstrates through the use of graphs that the parallel and symmetrical rise of certain illnesses across broad geographic areas reflects common force acting equally on all these regions. The graphs also demonstrate that it is the rate of increase not the absolute number of cases in a given region that is important. It is important to emphasize that microwave radiation is not the only cause of disease. It is potentially one of the few common links that unite large segments of our population to recreate and produce similar patterns of illness in widely separated geographic locations.

Microwave injury can also contribute to other patterns of illness. In the fourth chapter, under medical equivalents, I have grouped the common names that are attributed to illnesses by organ systems. If common illnesses are examined from the perspective of simultaneous parallel geographic increase than the influence of microwave injury can be discerned.

To purchase a copy simply go to the site, http://www.authorhouse.com and type in my name, Gerald Goldberg, under the author post.

Sincerly

G. Goldberg, MD


“New Diagnosis” (Swedish only)
by Robert Olin

The report “New Diagnosis” was written by Robert Olin, MD and Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine. The report has been prepared on behalf of a Parliamentary Commission appointed by the Swedish government. It was published in October of 1999.

This report was commissioned as a result of ongoing research carried out by several organisations, including the Karolinska Institute, The Swedish National Institute of Occupational Health, the Swedish Union of Clerical and Technical Employees in Industry, Lule College and Institute of Technology, Lund University and the Orebro Medical Centre in Sweden.

Per Segerbach from Sweden sent me some brief translations from the report as follows:

From the back page of the book:

“In medical care, the research community and among decision makers the attitude versus the “new diagnoses” have often been blocked by out-of-date views and prejudices.”

From the Summary chapter of the book:

. . .”But it is also true that living conditions for people in a highly developed country like Sweden, have changed considerably during the last century, compared to earlier centuries. The “exploding” technical development all the way from phone and radio use into the current “communication society” as well as the multitude of new chemical products and physical technologies, for most people leads to very different living conditions.”

“This document is founded on the belief that for many “new diagnoses” the common symptoms (see below) have existed for a long time, but that the conditions have become more visible, e.g. due to the above mentioned changes in the society. In addition, it is likely that the true occurrence have increased, which may hypothetically depend on the dramatic increase over the last decades in daily sensory stimulus and chemical and physiological environmental influence.”

“The document presents in brief, a number of “new diagnoses” and in chapter 14 especially, symptoms that are more or less common, namely tiredness, sleep disorders, vegetative and neuro-cognitive symptoms. Pain and disturbed “psychological equilibrium” as well as symptoms from mucus are also common.”

. . . “In the same chapter an overall hypothesis about the biological mechanism is discussed that might explain the majority of the “new diagnosis” -conditions - but naturally not all, because in a minority of the cases it is likely to be purely psychological circumstances or somatic diseases that are the cause of the symptoms.”

“The document critically reviews the role and position of psychiatry in the treatment and attitudes towards the patients suffering from “new diagosis” -disorders.”

The hypothesis relates to and enlarges the theory/hypothesis that the Swedish research group Rönnbäck-Hansson formulated regarding defects/damage in the astrogliacell membrane caused by disturbances in the transport through the membrane of e.g. the important energy- and signal substance glutamate.”

END

Source: http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=390

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Dr Goldberg's brilliant book on microwave radiation
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2195003/

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Comments on the Goldberg / Olin books
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=391

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Dr. Gerald Goldberg interview link is now on w-a-r-t web site http://www.w-a-r-t.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Pete

Dr. Gerald Goldberg interview 19.06.2006
http://www.mast-victims.org/resources/audio/dr-goldberg-19-06-2006.mp3

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Microwave oven info
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/491151/

Electromagnetic pollution of the environment
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/2955273/

EMF an emerging healthcare crisis
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3054250/

Where have our friends the birds gone?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3025317/

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http://omega.twoday.net/topics/Mikrowellen/
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=sparrow
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Goldberg