Electricity disorder a real health problem
Copied message from S Arjuna
Magda Havas has just written:
Hello everyone,
I don't know if you are aware of what is happening in Canada about EHS but let me tell you the country is buzzing.
On Tuesday (March 28) Martin Mittelstaedt wrote a feature article for the Globe and Mail (a well respected National newspaper) about a man who is EHS. This story has now gone around the world and I think all of you have seen it (Does Power Corrupt?). See below.
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1762399/
The very next morning Kevin (the person who is sensitive) and I were invited to appear on a TV show called Canada AM (CTV) for a short (5 minute) segment. They have a audience of 2 million people.
You can get info about this at the CTV web site:
http://www.ctv.ca (search at top for "dirty electricity"). Two items should pop up for the March 29th show.
The Toronto Star (Tyler Hamilton) wrote a similar article about Marika in November and NOW magazine (Adria Vasil) in Toronto wrote one as well about the problem of electromagnetic pollution a few weeks ago. All of this is timely since Toronto is going WiFi by the summer/fall of 2006. Tyler wrote a series on cell phones for the Star that appeared last summer (June 2005 I think) during the WHO conference on the Precautionary Principle in Ottawa.
Ever since that show and the newspaper article my phone and email are buzzing. Other media are picking it up. Since Wednesday I have given an additional 4 interviews including live phone-in shows. David Fancy has done two interviews in French. The requests keep coming in (even as I write this email) from across Canada for more interviews next week.
I am getting email from all across Canada with people who are suffering from electromagnetic pollution. I hear the saddest stories when I talk to people. Some tell me about their health effects, how they don't want to share how much pain they are in with loved ones for fear of being ridiculed (how can someone be sensitive to "electricity"!!) and how some have considered suicide to end their pain and suffering because they can't find relief.
I stayed up until after 4 am one morning to respond to all the email messages since I will be away at a the Total Health Show in Toronto this weekend talking about EMF Pollution and I will be absolutely inundated if I don't keep up with the email.
This is all very positive. The message is getting out and the more people we can help the better. Eventually our government will have to respond to all this suffering and make changes in their guidelines. At the moment I have little immediate hope for Health Canada since they seem entrenched in their views but I do have hope that Sheela Basrur (Medical Officer of Health for Ontario) will play a more prominent role in this issue since she was instrumental at hosting a public meeting in Toronto about cell phone antennas in 2000 as MOH for the City of Toronto.
Please feel free to pass the word about the interest in Canada and perhaps other countries will follow suit.
-magda
Electricity disorder a real health problem: WHO
Updated Wed. Mar. 29 2006 11:01 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
As a healthy man in his late 40s, Kevin Byrne couldn't understand what was causing his chronic back and hip pain. X-rays by his doctor yielded no results.
"The pain was so intense, it just didn't seem right," said Byrne, appearing on CTV's Canada AM Wednesday.
It wasn't until he began researching on his own that Byrne realized he is one of a small percentage of people who suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), a biological disorder with symptoms directly brought on by exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Byrne learned "dirty electricity," or poor power quality that is generated by household appliances, electronic devices and power lines, was causing his aches.
The Newcastle, Ont. resident came across the research of Trent University professor Magda Havas, who has been using filters for electronic devices to reduce the potentially harmful levels being emitted.
Byrne installed 20 filters in his home and it worked wonders.
"Within a couple of days, my pain miraculously was gone," he said, adding his sleep also improved.
No one knows how many people are sensitive to electricity. Medical authorities and scientific researchers clash heads over whether the condition exists or is a figment of people's imagination.
While some doctors don't recognize EHS as a physical condition, several European countries do, as does the World Health Organization, which says EHS is a real health problem.
Reported symptoms -- which range from mild to severe -- include chronic fatigue, depression, body aches, memory loss and sleep disruption.
Swedish and British statistics say about two or three per cent of the population suffers from EHS, while some claims estimate 10 to 25 per cent of national populations may be affected by mild symptoms.
Havas, who teaches environmental studies, has been using Graham-Stetzer filters, which lowers the dirty electricity power emitted by electronic devices.
In pilot projects at workplaces, she said the results from the filters were significant.
"We've put them into three schools, and in all three schools the teachers improved dramatically, the student behaviour improved," she said on Canada AM.
Havas said the poor behaviour of some students was thought to be caused by attention deficit disorder (ADD), but even they improved. This makes Havas think there may be a connection between exposure to dirty electricity and children with ADD, and she is conducting research.
Havas said the use of filters in homes has also yielded amazing results, especially for diabetics and those with multiple sclerosis.
She said blood sugar normalized in those with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, while multiple sclerosis sufferers who had difficulty walking were able to walk without pain in a few days to a few weeks.
Most homes need about 20 filters to rid the potentially harmful effects of dirty electricity, Havas said.
In our high-tech world more people are becoming dependent on gizmos like cell phones, laptops and IPods, increasing their exposure to electrical sources.
The result, experts say, has led to an increasing population of people who say they suffer from EHS. Symptoms, which ranged from mild to severe, include chronic fatigue, depression, body aches, memory loss and sleep disruption.
Researchers also say more than one-third of us are a little electro-sensitive, but instead blame the side effects on stressors like restless nights.
While mainstream medical opinion generally doesn't recognize EHS as a physical condition, the Swedes have accepted it as a real condition and government support is available to sufferers.
With an estimated 250,000 sufferers, authorities there electrically retrofit people's homes and offices.
One city in Norway has banned cell phones from a public beach to make it accessible to people with electro-sensitivities. The country's former prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, won't allow cell phones to come close to her because she says they give her headaches.
Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., recently banned wireless Internet from most of its campus because the health impact of Wi-Fi technology is not yet known.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060329/electricity_allergies_060329/20060329/
Magda Havas has just written:
Hello everyone,
I don't know if you are aware of what is happening in Canada about EHS but let me tell you the country is buzzing.
On Tuesday (March 28) Martin Mittelstaedt wrote a feature article for the Globe and Mail (a well respected National newspaper) about a man who is EHS. This story has now gone around the world and I think all of you have seen it (Does Power Corrupt?). See below.
http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/1762399/
The very next morning Kevin (the person who is sensitive) and I were invited to appear on a TV show called Canada AM (CTV) for a short (5 minute) segment. They have a audience of 2 million people.
You can get info about this at the CTV web site:
http://www.ctv.ca (search at top for "dirty electricity"). Two items should pop up for the March 29th show.
The Toronto Star (Tyler Hamilton) wrote a similar article about Marika in November and NOW magazine (Adria Vasil) in Toronto wrote one as well about the problem of electromagnetic pollution a few weeks ago. All of this is timely since Toronto is going WiFi by the summer/fall of 2006. Tyler wrote a series on cell phones for the Star that appeared last summer (June 2005 I think) during the WHO conference on the Precautionary Principle in Ottawa.
Ever since that show and the newspaper article my phone and email are buzzing. Other media are picking it up. Since Wednesday I have given an additional 4 interviews including live phone-in shows. David Fancy has done two interviews in French. The requests keep coming in (even as I write this email) from across Canada for more interviews next week.
I am getting email from all across Canada with people who are suffering from electromagnetic pollution. I hear the saddest stories when I talk to people. Some tell me about their health effects, how they don't want to share how much pain they are in with loved ones for fear of being ridiculed (how can someone be sensitive to "electricity"!!) and how some have considered suicide to end their pain and suffering because they can't find relief.
I stayed up until after 4 am one morning to respond to all the email messages since I will be away at a the Total Health Show in Toronto this weekend talking about EMF Pollution and I will be absolutely inundated if I don't keep up with the email.
This is all very positive. The message is getting out and the more people we can help the better. Eventually our government will have to respond to all this suffering and make changes in their guidelines. At the moment I have little immediate hope for Health Canada since they seem entrenched in their views but I do have hope that Sheela Basrur (Medical Officer of Health for Ontario) will play a more prominent role in this issue since she was instrumental at hosting a public meeting in Toronto about cell phone antennas in 2000 as MOH for the City of Toronto.
Please feel free to pass the word about the interest in Canada and perhaps other countries will follow suit.
-magda
Electricity disorder a real health problem: WHO
Updated Wed. Mar. 29 2006 11:01 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
As a healthy man in his late 40s, Kevin Byrne couldn't understand what was causing his chronic back and hip pain. X-rays by his doctor yielded no results.
"The pain was so intense, it just didn't seem right," said Byrne, appearing on CTV's Canada AM Wednesday.
It wasn't until he began researching on his own that Byrne realized he is one of a small percentage of people who suffers from electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), a biological disorder with symptoms directly brought on by exposure to electromagnetic fields.
Byrne learned "dirty electricity," or poor power quality that is generated by household appliances, electronic devices and power lines, was causing his aches.
The Newcastle, Ont. resident came across the research of Trent University professor Magda Havas, who has been using filters for electronic devices to reduce the potentially harmful levels being emitted.
Byrne installed 20 filters in his home and it worked wonders.
"Within a couple of days, my pain miraculously was gone," he said, adding his sleep also improved.
No one knows how many people are sensitive to electricity. Medical authorities and scientific researchers clash heads over whether the condition exists or is a figment of people's imagination.
While some doctors don't recognize EHS as a physical condition, several European countries do, as does the World Health Organization, which says EHS is a real health problem.
Reported symptoms -- which range from mild to severe -- include chronic fatigue, depression, body aches, memory loss and sleep disruption.
Swedish and British statistics say about two or three per cent of the population suffers from EHS, while some claims estimate 10 to 25 per cent of national populations may be affected by mild symptoms.
Havas, who teaches environmental studies, has been using Graham-Stetzer filters, which lowers the dirty electricity power emitted by electronic devices.
In pilot projects at workplaces, she said the results from the filters were significant.
"We've put them into three schools, and in all three schools the teachers improved dramatically, the student behaviour improved," she said on Canada AM.
Havas said the poor behaviour of some students was thought to be caused by attention deficit disorder (ADD), but even they improved. This makes Havas think there may be a connection between exposure to dirty electricity and children with ADD, and she is conducting research.
Havas said the use of filters in homes has also yielded amazing results, especially for diabetics and those with multiple sclerosis.
She said blood sugar normalized in those with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, while multiple sclerosis sufferers who had difficulty walking were able to walk without pain in a few days to a few weeks.
Most homes need about 20 filters to rid the potentially harmful effects of dirty electricity, Havas said.
In our high-tech world more people are becoming dependent on gizmos like cell phones, laptops and IPods, increasing their exposure to electrical sources.
The result, experts say, has led to an increasing population of people who say they suffer from EHS. Symptoms, which ranged from mild to severe, include chronic fatigue, depression, body aches, memory loss and sleep disruption.
Researchers also say more than one-third of us are a little electro-sensitive, but instead blame the side effects on stressors like restless nights.
While mainstream medical opinion generally doesn't recognize EHS as a physical condition, the Swedes have accepted it as a real condition and government support is available to sufferers.
With an estimated 250,000 sufferers, authorities there electrically retrofit people's homes and offices.
One city in Norway has banned cell phones from a public beach to make it accessible to people with electro-sensitivities. The country's former prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, won't allow cell phones to come close to her because she says they give her headaches.
Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., recently banned wireless Internet from most of its campus because the health impact of Wi-Fi technology is not yet known.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060329/electricity_allergies_060329/20060329/
Starmail - 1. Apr, 10:41
