Subject: Electronic shortfall; hazards (fwd)
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 164101 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@mail.llion.org>
To: emfguru@hotmail.com
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 1998 09:52:14 -0400
From: Bdumpe@worldbank.org
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: Electronic shortfall; hazards
Roy: Could you broadcast please?
Friends: Thanks to hurricane Bonnie, the news is finally out that wireless
telecommunications systems are useless during power outages. It said so in
the front page of the Richmond (capital of Virginia) newspaper (Richmond
Times-Dispatch; Saturday, August 29, 1998). Recall that Virginia officials
are suing industry for erecting cellular and PCS towers on highways, which
cut through many municipalities without going through zoning. Of course,
industry always says "wireless service is imperative, mandatory, etc.to the
health safety and welfare of citizens. Virginia officials were not swayed,
and are prepared to take the violation to the Supreme Court. Industry had
been giving Virginia officials this song and dance about the need for
microwave towers for some time. But perhaps hurricane Bonnie will end their
game.
In Virginia Beach last week the velocity of the winds of hurricane Bonni,
which rapidly pushed sheets of rain onto land, was ONLY 90 miles per hour
(mph) whereas in Florida hurricane fury averages over 150 mph. Vicious
hurricane Bonnie scraped away building roofs and facings, and left several
communities in southeast Virginia without electric power. After the havoc
subsided our recently elected Governor Gilmore, the former Attorney General
of Virginia, was whirled about in a helicopter to survey the damage. The
third brief paragraph above the picture of Gilmore seems to coincide with
his bewildered facial expression. You know, that ?Do not con me fellow?
look. The moment of truth paragraph reads:
"Chesapeake [Virginia] reported 12 storm-related injuries, and
communications companies said the power outages interrupted cellular
telephone service."
Today, four days later, electric utility poles are still laying on the
ground like broken pretzels, Nearly 350,000 homes in the Virginia Beach
area remain powerless. Full power may not be restored until Wednesday of
this week. So power outages render cellphones silent, eh?Wonder if
government officials will now stop considering wireless communications the
utopian salvation of the world!
This is exactly what happened in Ottawa, Canada during the ice storm this
past winter. Power outages in Ottawa made it impossible to use cellphones.
Thus, the Ottawa paper reported that "emergency crews could not reach their
people in the field even though they had cellphones." Same thing in Florida
during the recent fires. Cellphones were useless, and the media reported
that "firemen were standing in line to use payphones." So why is industry
and government pushing tower siting and E-911 emergency service? Violent
weather will even cause towers with atomic clocks to topple. Microwave
towers are simply another hazard to contend with during calamitous weather.
This was a pretty good week and weekend for adverse news to the electronics
and telecom industry. Another healdline in rhe Washington Post (August 28)
read: "Virginia Beach Aims Law At Laser Pointers." Here is a personal
encounter with the laser pointer: Last week while I was homeward bound on
the Metrorail, during rush hour, a boy about age 9 was playing with a laser
his parents had bought for him while touring the Smithonian Museaum in
Washington. The tracks of Metrorail run through the center and parallel to
our major cross-state (east-west) highway called Route 66. This highway has
3 to 4 lanes going to Washington east), and an equal number of lanes
heading west towards rural suburbia. The boy was fascinated with the
lipstick size laser which radiated.a brilliant red light beam. His parents
thought it was great fun to see how far the laser beam would travel. The
mother pointed the laser out the closed train window. The beam passed
through the clear glass window, across the four-lane highway where cars
were zooming by, darted over the shoulder of the highway, and lit the
parched grass a dayglow red on the other side; at least 45 feet from the
train window. The red beam illuminated Route 66, the grass, and probably
people in the autos. The family applauded and laughed with glee. The boy
remarked "it was the perfect thing to take to school." He put the laser
close to his eyes and, squinting, read aloud the fine print, "Do not look
into the light beam. It could damage the eyes." He pressed the laser
against his finger, and the vivid red laser beam made the finger turned red
like blood. Well the Washington Post report mentioned above was similar. It
said, "Small but powerful toy laser pointers are being sold everywhere.The
pointer are being used wrecklessly by young people. They shine it into the
eyes of police in cruisers, performers at Ocean City, Maryland and Virginia
Beach, and at people in recreation spots in New York.
Outcome? Virginia, Maryland, New York and other states moved to restrict
the laser pointers which have caused temporary blindness, eye damage, and
other trauma to several people. And what did the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), which regulates devices, say? "Brief exposure to such
lasers can cause distraction and temporary vision loss; prolonged exposure
can cause eye injuries and retinal burning." What will the FDA do about the
laser pointers? Probably nothing like it does about everything else that is
EMR related. The agency should know lasers are hazardous, because last year
airline pilots complained that laser beams from light shows over Las Vegas,
Nevada were entering the cockpit of the airplanes and blinding them.
Laser pointers and cellphone jammers, which must operate at or near the
frequency of cellphones in order to cause interference or jamming, are
perhaps the start of civilian star wars. Since industry and government
reiterate EMR is safe or harmless, people of all ages will turn the
electronic devices on each other. Such lasers are already being used in
prisons. Trauma will be widespread. It is doubtful that any federal agency
will step in to protect citizens. After all, the RF emissions from
electronic products is supposed to be safe.
Bert
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