Subject:  EMF hazards nearby, fire fighting safety (Lundquist)..
Date:     Thu, 6 Jan 2000 090647 -0600 (CST)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
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.......Coming to you on EMF-L.......

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 5 Jan 00 11:43:46 MST
From: MARJORIE LUNDQUIST 
To: Marjorie Lundquist 
Cc: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: fire fighting safety....


Jonathan Lee, who indicates he is a fire-fighter in the UK, raised a very
interesting question which I discuss below:  is it safe to raise a ladder in
the vicinity of a base transmitter?  I assume he was referring to the ladders
that fire-fighters use when they are fighting fires, rescuing people from
burning buildings, and so on.

I do think this could be harmful in principle.  But whether it would be
harmful in practice, I cannot say without some study of the matter.  Here are
some comments from me that may be helpful as guidelines:

(1)  In general, long exposure to low-intensity fields is required to produce
harmful effects on health.  This means that brief exposures are fairly
low-risk.

(2)  The risk is greater if one is close to a number of different microwave
transmitters at the same time, than if one is close to just one microwave
transmitter at a time.  This means that a mast carrying a single base
transmitter is low-risk; but a mast carrying multiple base transmitters is
higher in risk.

(3)  If there is a large number of transmitters on a single mast (a dozen or
more, for example), the risk could rise so high that even a short period of
exposure close to the transmitters could be harmful.

(4)  The conventional method of measuring exposure (measurement of power
density) and the conventional standards that are applied to the power density
for the purpose of protecting human health are irrelvant and misleading, and
ought not to be relied upon as evidence of safety.  The truth is that there do
not exist valid safety standards for mammalian exposure to radio-frequency or
microwave radiation fields that apply to nonthermal health effects (such as
cancer); and the existing standards (which ARE valid for protecting against
THERMAL hazards) strictly apply only in the far field of a radiation source,
not in the near field!

(5)  If a ladder must be raised in the near field of a microwave transmitter
and a human being must climb this ladder, it would be best if the ladder were
made of a material that is NOT electrically conducting.  This rules out
ladders made of metal.  (A wooden ladder would be good if it could be kept
dry; but if it will be wet, then it needs to be made of something that not
only will not absorb water, but also makes the water "bead up" on its surface,
instead of forming a film over the surface.  The only thing I can think of is
Teflon, but it is not strong enough to make a ladder out of.  If a dry wooden
ladder could be totally coated with Teflon, that might make an effective
ladder to use.) -- Marjorie

********************************
Marjorie Lundquist, Ph.D., C.I.H
Bioelectromagnetic Hygienist
P. O. Box 11831
Milwaukee, WI  53211-0831  USA
********************************





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Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com