Beyond Radiation

The SAR-value, why it is no guarantee of safety - Gandhi et al. (2011)

A journal paper on cell phone safety in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine reports the finding that cell phones used in the shirt or pants pocket exceed FCC exposure guidelines and that children absorb twice as much microwave radiation from phones as do adults.

The paper, titled “Exposure Limits: The underestimation of absorbed cell phone radiation, especially in children” notes that the industry-designed process for evaluating microwave radiation from phones results in children absorbing twice the cellphone radiation to their heads, up to triple in their brain’s hippocampus and hypothalamus, greater absorption in their eyes, and as much as 10 times more in their bone marrow when compared to adults.

The paper’s authors include three team members at Environmental Health Trust: Devra Davis, PhD, MPH, Founder and President; L. Lloyd Morgan, Senior Science Fellow; and Ronald B. Herberman, MD, Chairman of the Board.

The existing process is based on a large man whose 40 brain tissues are assumed to be exactly the same.

 

A far better system relies on anatomically based models of people of various ages, including pregnant women, that can determine the absorbed radiation in all tissue types, and can account for the increased absorption in children. This system is called 'Virtual family' and it is based MRI scans. It allows for cell phones to be certified with the most vulnerable users in mind—children—consistent with the “As Low As Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA) approach taken in setting standards for using radiological devices.

In the United States, the FCC determines maximum allowed exposures. Many countries, especially European Union members, use the “guidelines” of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), a non-governmental agency.

Three additional authors contributed to the paper: Om P. Gandhi, ScD, of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Utah; Alvaro Augusto de Salles, PhD, of the Electrical Engineering Department at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil; and Yueh-Ying Han, PhD, of the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at New York Medical College. Drs. Gandhi and De Salles serve on EHT’s Scientific Advisory Group.

[I helped my friends at the Environmental Health Trust to translate this information, a Finnish translation & press release is available as a PDF]

Comments about SAR-values and/or Gandhi et al. (2011) paper?

 

 

Power Quality and Health - Is There a Connection?

Power Quality and Health - Is There a Connection?

View more presentations from Mikko Ahonen.

Deezer - Social Media Service for Music

Quite often I have talks and presentations about Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing. The Deezer service is a good example of users recommending content and remixing content. In that sense Deezer is a basic example of Social Media as well. Try it:

My earlier favourite: Musicovery. Waiting for an invitation to Spotify ;-)

With Deezer I will be curious to:

A) add my own music to service (as MP3s)
 
B) add friends to my profile and see how the recommendation part works.

C) sing karaoke through it (just kidding/dreaming :)

Nordic Health Disaster - Any chance to avoid it?

Teleoperators (carriers) in Nordic countries (Finland and Sweden) are allowed to shut down landlines and (A)DSL-connections in the countryside. This means that even little children in the countryside are forced to use a) mobile phone and b) wireless Internet connection.

As you probably know, countries in the North are quite...large. So, the distance to the closest base station may be several kilometers. A mobile phone increases it's power extensively, far from a base station. This is already a documented health risk [1],[2],[3],[4]. Additionally, the operators are solving bandwidth problems by adding many overlapping technologies (like UMTS-900, @450, WiMAX). Where is the pure Nordic nature when air is packed with microwave pulses?

Update 4th February 2010: I called on Tuesday, 27th May 2008 the state secretary Mr Aleksi Randell, because he worked as an assistant of Minister of Transport and Communication(LVM, T&C), Mrs Suvi Lindén. I told him, that they are causing a serious health risk to children in the countryside by shutting down the landlines and forcing children to use A) mobile phones B) mobile GPRS/3G/@450-modems in bad signal situations. Next day I sent Randell more information based on his request. So, minister Suvi Lindén was informed about their unhealthy decisions. Even before that, professor Osmo Hänninen had contacted the LVM and tried to inform those rather ignorant ministers and state secretaries.

In October 2008 the Ministry of Transport and Communication (LVM, T&C), Finland, requested comments to their broadband (laajakaista) plan. I provided them a reply (PDF).

I looked at:

1. Health risks of mobile phones
2. Effects of base stations on plants, insects and animals
3. Effects of base stations on human beings

(The plan is in Finnish, but the references starting at page 2 might be interesting?!?)

In Finland, the government (under pressure) has planned to provide fiber optics network to the whole country by the year 2015.  Well, 7 years is a long time for a child to make mobile phone calls with bad reception / limited coverage :-(  So, in my proposal I suggested that the fiber optics network should be built first, already in 2009.

According to the original plan of T&C, by the year 2010 the Finnish government tries to cover the whole country with multiple, overlapping wireless networks (@450, UMTS-900, WiMAX). Similar plan is in Sweden. I suggested that they would look closely at health risk in wireless technologies before implementing that plan. Update 16th December 2008: An Overview on Base Stations and Health Risks. 

This is also an equality question: which families with children want to live in the countryside any more? (Please, check my previous posting about children and their specific risks).

Afterword: While governments own shares of teleoperators, can those T&C ministers really make informed decisions? Update 23rd November 2008: These politicians are effectively misled .

Finland and Sweden have lot to learn from Norway [1],[2], [3],[4],[5]. Currently in Norway, there is a lot of discussion about health risks of mobile phones and ICNIRP guidance levels for base stations. In Finland and Sweden, there is hardly any discussion at all! Any idea, what might be the reason :-\ Please, check those Norwegian links!

Every comment is welcome!

Wikis & 3D-Worlds - Better eLearning and Collaboration tools?

What does telepresence mean in wikis? Or should wikis just remain asyncronous, text-based, tabula rasa -type of collaboration platforms?

Ever since we had this Virtual Reality seminar in Galway, I have been wondering how to create meaningful collaboration within Second Life. Those SL-tools seem to be superficial for that.

An integrated wiki approach might  be more interesting, especially for large-scale planning projects. A promising start - Wikitecture:

"Having conducted a number of experiments over the last year into the feasibility of applying an open-source paradigm to the practice of architecture, the Studio Wikitecture group developed a 3D-Wiki plug-in on the virtual reality platform, Second Life, that they used to help build consensus among the numerous contributors in this open-source project. 

The ‘Wiki-Tree’ as it was called, acted as a version tracking system that worked very much like a conventional Wiki, but instead of tracking text documents in a linear history as you see in Wikipedia, the ‘Wiki-Tree’ tracked versions of 3-dimensional models and saved them within a continually evolving 3-dimensional digital tree ‘canopy’.  Similar to Wikipedia, this 3D-Wiki allowed this loose, self-organized group of contributors to share ideas, edit the contributions of others, and vote on which design iterations should be considered for further refinement."

This is one area I am curious to check in the Online Educa Berlin -conference in December 2008 ;-)

Depression and violence - What role does EMF play?

The tragedy in Jokela and Kauhajoki has made many people ask: What's wrong with Finland?

As a Finn, I can not totally ignore these terrible incidents :-(

So, where do increased depression, sleep problems and violence come from?

With Ed (Edward) Dutton I have had good thought exchange about the origins of  Finnish violence. We both agreed that there are some "in-born" factors in every society.

BUT, I don't believe that "Bad Genes", "High expectations", "Computer games", "Historically Depressed Finns" are sufficient explanations.

Please, let me provide you an Alternative Explanation related to EMF (Electromagnetic Fields):

[Update, 30th March 2010: Broken links revised]

1. Mobile Phone aka Cell phone :

- The use of mobile phones may have an effect on dopamine-opiate system of the brain.

- Exposure to pulse-modulated radio frequency electromagnetic fields most likely affects regional cerebral blood flow

- Update 21st February 2011: Exposure to low intensity EM energy potentiates the effects of low doses of morphine; this effect is comparable to that found in dopamine inhibitors. Additionally, Allan Frey demonstrates several experiments where EMFs interact with various drugs by altering the original (intended) effect of the drug. 

- Especially the pulse-modulated radiation has an effect on concentration, cognition and memory.

Point: Mobile phones should not be pressed against head or body. And most of the time the mobile phone aka 'The Gradual Depressor' should be switched off. Children are in particular risk.

2. Base stations aka Cell towers:

- The 'Microwave syndrome' may explain also depression close to base stations.

- The pulsed and UMTS-modulated radiation may affect melatonin production and immunity system.

- A possible effect on youngsters' suicidal behaviour in a certain area was discussed in the UK.

- In nature heavy exposure to EMF creates aggressive and suicidal behaviour in animals and insects.

- To my understanding, the publications about EMF, basestations and health can not be neglected by decision makers. Update 21st February 2011: See also my Chronic Exposure research overview of base stations and their health effects.

Point: The output power is too strong in base stations. The mobile phone needs less than 1 uW/m2 to operate fully. Currently in many European households the radiation power density levels originating from base stations are in hundreds or thousands of uW/m2.

3. Power lines and electrical wiring:

- What has been shown in earlier research, heavy exposure to low-level EMF may cause depression.

- Especially melatonin production is in risk.

- Living too close to a power-line may cause adverse health effects

- Dirty electricity with transients causes unexpected consequences in homes and workplaces. Update 21st February 2011: Take a look at my voltage transients presentation.

- Update 4th October 2009: Chargers, transformers and other electrical appliances in bedroom may heavily affect sleep and well-being.

- Typical households have many 'spots' that could be improved with simple changes (see the pictures in the Austrian document).

Point: Houses should not be too close to powerlines. Additionally, the electrical wiring and grounding should be installed better in homes and offices.

What I am saying: Exposure to EMF does not fully explain violent behaviour or depression. But, it may play a surprising role in the incidents.

Please, provide a comment to a Finn ;-)

Del.icio.us - Let's get networked

My favourite Internet service has a new skin and functionalities:

Please, send me your del.icio.us -page and I will link you to my network of friends.

Update 28th September 2008: You can follow my tagging in real time at:

http://delicious.com/IsoRee

I consider Del.icio.us as the Best Tacit Knowledge Management Service of Internet. This newest version has still some buttons-related bugs, but I still like it.

You are welcome to comment and dis/agree with me ;-)

   

EMF & Health - A Global Issue Conference , London, September 2008

Eileen O'Connor [1, 2, 3] and her team in the Radiation Research Trust have done marvellous job by bringing together people thinking ... differently. The EMF & Health - A Global Issue conference in London gathers researchers, politicians, activists and industry representatives.

Update 28th September: The report of the conference can be found here.

My posting about children's risk can be found here.

One of the main topic is how risky those 3G/UMTS basestations and Wi-Fi clouds are.

We will discuss about the current ICNIRP guidance levels (2,000.000 uW-10.000.000 uW/m2 depending on the used frequency) compared to BioInitiative suggestion (1000 uW/m2 ). An introduction to this dilemma can be found here. Personally I see, that the precautionary level should be <10 uW/m2 and I am not even alone with my viewpoints (Salzburg Resolution & Salzburg Land Guidance level 10 uW/m2  + German Doctor Initiatives + Building Biology / Baubiologie Guidance Level).

Some people are more sensitive to radiation than others. Additionally, we currently do not know enough about children's tolerance for pulsed or UMTS-modulated microwave radiation. So, the risks of children and electrosensitive adults for symptoms and illnesses may be bigger. Electrosensitivity is a sub topic in the London conference. Brian Stein, Olle Johanson, Michael Landgrebe, Ulrich Frick and James Rubin have presentations about it.

Currently there is no generally accepted test available that can identify these electrosensitive people. The suggestion of Dariusz Leszczynski about gene and protein screening - is perhaps one way to define objectively these sensitive sub-populations.

I will provide some videos to watch and links to visit. So, that you see how multifaceted this area is.

- BioInititiative Report and why it was created

- Wi-Fi and schools

- Electrosmog in the clear with scientists

- Electrosensitive people - C dans l'air - France 5

- Is colony collapse the price of E.M.F progress?

- How research group leaders have changed their minds

- A precautionary advise, an example

(Unfortunately, some of the videos are "tagged" with advertisement texts ).

The debate in London will be ... intense.

If you happen to participate this conference, please, let me know. It would be nice to talk on site.

Comments on the blog welcome as well.

Two Quotations - Radiation Risks

“I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time, the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be far greater on a global scale, than warming, and the increase in chemical elements in the environment.’’

- Dr Robert O. Becker – twice nominated for the Nobel Prize

"The notion that non-ionizing radiation is harmless – the assumption of innocence – is no longer tenable. Research findings suggest that radiofrequency exposures are potentially carcinogenic and have other health effects. Therefore, prudent avoidance of unneeded exposures is recommended as a precautionary measure."

- The Late John R. Goldsmith, M.D., M.P.H.

- - - - - - - -

I welcome you to take a look at following two German inititiatives:

Mobilfunk Ärzteappell Allgäu-Bodensee-Oberschwaben (2006)

Bamberger Ärzteappell (2004)

+ Check the radiation level versus symptoms table.

When will the doctors in Nordic countries wake up?

- - - - - - -

Update 30th April 2008: My personal experience is closer than I ever would like to witness. I wrote an opinion piece "Radiation risks under control" for the University of Tampere Aikalainen magazine. This opinion "Säteilyriskit hallinnassa?" is written in Finnish , but the additional base station / cell tower related information might interest some of you?!

Red Orchestra - a Great Game or Just a Toy?

In my country, the Independence Day means remembering the wars we fought 60 years ago... Additionally, 80 % of Finnish men have served in the military, voluntarily. 

No wonder, we are so keen on playing military simulators of the 2nd world war era. One good example is Red Orchestra:

What makes this game so special? It has a fast Unreal-engine behind it, gameplay is well designed and it is realistic. I find it addictive and I sometimes play it with my friends. However, the game includes brutal scenes  and therefore I recommend to adults, only. Earlier I took a look at another military simulator, a mod called Finnish Defence Forces - Operation Flashpoint.

Still, isn't it a bit dumb to play games like that? In comparison, you should check the following paintball video from American woods. (Thanks again, Ari (Heinola) for this excellent tip).

BTW, What is the difference between boys and men?    

Bigger and more expensive toys ;-)