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                            MAN:  The Human Receiver
         This article appeared in Monitoring Times, March, 1991 issue.
                                  by Bob Grove

Two types of radiation, ionizing and non-ionizing, pervade our planet.
Ionizing radiation is produced by nuclear energy (radioactivity) as unleashed
by nuclear explosions and power plant accidents.  It is also present in nature
as attested to by the continuing concerns about radon gas in our homes.  Non-
ionizing electromagnetic radiation (NIEMR) is more insidious, everywhere we
look in our electric world we see its evidence, in our homes, offices, vehicles
and even on the open road.

The suspicion that radio waves and other forms of electromagnetic (EM)
pollution may be harmful has been with us for decades.  Early radar experiments
cooked the experimenters;  now scientists suspect that weaker energy fields
like those produced by electric power lines may have delayed effects.
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Some Alarming Statistics

Dr. Genevieve Matanoski of Johns Hopkins University claims that there is a
disturbing link between human cancer and exposure to power lines.  She cites
the high level of cancer among telephone linemen and breast cancer among male
repairmen working on central office switching equipment.  Data collected by the
University of North Carolina suggest that pregnant women who use electric
blankets are 70% more likely to induce leukemia and 130% more likely to induce
brain cancer into their unborn children.  Young children using electric
blankets seem to have a 50% higher cancer rate and 90% higher leukemia
incidence than non-electric-blanket users.  Even electrically-heated water beds
are suspect.  Fortunately, the actual numbers of these cases are small.

So what is the government<6E>s official stance on the NIEMR question?  The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement in June 1990 in which
they observed that "there is a small but statistically significant correlation
between electromagnetic fields and cancer."  It is the magnetic, not electric,
component of the fields that the EPA holds suspect.

White House Science Advisor D. Allan Bromley and Assistant Secretary of Health
James Mason withheld from the public for six months, ostensibly to prevent
alarm, a portion of the report which concluded that there is "a consistent
pattern of response which suggests a causal link" between electric power line
radiation and leukemia, brain cancer and lymphoma among children.  A summary of
the EPA study was finally released in full in mid-December 1990.  Not
unexpected, the U.S. Air Force, with its extensive deployment of video
terminals and other electronics, blasted the report and EPA, saying that Air
Force reviewers have never found any evidence of a link between electromagnetic
fields and cancer.  Further, they charged that the EPA "biased the entire
document" to establish such a link.

We know very little about the hazards of electromagnetic radiation because of
its recency, but when unexplained trash fires erupt spontaneously near power
lines in Honolulu, or the incidence of Down's Syndrome (Mongolism) is unusually
high in Vernon, New Jersey, the site of an enormous satellite transmitting
complex, there is cause for concern.
Paul Brodeur, author of the books, Currents of Death and The Zapping of America
(both published by Simon and Schuster), accuses the White House of "suppression
and politicization of a major health issue."  In the July 9, 1990, issue of the
New Yorker, Brodeur reports increased cases of miscarriages, brain tumors,
birth defects and cancers among residents near power lines.  Some experts
disagree with Brodeur whom they see as an alarmist fanning the flames of the
popular press.  Most researchers do seem to agree, however, that long-term,
nearby exposures are more hazardous that short-term, distant exposures, and
that simply restringing power line cables so that they are close together
dramatically reduces their radiation.  With this information now public, what
are the legal ramifications for power companies who have done nothing to
correct the problem?

The hazards of computer video display terminals have been well publicized, but
how are they different from TV screens?  They<65>re not.  But computer operators
sit right in front of their screens, and only terminal couch potatoes get that
close to their vidiot boxes!  The lesson is to sit at least an arm's length
away from the screen to significantly reduce the radiation hazard.  The
December 1990 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reports a
sharp increase in brain cancer cases over the last few years.  There are
concerns as well about antenna radiation from walkie-talkies, ham and CB
radios, broadcasting transmitters, and cellular and cordless telephones.  While
some of these technologies may be relatively new, critics claim that the
government is purposely avoiding such studies, afraid of the political
consequences of revealing the truth.

In a faltering economy, homeowners near power lines are doubly hurt, finding
their property values plummeting.  Power companies could face lawsuits for
maintaining wide-spaced, overhead power lines when they are aware that close
spacing and underground placement dramatically reduce electromagnetic exposure.
Obviously, homes, playgrounds and schools should not be close to high tension
lines.  Other industries as well face staggering lawsuits brought by employees
who feel that their disabilities were caused by electric and electronic
equipment to which they were exposed.  Computer operators should stay at least
30 inches from their screens (and 36 inches from the sides and back).

Like other forms of pollution, the cost to clean up the electromagnetic
environment would filter down to the consumer who is already burdened by high
taxes and economic recession.

A generation of experimentation

In the early 1970s, Dr. Ross Adey discovered that low-level 16 Hz radiation
would alter the flow of calcium ions in the brain; the U.S. Navy pulses their
420 MHz long-distance radar bursts at 18.5 Hz, well within the "calcium
window."  Dan Lyle, an associate of Adey's, discovered that a 60-Hz-modulated
450 MHz signal could alter the immune system.  In England, Richard Dixey and
Glen Rein showed that pulsed 600 Hz fields affect the body's neurotransmitters.
What effect does the Navy<76>s Project ELF 76 Hz transmitters have?

EM experiments with humans were reported long ago:  6.6 Hz caused depression,
11 Hz caused agitation and riotous behavior, 8 Hz produced elated feelings, and
frequencies below 6.26 Hz induced confusion and anxiety.  What are the
consequences of the global 10 Hz radio pulses from the Russian "woodpecker"?

Red, green and blue color perception may be enhanced by placing electrodes on
the subject's temples and introducing 42.5 and 77 Hz voltages.  Robert Becker,
in his recent book, The Body Electric Electromagnetism and the Foundations of
Life, states that 30-100 Hz electric fields, weaker than even the earth's
natural magnetic field, interfere with the body<64>s cycles and rhythms, producing
chronic stress and impairment disease.

The human body's nervous-system works on very minute pulses of electrical
energy, typically a few millionths of a volt.  The heart depolarizes, producing
a beat, in only a quarter second. It doesn<73>t take much induced EM to interfere
with those tiny signal levels.  Currents as low as 10 milliamperes produce
pain, while those in the 100-200 milliampere ranges are lethal.

Our earth is constantly bathed in waves of electromagnetic energy from the sun,
the planets and even more distant heavenly bodies.  How do these emanations
influence our daily lives?  What are their long term effects?

30 years ago Charles Susskind at the University of California, under a U.S. Air
Force grant, demonstrated that 3-cm radar transmissions killed laboratory mice
in front of a radar horn when their body temperature exceeded 111 degrees (your
tax dollars inventing the microwave oven!).  In 1962 Susskind and his
assistant, Susan Prausnitz, published their daring conclusion that pulsed
microwaves could cause leukemia.

In another experiment, ants lined up in a 3-cm EM field, aligning their
antennae parallel to the field in an effort to minimize the effect.  Not
surprising, since the antenna of an ant is very nearly a quarter wave resonator
at 3 cm.  The ant-alignment behavior was observed at frequencies as low as 9
MHz.

It was during that period that a report from the National Institute for
Neurological Diseases warned that the frequency 388 MHz was noted to have a
lethal effect on monkeys.  Subsequent experiments with a milliwatt-power
oscillator positioned several feet away from human subjects and swept through
the 380-500 MHz range elicited a "pulsing in the brain," ringing in the ears,
and a powerful urge to sink their teeth into the experimenter!

In that experiment, each individual appeared to have his own "resonant"
frequency, probably a function of the height of the body acting as a half-wave
antenna.  Most humans should resonate at around 82-85 MHz (TV channel 6; do you
live near a TV transmitter?).

Extremely low frequency brain waves have long been identified; delta (1-3 Hz)
are related to deep sleep; theta (4-7 Hz) reflect mood; alpha (8-12 Hz) imply
relaxation; and beta (13-22 Hz) are tied to conscious thought.

Externally-pulsed lights can alter behavior in the human: 6-7 Hz induces anger;
10 Hz is soothing but may trigger epileptic seizures in vulnerable subjects by
synchronizing with the alpha waves.  And there is the story about a man who
involuntarily tries to strangle an adjacent patron every time he visits a movie
house, triggered by the 24-frame-per-second film flicker!

Animals have their own sets of frequencies.  Some snakes "hypnotize" their prey
with a 3 Hz dance; many animals flea in terror when they hear vibrations in the
7-15 Hz range, possibly a primordial reaction to earthquakes.  Infrasound
(under 20 Hz) can take its toll in human adjustment as well, producing
disorientation and even euphoria.

Professor Geraud, a French engineer, became ill from the continuous 7 Hz
vibration of an office air conditioner.  Noting that the sound generated by
French police whistles had low frequency components, he built a six-foot, air-
powered replica, which killed his laboratory assistant with one blast!

Later experiments showed that high-intensity infrasound could destroy buildings
at distances of five miles.  Pulsing rock music mesmerize its audience while
the soft 1.2 Hz beat of a mother<65>s heart soothes her baby.

By 1930 Nrunori claimed that humans react to radio emissions at 129 MHz and its
harmonics, while in the 1920<32>s Cazzamalli bombarded volunteer subjects with VHF
radiation to induce hallucinations.  He also claimed to have recorded re-
radiated "beats" of emotional reactions using an untuned galena crystal
receiver and a galvanometer during the RF blitz from his "oscillatori
telegrafica."

More recently, UHF fields reportedly change brainwave patterns in rabbits,
alter the heartbeat of chicken embryos, change the optical properties of
glycogen (which supplies our muscles with energy), reduce conditioned reflexes
in laboratory animals, increase visual sensitivity (while reducing color
perception), expedite the regrowth of severed nerve tissue (in short exposures
only; long-term exposure suppresses the regrowth), and affect our reaction to
pain (weak fields are an analgesic while strong fields are painful).  Fifteen-
meter (21 MHz) signals increase the germination of gladiolus bulbs while ten
meter (29 MHz) energy kills bugs in bread!

And experimentation on a generation

The earth's natural magnetic field varies from place to place; could it have
correspondingly varying effects on the human body as well as variably alter the
effects of radiation?

One hypothesis suggests that NIEMR causes cancer by increasing the rate of cell
reproduction (DNA and RNA alteration), by suppressing the immune system and by
making abnormal cells resistant to the body's natural defense system.

Could it be that pulsed EM waves are the modern-day equivalent of the Chinese
water torture, taking its toll on human mental health a little at a time?
Could this partly explain our accelerating crime rate?  Are we changing our
evolution by altering our genetic structure?

Perhaps most important of all, can we do anything to protect ourselves?
Absolutely.  Don't live near high tension lines.  Use underground power lines
to your home and have them enter at an unoccupied part of the dwelling like
the garage.

Keep at least an arm's length from CRT video screens.  Install ham or CB
transmitting antennas at least 20 feet away from occupied parts of the house.
The higher the frequency, the greater the effect on tissue, especially the lens
of the eye and the testicles.  Use low transmit power, linears are for sissies!
Keep walkie-talkie transmissions short; portable cellular telephones at 800 MHz
are particularly suspect.  Warm your bed with an electric blanket before you
get in, then switch it off when you slip under it.  Keep several feet away from
electric appliances & line operated clocks, mixers, toasters and the like.

Activism

Suits against the perpetrators of this uninvited blitz of toxicity will
probably increase.  Charges of negligence, liability, nuisance, trespass and
even battery have been successfully brought recently in similar cases.  Join a
recognized consumer lobby group.  A collected voice IS heard in Washington!

For those readers who wish additional information, an excellent overview of
NIEMR health hazard studies and legal cases, complete with bibliography,
appeared in the August 1990, issue of Trial magazine, a publication of the
American Trial Lawyers Association.
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