EMF Exposure

LQB

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
I'm opening up this new thread to continue with some EMF study results brought up in the LWB thread. I think its worth keeping in mind that EMF, toxic exposure, and diet may be very interrelated as sources of cancer and chronic disease.

The following study took place due to CA middle school teachers complaints about their group's cancer rate.

A New Electromagnetic Exposure Metric: High
Frequency Voltage Transients Associated With
Increased Cancer Incidence in Teachers in a
California School
Samuel Milham, MD, MPH
, and L. Lloyd Morgan, BS
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE (2008)

Background In 2003 the teachers at La Quinta, California middle school complained
that they had more cancers than would be expected. A consultant for the school district
denied that there was a problem.
Objectives To investigate the cancer incidence in the teachers, and its cause.
Method We conducted a retrospective study of cancer incidence in the teachers’ cohort in
relationship to the school’s electrical environment.
Results Sixteen school teachers in a cohort of 137 teachers hired in 1988 through 2005
were diagnosed with 18 cancers. The observed to expected (O/E) risk ratio for all cancers
was 2.78 (P = 0.000098), while the O/E risk ratio for malignant melanoma was 9.8
(P=0.0008). Thyroid cancer had a risk ratio of 13.3 (P=0.0098), and uterine cancer had
a risk ratio of 9.2 (P=0.019). Sixty Hertz magnetic fields showed no association with
cancer incidence. A new exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients, did show a
positive correlation to cancer incidence. A cohort cancer incidence analysis of the teacher
population showed a positive trend (P=7.110 X 10-10) of increasing cancer risk with
increasing cumulative exposure to high frequency voltage transients on the classroom’s
electrical wiring measured with a Graham/Stetzer (G/S) meter. The attributable risk of
cancer associated with this exposure was 64%. A single year of employment at this school
increased a teacher’s cancer risk by 21%.
Conclusion The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is unusually high and is
strongly associated with high frequency voltage transients, which may be a universal
carcinogen, similar to ionizing radiation. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2008
KEY WORDS: high frequency voltage transients; electricity; dirty power; cancer;
school teachers; carcinogen
BACKGROUND
Since the 1979 Wertheimer–Leeper study [Wertheimer
and Leeper, 1979] there has been concern that exposure to
power frequency (50/60 Hz) EMFs, especially magnetic
fields, may contribute to adverse health effects including
cancer. Until now, the most commonly used exposure metric
has been the time-weighted average of the power-frequency
magnetic field. However, the low risk ratios in most studies
suggest that magnetic fields might be a surrogate for a more
important metric. In this paper we present evidence that anew exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients
existing on electrical power wiring, is an important predictor
of cancer incidence in an exposed population.
The new metric, GS units, used in this investigation is
measured with a Graham/Stetzer meter (G/S meter) also
known as a Microsurge II meter (MS II meter), which is
plugged into electric outlets [Graham, 2005]. This meter
displays the average rate of change of these high frequency
voltage transients that exist everywhere on electric power
wiring. High frequency voltage transients found on electrical
wiring both inside and outside of buildings are caused by an
interruption of electrical current flow. The electrical utility
industry has referred to these transients as ‘‘dirty power.’’
There are many sources of ‘‘dirty power’’ in today’s
electrical equipment. Examples of electrical equipment
designed to operate with interrupted current flow are light
dimmer switches that interrupt the current twice per cycle
(120 times/s), power saving compact fluorescent lights that
interrupt the current at least 20,000 times/s, halogen lamps,
electronic transformers and most electronic equipment
manufactured since the mid-1980s that use switching power
supplies. Dirty power generated by electrical equipment in a
building is distributed throughout the building on the electric
wiring. Dirty power generated outside the building enters the
building on electric wiring and through ground rods and
conductive plumbing, while within buildings, it is usually the
result of interrupted current generated by electrical appliances
and equipment.
Each interruption of current flow results in a voltage
spike described by the equation V¼Ldi/dt, where Vis the
voltage, L is the inductance of the electrical wiring circuit
and di/dt is the rate of change of the interrupted current. The
voltage spike decays in an oscillatory manner. The oscillation
frequency is the resonant frequency of the electrical circuit.
The G/S meter measures the average magnitude of the rate of
change of voltage as a function of time (dV/dT). This
preferentially measures the higher frequency transients. The
measurements of dV/dT read by the meter are defined as GS
(Graham/Stetzer) units.
The bandwidth of the G/S meter is in the frequency range
of these decaying oscillations. Figure 1 shows a two-channel
oscilloscope display. One channel displays the 60 Hz voltage
on an electrical outlet while the other channel with a 10 kHz
hi-pass filter between the oscilloscope and the electrical
outlet, displays the high frequency voltage transients on the
same electrical outlet [Havas and Stetzer, 2004, reproduced
with permission].
Although no other published studies have measured high
frequency voltage transients and risk of cancer, one study of
electric utility workers exposed to transients from pulsed
electromagnetic fields found an increased incidence of lung
cancer among exposed workers [Armstrong et al., 1994].
INTRODUCTION
In February 2004, a Palm Springs, California newspaper,
The Desert Sun, printed an article titled, ‘‘Specialist
discounts cancer cluster at school,’’ in which a local tumor
registry epidemiologist claimed that there was no cancer
cluster or increased cancer incidence at the school [Perrault,
2004]. An Internet search revealed that the teacher
population at La Quinta Middle School (LQMS) was too
small to generate the 11 teachers with cancer who were
reported in the article. The school was opened in 1988 with
20 teachers hired that year. For the first 2 years, the school
operated in three temporary buildings, one of which remains.
In 1990, a newly constructed school opened. In 2003, the
teachers complained to school district management that they
believed that they had too many cancers. Repeated requests
to the school administration for physical access to the school
and for teachers’ information were denied.We contacted the
teachers, and with their help, the cancers in the group were
characterized. One teacher suggested using yearbooks to
develop population-at-risk counts for calculating expected
cancers. We were anxious to assess the electrical environment
at the school, since elevated power frequency magnetic
field exposure with a positive correlation between duration of
exposure and cancer incidence had been reported in first floor
office workers who worked in strong magnetic fields above
three basement-mounted 12,000 V transformers [Milham,
1996]. We also wanted to use a new electrical measurement
tool, the Graham/Stetzer meter, which measures high
frequency voltage transients.
The Graham/Stetzer Microsurge II meter measures the
average rate of change of the transients in Graham/Stetzer
units (GS units). Anecdotal reports had linked dirty power
exposure with a number of illnesses [Havas and Stetzer,
2004]. We decided to investigate whether power frequency
magnetic field exposure or dirty power exposure could
explain the cancer increase in the school teachers.
METHODS
After the school administration (Desert Sands Unified
School District) had refused a number of requests to assist in
helping us evaluate the cancers reported by the teachers, we
were invited by a teacher to visit the school after hours to
make magnetic field and dirty power measurements. During
that visit, we noted that, with the exception of one classroom
near the electrical service room, the classroom magnetic field
levels were uniformly low, but the dirty power levels were
very high, giving many overload readings. When we reported
this to Dr. Doris Wilson, then the superintendent of schools
(retired December, 2007), one of us (SM) was threatened
with prosecution for ‘‘unlawful.. trespass,’’ and the teacher
who had invited us into the school received a letter of
reprimand. The teachers then filed a California OSHA
complaint which ultimately lead to a thorough measurement
of magnetic fields and dirty power levels at the school by the
California Department of Health Services which provided
the exposure data for this study. They also provided
comparison dirty power data from residences and an office
building, and expedited tumor registry confirmation of
cancer cases.
Classrooms were measured at different times using
3 meters: an FW Bell model 4080 tri-axial Gaussmeter, a
Dexsil 310 Gaussmeter, and a Graham-Stetzer (G/S) meter.
The Bell meter measures magnetic fields between 25 and
1,000 Hz. The Dexsil meter measures magnetic fields
between 30 and 300 Hz. The G/S meter measures the
average rate of change of the high frequency voltage
transients between 4 and 150 KHz.
All measurements of high frequency voltage transients
were made with the G/S meter. This meter was plugged into
outlets, and a liquid crystal display was read. All measurements
reported were in GS units. The average value was
reported where more than one measurement was made in a
classroom.
We measured seven classrooms in February 2005 using
the Bell meter and the G/S meter. Later in 2005, the teachers
measured 37 rooms using the same meters. On June 8, 2006,
electrical consultants for the school district and the
California Department of Health Services (Dr. Raymond
Neutra) repeated the survey using the G/S meter and a Dexsil
320 Gaussmeter, measuring 51 rooms.We used results of this
June 8, 2006 sampling in our exposure calculations, since all
classrooms were sampled, multiple outlets per room were
sampled, and an experienced team did the sampling.
Additionally, GS readings were taken at Griffin Elementary
school near Olympia,Washington, and Dr. Raymond Neutra
provided GS readings for his Richmond California office
building and 125 private California residences measured in
another Northern California study.
All the cancer case information was developed by
personal, telephone, and E-mail contact with the teachers or
their families without any assistance from the school district.
The local tumor registry verified all the cancer cases with the
exception of one case diagnosed out of state and the two cases
reported in 2007. The out-of state case was verified by
pathologic information provided by the treating hospital. The
teachers gathered population-at-risk information (age at
hire, year of hire, vital status, date of diagnosis, date of death,
and termination year) from yearbooks and from personal
contact. The teachers also provided a history of classroom
assignments for all teachers from annual classroom assignment
rosters (academic years 1990–1991 to 2006–2007)
generated by the school administration. The school administration
provided a listing of school employees, including
the teachers, to the regional tumor registry after the teachers
involved the state health agency by submitting an OSHA
complaint. The information we obtained anecdotally from
the teachers, yearbooks, and classroom assignment rosters
was nearly identical to that given to the tumor registry. None
of the cancer cases were ascertained initially through the
cancer registry search.
Published cancer incidence rates by age, sex, and race
for all cancers, as well as for malignant melanoma, thyroid,
uterine, breast, colon, ovarian cancers, and non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma (NHL) were obtained from a California Cancer
Registry publication [Kwong et al., 2001].We estimated the
expected cancer rate for each teacher by applying year, age,
sex, and race-specific cancer incidence rates from hire date
until June 2007, or until death. We then summed each
teacher’s expected cancer rate for the total cohort.
Using the California cancer incidence data, the school
teacher data, and the GS exposure data, we calculated cancer
incidence and risks. A replicate data set was sent to Dr. Gary
Marsh and to Mike Cunningham at the University of
Pittsburgh School of Public Health for independent analysis
using OCMAP software.We calculated cancer risk ratios by
duration of employment and by cumulative GS unit-years of
exposure.We calculated an attributable risk percent using the
frequencies of total observed and expected cancers, and
performed trend tests [Breslowand Day, 1987] for cancer risk
versus duration of employment and cumulative GS unityears
of exposure. Poisson P values were calculated using the
Stat Trek website (Stat Trek, 2007). We also performed a
linear regression of cancer risk by duration of employment
in years and by time-weighted exposure in GS unit-years.
Since neither author had a current institutional affiliation,
institutional review board approval was not possible.
The teachers requested the study, and their participation in
the study was both voluntary and complete. All the active
teachers at the school signed the Cal OSHA request. The
authors fully explained the nature of the study to study
participants and offered no remuneration to the teachers for
participation in the study. The authors maintained strict
confidentiality of all medical and personal information
provided to us by the teachers, and removed personal
identifiers from the data set which was analyzed by the
University of Pittsburgh. Possession of personal medical
information was limited to the two authors. No patientspecific
information was obtained from the tumor registry.
With the individual’s permission we provided the registry
with case information for a teacher with malignant
melanoma diagnosed out of state. The exposure information
was provided by the California Department of Health
Services. The basic findings of the study were presented to
the Desert Sands Unified School District School Board and at
a public meeting arranged by the teachers.
RESULTS
Electrical Measurements
In our seven-room survey of the school in 2005,
magnetic field readings were as high as 177 mG in a
classroom adjacent to the electrical service room. A number
of outlets had overload readings with the G/S meter.
Magnetic fields were not elevated (>3.0 mG) in the interior
space of any of the classrooms except in the classroom
adjacent to the electrical service room, and near classroom
electrical appliances such as overhead transparency projectors.
There was no association between the risk of cancer and
60 Hz magnetic field exposures in this cohort, since the
classroom magnetic field exposures were the same for
teachers with and without cancer (results not shown).
This school had very high GS readings and an
association between high frequency voltage transient
exposure in the teachers and risk of cancer. The G/S meter
gives readings in the range from 0 to 1,999 GS units. The case
school had 13 of 51 measured rooms with at least one
electrical outlet measuring ‘‘overload’’ (2,000 GS units).
These readings were high compared to another school near
Olympia Washington, a Richmond California office building,
and private residences in Northern California (Table I).
Altogether, 631 rooms were surveyed for this study. Only
17 (2.69%) of the 631 rooms had an ‘‘overload’’ (maximum,
2,000 GS units) reading. Applying this percentage to the
51 rooms surveyed at the case school, we would expect
1.4 rooms at the school to have overload GS readings
(0.026951¼1.37). However, thirteen rooms (25%) measured
at the case school had ‘‘overload’’ measurements above
the highest value (1,999 GS units) that the G/S meter can
measure. This is a highly statistically significant excess over
expectation (Poisson P=3.14 X 10-9).
We noticed AM radio interference in the vicinity of the
school. A teacher also reported similar radio interference in his
classroom and in the field near his ground floor classroom. In
May 2007, he reported that 11 of 15 outlets in his classroom
overloaded the G/S meter. An AM radio tuned off station is a
sensitive detector of dirty power, giving a loud buzzing noise in
the presence of dirty power sources even though the AM band is
beyond the bandwidth of the G/S meter.
Cancer Incidence
Three more teachers were diagnosed with cancer in 2005
after the first 11 cancer diagnoses were reported, and another
former teacher (diagnosed out-of-state in 2000) was reported
by a family member employed in the school system. One
cancer was diagnosed in 2006 and two more in 2007. In
the years 1988–2005, 137 teachers were employed at the
school. The 18 cancers in the 16 teachers were: 4 malignant
melanomas, 2 female breast cancers, 2 cancers of the thyroid,
2 uterine cancers and one each of Burkitt’s lymphoma (a type
of non-Hodgkins lymphoma), polycythemia vera, multiple
myeloma, leiomyosarcoma and cancer of the colon,
pancreas, ovary and larynx. Two teachers had two primary
cancers each: malignant melanoma and multiple myeloma,
and colon and pancreatic cancer. Four teachers had died of
cancer through August 2007. There have been no non-cancer
deaths to date.
The teachers’ cohort accumulated 1,576 teacher-years
of risk between September 1988 and June 2007 based on a
12-month academic year.Average age at hire was 36 years. In
2007, the average age of the cohort was 47.5 years.
When we applied total cancer and specific cancer
incidence rates by year, age, sex, race, and adjusted for
cohort ageing, we found an estimate of 6.5 expected cancers,
0.41 melanomas, 0.15 thyroid cancers, 0.22 uterine cancers,
and 1.5 female breast cancers (Table II). For all cancers, the
risk ratio (Observed/Expected¼18/6.5) was 2.78 (P=
0.000098, Poisson test); for melanoma, (O/E¼4/0.41) was
9.8 (P=0.0008, Poisson test); for thyroid cancer (O/E¼2/
0.15) was 13.3 (P=0.0011, Poisson test); for uterine cancer
(O/E¼2/0.22), was 9.19 (P=0.019, Poisson test).
Table III shows the cancer risk among the teachers by
duration of employment. Half the teachers worked at the school
for less than 3 years (average 1.52 years). The cancer risk
increases with duration of employment, as is expected when
there is exposure to an occupational carcinogen. The cancer risk
ratio rose from 1.7 for less than 3 years, to 2.9 for 3–14 years, to
4.2 for 15þyears of employment. There was a positive trend of
increasing cancer incidence with increasing duration of
employment (P=4.6 X 10-10). A single year of employment
at this school increases a teacher’s risk of cancer by 21%.
Using the June 8, 2006 survey data (Table IV), the cancer
risk of a teacher having ever worked in a room with at least
one outlet with an overload GS reading (2000 GS units) and
employed for 10 years or more, was 7.1 (P=0.00007,
Poisson test). In this group, there were six teachers diagnosed
with a total of seven cancers, and four teachers without a
cancer diagnosis, who were employed for 10 or more years
and who ever worked in one of these rooms. Five teachers had
one primary cancer and one teacher had two primary cancers.
These teachers made up 7.3% of the teachers’ population (10/
137) but had 7 cancers or 39% (7/18) of the total cancers. The
10 teachers who worked in an overload classroom for
10 years or more had 7 cancers when 0.99 would have been
expected (P=6.8 X 10-5 Poisson test). The risk ratio for the
8 teachers with cancer and 32 teachers without cancer, who
ever worked in a room with an overload GS reading,
regardless of the time at the school, was 5.1 (P=0.00003,
Poisson test). The risk ratio for 8 teachers with cancer and 89
teachers without cancer who never worked in a room with an
overload G-S reading was 1.8 (P=0.047, Poisson test).
Teachers who never worked in an overload classroom also
had a statistically significantly increased risk of cancer.
A positive dose-response was seen between the risk of
cancer and the cumulative GS exposure (Table V). Three
categories of cumulative GS unit-years of exposure were
selected: <5,000, 5,000 to 10,000, and more than 10,000
cumulative GS unit-years. We found elevated risk ratios of
2.0, 5.0, and 4.2, respectively, all statistically significant, for
each category. There was a positive trend of increasing cancer
incidence with increasing cumulative GS unit-years of
exposure (P¼7.11010). An exposure of 1,000 GS unityears
increased a teacher’s cancer risk by 13%.Working in a
room with a GS overload (2,000 GS units) for 1 year
increased cancer risk by 26%.
In attributable risk percentage was calculated:
(observed cancers-expected cancers)/observed cancers¼
(186.51)/18¼63.8%. The fact that these cancer incidence findings were
generated by a single day of G/S meter readings made on June
8, 2006 suggests that the readings were fairly constant
over time since the school was built in 1990. For example, if
the 13 classrooms which overloaded the meter on June 8,
2006 were not the same since the start of the study and
constant throughout, the cancer risk of teachers who ever
worked in the overload rooms would have been the same as
the teachers who never worked in an overload room.
Although teachers with melanoma and cancers of the
thyroid, and uterus, had very high, statistically significant
risk ratios, there was nothing exceptional about their age at
hire, duration of employment, or cumulative GS exposure.
However, thyroid cancer and melanoma had relatively short
latency times compared to the average latency time for all
18 cancers. The average latency time between start of
employment at the school and diagnosis for all cancers was 9.7 years.
The average latency time for thyroid cancer was
3.0 years and for melanoma it was 7.3 years (with three of the
four cases diagnosed at 2, 5, and 5 years).
An independent analysis of this data set by the
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health using
OCMAP software supported our findings.
DISCUSSION
Because of access denial, we have no information about
the source, or characterization of the high frequency voltage
transients. We can assume, because the school uses metal
conduit to contain the electrical wiring, that any resultant
radiated electric fields from these high frequency voltage
transients would radiate mainly from the power cords and
from electrical equipment using the power cords within a
classroom.
The school’s GS readings of high frequency voltage
transients are much higher than in other tested places
(Table I). Also, teachers in the case school who were
employed for over 10 years and who had ever worked in a
room with an overload GS reading had a much higher rate of
cancer. They made up 7.3% of the cohort but experienced
39% of all cancers.
The relatively short latency time of melanoma and
thyroid cancers suggests that these cancers may be more
sensitive to the effects of high frequency voltage transients
than the other cancers seen in this population.
In occupational cohort studies, it is very unusual to have
a number of different cancers with an increased risk. An
exception to this is that cohorts exposed to ionizing radiation
show an increased incidence of a number of different cancers.
The three cancers in this cohort with significantly elevated
incidence, malignant melanoma, thyroid cancer and uterine
cancer, also have significantly elevated incidence in the large
California school employees cohort [Reynolds et al., 1999].
These cancer risk estimates are probably low because 23
of the 137 members of the cohort remain untraced. Since
exposure was calculated based on 7 days a week for a year,
this will overstate the actual teachers’ exposure of 5 days
a week for 9 months a year.
We could not study field exposures in the classrooms
since we were denied access to the school.We postulate that
the dirty power in the classroom wiring exerted its effect by
capacitive coupling which induced electrical currents in the
teachers’ bodies. The energy that is capacitively coupled to
the teachers’ bodies is proportional to the frequency. It is this
characteristic that highlights the usefulness of the G/S meter.
High frequency dirty power travels along the electrical
distribution system in and between buildings and through the
ground. Humans and conducting objects in contact with the
ground become part of the circuit. Figure 2 [Havas and
Stetzer, 2004, reproduced with permission] shows an
oscilloscope tracing taken between EKG patches on the
ankles of a man wearing shoes, standing at a kitchen sink.The
60 Hz sine wave is distorted by high frequencies, which
allows high frequency currents to oscillate up one leg and
down the other between the EKG patches.
Although not demonstrated in this data set, dirty power
levels are usually higher in environments with high levels of
60 Hz magnetic fields. Many of the electronic devices which
generate magnetic fields also inject dirty power into the
utility wiring. Magnetic fields may, therefore, be a surrogate
for dirty power exposures. In future studies of the EMF cancer
association, dirty power levels should be studied
along with magnetic fields.
The question of cancer incidence in students who
attended La Quinta Middle School for 3 years has not been
addressed.
CONCLUSION
The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is
unusually high and is strongly associated with exposure to
high frequency voltage transients. In the 28 years since
electromagnetic fields (EMFs) were first associated with
cancer, a number of exposure metrics have been suggested. If
our findings are substantiated, high frequency voltage transients
are a new and important exposure metric and a possible
universal human carcinogen similar to ionizing radiation.

Milham-Morgan-2008 EMI.pdf

Basically this shows a very high degree of correlation with dirty power - high readings on a GS meter. A 26% per year increase in the teacher risk for cancer in a school room with GS>2000!

The figures and tables are in the pdf. I couldn't find the link where I got it (maybe powerwatch.org) but I'll send anyone a copy that wants one.

Edit: fixed double quotes
Added: http://www.electricalpollution.com/documents/LaQuintacancercluster.pdf
& more similar studies here: http://www.electricalpollution.com/Research.html
& the paper is here at Milham's site: http://sammilham.com/links.shtm
 
Thanks for sharing the paper, LQB.

Their main conern and subject of investigation is dirty electricity. It would be interesting to know if they undertook measurements in the school with respect to high frequency (WiFi, 3G, etc.) which may play a significant role in cancer propagation, too. Skiming the report, I couln't find any indications.
 
Sirius said:
Thanks for sharing the paper, LQB.

Their main conern and subject of investigation is dirty electricity. It would be interesting to know if they undertook measurements in the school with respect to high frequency (WiFi, 3G, etc.) which may play a significant role in cancer propagation, too. Skiming the report, I couln't find any indications.

No, they only measured the AC mag fields to rule that out as a contributor. And, yeah, I think high levels of wireless could be a contributor but they would probably argue that RF wireless takes longer so the early increased cancer risk was dominated by the dirty power. But I would sure like to know what the source of the dirty power was ...
 
Here is an interesting snippet from Milham's site:

Interestingly this issue is considered so important in the Republic of Kazakhstan that the country introduced a law in 2003 legislating on the maximum permitted levels of GS units allowed in workplaces. GS filter systems are used commonly to ensure that the GS levels do not go beyond the maximum permitted level of 50 GS units.

And this from one of his papers:

Among the many devices which generate the dirty electricity
are compact fluorescent light bulbs, halogen lamps, wireless routers,
dimmer switches, and other devices using switching power
supplies. Any device which interrupts current flow generates dirty
electricity. Arcing, sparking and bad electrical connections can also
generate the high frequency voltage transients. Except for the dimmer
switches, most of these devices did not exist in the first half of
the 20th century.

It seems unbelievable that mortality differences of this magnitude
could go unexplained for over 70 years after they were first
reported and 40 years after they were noticed. I think that in the
early part of the 20th century nobody was looking for answers.
By the time EMF epidemiology got started in 1979 the entire population
was exposed to EMFs. Cohort studies were therefore using
EMF-exposed population statistics to compute expected values,
and case-control studies were comparing more exposed cases to
less exposed controls. .... An exception to
this is the Amish who live without electricity. Like rural US residents
in the 1940s, Amish males in the 1970s had very low cancer
and cardiovascular disease mortality rates [23].
If this hypothesis and findings outlined here are even partially
true, the explosive recent increase in radiofrequency radiation,
and high frequency voltage transients sources, especially in urban
areas from cell phones and towers, terrestrial antennas, wi-fi and
wi-max systems, broadband internet over power lines, and personal
electronic equipment, suggests that like the 20th century
EMF epidemic, we may already have a 21st century epidemic of
morbidity and mortality underway caused by electromagnetic
fields. The good news is that many of these diseases may be preventable
by environmental manipulation, if society chooses to.
 
Indeed, that would be interesting to know, and comparisons to other schools and institutions would certainly provide more insight (the reason for investigating that school in particular is the abnormally high cancer rate of teachers there).

As far as I've understood the report, the source of dirty electricity is connected to the school building's electrical wiring and not an exterior source such as powerlines nearby. I don't know if there is a map with cellphone towers for the US. If so, it could be checked whether there are installations close to the school or the school hosts cellphone antennas itself. If there are ones, one of the first indications of negative influence is the appearance of psychical problems. Personell is more likely to show aggression, for instance.

Then, what's quite interesting: Increased cancer rates were connected to earth radiation decades ago, when microwave emitters were not epidemic. I have no idea (but that would be surely interesting to know) how this factors in; how these various and different hazardous sources interact and possibly amplify each other and which sources are the dominant ones if a mix of EMF is present.

_http://www.whale.to/v/tests_er.html (Might be not the original article)
Harmful Earth Radiation

What dowsers have been maintaining for ages - namely that earth radiation is harmful to health - has now been confirmed in an expensive and exhaustive study by Austrian scientists. Under the direction of Dr Otto Bergsmann (Internal Medicine), a professor at the University of Vienna, doctors, chemists, physicists and biologists of the state-sponsored "Working Party for Research into Pathogenic Sites" carried out tests involving some 985 test persons over a period of two years.

A typical test involved dowsers first of all finding a "pathogenic", i.e. health-threatening site. The test person then had to sit there for ten minutes. Afterwards the test person was subjected to a very thorough medical examination. This consisted of a number of tests, including blood sedimentation tests, measurements of electric conductance at certain muscle points, of blood pressure, heart beat, breathing, skin resistance and blood circulation. In order to eliminate any "placebo effects" - the body’s response to the mere belief in such effects - the tests were organised in a "double-blind" fashion: neither the examining doctor nor the test persons knew whether and when they were in a disturbed or neutral place. The enormous number of 462,421 measurements were taken in a total of 6,943 individual tests. Although the test persons were exposed to the disturbed zones for only a few minutes, harmful effects could be registered in many cases. "One can easily imagine the dire consequences which exposure to these disturbance zones over many years could have" was the comment of the periodical "Natural Medicine".

In May 1990 the German "Internationaler Arbeitskreis fuer Geobiologie e.V." held its first congress in Andernach. The following is an extract from a report by the Chairman of their Working Party on Geobiology and Building Ecology, Hofrat Prof Dr Emil Worsch. (Translation use Pope, 12.7.90)

"Regarding the geobiological connection between earth radiation and chronic disease, in particular cancer, it could be shown, as already reported two years ago, but now with even greater precision, that at least the starting cause of these diseases is very closely connected with the radiation complex habitually found in cancer zones and at cancer points. Here it was found again and again that the so-called double Curry zones, in connection with radiation from water, but sometimes also without this, were the main cause. Of approx 600 cancer cases which I investigated, there were less than 5% which had no connection with the radiation situation outlined above. In my book which is to be published in the autumn of this year there will be a rich choice of case histories in the form of radiation sketches, and I shall also report in detail on the mystery of "geomancy"."-----Hofrat Prof Dr Emil Worsch

Sheet Rib page 2, 15.12.87 (lAG - Internationaler Arbeitskreis fuer Geobiologie) Meetings organised by the JAG

The committee and members of the JAG held a meeting on 10.10.87 on the occasion of the Puchberger Convention of our Austrian friends. During the evening meeting, Herr Thoem reported on the results of measurements which had been taken by the Frankfurt test team (Messrs Thoem, Kummer and Mueller) above a crossing of interference zones which had led to the development of a brain tumour.

Results of Measurements Above the relevant bed the graphic marker needle showed a very steep curve of up to 30 000 nT. After removal of the spring interior mattress and the iron frame with wire netting the value was reduced to 5 000 nT!

Please note: Irritation of the earth magnetic field by iron parts in a bed above geopathic zones have a most disastrous effect. The relevant conclusions should be drawn by all who have the knowledge to understand.

Especially the investigations of Dr. Viktor Rambeau (if you have ever heard of this person) connect cancer to earth radiation and pathogenic sites. His investigations date back to the 1930s (e.g. Rambeau V., Besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Tektonik der Erde und dem Krankheitproblem? Biologische Heilkunst, 1934).
_http://www.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rutengeher.at%2Fgesund_krebs.htm
Translation by Google said:
Dr. Victor Rambeau (Chairman of the Medical Association of Marburg)

"We were looking for in our statistical work, a house that is not geologically disturbed area and still has diseases, from cancer, and this house we have not found". There is no case [...] of cancer that is not above a geologically disturbed area.
I mean, if this is true how to relate it to other sources of cancer? As amplifier?
 
Sirius said:
Indeed, that would be interesting to know, and comparisons to other schools and institutions would certainly provide more insight (the reason for investigating that school in particular is the abnormally high cancer rate of teachers there).

As far as I've understood the report, the source of dirty electricity is connected to the school building's electrical wiring and not an exterior source such as powerlines nearby. I don't know if there is a map with cellphone towers for the US. If so, it could be checked whether there are installations close to the school or the school hosts cellphone antennas itself. If there are ones, one of the first indications of negative influence is the appearance of psychical problems. Personell is more likely to show aggression, for instance.

Then, what's quite interesting: Increased cancer rates were connected to earth radiation decades ago, when microwave emitters were not epidemic. I have no idea (but that would be surely interesting to know) how this factors in; how these various and different hazardous sources interact and possibly amplify each other and which sources are the dominant ones if a mix of EMF is present.

I would think that in 2007/8 Milham would have identified the source of the noise power if it were obvious - but maybe not. It could have been a nearby manufacturing facility or even something in the school.

Many of the studies showing negative effect from the geo-mag field had to do with extreme solar wind interactions with the earth's magneto-sphere. Figuring out what causes what is a messy business when it comes to EMF.

There are other studies on dirty power and AC mag fields in schools. Some schools have a problem with AC mag fields due to faulty wiring and ground currents - easily identified with a gauss meter. The problem is that a fairly innocent wiring error can result in high AC Mag fields. If a child's crib (for example) is placed on the floor over one of these circuits, then we do know that the risk for childhood leukemia becomes very high. The vast majority of electricians do not carry a gauss meter and are not aware of the risks of simple errors (or shortcuts).
 
Schools often have solar panels installed on their roofs. This is a typical source of dirty electricity. The La Quinta school doesn't seem to have ones if you look it up with Google Earth.
See: _http://www.aimtolive.com/radiation_solar_panels.htm
 
Sirius said:
Indeed, that would be interesting to know, and comparisons to other schools and institutions would certainly provide more insight (the reason for investigating that school in particular is the abnormally high cancer rate of teachers there).

As far as I've understood the report, the source of dirty electricity is connected to the school building's electrical wiring and not an exterior source such as powerlines nearby. I don't know if there is a map with cellphone towers for the US. If so, it could be checked whether there are installations close to the school or the school hosts cellphone antennas itself. If there are ones, one of the first indications of negative influence is the appearance of psychical problems. Personell is more likely to show aggression, for instance.

Then, what's quite interesting: Increased cancer rates were connected to earth radiation decades ago, when microwave emitters were not epidemic. I have no idea (but that would be surely interesting to know) how this factors in; how these various and different hazardous sources interact and possibly amplify each other and which sources are the dominant ones if a mix of EMF is present.

_http://www.whale.to/v/tests_er.html (Might be not the original article)
Harmful Earth Radiation

What dowsers have been maintaining for ages - namely that earth radiation is harmful to health - has now been confirmed in an expensive and exhaustive study by Austrian scientists. Under the direction of Dr Otto Bergsmann (Internal Medicine), a professor at the University of Vienna, doctors, chemists, physicists and biologists of the state-sponsored "Working Party for Research into Pathogenic Sites" carried out tests involving some 985 test persons over a period of two years.

A typical test involved dowsers first of all finding a "pathogenic", i.e. health-threatening site. The test person then had to sit there for ten minutes. Afterwards the test person was subjected to a very thorough medical examination. This consisted of a number of tests, including blood sedimentation tests, measurements of electric conductance at certain muscle points, of blood pressure, heart beat, breathing, skin resistance and blood circulation. In order to eliminate any "placebo effects" - the body’s response to the mere belief in such effects - the tests were organised in a "double-blind" fashion: neither the examining doctor nor the test persons knew whether and when they were in a disturbed or neutral place. The enormous number of 462,421 measurements were taken in a total of 6,943 individual tests. Although the test persons were exposed to the disturbed zones for only a few minutes, harmful effects could be registered in many cases. "One can easily imagine the dire consequences which exposure to these disturbance zones over many years could have" was the comment of the periodical "Natural Medicine".

In May 1990 the German "Internationaler Arbeitskreis fuer Geobiologie e.V." held its first congress in Andernach. The following is an extract from a report by the Chairman of their Working Party on Geobiology and Building Ecology, Hofrat Prof Dr Emil Worsch. (Translation use Pope, 12.7.90)

"Regarding the geobiological connection between earth radiation and chronic disease, in particular cancer, it could be shown, as already reported two years ago, but now with even greater precision, that at least the starting cause of these diseases is very closely connected with the radiation complex habitually found in cancer zones and at cancer points. Here it was found again and again that the so-called double Curry zones, in connection with radiation from water, but sometimes also without this, were the main cause. Of approx 600 cancer cases which I investigated, there were less than 5% which had no connection with the radiation situation outlined above. In my book which is to be published in the autumn of this year there will be a rich choice of case histories in the form of radiation sketches, and I shall also report in detail on the mystery of "geomancy"."-----Hofrat Prof Dr Emil Worsch

Sheet Rib page 2, 15.12.87 (lAG - Internationaler Arbeitskreis fuer Geobiologie) Meetings organised by the JAG

The committee and members of the JAG held a meeting on 10.10.87 on the occasion of the Puchberger Convention of our Austrian friends. During the evening meeting, Herr Thoem reported on the results of measurements which had been taken by the Frankfurt test team (Messrs Thoem, Kummer and Mueller) above a crossing of interference zones which had led to the development of a brain tumour.

Results of Measurements Above the relevant bed the graphic marker needle showed a very steep curve of up to 30 000 nT. After removal of the spring interior mattress and the iron frame with wire netting the value was reduced to 5 000 nT!

Please note: Irritation of the earth magnetic field by iron parts in a bed above geopathic zones have a most disastrous effect. The relevant conclusions should be drawn by all who have the knowledge to understand.

Especially the investigations of Dr. Viktor Rambeau (if you have ever heard of this person) connect cancer to earth radiation and pathogenic sites. His investigations date back to the 1930s (e.g. Rambeau V., Besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Tektonik der Erde und dem Krankheitproblem? Biologische Heilkunst, 1934).
_http://www.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rutengeher.at%2Fgesund_krebs.htm
Translation by Google said:
Dr. Victor Rambeau (Chairman of the Medical Association of Marburg)

"We were looking for in our statistical work, a house that is not geologically disturbed area and still has diseases, from cancer, and this house we have not found". There is no case [...] of cancer that is not above a geologically disturbed area.
I mean, if this is true how to relate it to other sources of cancer? As amplifier?

I missed this half of your post in my last response. But, yes, I believe this is a very real effect. Jim Waugh in his book, "Living Safely with Electromagnetic Radiation" ( a very good book BTW) devotes an entire chapter to it. He relates some great German history (1920s) in which dowsers were used to map "cancer" areas and diagnose victims. Fascinating results. He says "For this reason, physicians in clinics - such as the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland, well known for the successful treatment of cancer, chronic conditions and autoimmune diseases - will request that patients have a geomagnetic and electromagnetic survey of their residence completed prior to commencement of a treatment program". The conditions he describes are the crossing of underground water flows and geophysical faults. The deadly aspect is if your bed is over this crossing. It may be that a directed EMF may form another crossing that aggravates the situation - another complicating factor in EMF research. [You won't find this talked about in much "peer-reviewed" publications]

On a side note, I recently had a local dowser out to locate exactly where the underground water flow (that we drilled into about a year ago for a well) traveled. I tried to pay him for his time and gas but he refused. He said anyone can do it and proceeded to show me (and two farm hands) how to hold the forked tree limb. Sure enough, you cannot stop that limb from bending when you get over an underground water flow! The buddy he brought along for the ride couldn't do it so he took off up the hill to try by himself. A few minutes later he came back with a huge smile on his face and demonstrated for us that he could! So I have no doubt that there are energy flows and crossings that we do not see with our conventional gadgets.
 
Sirius said:
Schools often have solar panels installed on their roofs. This is a typical source of dirty electricity. The La Quinta school doesn't seem to have ones if you look it up with Google Earth.
See: _http://www.aimtolive.com/radiation_solar_panels.htm

I don't think its the solar panels so much as the inverter that converts the DC from the panels to AC phase-locked to the grid.
 
LQB said:
I don't think its the solar panels so much as the inverter that converts the DC from the panels to AC phase-locked to the grid.
Of course! The whole installation is meant by ‘solar panels.’ :lol: A cellphone tower isn't harmful but its antennas.
 
LQB said:
I'm opening up this new thread to continue with some EMF study results brought up in the LWB thread. I think its worth keeping in mind that EMF, toxic exposure, and diet may be very interrelated as sources of cancer and chronic disease...

It is very important to keep that in mind.

I am having a bit of trouble understanding some of the details surrounding "dirty power." Some of the information is familiar, and some is not. I have done a little reading in the last couple of days about cell towers, and I wonder if the main source of HF noise there isn't the DSPs (digital signal processors). They represent the kind of high-speed digital logic that I would expect to consume a lot of power and generate a lot of noise.

I wasn't aware of the ground current issue, but a little Googling resolved that. The question now is why? Do the magnetic fields surrounding a normal power cable (with no ground current) tend to cancel? It makes sense, and I seem to recall it from my reading many years ago. With a ground current there would be no proximity and no cancelation.
 
Sirius said:
LQB said:
I don't think its the solar panels so much as the inverter that converts the DC from the panels to AC phase-locked to the grid.
Of course! The whole installation is meant by ‘solar panels.’ :lol: A cellphone tower isn't harmful but its antennas.

Yep, you're right - it's the system that produces the noise. If the DC from the panels is sent directly to battery storage, then there will be very little noise produced. Anytime you go from DC to AC or AC to DC, you will get a lot of noise short of very high cost.
 
Megan said:
LQB said:
I'm opening up this new thread to continue with some EMF study results brought up in the LWB thread. I think its worth keeping in mind that EMF, toxic exposure, and diet may be very interrelated as sources of cancer and chronic disease...

It is very important to keep that in mind.

I am having a bit of trouble understanding some of the details surrounding "dirty power." Some of the information is familiar, and some is not. I have done a little reading in the last couple of days about cell towers, and I wonder if the main source of HF noise there isn't the DSPs (digital signal processors). They represent the kind of high-speed digital logic that I would expect to consume a lot of power and generate a lot of noise.

I wasn't aware of the ground current issue, but a little Googling resolved that. The question now is why? Do the magnetic fields surrounding a normal power cable (with no ground current) tend to cancel? It makes sense, and I seem to recall it from my reading many years ago. With a ground current there would be no proximity and no cancelation.

The main source of the dirty power noise is the AC to DC conversion due to the sharp rectification of the sine wave AC needed to produce the DC voltage for our digital electronics. Yes, there will be some noise induced back on the line due to DSP switching rates but, today, these are in the GHz range and are sharply attenuated with distance and not well-contained by your wiring. The stronger effect of high DSP rates is reradiation of the switching noise at RF directly off the circuit board. This effect (at high switch rates) makes the circuit board (or parts of it) look like an antenna that is efficiently coupling to free space. This can cause all types of problems in neighboring electronics/circuits. This why such care is taken in satellite system design (where everything must be packed together tightly) to shield various electronic boxes from each other to prevent this coupling/crosstalk. Anyway, most of your high speed DSP noise gets radiated directly from the circuit boards and falls off rapidly with distance.

Think of a long single wire that has a current on it. Point your thumb along the direction of the wire. The mag field induced by the current flows around the wire in the direction of your other fingers. Now, if you add a second wire (very close to the first) with the same current running in the opposite direction, then the mag field cancels and there will be no mag field to measure, AC or DC. High voltage power lines must keep these wires (hot and neutral) widely separated due to the potential of arcing (short). As a result, there will be very high AC mag fields under and around these lines (depending on current load) - in other words, the AC mag fields do not cancel. By the time the wire pair gets to your house, it has been stepped down to 120/240V and the wires can be brought back together, canceling the AC mag field. Anytime this wire pair separates (such as at your panel box, sockets, or circuit boards in your electronic gadget/appliances) you will measure AC mag fields anytime current is being drawn on that circuit. The National Electric Code (NEC) was evolved by folks that knew very well that AC mag fields must be minimized for health reasons. Net current happens when the current on one wire of a pair does not equal that in the other wire - so the net current produces AC mag fields. This happens when neutrals or ground are tied together on the house side of the panel box. Although this may appear fine (no breakers blow) it results in net current and high AC mag fields. This is always an NEC code violation. These kinds of errors are rarely caught on inspection and can result in numerous AC mag field "hot boxes" in the house (this is what gives many children leukemia).

When electrification began, there was no appreciation of this and it took some time for the NEC to develop. [I think some of the early developers of the NEC knew about the deteriorating health associated with home electrification]. Some older homes are still wired in such a way that there are long runs with significant net current, and the occupants have no idea of the high levels of AC mag fields they live in.

The problem is easily detected with a gauss meter. Turn on some house circuits and run the meter around a room and the walls where the wiring is. Ignore the panel box, air handler, etc since these will peg the meter every time [just make sure that you are not using any living space near them]. The "Cell Sensor" is a cheap one ($40) that will also measure cellular radiation. But I would recommend the one Mrs Peel mentioned - the Trifield 100XE (about $100+ on amazon) that measures AC mag on 2 scales, electric field (volt/meter), and RF microwave. Share the cost with friends/family - you might also find you can help some people out by identifying a bad EMF environment.

Hope that answers the mail on your questions Megan - if not, fire away.
 
I finished the 'Dirty Electricity' book last night and that clarified a few things. I'll say more later when I'm not on my phone (!).
 
LQB said:
The main source of the dirty power noise is the AC to DC conversion due to the sharp rectification of the sine wave AC needed to produce the DC voltage for our digital electronics.

I have the habit of leaving chargers (phone, laptop, ipod, etc) plugged to the power source all the time. If the main source of dirty power noise is AC to DC conversion, this seems to be a very bad habit :evil:
 
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