International EMF Conference Stavanger – Setting Healthier Guidance Levels

World’s leading experts of biological effects will gather in Stavanger, Norway. Norges Miljøvernforbund (Green Warriors of Norway) and Radiation Research Trust representatives have been working hard to arrange this conference.

The conference programme is truly interesting on Tuesday 17th November 2009.

After the official conference, experts like professor Carl Blackman, professor Martin Blank, professor Yuri Grigoriev (RNCNIRP), professor Devra Davis  & Co will continue defining new, biologically relevant guidance levels. These guidance-levels are for mobile phones, cell towers, powerlines and generally for existing and forthcoming technologies.

_{(I will be participating the conference, only).}

As you propably know, the current ICNIRP guidance levels  only protect from (acute) thermal effects.

The tricky question is: how to define new, biologically relevant guidance levels?

SIX STARTING POINTS:

1.    Current ICNIRP thermal-only guidance levels do not consider:
- wavelength/frequency
- near field/far field
- overall duration of exposure (continuous, interrupted), acute and chronic exposures
- polarization (linear, circular)
- continues wave (CW) vs. pulsed fields
(pulse repetition rate, pulse width or duty cycle, pulse shape, pulse to average power, etc.)
- modulation (amplitude, frequency, phase, complex)
Please, check the video presentation of professor Igor Belyaev

 and professor Carl Blackman’s document.

2.    There are protective mechanisms at the cellular level known as the cellular stress response. Induction of the stress response involves activation of DNA. According to professor Martin Blank and professor Reba Goodman, guidance levels should protect as low as possible where ELF- or RF-radiation starts causing protein changes. Update 22nd November 2009: Professor Dariusz Leszczynski has emphasised the importance of this area. He has also pointed out the difficulties in getting finance to do research in this area.

3.    Salzburg Land in Austria is famous for it’s most environmentally friendly guidance levels, less than 500 uW/m2 (BTW, I measured in the centre of Salzburg in December 2008 in the main beam a reading of max 420 uW/m2. OK. The deal in Salzburg seems to work ;-) Inside buildings the recommendation value is less than 1 uW/m2. These guidance/recommendation levels are based on stress markers. The following documents in German tell about these markers [1],[2].

4.    In 1952 the German physicist, Professor W. O. Schumann of the Technical University of Munich showed that there are electromagnetic standing waves in the atmosphere, within the cavity formed by the surface of the earth and the ionosphere. There is a resonating electromagnetic oscillation between earth and ionosphere in the 10 Hz region (Schumann resonance, 7.83 Hz). The intensity and spectrum of the Schumann Resonances vary markedly from day to night and with solar activity. At night both the brainwaves of a human being (measured by EEG) and the Schumann Resonances are dominated by very low frequencies (<5 Hz). Human brains detect, use and react to natural low frequency signals, the Schumann Resonances. 7.83 Hz is the same frequency at which the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for short term memory, vibrates. The Schumann Resonance signal is over 10.000.000.000 times lower than the low frequency range of the ICNIRP Radiofrequency Standard. (By Dr Neil Cherry, in the European Parliament in 2002). Achkasova et al. (1978) showed that human cell division and timing is based on changes in this natural electromagnetic field.

…So, guidance levels should perhaps encourage to develop and use technologies that do not operate in the 0-100 Hz range and generally would operate in frequencies that are not frequency windows?!?  Similarly, it is perhaps easy to understand why sleep and memory problems have increased in our society if the Schumann resonance can not (any more in certain places) be detected by our brains?! Currently, the riskiest technologies are perhaps TETRA, pulsing at 17.64 Hz and EDGE, pulsing at 8 Hz. In addition to 3G(UMTS) with enormous amount of, continuously changing (low) frequencies [1] , [2].

5.    Microwave effects are observed at specific ”intensity windows”. Here I recommend older Henry Lai’s document and Belyaev et al. (1996).

6. Update: Measuring human sensitivity for EMFs needs new methods and technologies.

I find the latest research of professor Andrew Marino and PhD Simona Carrubba most interesting, since they point out the faults in the EEG research and propose new methods [1],[2].

Similarly, the work of PhD Paavo Huttunen and professor in physiology, MD Osmo Hänninen is fascinating, I have followed ther methods closely [1]. Actually, there were indicators about these muscle contractions already in the Zorach Glaser List in 1970's (based on Russian research) !! Only now emerges good methods and meters to measure them.

Dr Grahame Blackwell has been investigating microchrystals in the pineal gland and their piezoelectric capability. This has a possible link to microwave hearing phenomenon + several other symptoms/illnesses. Already in the RRT conference Grahame showed what is wrong with funding of science and how difficult it is to do research in new areas. His "not possible" findings and insights are now confirmed by Montagnier et al. (1999) " Electromagnetic Signals Are Produced by Aqueous Nanostructures Derived from Bacterial DNA Sequences". So, even diseases can be detected by certain RF-frequencies! Interestingly, this was first time shown in the 1920's by Georges Lakhovsky [1],[2]!!

IMPLICATIONS TO REGULATIONS/REGULATORS:

- Mobile phone manufacturers and service providers should advice customers about health risks (like in the cigarrette boxes). They should recommend the use of speaker-phone or airtube hands-free. The marketing and selling of mobile phones should be banned to youngest children, like France did and Russia has recommended.

- The price of landline and fiber/ADSL-connections should be as cheap or cheaper than mobile connection. Governments should regulate this pricing. Currently, it is the opposite, consequencies of landline/DSL shut-down will be tragic at the countryside, at least.

- Mass-irradiation should be stopped in trains, subways, buses and airplanes. The following documents demonstrate how microwaves reflect, increase strength and absorption inside the metal carriage [1],[2],[3]. At least mobile phone free / 3G modem free compartments should be provided [1]

- Like European Parliament recommends [1],[2], mobile phone base stations should be removed from schools and kindergartens. [Finland and Sweden are famous for these uncontrolled experiments.] Additionally, there should be perhaps 500 meters distance to the closest base station or at least the closest base station antenna should not be directed at school/kindergarten.

- Wi-Fi should be similarly removed from schools and kindergartens. If there is still a Wi-Fi zone, it should be created with directional antennas, n-o-t covering the whole building 24/7.

FUTURE

Setting new guidance levels will not be easy....It might help if medical doctors in each country would be trained about ... biological effects of electromagnetic fields and how to detect/diagnose/measure them?!

Additionally, the resistance from mobile industry and (western) military will be enormous. Is it really a co-incidence that almost at the same time (November 23 and 24th ) the ICNIRP will have it's meeting in Salzburg: "Evaluation and Communication of Scientific Evidence and Uncertainty: Towards a Consistent Terminology in Non-Ionizing Radiation."??? By bringing this meeting to Salzburg ICNIRP and WHO folks perhaps try to say something?? I am afraid their objective "to  develop a shared vision" will be impossible. Who believes in the ICNIRP standard any more after those strange "harmonising" efforts? Update 22nd November 2009: Why can not the ICNIRP representatives invite medical doctors Gerd Oberfeld, Gerhard W. Hacker and Gernot Pauser to the meeting???!!! (see the Salzburg documents above).

Any other starting points for biological guidance level settings?? Any corrections, additions??

Glad to talk about these topics face-to-face in Stavanger or here online :-)

Comments

[Lavinia Weissman]

Thank you for the "trackback,"

Lavinia Weissman
http://aboutworkecology.typepad.com

[PhD Mikko Ahonen]

You are welcome, Lavinia!

I am just learning how to use trackbacs ;-)

BTW, your story about EMF 2009 was interesting. It good that you did not include so many (technical/medical/measurement) details as I did ;-) I try keep my stories shorter and less... skipping :-)