Subject: (Evans) Recent article in a Canadian publication (fwd)
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 175630 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------
........Attention MICROSHIELD!!!!!..........
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org................
...It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness...
.................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS...............
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 18:06:35 -0400
From: "John D. Evans"
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: Recent article in a Canadian publication
Dear Roy,
I scanned an article that a friend of mine gave to me, and I formatted it
so that it could be transmitted easily. It is from "Report on Business
Magazine," March 1999. It may be of interest to our group.
**************************************************************************
TECH KNOW by Clive Thompson--An article in the March 1999 issue of "REPORT
ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE." Pages 95/96.
PHONE PHOBIA
COULD CELLPHONES REALLY BE MAKING US SICK? JUST WHEN WE'VE DECIDED THEY ARE
INDISPENSABLE?
A FEW YEARS AGO, LES WILSON STARTED GETTING STRANGE HEADACHES whenever he
used his cellphone. "It was hard to describe the sensation," he says. A
pressure in his head would build up and up, increasing the longer he used
his phone, until it felt like his skull was going to explode. One day, the
manufacturing entrepreneur was caught on the car phone for more than an
hour talking with an important client. "When I finished, I had to get out
of the car. I felt dizzy, sick. I had to lean against the side of the car
until I could function again."
Around the same time, he started developing short-term memory loss. "I'd be
in the middle of a sentence and just--bang--forget what I was going to
say," he says. "It was getting kind of embarrassing and rather frightening."
Wilson had heard rumours that cellphones, which use microwave radiation to
broadcast and receive signals, could cause such symptoms. After doing some
research, he decided it was true: Your head, he argues, can absorb up to
80% of the radiation from a cellphone, leading to everything from headaches
and distorted vision to brain tumours.
Since he didn't want to give up the convenience of his cellphone, Wilson--a
British electronics engineer by trade--began developing devices that would
screen out the radiation. In 1993, he patented the Microshield, a
leather-and-metal case that slips around a cellphone. Wilson claims the
device blocks up to 98% of the radiation from entering the user's head.
Wilson's company, Microshield, released the product in the spring of 1996.
Virtually overnight, Microshield ignited a raging debate over the health
effects of cellphones. It's particularly intense in Britain, where
mainstream papers cover the issue almost daily--and publish stories
charging cellphone makers with not only knowing about, but actually
covering up, the damage their devices do. In the midst of this rancour,
Microshield has sold more than 100,000 of its devices, many in bulk sales
to companies. "It's become really kind of crazy," says Louis Slesin,
editor of the New York-based Microwave News, an industry magazine.
It's not hard to see why things can get so emotional around the cellphone.
Like the personal computer, it is more than just a device--it's a
pop-culture icon, and thus comes complete with the obligatory existential
hype about liberation and freedom. Witness the florid ads depicting
people's lives transformed by portable communications; observe the
cellphone as "deus ex machina" in movies and on TV, from The X-Files to
Clueless. Moreover, cellphones are fast becoming ubiquitous as prices
drop ever further and companies like Sprint urge users to sign up their
kids. More than 65 million people in the United States today use
cellphones, up from almost none 10 years ago. Many of those 65 million are
required to use one for work--whether they're "hotelling" executives or
sales agents out in the field.
When a technology moves that fast, it's no wonder we get paranoid about it.
The track record on previous enthusiasms too carelessly embraced is
positively gruesome. Think about thalidomide or the breast-implant miasma.
Think about the cigarette--for years advertised as safe and cool by
authorities no less than doctors, prominent athletes, and, in one
jaw-dropping TV spot, Fred Flintstone.
Unfortunately, when it comes to cellphones, it's hard to know whom to trust.
On the one hand, people like Wilson have amassed some provocative evidence.
He points to studies such as the 1996 research by Henry Lai and Narendra
Singh of the University of Washington. They found that the DNA in rats'
brain cells was damaged after a two-hour exposure to radiation that was
below the levels considered safe by the U.S. government (the safety level
is considered 1.6 watts per kilogram of upper-body tissue; cellphones
usually operate below that). Wilson also points to a Scandinavian study,
released in May, 1998, in which almost 4,000 of 11,000 respondents to a
survey of cellphone users reported health problems ranging from headaches
to burning sensations in their heads.
And, to add fuel to the conspiracy angle, he notes that several cellphone
companies themselves have registered patents on technologies designed to
reduce the radiation in phones. "I see this as being the biggest cover-up
since smoking," Wilson says confidently.
Cellphone manufacturers, on the other hand, point out--quite
correctly--that there is no conclusive evidence showing damage. Moreover,
our bodies are bombarded by electromagnetic waves all day long, from
sources ranging from power lines to radio waves, yet there has been no
provable corresponding up-tick in cancer rates seen. "Don't trust us,
trust the regulatory agencies," says Norman Sandler, director of global
strategic issues for cellphone maker Motorola. "If there was something
wrong, they would have done something."
Sandler also scoffs at the idea that there's a cover-up. On the contrary,
he says, companies like Microshield are creating panic merely to sell their
products. Here, the battle lines are being drawn; last fall, Motorola
threatened legal action if Microshield didn't stop distributing a pamphlet
in the U.S. claiming the phones are dangerous (Microshield agreed).
The bottom line, of course, is that it's a classically, unsatisfying grey
area. No hard evidence exists either way: No one can prove cellphones are
a hazard; no one can prove they aren't. Third-party observers like Slesin
at Microwave News note this with chagrin, but point out that, given the
number of people complaining about health problems, there's reason to
proceed with caution. "This is not a Luddite fantasy," says Slesin. "There
are a lot of reasons to be concerned."
As I sit here talking to Slesin on my own cellphone, that is not
necessarily something I want to hear. When I bought it, I was aware of the
debate, and planned to use the phone only sparingly. Now, an obedient
disciple of manufactured desire, I'm racking up 200 minutes a month. Once
you've spliced a new technology into your life, it's hard to get rid of
it--even when you worry that it's doing you harm. Absent the tumours or
headaches, that may be the scariest thing of all.
Clive Thompson can be reached via E-mail at
BELOW IS THE COPY OF A SIDE BAR, "CELLPHONE LINKS"
Microshield (http://www. microshield.co.uk). The makers of the Microshield
have assembled a sprawling archive of evidence and reports which they argue
proves the health hazards of cellphones, and an industry cover-up.
World of Wireless Communications (http://www. wow-com.com). The Web site
for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the lobbying
voice of cellphone makers. Much info on business developments, but a few
press releases stating its position on the alleged health hazards.
Wireless Technology Research (http://www. wtrllc.com). Funded by cellphone
makers, this research group investigates the health hazards of cellphones.
Microwave News (http://www. microwavenews.com). The New York-based magazine
reports on electromagnetic-frequency health risks, with samples from each
issue posted on-line, and links to other resources.
Cheers,
John
**************************************************************
* John D. Evans, PhD, Retired Professor/Counsellor
* 8 Monroe Court
* Wellington, ON K0K 3L0
* Canada
*
* E-mail: jdevans@sympatico.ca
* Phone: 613-399-5089
*
* The heart of education is in the education of the heart
***************************************************************
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html