Electrical Noise Causing Physiological Stress
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:55 am
good article from the mainstream press, with some solid quotes from experts.<br>It also shows the stupidity and arrogance of the industry position..<br><br>the industry position being:<br>because sufferers cant consistantly detect the presence of electricity in laboratory conditions they must not be suffering its ill effects.<br><br>imagine if the nuclear industry used this kind of "science" to prove that radiation is not harmfull....<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060328.wxelectricity28/BNStory/Science/home/?pageRequested=all">www.theglobeandmail.com/s...uested=all</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Does power corrupt?<br><br>MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT<br><br>From Tuesday's Globe and Mail<br><br>Kevin Byrne is a man in the prime of his life who feared he had an old man's problems. Last summer, he was devastated by chronic back pain and thought his hips were about to give out.<br><br>~snip~<br><br>No one knows how many people are sensitive to electricity. Scientific debate is intense over whether the condition exists or is a figment of people's imagination. Some estimates place the number afflicted at a handful out of every million. Others view it as more common but still a tad unusual, perhaps a few individuals out of every thousand.<br><br>Mr. Byrne counts himself among those unlucky few. He began researching the topic when a neighbour expressed the belief that electricity was dangerous. In an act of desperation brought on by constant pain, he did something he initially thought was off-the-wall. He spent $1,000 on filters that, much like surge protectors on a computer, clean up fluctuations and surges in the electricity flowing in the wires around his home.<br><br>"When you're in a lot of pain, you'll do just about anything. So I was sort of grasping at non-medical straws," he said. "I didn't think they would work, to tell you the truth. I thought I was probably wasting my money."<br><br>But within a couple of days, after months of pain for which his doctor could find no cause, he started feeling fine again. "I said to my wife, 'This has got to be the placebo effect,'<br><br>~snip~<br><br>Mr. Byrne also noticed another odd health effect after he cleaned up his power, convincing him that electricity was at the root of his problems. Both he and his wife suddenly began to sleep more soundly and his dreams became "incredibly real and very vivid."<br><br>~snip~<br><br>Symptoms of electrical sensitivity include the joint pain Mr. Byrne experienced, but also a bewildering array of other common problems most everyone feels at one time or another, such as fatigue, headaches, poor sleep quality with frequent wakefulness, ringing in the ears, depression, difficulty remembering things, and skin rashes. The list of symptoms has created speculation that some cases of sick building syndrome, where people working in buildings complain of nausea and headaches, might be due to electrical sensitivities.<br><br>Madga Havas, an associate professor at the Environmental Studies Department of Trent University who is an expert on the health claims about electricity, says she receives "almost a call a day" from people who say electricity is making them ill and they can't find help in the medical system. "It's not just from Canada. It's usually from the States as well," she says.<br><br>~snip~<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The industry position has been bolstered by studies showing that most of those who say they have allergies to electricity are unable consistently to detect the presence of electric currents in laboratory experiments.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>~snip~<br><br>Reacting to this rising tide of claims of a new illness, the World Health Organization issued a fact sheet in December on the allergies, which it dubbed "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" and likened it to multiple chemical sensitivities.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The WHO says the "symptoms are certainly real" </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->and "can be a disabling problem for the affected individual."<br><br>~snip~<br><br>The change in power quality means more variable electromagnetic fields, and possibly more biologically active ones, are associated with electricity than there used to be. This is a possible explanation for the rise in electrosensitivity complaints in the view of Denis Henshaw, a professor at the University of Bristol in Britain, who is an international authority on the health effects of power transmission lines.<br><br>He says that if electricity were flowing in a constant way, most people's bodies would likely adapt, but with all the interference from modern devices, the resulting fields are too variable for people to get used to. "We just don't get to adapt to these because they don't have any special pattern to them," he said. "There is no proof of this, it's just an opinion."<br><br>~snip~<br><br>In Canada, Dr. Havas has been investigating whether the deterioration in power quality has led to sensitivity. To this end, she's been installing filters that clean up the interference on electrical wires to see if people notice.<br><br>~snip~<br><br>Based on this finding, Dr. Havas estimates that perhaps half of the population may have some sensitivity to electricity.<br><br>~snip~<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>When it comes to electricity, Mr. Byrne says, "I think people should automatically begin changing their lifestyles."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>