Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mobile phone emission increases inter-hemispheric functional coupling of electroencephalographic alpha rhythms in epileptic patients.



Int J Psychophysiol. 2012 Feb 16. [Epub ahead of print]

Mobile phone emission increases inter-hemispheric functional coupling of electroencephalographic alpha rhythms in epileptic patients.


Source

AFaR, Department of Neuroscience, Hosp. Fatebenefratelli, Isola Tiberina, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

It has been reported that GSM electromagnetic fields (GSM-EMFs) of mobile phones modulate - after a prolonged exposure - inter-hemispheric synchronization of temporal and frontal resting electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms in normal young and elderly subjects (Vecchio et al., 2007, 2010). Here we tested the hypothesis that this can be even more evident in epileptic patients, who typically suffer from abnormal mechanisms governing synchronization of rhythmic firing of cortical neurons. Eyes-closed resting EEG data were recorded in ten patients affected by focal epilepsy in real and sham exposure conditions. These data were compared with those obtained from 15 age-matched normal subjects of the previous reference studies. The GSM device was turned on (45min) in the "GSM" condition and was turned off (45min) in the other condition ("sham"). The mobile phone was always positioned on the left side in both patients and control subjects. Spectral coherence evaluated the inter-hemispheric synchronization of EEG rhythms at the following frequency bands: delta (about 2-4Hz), theta (about 4-6Hz), alpha1 (about 6-8Hz), alpha2 (about 8-10Hz), and alpha3 (about 10-12Hz). The effects on the patients were investigated comparing the inter-hemispheric EEG coherence in the epileptic patients with the control group of subjects evaluated in the previous reference studies. Compared with the control subjects, epileptic patients showed a statistically significant higher inter-hemispheric coherence of temporal and frontal alpha rhythms (about 8-12Hz) in the GSM than "Sham" condition. These results suggest that GSM-EMFs of mobile phone may affect inter-hemispheric synchronization of the dominant (alpha) EEG rhythms in epileptic patients. If confirmed by future studies on a larger group of epilepsy patients, the modulation of the inter-hemispheric alpha coherence due to the GSM-EMFs could have clinical implications and be related to changes in cognitive-motor function.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PMID:
 
22326594
 
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]



http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22326594 

CIA Head: We Will Spy On Americans Through Electrical Appliances


CIA Head: We Will Spy On Americans Through Electrical Appliances




Global information surveillance grid being constructed; willing Americans embrace gadgets used to spy on them
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
March 16, 2012

CIA director David Petraeus has said that the rise of new “smart” gadgets means that Americans are effectively bugging their own homes, saving US spy agencies a job when it identifies any “persons of interest”.
Speaking at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology investment operation, Petraeus made the comments when discussing new technologies which aim to add processors and web connections to previously ‘dumb’ home appliances such as fridges, ovens and lighting systems.
Wired reports the details via its Danger Room Blog:
“‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”
“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said.
“the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.” the CIA head added.
  • A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Petraeus also stated that such devices within the home “change our notions of secrecy”.
Petraeus’ comments come in the same week that one of the biggest microchip companies in the world, ARM, unveiled new processors that are designed to give practically every household appliance an internet connection, in order that they can be remote controlled and operate in tandem with applications.
ARM describes the concept as an “internet of things”.
Where will all the information from such devices be sent and analyzed? It can be no coincidence that the NSA is currently building a monolithic heavily fortified $2 billion facility deep in the Utah desert and surrounded by mountains. The facility is set to go fully live in September 2013.

“The Utah data center is the centerpiece of the Global Information Grid, a military project that will handle yottabytes of data, an amount so huge that there is no other data unit after it.” reports Gizmodo.
“This center—with every listening post, spy satellite and NSA datacenter connected to it, will make the NSA the most powerful spy agency in the world.”
Wired reports that the incoming data is being mined by plugging into telecommunications companies’ switches, essentially the same method the NSA infamously uses for warrantless wiretapping of domestic communications, as exposed six years ago.
Former intelligence analyst turned best selling author James Bamford, has penned a lengthy piece on the NSA facility and warns “It is, in some measure, the realization of the ‘total information awareness’ program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.”
—————————————————————-
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

Switzerland: Waves from Wireless Communication: Physicians for the Environment Requests Strict Application of the Precautionary Principle


23 MARCH 2012

Switzerland: Waves from Wireless Communication: Physicians for the Environment Requests Strict Application of the Precautionary Principle

Basel, 22 March 2012

Press Release from Physicians for the Environment (MfE – Switzerland)

Mobile Telephony :  MfE requests stricter limit values

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considers the waves emitted by wireless communication “possibly carcinogenic”.  According to the IARC, the risk of cancer for this type of radiation is thus similar to that of the insecticide DDT, rightly banned.  Physicians for the Environment (MfE) is concerned that the limit values expected to protect the Swiss population, notably vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women, constitute insufficient protection.  In a communication sent to the Federal Assembly, MfE thus requests strict application of the principle of precaution and – in view of the risk of cancer – lower limit values.

Children’s rooms, housing, trams or offices are experiencing a growing exposure to radiation from diverse sources:  babyphones, mobile telephony, wifi, etc., yet more and more studies warn against the serious health consequences of electromagnetic pollution for human beings and animals.

Cataracts in calves, Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer …

Since 2001, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considered that magnetic fields emitted notably from current lines could be carcinogenic.  A 2008 Swiss study postulates increased risk of contracting Alzheimer’s Disease for residents living near power lines.  Other studies on the risk of brain tumors establish a higher risk for this pathology in the case of mobile phone use.  This is why the IARC, part of the United Nations, considered in 2011 that waves from mobile telephony are possibly carcinogenic”.  In 2012, the University of Zürich noted a 10 times higher prevalence of blindness from birth (cataracts) in calves during the duration of operation of a relay antenna installed on a stable.

Strict application of the precautionary principle, lowering of limit values
From the medical point of view, it is urgent to apply the precautionary principle for mobile telephony, wifi, power lines, etc.” states Dr. Peter Kälin, President of Physicians for the Environment.  The Austrian Medical Chamber has moreover just formulated the same requirement in regard to smart meters.  In a communication dated 16 March 2012 to the Federal Council of the Federal Assembly, Physicians for the Environment requested to divide the value limits by 10.  Dr. Yvonne Gilli, National Councillor, has repeated the demands of the MfE in requesting the Federal Council, if it has to protect the population, to apply the precautionary principle and to lower limit values.

Contact:
Dr Martin Forter, Bâle, directeur MfE 061 691 55 83
Dr en médecine Peter Kälin, Leukerbad, président Mfe 027 470 21 77

The communication to the Federal Assembly and parlementary intervention of Yvonne Gilli are available in German on www.aefu.ch.

Founded 25 years ago, the association of Physicians for the Environment (MfE) joins together around 1,500 physicians in Switzerland.


(Translated from French by Meris Michaels.)

Locals Don't Want Cell Phone Towers Next to See-saws in El Salvador

Locals Don't Want Cell Phone Towers Next to See-saws in El Salvador
By Edgardo Ayala

SAN SALVADOR, Mar 23, 2012 (IPS) - "You see? That's where they were going to put the antenna," says Alicia Suncín, pointing to a spot in the middle of a park in the Salvadoran capital where a private company was planning to erect a cell phone tower, 10 metres away from swings and see-saws where children play.

Its construction was thwarted thanks to protests organised by Suncín and her neighbours, who formed a Coordinating Committee for Communities Affected by the Installation of Cell Phone Towers in December 2011.

Some 1,000 families from Suncín’s Santa Fe neighbourhood in the north of the capital of El Salvador and from other parts of the city are taking part in the protests, because they fear the potentially harmful health effects of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the cell phone towers.

"How can I live next to a 33-metre tall antenna that emits radiation, which is a health hazard?" Suncín remarked to IPS.

After years of debate and international scientific studies producing results both for and against this claim, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said in a May 2011 communiqué that radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by wireless communication devices are "possibly carcinogenic to humans."

"They are a danger to our health and that of our children; we don't want these cell phone towers here," said Zulma Handal, also a member of the Coordinating Committee.

A number of studies have found evidence of symptoms of ill-health such as fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances and memory loss among people who live within 100 metres of mobile phone towers.

At present, dozens of cell phone towers are scattered across the urban landscape of the Salvadoran capital, which is home to 1.5 million people.

Some of the antennas were built after telecommunications were privatised in 1999, but in recent years their number has multiplied in line with the telecoms companies' need to expand their networks and provide wireless internet services.

About 7.5 million cell phones are in use in this Central American nation of 6.2 million people.

One of the transnational corporations involved in the mobile telephony sector in El Salvador is América Móvil, owned by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Under its trademark Claro, the company operates the largest mobile phone network in the Americas. América Móvil is the privatised successor to El Salvador’s state-run National Telecommunications Administration (ANTEL), which was sold to France Telecom in 1999 and acquired by Slim in 2003.

Also present in the Salvadoran market are the Spanish firm Telefónica and the Jamaican company Digicel.

When the metal towers were first installed in San Salvador, they were purportedly to be used for closed circuit video surveillance cameras in parks and recreation areas, as part of a public safety initiative by the mayor of the capital city, Norman Quijano of the rightwing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).

However, in several communities and neighbourhoods IPS was able to verify that the towers are in fact being used for wireless telephone services, including one in a park in Centroamérica, a neighbourhood in northwest San Salvador.

In a document dated Nov. 24, 2011, signed by Rafael Henríquez, the city councillor for San Salvador's District 2, the municipality gave permission to Collocation Technologies of El Salvador "to carry out the installation of towers or telecommunications structures in Centroamérica Park."

Local residents say this company is subcontracted by one or other of the telecoms companies to install cell phone towers. "They put one in Centroamérica Park and now they want to put one in our neighbourhood, but we won't let them," said Suncín.

The San Salvador mayor's office responded that no one was available to be interviewed by IPS.

Residents of the areas where telecoms towers have been located are calling for their removal. "Fortunately there is a social movement of citizens who are against them and are not just waiting until cancer victims appear," Gregorio Ramírez, an activist with the Salvadoran Ecological Unit (UNES), told IPS.

Human rights ombudsman Oscar Luna added his voice to the criticism, complaining that the structures were built without informing or consulting the local population.

The conflict between protesters and the city government of San Salvador occurred during the election campaign for mayors and city councillors which led to Quijano's re-election as mayor Mar. 11. Quijano said the protests were politically motivated and designed to prevent his re-election.

Article 11 of the municipal regulations for mobile phone tower installation empowers the mayor to authorise their placement, on condition that they do not obstruct any right of way and are not placed on median strips or traffic islands, or on land adjacent to houses.

This last requirement was in danger of being violated in the case of the tower planned for construction in Santa Fe, because the chosen site is only a few metres away from several houses, as IPS was able to confirm.

So far, the national government has remained silent.

"State institutions ought to issue a statement, including an investigation into what regulations the mayor's office followed when it granted permission for the towers, backed up by the WHO reports that say the radiation is harmful," Nayda Medrano, the executive director of the Consumer Defence Centre (CDC), told IPS.

Many consumers have complained about the telephone service since it was privatised, citing overcharging and other problems.

The CDC reported that fixed charges for a residential landline in El Salvador amount to nearly 10 dollars a month, compared to just 2.10 dollars in neighbouring Honduras, 3.58 dollars in Nicaragua, and 5.36 dollars in Guatemala.

Although El Salvador has a telecommunications law and a regulatory agency, analysts say foreign companies have raked in profits during the wave of privatisations that swept the country, and the rest of Latin America, in the 1990s.

But although the country's first leftwing government took office in June 2009 with the victory of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (the FMLN guerrilla movement-turned political party), very few changes have occurred, the local residents complained to IPS.

The Coordinating Committee for Communities Affected by the Installation of Cell Phone Towers has asked parliament to ban the installation of mobile phone towers close to population centres.

Activists want the legal ban to include the precautionary principle formulated by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, which has been taken into account by countries like Argentina and Chile.

The precautionary principle states that, even if a cause-and-effect relationship has not been fully established scientifically, if the product or activity poses a threat to health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken.

Although the families in Santa Fe are optimistic, they know they are up against powerful economic and political groups. "It's a case of David against Goliath," Suncín said. (END)
  



http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107175 

Problems With 4G/LTE in South Africa


March 16th, 1012

We are picking up problems with 4G/LTE in South Africa and have tried to raise the alarm bells with government.

Dehydration, repetitive gastroenteritis, blurry vision, lower back pain – locked stiff , heart palpitations, breathing problems, chronic sinusitis, hair loss, sore ovaries and gonads, burning itching skin, pains in head and pressure in ears and sore joints especially elbows. Muscle weakness.

Birds, animals and trees are being affected too. Vets have commented on severe hair loss in cats.

Warm regards

Tracey-Lee Dorny

Description: EMRF SIG

Friday, March 23, 2012

Is Wi-Fi Safe for Children?

SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2012
New Studies Show Laptops and Cellphones Adversely Affect Children and Fetuses

YALE UNIVERSITY, USA
Fetal Radiofrequency Radiation Exposure From 800-1900 Mhz-Rated Cellular Telephones Affects Neurodevelopment and Behavior in Mice
Here we demonstrate that fetal exposure to 800–1900 Mhz-rated radiofrequency radiation from cellular telephones leads to behavioral and neurophysiological alterations that persist into adulthood...The significant trend between the groups treated for 0, 9, 15, and 24 hours/day demonstrates that the effects are directly proportional to usage time... 
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120315/srep00312/full/srep00312.html

ITALY
Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields From Laptop Use of “Laptop” Computers
In the LTCs analyzed, EMF values (range 1.8–6
μT) are within International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines, but are considerably higher than the values recommended by 2 recent guidelines for computer monitors magnetic field emissions, MPR II (Swedish Board for Technical Accreditation)
and TCO (Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), and those considered risky for tumor development... the power supply induces strong intracorporal electric current densities in the fetus and in the adult subject, which are respectively 182–263% and 71–483% higher than ICNIRP 98 basic restriction recommended to prevent adverse health effects.

RUSSIA
Psychophysiological Indicators for Child Users of Mobile Communication. Message 1: Present State of the Problem
Message 2: Results of Four-year Monitoring
"It has been shown that the children’s organism is more sensitive to this kind of exposure than the adult one. We have identified the following major trends of the psychophysiological indicators for child users of mobile communication: an increased number of phonemic perception disorders, abatement of efficiency, reduced indicators for the arbitrary and semantic memory, and increased fatigue. Asteady decline of the parameters from high values to bottom standards has been found."

Read more scientific studies on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation: http://www.safeinschool.org/p/scientific-studies.html 

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Occupy the EPA!


Occupy the EPA!

What is the EPA doing to protect us from Monsanto?
Nothing. But, here's what they should be doing:
Monsanto's unlabeled genetically engineered foods are so pervasive in North American that babies are born with Monsanto's engineered genes coursing through their veins! Is this dangerous? Dangerous enough for France and other countries to ban gene-altered crops that scientists have found can kill human cells!
But the fact that a food is genetically engineered isn't the only thing that makes it dangerous. The other danger is what the crop was genetically engineered to do. What do Monsanto's Frankencrops do best? Drive up pesticide sales!
Despite their propaganda claims of being a "Life Sciences" company, Monsanto is a chemical and seed corporation. Despite their false promises about feeding the world and helping farmers grow more with less, the truth is that the only thing Monsanto has really accomplished through genetically engineering is to make farmers buy more pesticides, and drive up the price of patented seeds; meanwhile dumping billions of pounds of climate-destabilizing, water-polluting nitrate fertilizers on nutrient-depleted soils.
If Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) didn't increase pesticide use, and help them monopolize seed distribution, Monsanto and other chemical/biotech companies like Dow, Dupont, Bayer and Syngenta, wouldn't be pushing them.
If the Environmental Protection Agency ever got serious about protecting us and the environment from agri-toxic chemicals, the pesticides that these companies sell would be illegal. While the harms of GMOs are only beginning to be understood, the dangers associated with the herbicides and pesticides are well known.
Take Action! Tell the E.P.A.:

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Honeybees Face Towering Threat From Cell Phones




honeybee, bee

Honeybees Face Towering Threat From Cell Phones

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 07 2009 | 

Studies have brought out evidence to support the theory of colony collapse disorder (CCD) among honeybees due to bioactive microwave radiation from cell phones and their relay towers. Recent experiments have found that worker bees fail to return to their hives when their navigation skills are interfered by the mobile microwaves. Cell phones were placed near beehives. These hives collapsed totally in 5 to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return to their homes.

The radiation also causes damage to the nervous system of the bee and it becomes unable to fly.

The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The phenomenon of CCD and resultant crop loss were first noticed in the U.S. several years ago, but it had spread to most European countries by 2007.


Dr. Mercola's Comments: 
The threat of losing entire honeybee colonies is far more serious than just a farmer losing his livelihood or you having to go without honey for a while.

Honeybees are critical components of agriculture, used to pollinate many of the nuts, fruits and vegetables that feed the world. 

A full one-third of the U.S. food supply depends on pollination from bees. Apple orchards, for instance, require one colony of bees per acre to be adequately pollinated. The California almond crop alone requires 1.3 million colonies of bees, and bees actually add an estimated $15 billion in value to crops like these. 

So if bee colonies continue to be wiped out in unprecedented numbers, major food shortages could result, adding to the current food crisis. 
In an average year, beekeepers expect to incur losses of between 5 and 10 percent. But in 2007, U.S. beekeepers surveyed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service reported a total loss of about 36 percent of their bee colonies, up from 13.5 percent the year before. 
When nature’s pollinators start to mysteriously die off, it is a major clue that something is out of balance. This mysterious malady has been dubbed “colony collapse disorder” (CCD), and while a definitive cause has yet to be determined it seems cell phones may be playing a role.
How Cell Phone Towers Could be Killing Bees
Early findings pointed to a virus, a fungus or a pesticide as the most likely suspects in CCD, however it’s hard to ignore the research from at least two studies that point to cell phones as a major threat. 
When cellular phones were placed near hives, the radiation generated by them (900-1,800 MHz) was enough to prevent bees from returning to them, according to a study conducted at Landau University. 

Scientists believe the radiation produced by cellular phones may be enough to interfere with the way bees "communicate" with their hives. Cellular phones may create a resonance effect that interferes with the movement patterns bees use as a kind of language. 
Most recently, experiments by Sainuddeen Pattazhy, a researcher and dean in the department of zoology at SN College, Punalur, Kerala, also found that microwaves from mobile phones appear to interfere with worker bees’ navigation skills. 
When Pattazhy placed mobile phones near beehives, the hives collapsed completely in five to 10 days. The worker bees failed to return home and vanished, never to be found. Adding to the mystery, parasites, wildlife and other bees, which would normally raid the abandoned hives, would not go near the collapsed colonies. Pattazhy said:
“The navigation skill of the worker bees is dependent on the earth’s magnetic properties. The electro-magnetic waves emitted by the mobile phones and relay towers interfere with the earth’s magnetism, resulting in the loss of the navigation capacity of the bee. Then it fails to come back. Also, the radiation causes damage to the nervous system of the bee and it becomes unable to fly.”
A Combination of Deadly Factors?
Cell phones appear to be a likely threat to bees around the globe, but there may be a cumulative effect going on that is making it more and more difficult for bees to survive, let alone thrive. 

For instance, tens of billions of bees are transported across the United States to pollinate oranges, almonds and other food crops. Though the pollination is a normal part of nature, transporting bees thousands of miles in the backs of trucks to a new location is not. Some experts believe this process is stressing bees, quite literally, to death. 
Other possible causes of colony collapse disorder have also been pinpointed:
Most researchers are pointing to a combination of the above factors. For instance, Penn State scientists analyzed pollen, beeswax, adult bees and larvae and found dozens of chemicals, including pesticides, present. These chemicals, especially when combined with these other stresses, are more than capable of overwhelming the delicate system of the honeybee.
What Does This Mean for YOU?
Just as you are bombarded with toxic chemicals from the air you breathe, to the soil your food is grown in, to the toiletries you use and the water you drink, bees are the true canaries in the coal mine, showing us what’s in store for you and me if we don’t clean up our act on several fronts. 
And this includes the use of cell phones. 

Wireless technology is already being linked to the death of migratory birds and numerous well-researched studies show that brain damage from cell phone radiation may be a fast-approaching new epidemic

If the disappearance of honeybees, and its corresponding threat to the world’s food supply is not enough to make you think twice about holding a mobile phone to your head, perhaps this will:
Last year, a well-circulated Swedish study found that people using cell phones doubled their risk of developing brain cancer and acoustic neuroma (a tumor that damages your hearing nerve). 
The study also showed that people who started using cell phones before the age of 20 were more than five times as likely to develop brain cancer. 

So maybe it’s time to realize that the honeybees losing their way is not an isolated event. It’s a sign that the very fragile ecosystem we all depend on to survive is not quite balanced. 
Something is off kilter and it’s time to determine what it is … and then restore that balance as quickly as possible. 

And in the meantime, I suggest you take the problems facing the honeybees as a major warning sign, and learn what you can do to protect yourself now.


http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/07/Honeybees-Face-Towering-Threat-From-Cell-Phones.aspx

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

“Scientists Lied About Enquired Data in Largest Study on Mobile Phone Brain Tumour Risks” by Mona Nilsson


“Scientists Lied About Enquired Data in Largest Study on Mobile Phone Brain Tumour Risks” by Mona Nilsson

February 22, 2012

Scientists lied about enquired data in largest study on mobile phone brain tumour risks

 
by Mona Nilsson 

The largest research effort so far on brain tumour risks from mobile phone use is the international Interphone study, coordinated by the WHO’s Cancer Research Institute , IARC. The study has been severely criticized for ignoring common sources of exposure to radio frequency radiation, other than the mobile phones. Obtained copies of the questionnaire used in the study reveal that the scientists had in fact enquired about exposure to the widely used cordless phones, which they had previously claimed they didn’t. The results of these data are still kept in the dark. 

The Interphone, involving research groups from 13 countries, was launched already in 2000 and the collection of data was finished by 2004. The study was mainly funded by the mobile phone industry (GSM Association and Mobile Manufacturers Forum) and by the EU.

The participating Nordic research groups (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Great Britain) cooperated closely during the project and published their Nordic results on malignant brain tumours in 2007. The summed up results from all the 13 countries on malignant brain tumours were published only 3 years later in 2010, much delayed .

The lie about the cordless phones 

Many scientists have criticized the Interphone study for several biases that lead to an underestimation of the risk in the results. For instance users of cordless phones (also called DECT-phones) were considered as unexposed in spite of the fact that these very commonly used phones emit the same kind of radiation as a mobile phone. During the studied period (mainly 1990’s) the wireless phones were generally used more since they were much cheaper: The tariffs were identical to fixed lines’, while the mobile phones were still considerably more expensive to use.

In the study protocol made by the coordinator at the IARC it was clarified that the investigation should include questions about ”other communications devices (including ham/CB radios, two-way portable radios, satellite telephones) other than mobile telephones”. Moreover, the Interphone researchers asked questions about additional exposure in work. The IARC also sent out a questionnaire to all participating groups, so that the questions would be the same in all countries.

The Nordic Interphone scientists asked questions according to the original plan. The problem is that they claimed in the published article on the results about malignant brain tumour that they didn’t. In 2007, they wrote the following:

”The DECT-phones or other cordless phones were not enquired about because they were not regarded as potential material exposure sources”. 

”DECT phones were not enquired” 

In 2010 I asked Anna Lahkola, first author of the Nordic paper, in an email if they analysed the risk with use of DECT-phones:

” The DECT phones were not enquired in the interview because they were not regarded as potential exposure sources”, the Finnish researcher replied.

How do you know that there are no risks with DECT-phones?

“I don’t know anything, but at the time of the study planning, we did not have knowledge of the possible effects at such a low level of exposure”, she replied and confirmed that everybody in the Nordic group asked the same questions:

” All the study centres used the same, shared study protocol”. 

The questionnaire 

But what Lahkola replied in 2010 and what they wrote in the published article in 2007 was not true. The Finnish group did ask about cordless (DECT) phones in accordance with the questions sent out to all Interphone scientists from the coordinator at the IARC. This is shown by the Finnish questionnaire, of which I received a copy of during the autumn of 2011.

Questions were asked about how much DECT-phones/cordless phones, walkie-talkie, satellite telephones and ham radios were used, in hours or minutes per day, per week, month or the whole period. The scientists also asked about how many years the radio frequency -emitting devices were used, start date and stop date.

Later in November 2011 as I met the leading scientist of the Finnish Interphone group, Professor Anssi Auvinen, in Brussels at the EMF conference, I asked the same question as I posed to his colleague Anna Lahkola one year earlier:

”Yes we asked about the cordless phones”, he replied.

When I asked why they have not published that data yet, he answered that they had not had enough time to do it.

Auvinen was the second author of the 2007 article claiming that cordless phones were not enquired about. He is now employed at the IARC where his main task is to evaluate data from Interphone that are still not published. He is also an expert to the EU as a member of the SCENIHR.

All Nordic countries asked questions about the cordless phones using the same questions. Sarah J. Hepworth from the British group confirmed that the interviewers also showed pictures to cases and controls of a cordless phones in the computer in order to prevent any misunderstanding of what a DECT-phone or cordless phone is and Lars Klaeboe from the Norwegian group confirmed that there would have been no doubt about what a DECT or cordless phone was to the interviewed persons. The Danish and the Norwegian groups however could not send me a copy of the questionnaire: The Norwegians cannot print it from the computer and in Denmark all Interphone documents, including the questionnaire, were destroyed in a flood in Copenhaguen in the summer of 2011, according to the Danish lead researcher Christoffer Johansen.

Results are still kept in the dark 

The Swedish group is the only Nordic group that has published results on cordless phones. In the Swedish part of the Interphone study on malignant glioma, Feychting and her colleagues wrote:

”In addition to our analysis of mobile phones, we analyzed if the use of European digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) phones increases the risk of glioma or meningioma.” 

But this is only partly true: Only risks of cordless phone use at least once a week during at least 6 months were presented. This is such a low usage that no increased risks are expected to be found.

In comparison, few scientists would dream of finding an increased risk of lung cancer in smokers smoking at least one cigarette a week during six months at least, with the same short latency period as in Interphone. It was in the heavy smoker group that lung cancer risks were first observed. Lennart Hardell’s research group at the Örebro University Hospital in Sweden, found increased risks from cordless phone use, but only in the group with 1000 hours of use or more.1

Maria Feychting explained that the reason why all the cordless phones results were still unpublished was due to the fact that the study was ”ongoing”. According to the contract between the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the IARC in Lyon, the national results should be issued for publication:

”Upon completion of the national component of the Interphone study, its findings shall be issued for publication by the national study group members”.2 

In spite of this, many national results were never published, among them the Finnish.

The other sources of exposures to RF-radiation that were also investigated have neither been published in accordance with the contract (walkie-talkie, satellite telephones, ham radios) as well as occupational exposure to EMF and RF. In other words, the national data on whether mobile phone use in combination with additional exposure of the same kind of radiation increase the risk for brain tumours are still kept in the dark.

Increased risks were dismissed 

The 13 country results from Interphone were published in May 2010. In Sweden the results were presented by Maria Feychting and her colleague at the Karolinska Institute professor Anders Ahlbom. Within a few months later Ahlbom was about to become the member of the board of his brothers lobbying firm Gunnar Ahlbom AB, with the objective to address its services on regulatory affairs etc. to the telecommunications industry. Both dismissed the observed increased risks for a normal user of today:

“There is nothing in these data or in previous data, really, to indicate that there is any risk involved in this”, Ahlbom said to a Chinese television channel.” 3

One year later the increased risks observed the Interphone study were the main reason, together with the results from the Swedish Hardell group, why a panel of 31 experts classified mobile phone radiation as class 2B carcinogenic.

Cordless phones emit the same radiation 

The argument put forward for not enquiring about the cordless phones, in opposition to the original protocol was that the phones ”only” emit 10 mW. However the same order of radiation is emitted from a GSM phone in areas with good coverage. Moreover, cordless phones were used during the investigated period, the 1990’s, for longer calling times on average. As an example, the cordless phones were used 3 times as much a mobile phones by the brain tumour cases in the Swedish Hardell study:

”The GSM phones have a median power of 10-20 mwatt, i.e. the same order of magnitude as the cordless phones. With the longer calling time with cordless phones the “dose” for cordless users is then even higher than for that of the GSM users.” 4 

To consider an exposed group as unexposed in case control studies, leads to an underestimation of the risk, as pointed out by an Italian group of scientists in a report on the research on brain tumour risks from mobile phone use:

“The negative results produced by studies funded by the cell-phone companies are affected by many biases and flaws, giving rise to a systematic underestimate of the risk”.5 

The mobile phone industry funded the Interphone study by 5.5 million €6 and had several loyal scientists within the 13-country teams. One of them who was in the ”exposure” working group that had influence over the design of the study and particularly the exposure issue, was Joe Wiart, employed by French mobile phone operator France Telecom. Surprisingly, Paulo Vecchia was positioned in both working groups, the exposure group and the epidemiology group, although he is not an epidemiologist. Vecchia is chairman of ICNIRP, the organization that is behind the massively questioned radiation exposure limits for mobile phone technology, of huge importance to the mobile phone industry. The limits explicitly do not protect against cancer risks.7 The ICNIRP limits would be proven inaccurate if a brain tumour risk would be acknowledged. His predecessor at ICNIRP, Michael Repacholi, has admitted receiving payments from the mobile phone industry while he was responsible the mobile phone health issue for a decade at the World Health Organisation.

There is no doubt that there is much at stake in the research on mobile phone radiation and health hazards. A proven brain tumour risk is a catastrophe for this very rich and powerful industry that involves many of the largest companies in the world. It could even bring down the whole world economy: “A link between this technology and cancer would prove an economic as well as a medical catastrophe.”8 

FACTS : 

Interphone is the largest interview-based case–control study so far on mobile phone use and risk for brain tumours in head and neck. Research teams from 13 countries participated in the study that collected data during 2000 and 2004 and included 2708 glioma and 2409 meningioma cases using a common protocol.

Results: In 2010 the combined results on malignant brain tumours were published, showing statistically significant increased risks for malignant brain tumours. The odds ratio in the group that used mobile phones for more than a total of 1640 hours was 1.40 (95% CI 1.03–1.89) for glioma, a malignant brain tumour. In 2011 results on risk of a tumour on the acoustic nerve was published showing 2.79 increased risk (95% CI 1.51-5.16) in the group with longest latency period and more than 1640 cumulative call time. 1640 hours correspond to half an hour daily over a ten year period, or slightly more than an hour a day over 4 years. In 2007 the Nordic group (Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Great Britain) published results showing increased risks for glioma for more than 10 years of mobile phone use reported on the side of the head where the tumour was located, a statistically significant increased odds ratio of 1.39 was reported although the scientists ignored other sources of exposure to radiofrequency radiation exposure, for instance the cordless phones, which they claimed they did not enquire about. However that was not true as they did in fact ask questions about cordless phone use.


1 Hardell et al.: Pooled analysis of two case-control studies…; Int. Arch. Occup. Environ Health, 2006
2 Collaborative research agreement between Karolinska Institute and IARC, KI dnr 2714/07-1
3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TllmreWZdoA
4 Hardell et al.: Pooled analysis of two case-control studies; Int. Arch. Occup. Environ Health, 2006
5 Levis et al. Environmental Health 2011, 10:59 http://www.ehjournal.net/content/10/1/59
6 http://www.uicc.org/general-news/interphone-study-reports-mobile-phone-use-and-brain-cancer-risk
7 http://www.icnirp.de/documents/emfgdl.pdf
8 http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/economics/global/keep-an-eye-on-mobile-phones-54118


Mona Nilsson is a Swedish investigation journalist and author of two books on mobile phones and health. In 2011 she revealed that the leading expert on mobile phone health risks, professor Anders Ahlbom at the Karolinska Institute was a board member of a lobby firm for the telecom industry, while at the same time assessing health risks of wireless technologies. She also found that his brother had been a lobbyist for the telecom industry for many years. This non-declared conflict of interest resulted in Ahlbom resigning from two expert panels in 2011 (IARC and SSM). Also in 2011 she revealed that the scientists behind the children brain tumour study CEFALO, manipulated the study by changing the questions on the cordless phone use.www.monanilsson.se

http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/article-mn/