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Wi-Fi/Mobile Phone EMF Shield/Harmonizers

Wi-Fi/Mobile Phone EMF Shield/Harmonizers

Introduction

Powerful electromagnetic fields exist under overhead power lines. The cables carried on pylons across the countryside often have potentials of four hundred thousand volts or more. If you stand under such a line you will often be able to hear a rhythmic humming. In damp weather you can hear the crackling as some of the electricity discharges into the atmosphere. ?Under the more powerful lines the fields will light up a fluorescent tube when someone stands underneath the cables holding one end of the tube. ( Warning: This is a potentially dangerous trick, so you should not try it yourself!). At least one individual is on record who remembered enough school science to erect a cable strung between two poles under a power line near his home, connected the ends to his household supply and got free power until the authorities caught up with him and sued him for stealing electricity! You do not need physical connections to extract power from an electrical field.

The person with the fluorescent tube standing under the power line also had electrical currents and voltages induced in his body. This happens because the blood and other body fluids conduct electricity and, as with any conductor in a moving electric field, a current will be produced in the body. You have seen how even the much lower voltages of mains cables at home will produce this phenomenon and you can demonstrate the effect using an earthed voltmeter in the way described in the last chapter. Obviously the effect will be much bigger directly under a pylon.

You can alarmingly demonstrate this induction effect by parking a vehicle (the larger the better) under a power line' High static charges will build up m the metal body and because of the rubber tires will only slowly be discharged to earth. A large spark will be produced if you reach out to touch the van.

Despite these obvious and measurable effects, the official position of the electric power companies has always been that, party tricks accepted, there is no possibility that even long-term exposure to high electromagnetic fields can have injurious effects on health.

An electromagnetic field (also called electromagnetic radiation) is a region in space through which energy passes that has been created by electrically charged particles. EMFs are produced by such things as power lines, electric appliances, radio waves, and microwaves.

Many people fear that EMFs cause cancer; however, a causal connection between EMFs and cancer has not been established. The National Research Council (NRC) spent more than three years reviewing more than 500 scientific studies that had been conducted over a 20-year period and found "no conclusive and consistent evidence" that electromagnetic fields harm humans. The chairman of the NRC panel, neurobiologist Dr. Charles F. Stevens, said that "Research has not shown in any convincing way that electromagnetic fields common in homes can cause health problems, and extensive laboratory tests have not shown that EMFs can damage the cell in a way that is harmful to human health."*

Nevertheless, it is impossible to prove that no study will ever find a significant correlation between EMFs and cancer or any other disease or disorder. No product can be shown to be absolutely safe for everybody. For example, a 2004 British Medical Journal article claimed to have found an inexplicable increase in leukemia in children living near power lines in England and Wales. The researchers wrote: "There is no accepted biological mechanism to explain the epidemiological results; indeed, the relation may be due to chance or confounding." On the other hand, a 2003 study of women on Long Island found no causal connection between living near power lines and developing breast cancer. A single study does not prove there is or there isn't a causal link between EMFs and cancer. We have to look at what is indicated by the preponderance of the evidence from all the studies.

There is also a strong contingent of folks hell-bent on proving this link, so it is likely that studies will continue to be done that support a contrary viewpoint. For example, a research team in Sweden found an increased risk for brain tumors in people who used cellular or cordless phones (2006). The study was a small one and assessed exposure by self-administered questionnaires. On the other hand, a large Danish study (420,000 mobile phone users) found neither long nor short-term mobile phone use to be associated with an increased risk of cancer (2006). The Danish study did not use the memories of the subjects to assess exposure; they analyzed data from mobile phone company records. Another small Swedish study found no increased risk of acoustic neuroma related to short-term mobile phone use (2004). The researchers thought that their data suggest an increased risk of acoustic neuroma associated with mobile phone use of at least 10 years duration. They don't say how they measured exposure, but they note that "detailed information about mobile phone use and other environmental exposures was collected." Other studies on laboratory animals have found effects from microwave exposure. Some studies have collected data suggestive of possible harmful effects from cell phone microwave exposure, but they are too small to have ruled out chance or other causal agents or they have not been tested on in vivo cells.

Recently, the alarm has been raised by some who fear that damage might be done to our brains from being exposed to Wi-Fi. Despite the fact that modulated frequencies bringing radio and television transmissions into our homes are stronger and more pervasive than the radio waves used by wireless networks, there has been little call to reduce radio or TV transmission. (The power levels for Wi-Fi are lower than that for cell phones, by the way. Photons of visible light carry more energy than microwaves and bombard us much more frequently than microwaves from such things as cell phones or wireless networks. Microwave ovens are "tuned for optimal water absorption, which happens to be about 2.45 gigahertz."* Despite numerous scare stories about the effects of microwaved water and food on people, animals, and plants, you can't do anything to food or water with a microwave oven that you couldn't also do in a conventional oven with infrared waves,* assuming you use the ovens as intended. Microwaved food is safe and poses no health hazard.)

One university president has banned Wi-Fi on his campus, claiming:

microwave radiation in the frequency range of Wi-Fi has been shown to increase permeability of the blood-brain barrier, cause behavioral changes, alter cognitive functions, activate a stress response, interfere with brain waves, cell growth, cell communication, calcium ion balance, etc., and cause single and double strand DNA breaks.*

Benefits/Uses:

The use of Wi-Fi has gained tremendous popularity as there is an ever-increasing demand for wireless access to the local area network (LAN). The term Wi-Fi is developed and used by the Wi-Fi Alliance to describe wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards. With the help of these products, consumers will be able to access internet, cable free, in public places like airports, hotels, shopping centers and especially in places where cables cannot be run. Since Wi-Fi certified products comply with a unified global standard, devices equipped with standard Wi-Fi components will work anywhere in the world offering conveniences that even mobile phone is unable to match up with. Connection to the WLAN is achieved through transmission and reception of data over the air by radio waves operating at 2.4 and 5 GHz range. The 2.4 Wi-Fi frequency is the same frequency that is used by typical microwave ovens used at home. As we have heard frequently the concerns about the safety of electric magnetic fields (EMF), the increasing demand for Wi-Fi will definitely bring unease to many critics.

It has been well established that overexposures to EMF will cause thermal heating of the human body. Many biological effects induced by EMF have been reported, but no adverse health effects have ever been substantiated. The use of Wi-Fi products is subjected to the same standards that are applied to other EMF generating devices such as microwave oven, mobile phone antenna, induction heater, etc. The exposure guidelines established by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) have been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as guidelines for EMF protection. These exposure guidelines are designed to offer protection against all known health effects from EMF with a wide margin of safety. Although some scientists remain skeptical about the health impact on exposure to EMF, it is currently accepted by the scientific community that there is no established scientific evidence of any adverse health effect from repeated exposures to EMF present at or below the recommended limits.

Health, Safety and Environment Office (HSEO) has recently conducted an EMF survey to monitor the emission from the Wi-Fi systems installed on campus. These systems were generally installed on the false ceiling. Depending on the area covered, more than one access points may be required in some places. The survey locations included public corridors, classrooms, lecture theaters, library and a number of selected locations where Wi-Fi antennae were installed. It was found that none of the antenna had emission higher than the current limit allows and the Wi-Fi antennae were installed at locations where direct contact of the antenna by the public is restricted. In addition, the power emitted by the Wi-Fi products commercially available is much lower than the microwave oven or mobile phone. Public exposures to EMF generated by these devices at levels exceeding the limits recommended by the ICNIRP standard are highly unlikely. HSEO will continue to monitor these Wi-Fi antennae to ensure they satisfy the applicable standards currently available and to implement amendment adopted in these standards or regulatory requirements as needed.