Scientists Serious About Electricity Sickness Claims

[Guest guest]

" Misty L. Trepke " <mistytrepke

Wed, 23 Feb 2005 02:27:29 -0000

 

 

[s-A] Scientists Serious About " Electricity Sickness " Claims

 

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

 

 

 

 

 

SCIENTISTS SERIOUS ABOUT 'ELECTRICITY SICKNESS' CLAIMS

By Nic Fleming

The Telegraph

January 24, 2005

 

http://tinyurl.com/3s5je

 

Scientists and health advisers are taking the claims of people who

sayelectricity makes them ill seriously for the first time.

 

The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) is carrying out a

review of existing scientific studies into " electromagnetic

hypersensitivity " (EHS).

 

Two studies into the condition, funded with £750,000 from the

Department of Health and the telecommunications industry, are

already under way.

 

Sir William Stewart, the government's adviser on radiation, has

called for more research into the issue.

 

Some researchers believe a proportion of the population suffers ill

health, with symptoms including fatigue, severe headaches and skin

problems, because of exposure to electromagnetic fields. Other

scientists say there is no evidence.

 

The Swedish government, which recognised EHS as a physical

impairment in 2000, calculates that 3.1 per cent of its population ­

200,000 people ­suffer from the condition. A recent warning by Sir

William, head of the NRPB and the Health Protection Agency, that

parents should limit their children's use of mobile phones received

widespread publicity.

 

However, his suggestion that another section of the population, as

well as the young, could have extra sensitivity to exposure to

either radio frequency fields from mobiles or electromagnetic fields

in general did not.

 

The NRPB has commissioned Dr Neil Irvine, of the Health Protection

Agency, to carry out a review of existing scientific literature on

EHS.

 

His report, focusing on symptoms, prognosis and treatment, will be

published in the summer.

 

The Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research programme, funded

by the Government and the telecommunications industry, is spending

£8.6 million on 29 studies, two of which will investigate EHS.

 

A team at King's College, London, is looking at whether mobile

phones cause symptoms such as headaches, nausea and fatigue in those

who claim to be hypersensitive and those who do not.

 

Researchers at the University of Essex are exposing two groups of

volunteers to signals from a mobile mast to test if cognitive

functions such as attention span and memory are affected. Half will

be people who say they suffer EHS.

 

Dr David Dowson, a former GP who is now a complementary medicine

specialist based in Bath, said he had seen around 10 patients he

believed to be suffering from EHS. " I think the condition is

increasing in prevalence, because we are living in a more

electrically polluted environment. "

 

Olle Johansson, associate professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska

Institute in Sweden, has been studying EHS for 20 years.

 

He has shown in experiments that there is an increase in the number

of mast cells near the surface of skin when exposed to

electromagnetic fields, a similar reaction to that when it is

exposed to radioactive material.

 

He said: " If you put a radio near a source of EMFs you will get

interference. The human brain has an electric field so if you put

sources of EMFs nearby, it is not surprising that you get

interference, interaction with systems and damage to cells and

molecules.''

 

Others say the condition is in the mind.

 

------------

[Guest guest]

Does anyone know if the devices to put on computer and cell phones

to help counteract electromagnetic currents really help? Or is it

hipe?

 

Thanks,

 

Tammy