Does Dirty Electricity Cause Cancer?

Exposure To Electromagnetic Radiation Could Be Damaging Your Health

“More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.” So claimed the ad for Camel cigarettes in 1949.[1] Today, the link between smoking and cancer is indisputable. Was our medical system really so archaic in 1949 that we didn’t recognize this? After all, people had been smoking for millennia by then.

The current generation tends to look on past generations as behind-the-times and even ignorant. The fact of the matter is with science and medicine we often don’t even know what we don’t know. Assumptions we hold onto tenaciously today may be proven false in the coming years.

One such assumption may be the safety of something that you and I are increasingly exposed to—electromagnetic radiation (EMR). Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that spans everything from radio waves to microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet (UV), X-rays and gamma rays.[2] The sun emits EMR as does the earth itself.

We already know about the damage that UV rays, X-rays and gamma rays can cause to humans and other living things. UV rays can cause melanoma (skin cancer) and severely damage the eyes leading to: corneal damage, cataracts, and macular degeneration.[3] The danger from a routine X-ray is low, but there’s a reason that X-ray technicians leave the room and cover the non-X-ray portion of your body with a lead shield.[4]

While gamma rays are used to treat cancer (radiotherapy), gamma rays do alter or kill living cells. The Chernobyl Reactor accident in the Ukraine offers an example of the damage gamma rays can inflict.[5] Each of those types of energy (UV rays, X-rays and gamma rays) are progressively more dangerous to humans. What we don’t fully understand yet is the extent of the health risk for exposure to radio waves and microwaves in particular.

In our techno age, we are increasingly bombarded with radio waves, microwaves, and a phenomenon called dirty electricity (also called electrosmog, or transients). Cell phones, laptops, computers, WiFi and virtually any other electronic device produce an electromagnetic field (EMF) that emits electromagnetic radiation. The wiring in our homes create an EMF.

Though most of us willingly allow our teeth to be X-rayed at the dentist, we recognize that the frequency of exposure, the intensity of that exposure and the duration of exposure all contribute to the question of “How much is safe?”

The problem is that we don’t have a long enough history with many of the electronic devices we use today to know whether they are harmful or not. For instance, Cell phones use microwave technology to transmit data. To what extent does holding a cell phone next to your head for a cumulative hour per day expose you to dangerous EMR?

Here’s where the experts begin to disagree. Unfortunately in our country, most research is funded and conducted around finding cures to diseases, not causes. There’s big money in finding cures, but identifying causes offers little financial incentive. Research on cancer in all its various sinister mutations offers a prime example of this.

As a result, the studies on the effects of EMR on human health are few and far between. Couple with that the relative short period of time that so many people have been routinely exposed to EMR from cell phones and the like and we have seemingly little data to go on.

In spite of that, we want to know! Does prolonged cell phone use pose a health threat? How about sleeping in a home or working in an office where WiFi waves bombard us at all hours of the day?

In 1995, the National Institutes of Health printed a review of findings surrounding the question of whether EMFs generated by high voltage power lines cause cancer. That review concluded, “There is no known mechanism by which magnetic fields of the type generated by high voltage power lines can play a role in cancer development.”[6] End of discussion, right? Hardly!

Incredibly, the same review continues, “Nevertheless, epidemiologic research has rather consistently found associations between residential magnetic field exposure and cancer. This is most evident for leukemia in children.”[7] What?!! Why haven’t we heard more about this?

Epidemiologist, Dr. Sam Milham, MD, has been studying the potential hazards of EMFs for over 30 years. His findings have led him to conclude that many of the diseases with which we suffer are the result of “electrosmog” or high-frequency voltage transients (dirty electricity). [8]

Dirty electricity is actually caused by energy efficient electronic devices like computers, dimmer switches, compact fluorescent bulbs that knock down voltage by means of an inverter.[9]

The human body is made up of cells, all of which function through tiny electrical impulses. The theory is that dirty electricity and EMFs potentially disrupt those electrical signals, playing havoc with our health.

Exposure to dirty electricity can cause symptoms including: skin rashes, sleep disturbances, muscle and joint pain, physical and mental exhaustion, migraines, light-headedness, nausea, loss of cognitive function, irritability, anxiety, muscle spasms, numbness and tingling, pain in the lower extremities and elevated temperature.[10]

In 2007, an international group of scientists and public health experts called the Bioinitiative Working Group issued a 650-page report on the subject of EMF exposure. In their report, they cited over 2,000 studies detailing the toxic effects of EMFs from all kinds of sources. The scientists concluded that continuous exposure, even to low level EMR (e.g., from cell phones), “can cause a variety of cancers, impair immunity, and contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, heart disease, and many other ailments.”[11]

And a study conducted by Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD, demonstrated a link between prolonged exposure to EMFs during pregnancy and childhood autism, ADHD and asthma.[12] “Could a disease whose cause has long eluded scientists be linked to perhaps the greatest practical discovery of the modern era?”[13]

Reduce Your Risk of EMR

There are a number of things you can do to reduce your risk of exposure to EMR and dirty electricity. Basically, you want to limit the frequency, intensity and duration of exposure.

Cell phones are of particular concern because they have practically become an indispensable appendage to our bodies. Here are some suggested safety tips:[14]^, [15]

• Use your cell phone only for quick calls and brief texting
• Turn off your phone or place it away from you when you’re not using it
• Don’t carry your cell phone in your pocket or against your body
• Purchase an EMF shielding cell phone case
• Purchase an EMF-reducing headset
• Don’t sleep with your phone next to your bed and definitely not under your pillow!
• Avoid letting children use a cell phone at all since they are more susceptible

Some additional tips for reducing EMF exposure:

• Replace compact fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs
• Avoid sleeping with an electric blanket
• Turn off WiFi and computers at night
• Limit your TV viewing
• Spend more time outside away from electrical devices

According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, MD, “There is an emerging science documenting how conductive contact with the Earth, which has is also known as Earthing or grounding, is highly beneficial to your health and completely safe. Earthing appears to minimize the consequences of exposure to potentially disruptive fields like ‘electromagnetic pollution’ or ‘dirty electricity.’”[16]

Earthing or grounding means nothing more than allowing your body to come into contact with the earth or ground. The earth emits EMR and is a natural source of electrons, “which are essential for proper functioning of immune systems, circulation, synchronization of biorhythms and other physiological processes.”[17]

The dangers of prolonged exposure to EMR, EMFs and dirty electricity are not yet clearly known. Additionally, because these energy forces are invisible, it’s easy to forget or overlook the fact that they are ever present around us. Therefore, we need to be very intentional about reducing our risk and exposure.

Don’t let exposure to EMR sneak up on you like the dangers of smoking cigarettes snuck up on us just a generation ago.

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Sources:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI
[2] http://www.livescience.com/38169-electromagnetism.html
[3] http://enhs.umn.edu/current/5103/uv/harmful.html
[4] http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/x-ray/basics/risks/prc-20009519
[5] http://healthresearchfunding.org/dangers-gamma-rays/
[6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1518848/
[7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1518848/
[8] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34509513/ns/health-cancer/t/electrosmog-harming-our-health/#.VpBST_krK00
[9] http://www.naturalnews.com/035211_dirty_electricity_myths_facts.html#
[10] http://www.naturalnews.com/035211_dirty_electricity_myths_facts.html#
[11] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34509513/ns/health-cancer/t/electrosmog-harming-our-health/#.VpBST_krK00
[12] http://www.mamanatural.com/emf-exposure/
[13] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34509513/ns/health-cancer/t/electrosmog-harming-our-health/#.VpBST_krK00
[14] http://www.mamanatural.com/emf-exposure/
[15] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/12/Real-Reason-Cell-Phone-Use-is-Banned-on-Airlines.aspx
[16] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/04/why-does-walking-barefoot-on-the-earth-make-you-feel-better.aspx
[17] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/04/why-does-walking-barefoot-on-the-earth-make-you-feel-better.aspx