SIGHTINGS

Overhead Power Lines and Electric Fields Can Kill

Perhaps the most dangerous, damaging form of pollution facing Americans every minute of every day is invisible, soundless, and cannot be touched or felt. It is electromagnetic field radiation (EMF) and it is emanating from virtually every single electrical appliance, computer, electric wire, and especially high voltage lines (overhead and buried), which are carrying current. EMF is specifically causing cancer in children and in older adults and may be triggering countless other immune deficiency and psychological diseases and disorders in anyone in close proximity. Make no mistake about it: electric fields are bad news for your health and can be killers.

The government of Sweden funded an official, massive study of the effects of electric fields from overhead power lines on 500,000 people over a period of 25 years and found overwhelming evidence that electric fields generated cancer in children at 4 times the normal rate and tripled the rate in adults. Sweden lists electromagnetic fields (EMF) as Class 2 Carcinogens, right along with tobacco.

As far back as 1979, University of Colorado epidemiologist Nancy Wertheimer, Ph.D., firmly established a connection between low-voltage power lines in residential neighborhoods and instances of childhood leukemia. Her study showed that children living near these ordinary backyard variety power lines had three times the likelihood of developing childhood cancer. Larger gauge, high voltage transmission lines pose a much greater danger than typical backyard lines. Since then, many other studies have confirmed her findings and substantiated the link between 60hz AC electromagnetic radiation and increased risk of leukemia, lymphomas, and cancer of the brain and nervous system. Many scientists warn people not to live within 200 yards of high voltage power lines. Of 35 international research studies on electric field radiation, 33 established a conclusive link between brain tumors, leukemia, and other forms of cancer.

Scientists in Russia have done more studies on EMF than any other country and for decades have been reporting that electric fields cause high blood pressure, chronic stress effects, immune system dysfunction, changes in white and red blood cell counts, increased metabolism, chronic fatigue disorders, and headaches.

In 1990, The American Journal of Epidemiology published a study on the use of electric blankets which demonstrated "a quadrupling in the risk of brain tumors among children whose mothers slept under electric blankets during the first trimester of pregnancy."

Other studies report a clear linkage between EMF exposure and illnesses such as immune disorders, brain wave modification, and many other serious physical and psychological abnormalities and deficiencies.

60hz Alternating Current (AC)

Our electricity is primarily derived from 60hz AC which create an EMF that penetrates every cell in the body. The primary health risks caused by EMF's result from the conversion of AC electricity into a DC pattern of energy. The actual conversion of AC electricity into DC is primarily accomplished by the use of transformers and electric motors.

Overhead power lines and 'step-down' transformers present the biggest dangers to the average citizen. Step-down transformers look like large metal canisters and are found hanging on many utility poles and are commonly seen throughout residential neighborhoods. Electric motors are found everywhere from vacuum cleaners to hair dryers to refrigerators.

In the U.S., the EPA states that an electromagnetic field of only one milligauss is the maximum safe level of exposure. However, some Russian researchers assert that an electric field of only 1/1000th milligauss should be the maximum permissible exposure.

By these standards, we are all in big trouble. We are exposed to EMF 24 hours a day from electric shavers (14-1600 milligauss), hair dryers (3-1400 milligauss), electric blankets (extremely dangerous), TV's, stereos, VCR's, radios, computers, copiers, toasters, ovens, electric heaters, all electric appliances, microwaves, lamps, fluorescent lighting, dimmer switches, home and office wiring, electric toothbrushes, and waterbed heaters (all of which use AC to DC conversion for their operation). Many of these electronic devices are used intermittently and that is why consistent exposure to overhead high voltage power lines is considered the most dangerous of all.

There is also major electric field and extreme low frequency radiation (ELF) of many kinds being emitted from military installations, industrial machines, TV and radio transmitters, microwave transmission systems, cellular phones, high voltage power lines, and dozens of other sources. In fact, we live in a virtual fish bowl of radiation; a chaos of random photon bombardment which affects every living cell of the human body.

The Vulnerable Human Body

Human beings are, in reality, bio-electric machines usually operating at between 2 and 12 hz. Normal household current is 60hz and is completely incompatible and disruptive to the body's natural electric frequency range, neural transmission system, and its sensitive neuro-chemical equilibrium. 60hz electromagnetic radiation penetrates the entire body and brain 24 hours a day.

Each cell in the body contains positive and negatively charged elements that are kept in a delicate balance on the inside and outside of the cell wall. Electromagnetic, ELF, and microwave radiation disorders and disrupts this critical balance and plays havoc with the millions of electrical impulses that the body uses to regulate all cellular activity. The random and unorganized photons radiating from these fields also act as electromagnetic 'free radicals' which are often stored in cells as significant electrostatic charges which can cause major dysfunction at the cellular, molecular, and atomic levels.

Have you ever been in a car and driven under a high voltage power line and had your radio sound drowned out by static electricity? The human body takes the very same kind of punishment in the car, home, and office from the numerous sources of electric radiation which abound everywhere. And speaking of cars: many of them produce electric field radiation in the area of the front seat which can be two to three times stronger than EMF from some home appliances.

The reports of death and disease caused by electric field exposure are prolific; 11 of 65 workers on the first floor of a telephone company developed cancer from the electric field generated by a mass of electrical equipment housed in a room adjacent to their office; a San Francisco elementary school had 22 cases of cancer among the staff who worked in the front of the building near with overhead high voltage lines and four pole-mounted transformers outside; and clinical research showed human cancer cells in a lab experiment exposed to 60 hz (household variety) electric fields proliferated and within one week were cloning six times as fast as normal.

Furthermore, UCLA studies showed that electric field radiation on animals caused changes in the firing rate of brain cells, changes in their EEG's and lowered behavior scores on repeat testing; permanent changes in learning ability have been documented. Short term memory impairment has been reported on subjects exposed to common 60hz fields and an American study showed a 300% increase in brain tumors in children whose mothers used electric blankets during pregnancy. Even many police departments have banned the use of hand-held radar guns because of the proven link between long term EMF exposure from these devices and cancer among police officers who use them.

The Bedroom Is Often the Most Dangerous
Place In the Home

A good night's sleep. For many, it has been years since they have been able to use that expression. Tired of laying awake nights? Tired of waking up 'half-dead' in the morning? Tired of taking sleeping pills and tranquilizers to sleep? If so, you are not alone. There are from 20-70 million chronic insomniacs in the U.S. and millions more who sleep poorly.

After a rough night of tossing and turning, the gritting and grinding of teeth, having nightmares, sweating, suffering through muscle cramps and spasms, millions of these people will get up and drag themselves through the day in near exhaustion, working at levels far below normal efficiency. Lost productivity in the U.S. from poor sleep runs into the billions. And how many accidents on the road are caused by fatigue and poor sleep?

Many researchers and scientists now feel that electromagnetic field radiation, both from within and without the bedroom, is the single biggest factor in poor sleep. And poor health. Look around your bedroom. Is there a clock radio on the nightstand near your pillow? A tv? A stereo? Do you see an electric blanket? Are there high voltage power lines with close to your residence? All or any of these electric sources can ruin your sleep and can substantially increase your risk of developing cancer and any number of diseases, both psychological and physical.

While you sleep, your body relaxes and is unconscious. In this state of vulnerability, research indicates you are 100-150 times more open to the damage of electromagnetic radiation that when you are awake. Children are often up to 1,000 times more sensitive to these fields when they are asleep. That TV screen in your bedroom will radiate energy all night...even after it has been unplugged. It can take hours or even days for the built-up voltage in the television to dissipate.

The worst of all electrical bedroom appliances are clock radios, electric alarm clocks, electric blankets, and waterbed heaters. Scientists have established that a simple clock radio or electric alarm clock on the night stand near your head can radiate an electromagnetic field into your brain and body that can cause very serious problems health problems.

Electric blankets radiate fields over 70,000 times higher than normal acceptable levels. If you insist on using an electric blanket, warm your bed and then unplug it before you retire for the night. Do not leave it plugged in while you sleep, even if it is turned off. Outside high voltage power lines continually radiate EMF 24 hours a day.

A Siege of Electromagnetic Radiation

Ever since Thomas Edison energized the first electric power plant in 1882, humanity has made ever increasing use of electricity. The result is that we now live in a sea of dangerous and deadly electromagnetic radiation that we cannot sense and has never before existed on the earth. This massive onslaught of new radiation is causing stress, disease, and other harmful and destructive effects the world over by interfering with the most basic levels of the bodyıs cells and especially the human brain.

Specifically, the human brain (and the brains of all living things) evolved and has been regulated over a period of 3 billion years by the earth's naturally-occurring narrow band of extreme low frequency radiation, commonly known as ELF. Throughout history, this narrow range of frequency occurred only in the 1-30 Hertz range and was produced by the natural resonance of the earth's surface. The only other electromagnetic radiation of any magnitude was in the 1,000 HZ range which is produced during lightning discharges in storms. The remainder of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum was empty. There was nothing there!

It does not require great insight to realize that the vast new spectrum of electromagnetic radiation that has been unleashed on humanity in the last 100 years is overwhelming, highly-destructive, and disruptive on a scale unprecedented over a period of 3 billion years (the potential use of electromagnetic radiation to control and influence the psychological behavior and health of human beings has not been lost on the military-industrial complex either. But thatıs another story).

In summary, the research done in the common 60hz range (household current) has demonstrated repeatedly that electromagnetic radiation can cause serious, sometimes fatal disease, major psychological and physical stress, and changes in hormones, body weight, and blood chemistry. EMF-induced decreases in immune competency alone have contributed to a wide range of illnesses and psychological disorders that have resulted in vast suffering, loss of productivity, and shortened lives. The current epidemic of numerous degenerative diseases including cancer and leukemia and other immune dysfunctions is not purely coincidental and often relates directly to the catastrophic effects of uncontrolled electromagnetic radiation in our ever-declining environment.

In the summer of 1996, a U.S. Federal Court ruled that citizens may not bring suit against electric power companies over electromagnetic radiation emissions.

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