241 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
241 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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| File Name : HUMAN1.ASC | Online Date : 09/14/94 |
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| Contributed by : Jerry Decker | Dir Category : KEELY |
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| From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 |
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| KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187 |
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| A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences |
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MAN: The Human Receiver
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This article appeared in Monitoring Times, March, 1991 issue.
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by Bob Grove
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Two types of radiation, ionizing and non-ionizing, pervade our planet.
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Ionizing radiation is produced by nuclear energy (radioactivity) as unleashed
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by nuclear explosions and power plant accidents. It is also present in nature
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as attested to by the continuing concerns about radon gas in our homes. Non-
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ionizing electromagnetic radiation (NIEMR) is more insidious, everywhere we
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look in our electric world we see its evidence, in our homes, offices, vehicles
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and even on the open road.
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The suspicion that radio waves and other forms of electromagnetic (EM)
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pollution may be harmful has been with us for decades. Early radar experiments
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cooked the experimenters; now scientists suspect that weaker energy fields
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like those produced by electric power lines may have delayed effects.
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Some Alarming Statistics
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Dr. Genevieve Matanoski of Johns Hopkins University claims that there is a
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disturbing link between human cancer and exposure to power lines. She cites
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the high level of cancer among telephone linemen and breast cancer among male
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repairmen working on central office switching equipment. Data collected by the
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University of North Carolina suggest that pregnant women who use electric
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blankets are 70% more likely to induce leukemia and 130% more likely to induce
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brain cancer into their unborn children. Young children using electric
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blankets seem to have a 50% higher cancer rate and 90% higher leukemia
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incidence than non-electric-blanket users. Even electrically-heated water beds
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are suspect. Fortunately, the actual numbers of these cases are small.
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So what is the government<6E>s official stance on the NIEMR question? The
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement in June 1990 in which
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they observed that "there is a small but statistically significant correlation
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between electromagnetic fields and cancer." It is the magnetic, not electric,
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component of the fields that the EPA holds suspect.
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White House Science Advisor D. Allan Bromley and Assistant Secretary of Health
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James Mason withheld from the public for six months, ostensibly to prevent
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alarm, a portion of the report which concluded that there is "a consistent
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pattern of response which suggests a causal link" between electric power line
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radiation and leukemia, brain cancer and lymphoma among children. A summary of
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the EPA study was finally released in full in mid-December 1990. Not
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unexpected, the U.S. Air Force, with its extensive deployment of video
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terminals and other electronics, blasted the report and EPA, saying that Air
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Force reviewers have never found any evidence of a link between electromagnetic
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fields and cancer. Further, they charged that the EPA "biased the entire
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document" to establish such a link.
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We know very little about the hazards of electromagnetic radiation because of
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its recency, but when unexplained trash fires erupt spontaneously near power
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lines in Honolulu, or the incidence of Down's Syndrome (Mongolism) is unusually
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high in Vernon, New Jersey, the site of an enormous satellite transmitting
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complex, there is cause for concern.
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Paul Brodeur, author of the books, Currents of Death and The Zapping of America
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(both published by Simon and Schuster), accuses the White House of "suppression
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and politicization of a major health issue." In the July 9, 1990, issue of the
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New Yorker, Brodeur reports increased cases of miscarriages, brain tumors,
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birth defects and cancers among residents near power lines. Some experts
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disagree with Brodeur whom they see as an alarmist fanning the flames of the
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popular press. Most researchers do seem to agree, however, that long-term,
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nearby exposures are more hazardous that short-term, distant exposures, and
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that simply restringing power line cables so that they are close together
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dramatically reduces their radiation. With this information now public, what
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are the legal ramifications for power companies who have done nothing to
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correct the problem?
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The hazards of computer video display terminals have been well publicized, but
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how are they different from TV screens? They<65>re not. But computer operators
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sit right in front of their screens, and only terminal couch potatoes get that
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close to their vidiot boxes! The lesson is to sit at least an arm's length
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away from the screen to significantly reduce the radiation hazard. The
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December 1990 issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reports a
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sharp increase in brain cancer cases over the last few years. There are
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concerns as well about antenna radiation from walkie-talkies, ham and CB
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radios, broadcasting transmitters, and cellular and cordless telephones. While
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some of these technologies may be relatively new, critics claim that the
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government is purposely avoiding such studies, afraid of the political
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consequences of revealing the truth.
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In a faltering economy, homeowners near power lines are doubly hurt, finding
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their property values plummeting. Power companies could face lawsuits for
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maintaining wide-spaced, overhead power lines when they are aware that close
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spacing and underground placement dramatically reduce electromagnetic exposure.
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Obviously, homes, playgrounds and schools should not be close to high tension
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lines. Other industries as well face staggering lawsuits brought by employees
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who feel that their disabilities were caused by electric and electronic
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equipment to which they were exposed. Computer operators should stay at least
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30 inches from their screens (and 36 inches from the sides and back).
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Like other forms of pollution, the cost to clean up the electromagnetic
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environment would filter down to the consumer who is already burdened by high
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taxes and economic recession.
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A generation of experimentation
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In the early 1970s, Dr. Ross Adey discovered that low-level 16 Hz radiation
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would alter the flow of calcium ions in the brain; the U.S. Navy pulses their
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420 MHz long-distance radar bursts at 18.5 Hz, well within the "calcium
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window." Dan Lyle, an associate of Adey's, discovered that a 60-Hz-modulated
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450 MHz signal could alter the immune system. In England, Richard Dixey and
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Glen Rein showed that pulsed 600 Hz fields affect the body's neurotransmitters.
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What effect does the Navy<76>s Project ELF 76 Hz transmitters have?
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EM experiments with humans were reported long ago: 6.6 Hz caused depression,
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11 Hz caused agitation and riotous behavior, 8 Hz produced elated feelings, and
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frequencies below 6.26 Hz induced confusion and anxiety. What are the
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consequences of the global 10 Hz radio pulses from the Russian "woodpecker"?
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Red, green and blue color perception may be enhanced by placing electrodes on
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the subject's temples and introducing 42.5 and 77 Hz voltages. Robert Becker,
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in his recent book, The Body Electric Electromagnetism and the Foundations of
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Life, states that 30-100 Hz electric fields, weaker than even the earth's
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natural magnetic field, interfere with the body<64>s cycles and rhythms, producing
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chronic stress and impairment disease.
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The human body's nervous-system works on very minute pulses of electrical
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energy, typically a few millionths of a volt. The heart depolarizes, producing
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a beat, in only a quarter second. It doesn<73>t take much induced EM to interfere
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with those tiny signal levels. Currents as low as 10 milliamperes produce
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pain, while those in the 100-200 milliampere ranges are lethal.
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Our earth is constantly bathed in waves of electromagnetic energy from the sun,
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the planets and even more distant heavenly bodies. How do these emanations
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influence our daily lives? What are their long term effects?
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30 years ago Charles Susskind at the University of California, under a U.S. Air
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Force grant, demonstrated that 3-cm radar transmissions killed laboratory mice
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in front of a radar horn when their body temperature exceeded 111 degrees (your
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tax dollars inventing the microwave oven!). In 1962 Susskind and his
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assistant, Susan Prausnitz, published their daring conclusion that pulsed
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microwaves could cause leukemia.
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In another experiment, ants lined up in a 3-cm EM field, aligning their
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antennae parallel to the field in an effort to minimize the effect. Not
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surprising, since the antenna of an ant is very nearly a quarter wave resonator
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at 3 cm. The ant-alignment behavior was observed at frequencies as low as 9
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MHz.
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It was during that period that a report from the National Institute for
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Neurological Diseases warned that the frequency 388 MHz was noted to have a
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lethal effect on monkeys. Subsequent experiments with a milliwatt-power
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oscillator positioned several feet away from human subjects and swept through
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the 380-500 MHz range elicited a "pulsing in the brain," ringing in the ears,
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and a powerful urge to sink their teeth into the experimenter!
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In that experiment, each individual appeared to have his own "resonant"
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frequency, probably a function of the height of the body acting as a half-wave
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antenna. Most humans should resonate at around 82-85 MHz (TV channel 6; do you
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live near a TV transmitter?).
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Extremely low frequency brain waves have long been identified; delta (1-3 Hz)
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are related to deep sleep; theta (4-7 Hz) reflect mood; alpha (8-12 Hz) imply
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relaxation; and beta (13-22 Hz) are tied to conscious thought.
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Externally-pulsed lights can alter behavior in the human: 6-7 Hz induces anger;
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10 Hz is soothing but may trigger epileptic seizures in vulnerable subjects by
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synchronizing with the alpha waves. And there is the story about a man who
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involuntarily tries to strangle an adjacent patron every time he visits a movie
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house, triggered by the 24-frame-per-second film flicker!
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Animals have their own sets of frequencies. Some snakes "hypnotize" their prey
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with a 3 Hz dance; many animals flea in terror when they hear vibrations in the
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7-15 Hz range, possibly a primordial reaction to earthquakes. Infrasound
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(under 20 Hz) can take its toll in human adjustment as well, producing
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disorientation and even euphoria.
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Professor Geraud, a French engineer, became ill from the continuous 7 Hz
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vibration of an office air conditioner. Noting that the sound generated by
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French police whistles had low frequency components, he built a six-foot, air-
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powered replica, which killed his laboratory assistant with one blast!
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Later experiments showed that high-intensity infrasound could destroy buildings
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at distances of five miles. Pulsing rock music mesmerize its audience while
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the soft 1.2 Hz beat of a mother<65>s heart soothes her baby.
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By 1930 Nrunori claimed that humans react to radio emissions at 129 MHz and its
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harmonics, while in the 1920<32>s Cazzamalli bombarded volunteer subjects with VHF
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radiation to induce hallucinations. He also claimed to have recorded re-
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radiated "beats" of emotional reactions using an untuned galena crystal
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receiver and a galvanometer during the RF blitz from his "oscillatori
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telegrafica."
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More recently, UHF fields reportedly change brainwave patterns in rabbits,
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alter the heartbeat of chicken embryos, change the optical properties of
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glycogen (which supplies our muscles with energy), reduce conditioned reflexes
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in laboratory animals, increase visual sensitivity (while reducing color
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perception), expedite the regrowth of severed nerve tissue (in short exposures
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only; long-term exposure suppresses the regrowth), and affect our reaction to
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pain (weak fields are an analgesic while strong fields are painful). Fifteen-
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meter (21 MHz) signals increase the germination of gladiolus bulbs while ten
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meter (29 MHz) energy kills bugs in bread!
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And experimentation on a generation
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The earth's natural magnetic field varies from place to place; could it have
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correspondingly varying effects on the human body as well as variably alter the
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effects of radiation?
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One hypothesis suggests that NIEMR causes cancer by increasing the rate of cell
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reproduction (DNA and RNA alteration), by suppressing the immune system and by
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making abnormal cells resistant to the body's natural defense system.
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Could it be that pulsed EM waves are the modern-day equivalent of the Chinese
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water torture, taking its toll on human mental health a little at a time?
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Could this partly explain our accelerating crime rate? Are we changing our
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evolution by altering our genetic structure?
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Perhaps most important of all, can we do anything to protect ourselves?
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Absolutely. Don't live near high tension lines. Use underground power lines
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to your home and have them enter at an unoccupied part of the dwelling like
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the garage.
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Keep at least an arm's length from CRT video screens. Install ham or CB
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transmitting antennas at least 20 feet away from occupied parts of the house.
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The higher the frequency, the greater the effect on tissue, especially the lens
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of the eye and the testicles. Use low transmit power, linears are for sissies!
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Keep walkie-talkie transmissions short; portable cellular telephones at 800 MHz
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are particularly suspect. Warm your bed with an electric blanket before you
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get in, then switch it off when you slip under it. Keep several feet away from
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electric appliances & line operated clocks, mixers, toasters and the like.
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Activism
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Suits against the perpetrators of this uninvited blitz of toxicity will
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probably increase. Charges of negligence, liability, nuisance, trespass and
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even battery have been successfully brought recently in similar cases. Join a
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recognized consumer lobby group. A collected voice IS heard in Washington!
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For those readers who wish additional information, an excellent overview of
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NIEMR health hazard studies and legal cases, complete with bibliography,
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appeared in the August 1990, issue of Trial magazine, a publication of the
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American Trial Lawyers Association.
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