Presentation to SD 61 Committee on WiFi Radio Frequency Radiation and Cell Function: Cause for Concern

Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR) ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION is the term used to describe electromagnetic energy radiating away from its source. EMR is expressed in wavelengths calculated along the electromagnetic spectrum. RFR includes microwave radiation and provides the signals used by wireless devices. Sources of RF include cell and cordless phones, cellular antennas and towers, wireless internet routers, and broadcast transmission towers. WiFi utilizes radio frequency signals which operate between 300MHz and 300 GHz

Federal Guidelines Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Guidelines for RFR exposure are based on short-term, thermal effects. These standards do not account for the non-thermal effects of RFR exposure. In other words, these standards are based on antiquated science. As of today, there are no standards for non-thermal, long-term exposure to RFR, although countless studies have indicated biological harm at levels well below federal guidelines. According to Health Canada, “if exposures do not exceed the limits specified in Safety Code 6 (3 kHz to 300 GHz), then there is no convincing scientific evidence that any adverse health effects will occur.” The FCC guideline ranges between 200 and 1000 mW/cm 2 depending on the frequency. Many other countries’ guidelines tolerate much lower exposures.

Safety Code 6 Safety Code 6 is based on short term exposure (6 to 30 minutes). Most kids today are facing a lifetime of chronic exposure to EMF that their parents did not. The affects of this prolonged exposure are unknown and so this technology requires a precautionary approach.

Toronto’s Cell Phone Use Advisory Toronto Public Health issued a cell phone use advisory for children and teens in The advisory put forth by Toronto Public Health was founded on the belief that children must be protected from the potential cumulative impact of the swelling presence of microwave radiation in the urban landscape, especially since the long-term impact is so little understood. Children are often living in an environment completely saturated with RFR from cell phone towers, WiFi, hydro lines, cordless phone receivers etc. Schools should be a place where they get a break from chronic exposure especially since increased exposure to RFR can impair concentration, memory and mood; cognitive functions necessary for good academic performance.

Health Impacts of RFR The health impacts of RFR include…rare brain, neck, and ear tumors, childhood leukemia and other cancers, reduced reproductive capacity, migraines, vision and memory impairment, stress, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, moodiness, hyperactivity, loss of concentration, weakness, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, heart problems, changes to blood pressure and more. These symptoms have been measured and recorded in numerous studies over the last two decades.

Dr. Havas says… Havas, M. (2007). Analysis of Health and Environmental Effects of Proposed San Francisco Earthlink WiFi Network. Prepared for Board of Supervisors, City and County of San Francisco.

RFR and Cellular Function Many studies have observed that microwave radiation interferes with cell communication and thus normal cell function. As our cells detect the microwaves from wireless signals passing through our bodies they interpret their presence as “toxic” or “foreign”. This causes the cells to shut down, preventing incoming “information” from entering the cell. In other words, neighbouring cells stop communicating and so normal cell function is halted.

Meanwhile… inside the cell, the harmful bi-products of metabolism accumulate since the normal processes of the cell (in this case waste disposal) are shut down. So in other words, nothing gets in (nutrients, chemical messengers etc.) and nothing can get out of the cell.

When cell function and inter-cellular communication is chronically disabled a world of negative health impacts can result including impaired immune system, promotion of existing cancer cells, and cognitive malfunction. The key word is CHRONIC. LONG-TERM and CONSTANT exposure to increasing levels of additional background radiation is a serious risk to children’s health. Especially children, whose skulls are thinner and whose bodies and brains are still developing.

What Can We Learn from the Birds and the Bees? Honey bees have evolved for millions of years alongside the electric fields of the earth and its atmosphere. This has created a delicate balance that has only very recently been disrupted by the increasing prevalence of man-made electric fields in the environment.

The EMR emitted from wireless towers is suspected to interfere with honey bees’ ability to navigate their way back to the hive. Concerns about the effect of electric charges on honey bees have existed at least since the 1970s. Early work in the late 1920s identified the electric properties of insect hairs. Much later on, researchers began to discover that electromagnetic fields influence the behaviour and metabolism of insects. This raised questions in the 1970s about the impact of electric fields on communication, orientation, and weather sensitivity of insects.

Honey bees have extremely sensitive electric charges dispersed throughout their body which shift and change with the weather and with the colony as a whole. For example, the antenna potential of a queen bee is roughly twice that of a worker bee due to the presence of her paired ovaries. The queen’s ovaries comprise an extensive electrolytic surface which is easily affected by the presence of an electric field. Honey bees’ metabolism is also heavily reliant on the presence of electric fields.

Human beings are also delicate electrical systems! As Warnke (1976) points out, “under the influence of an external electric field, a bee and all electrolytic pathways in it (haemolymph, epidermal secretions) are affected.” Certainly more credence should be given to the potential for vast, artificial electromagnetic fields to cause serious disruption among honey bee colonies as well as other insect and animal communities.

Hot Spots of RFR Complicating the matter of RFR exposure and how it impacts our health is how little we understand the nature of the electromagnetic fields in our immediate environment at any given time. Even Health Canada admits that RFR exposures are “highly non- homogenous”. We can’t always be certain how different sources of EMR are interacting in our environment, or even, how many different sources are present. It is known, however, that radiation from different sources may interact to intensify the EMF and that radiation may be conducted or redirected (re-radiated) by certain metals. Re-radiation can create “hot spots” of intense radiation that would not normally be anticipated by standard calculations of exposure since the occurrence of re-radiation will be unique to the local environment.