Electromagnetic sensitivity

Public Comment on Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Submitted to: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Docket: HHS-OASH-2026-0397 I am submitting this comment as someone who has experienced significant symptoms that I associate with electromagnetic field (EMF) and radiofrequency (RF) exposure. I have a history of concussion, and my electromagnetic sensitivity began after my concussion in 2018. My symptoms include intense head pressure, heat and burning or tingling in my head and face, ear pressure, rapid heart rate, and chest fluttering. Symptoms have occurred in environments such as airports, train and bus stations, hybrid vehicles, and anywhere where wifi is present. Traveling on highways is difficult because cell towers create symptoms while in the car. I cannot have wifi or streaming in my home, and must drive a car without updated electronic/wireless systems. Symptoms can take three to four days to subside. These experiences have affected my daily life. I recognize that my experiences alone cannot establish causation. However, I believe that people experiencing these symptoms deserve compassionate medical evaluation and rigorous scientific investigation. I respectfully ask HHS to: Fund independent research into electromagnetic hypersensitivity, including possible neurological, autonomic, and other physiological mechanisms. Investigate whether people with a history of concussion or other neurological conditions may experience different symptom patterns upon exposure. Conduct a transparent review of the scientific evidence underlying current RF exposure standards, including uncertainties and potential health effects that remain insufficiently understood. Develop clinical guidance to help healthcare professionals evaluate and treat people reporting electromagnetic sensitivity without dismissing their symptoms or assuming an unproven cause. Include affected individuals in setting research priorities and evaluating practical approaches to improving their quality of life. The cause of my symptoms remains uncertain, but their impact is real. I urge HHS to take these experiences seriously, support rigorous research, and ensure that people reporting electromagnetic sensitivity receive appropriate medical attention. Thank you for considering my comments.

I am responding as a patient, advocate, and concerned member of the public. Ques.3(a)–(g) Personal Experience Six years ago, my environmental health physician diagnosed me with EMR syndrome. My exposures included extensive computer use in college, working in a Wi-Fi-equipped building with computer labs and a Smartboard, making hundreds of photocopies daily, and living near a cell tower. Combined with mold exposure and stress, these factors coincided with years of debilitating illness. Symptoms I have experienced from RF/EMFs include tinnitus, headaches, burning throughout my body, facial burning after watching an iPhone video, gum mucoceles/cysts after cell phone use, tingling teeth/jaw, hip pain while wearing a cordless FM-microphone battery pack, nausea after dental X-rays, and anxiety. I manage symptoms with a low-RF/EMF lifestyle: silver-lined clothing, an RF-shielding canopy when living near a cell tower, an RF Safe cell phone QuantaCase, a BluShield plug-in device, and use corded technology when possible. An EMF building biologist assessed my home with meters and helped reduce exposure. I also take calcium, magnesium, and supplements intended to support glutathione production and replenish minerals. Ques. 11(a), (f), and (g) Sensitive Populations I am particularly concerned about children. The Epoch Times article, How Screen Time Affects Different Organs, by Arsh Sarao (11/1/25), reports that excessive screen time may reduce gray matter in brain areas involved in decision-making and emotional regulation. I have observed irritability, aggression, hyperactivity, and obstinance in children after screen use, and anger, agitation, and depression in adults following wireless exposure. I have noticed calmer behavior after consuming mineral water and calcium-rich foods. These observations deserve further investigation. Ques. 13(f), (j), and (k) Cumulative Exposure Research should assess cumulative close-to-body RF exposure from wireless earbuds, smartwatches, hearing aids, and health monitors, including devices tracking atrial fibrillation and diabetes; some communicate continuously via Bluetooth and smartphones. Consumers should retain the option of analog electric meters instead of RF transmitting smart meters. Landlines do not emit RF and should remain available, with funding to maintain copper lines. Incandescent bulbs should remain an option, and electromagnetic interference from LED/fluorescent lighting should be studied. Ques. 14 Environmental Effect Research should examine possible links between RF/EMF exposure, mold, and mycotoxin illness. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt’s research, referenced in the July 2014 Townsend Letter (attached; p. 10), reportedly states that molds exposed to high EMF levels release up to 600 times more mycotoxins and also proliferate faster. These effects could potentially exacerbate symptoms in individuals already suffering from mold-related illness. Ques. 16 Federal Research Priorities I respectfully urge HHS to review Dr. Andrew Goldsworthy’s "The Biological Effects of Weak Electromagnetic Fields" (attached). Goldsworthy proposes that electromagnetic fields may increase cell-membrane permeability, allowing calcium ions to leak into cells. Calcium regulates nerve signaling, muscle contraction, and inflammation; disrupted balance could affect multiple body systems and explain reported multisystem symptoms. Goldsworthy’s work deserves serious consideration and further study. In addition, The EMF Medical Conference 2021 recordings (see References) provide valuable research and clinical observations from physicians and RF/EMF experts and should be reviewed. Ques. 18 Recommendations I recommend that HHS consider the following: -Promote public service announcements and safer-technology education, especially for children, using Environmental Health Trust materials (see References). -Set school health standards for responsible technology use. -Expand public access to RF/EMF meters and detectors for purchase or rental. -Add EMF building biology tracks to college/university environmental science programs. -Encourage schools, workplaces, hospitals, and residential facilities to use qualified EMF building biologists for assessments and remediation. -Recommend that municipalities employ EMF building biologists to assess cumulative emissions from smart meters, cell towers, and other RF infrastructure. -Investigate exposure-reduction approaches discussed by Goldsworthy, including Balanced Signal Technology and resonance/scalar-frequency methods. -Limit X-rays and other imaging to medical necessity and explore tracking patients’ cumulative imaging exposure. Conclusion I respectfully ask HHS to investigate these concerns with scientific rigor, consider affected individuals’ experiences, and develop practical measures to protect public health while allowing people to make informed choices about technology. Thank you for the opportunity to share my experiences and views.

I presume this book has already been recommended, "The Body Electric" However I would like to add a couple personal ideas: In the past, the stereotype of "Tin Foil Hat" has been associated with conspiracy theory. I have wondered, what would make these particular people sensitive to EMF enough to wear tin foil? My thought is that they could have higher heavy metal content in the body that might act like an antenna. This could be from vaccines or from environmental exposures. If mercury ultimately ends up in the brain stem, it would make the tin foil hat even more applicable in blocking signal to the otherwise minimal heavy metals in the body. Even braces have been joked as being able to pick up radio waves. Another idea, I think for this and many other reasons, in home saunas should be subsidized for every American to build with HSA funds. This would also strongly help combat plastics in the body thanks to the personal studies by Bryan Johnson. Another idea, I think every school should be made into a complete Faraday cage, potentially with lead paint under siding to prevent exposure, so that students and teachers are made to be present in class, as well as cut exposure to EMFs in school. I believe it can be argued that it does not serve our children to have in their pockets the most distracting thing of all time during class. I believe in the event of emergencies, old fashioned wired telephones should work just fine. A small addition to that is standardize the books please, there's no reason college education requires buying new editions on old information. Standardize academics and remove extra curriculars, make those into community classes without pay. The classic books need to be in schools again. Wiring in walls could be made into a grid to power the building as well as cage external EMFs with enough grounding, I say this as an aerospace electrician, however every building would need special engineering, and doing so would cost a ton more copper, but could be measured inside of each room with a sensitive RF meter or even an oscilloscope for measuring the wavelengths exposed to, as in The Body Electric, specific frequencies and pulsing matters as well. I may even just recommend the final chapter of the book. Maybe we can control for Russian standards in home/school/work areas. I think home standards could include the use of piling earth alongside sturdy walls as a form of EMF shielding, similar to living underground. This could provide safe EMF exposure at home without the high demand for conductive metal for a faraday cage or lead paint for a complete blockage of EMF fields. I think studies should be done in the wearing of polyester, which generates static electric charge stored on the body. If my instinct is correct, this is bad for the body, as it makes me feel bad until I am grounded by ESD shock. If this is true, we should move towards natural materials. I think trade for more agriculture could improve, I know Ireland has had to throw away excess wool or use it to nourish farm soil rather than sell it. My final suggestion is if we upgrade the grid to provide nuclear power is that we bury the power lines. Europe does this, and I think especially in tornado alley this is not only safer but the EMF exposure is automatically grounded by being under the earth, plus it should be easier to work on. Thank you for reading. I suspect I negatively impacted my health working in electrical testing, operating DITMCO machines for nearly a decade. I wonder if these electric cars will have high EMF production. I also wonder if we should incorporate jewelry that acts as a capacitor so that we never store an ESD charge in our bodies. The book The Body Electric is required reading on this subject. Please, read it.

My son had debilitating migraines when he was young. He would hold his head and rock back and forth in so much pain. Someone suggested we turn off our Wifi. I said that's crazy, how can we live without Wifi? We finally tried it as we were desperate. We hard wired everything and unplugged our router. He has never had another migraine!! That was 10 years ago! Many times when I stay in a hotel (with intense wifi and EMFs) I get a migraine. EMF sensitivity is real! Some of us feel the effects physically, but we are ALL affected. Most just don't realize it!!

To Whom It May Concern: I am an eleven year member of AARP, and I am hoping the comment I am sending today will reach the writer of the article, "When You're Afraid To (Not) Sleep." Her name is Christina Ianzito. I see similar articles in the media all the time. They are written for persons of all different age groups, but I never see the most likely cause of the anxiety and sleeplessness even mentioned. Perhaps, because professionals in the field don't even recognize it as a cause, and the federal government, (specifically the Federal Communications Commission) denies there is a problem. The cause, as I have learned, is too much exposure in our modern world to wireless technologies which are emitting radiofrequencies (RF), a form of radiation. I know because I developed what I believe would be called Microwave Sickness after moving to a new location, and then experiencing insomnia, hearing high pitched sounds, and anxiety pretty much all at the same time. It was only after purchasing an RF meter from Safe Living Technologies of Canada, and evaluating my residence, that I learned my exposure levels were Extreme in many of my living areas. Next, I had one of the many consultants now working in the field, evaluate the condo with the best equipment available and with the knowledge and expertise to suggest how to address it. Their report confirmed what I had found and began to lead me toward possible solutions. After months of research, and talking to numerous consultants, I have been able to have the problem largely addressed. So, yes, there are some answers to this problem, and even some things that people can implement immediately. I'm not an expert in this field, but I am sending today a link to a TEDx TALK by one of the consultants in the field, Jeromy Johnson, whom I consulted with. His company is emfanalysis.com Wireless wake-up call | Jeromy Johnson | TEDx Berkeley Wireless wake-up call | Jeromy Johnson | TEDxBerkeley Play I believe AARP can bring this problem to light with your many publications and help get it addressed by the federal government and the industry itself. Thank you for all you do, Diana W. Pollock, B.A., M.C.R.P. (614)754-8724

Re: Electromagnetic Fields, RF Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure Question 2 — Perspective I am commenting as an EMF affected individual and writer who has covered wireless radiation and public-health concerns for years. This reply offers policy recommendations informed by government reports and my review of this subject, rather than original research or clinical findings. I welcome HHS’s examination of RF/EMF exposure. The public deserves a transparent assessment of whether existing protections adequately address today’s exposure conditions, particularly for children and other potentially vulnerable populations. Questions 5–6 and 12 — Exposure standards and health evidence I urge HHS to independently reassess the scientific basis of current federal exposure limits. Protection against established heating effects should not substitute for evaluating potential effects from long-term exposure at lower intensities. Please critically examine research concerning oxidative stress, DNA damage, reproductive and developmental outcomes, neurological function, and sleep. Reviews should distinguish association from causation, and experimental exposures from realistic human exposures. Where findings conflict, HHS should explain how exposure measurement, temperature control, sample size, study design, replication, and funding sources affect its conclusions. Uncertainty should be acknowledged rather than presented as proof of safety. Questions 8–9 and 13 — Real-world exposure and disclosure Exposure assessment should reflect how people actually use technology: phones against the body, wearables used for extended periods, and overlapping emissions from devices and infrastructure. HHS should evaluate how duration, proximity, frequency, modulation, and simultaneous transmissions affect exposure and the interpretation of health studies. In 2012, GAO recommended reassessing the FCC’s exposure limit and phone-testing requirements, particularly for use against the body. Its report page currently lists both recommendations as closed without implementation: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-12-771 HHS should work with the FCC to address these concerns and improve consumer disclosures. Any separation distances or operating conditions required for compliance should be prominent and understandable, rather than buried in technical instructions. Question 11 — Children and potentially vulnerable populations Children’s developing bodies and the possibility of lifelong exposure beginning early in life warrant specific assessment. HHS should explain whether existing safety margins adequately address children, pregnancy, and other potentially vulnerable groups. Research should include long-term developmental outcomes and exposure patterns in schools and childcare settings. People reporting electromagnetic sensitivity should receive respectful clinical evaluation and rigorous investigation of their symptoms, possible contributing factors, and effective management approaches, without presuming an established cause. Questions 14–15 — Environmental and infrastructure considerations HHS should coordinate with environmental agencies to assess potential effects on wildlife, pollinators, plants, and livestock. Human exposure limits should not automatically be assumed to protect other species. Infrastructure assessment should incorporate measured exposure and cumulative neighborhood conditions. Distance from an antenna alone is an incomplete measure; transmission characteristics, direction, terrain, and other sources also matter. Questions 16–18 — Research priorities and practical action I urge HHS to fund independent, reproducible research on chronic exposure, childhood development, reproductive health, neurological outcomes, and plausible biological mechanisms. Priorities should include longitudinal studies with better exposure measurement and replication of important findings. Research funding and advisory processes should disclose relevant industry relationships and protect scientific independence. HHS should publish its review methods, evidence assessments, research priorities, and a timetable for public updates. While research continues, HHS should evaluate and communicate practical, low-cost ways to reduce unnecessary exposure, including wired connections where feasible, greater distance from transmitting devices, disabling unused wireless functions, and the use of scientifically researched EMF protection devices like Blushield. Guidance should explain the evidence and remaining uncertainties. Please use this RFI to produce meaningful research commitments, clear public guidance, and recommendations to strengthen federal protections wherever warranted. Families should be able to benefit from communications technology while receiving an honest account of what is established, what remains uncertain, and how avoidable exposure can be reduced.

I gradually developed EHS after being exposed to many EMF sources, especially low frequencies, for a long time without knowing that they would harm me. In early 2010, I became more sensitive and started to learn about EMF and EHS. I later received a diagnosis confirming my EHS and realised that I had to avoid exposure and reduce oxidative stress by taking daily antioxidants. I have learned to survive in an electropolluted world, but this has meant making severe lifestyle changes. I can no longer go to meetings, the cinema, the theatre or concerts because of the emissions from smartphones, Wi-Fi and antennas. I cannot use public transport either, and it is difficult for me to access healthcare facilities for the same reasons. I actually have to stay in lockdown to avoid suffering. Is this a life?

Dr Lauraine M.H.Vivian This has been written by me, as a sufferer of EHS and former medical researcher in the field of harm from EMR I wish to testify that I and my family have suffered with EHS since 2011. We were first affected whilst living in Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa because a large main frame and mast were erected near our home, in Great Westerford Buildings. Our exposure to EMR or Non-Ionising Radiation from the infrastructure has debilitated our lives because we suffer with tinnitus, itchy and red rashes and my one son with lymphoma. We reported the 'noise' to the council and it was they who informed us that it was caused by NIR/EMR and they put us in touch with a support group run by Tracey Lee Dorny. Tracey Lee has since died of cancer, which she felt was related to the stresses of EHS and exposure to nearby mobile phone masts. Great Westerford Building experienced fires that led to huge tunnels being built underground to cool the mainframes. At this time I was working as a medical scientist at the University of Cape Town and together with Prof Olle Johannson and some commmunity members we established research to monitor peoples' responses to the roll out of mobile and Wi-fi technology across Cape Town and especially the township regions. I began to collect testimonies in videos and written accounts from sufferers and was able with their consent to pass these on to organisations working on harm from EMR. Prof Olle Johansson assisted our team to revise the Manitoba/Canadian EHS questionnaire and we put the research protocol to the ethics committee. They rejected it because they said the questionnaire was not relevant in South Africa and I could not carry out the project because I suffered with EHS. Following this I have continued to support scientists working in the field as I knew that funding was not forthcoming and that it was vital to collect evidence. In Copenhagen, Denmark, together with scientists we analysed data on EHS in people who live close to mobile phone masts. I have supported the initiatives of Prof Olle Johannson, Arthur Firstenberg and today, Andrew Michrowski. I have two scientific publications on harm from EMR. During this time I have given assistance/advice to many people suffering with EHS and as a medical researcher have tracked how: - 1. Children attach to mobile phone pulsations and not their parents' physicality. 2. Addiction to the algorithims in digital technology happens when lasting damage is done to the way algorithims rework neural pathways. 3. The early deaths of Arthur Firstenberg, Tracey Lee Dorny, and others. 4. The relationship between EHS - stress and cancer. 5. How cyber technology and mobile phones have been used to traffic people, drugs, and enable grooming gangs to engage child prostitution. 6. Most recently, I have worked with Andrew Michrowski to try to establish how this now global techology in Wi-fi and mobile phone signalling is adding to global warming. PACE can provide you with the scientific evidence for this but suffice to add that ICNIRP and WHO were tasked with monitoring the thermal effect of EMR have failed to do so. Instead they encouraged its dissemination across the globe and into space for grossly inequitable, monetary reward. Their failing extended to the fact that they did not evaluate the non-thermal effect of EMR which was left for unfunded scientists working in the bio-initiative such as Professor Frank Barns to investigate. The reason harm is now so pervasive and so many suffer (unheard) from EHS is that no proper and extensive testing was done on the roll out of what is 'ionising' radiation. In this respect, I believe that we are experiencing a Hiroshima Effect from EMR and this is shown in increasing temperatures and disaster situations. My reference to this being IR and not NIR comes from a South African physcist who sat on, but disagreed with the committee that downgraded NIR to not-harmful.

I began developing physical symptoms including dizziness, pain in my skull, a sense of passing out, after taking advanced courses at the University of minnesota. I was supposed to be a computer software trainer. But the more I was exposed to high-end computers as they got stronger and stronger, the more my body started reacting. I developed in ovarian cyst for the first time after using a keyboard on my lap because of physical disabilities I couldn't sit up right and I had to sit sideways..... My first experience with a wireless mouse that worked on several gigabytes versus a wired mouse that I'd used for several years, my first experience with a wireless mouse is that it actually caused scarring on the right upper part of my arm. I stopped using it. Eventually with help from a friend and assistance from techies in the disabled community, we were able to put together a computer system that I was able to sit several feet back from. Using a wired mouse. But this was just the beginning of increasing problems. Remember, I was supposed to be a computer software trainer and I ended up with a bachelor in science from the University of Minnesota but wasn't able to do the work with a combination of multiple physical disabilities increased including increasing sensitivity to the technology as it got stronger. As I found myself nearer to cell phones that were becoming prolific (I was still using a landline telephone), and were being used by people in my life, I found that I could physically feel the energy from them that felt very uncomfortable and actually painful, within 15 to 20 feet of their use. When I found myself in a nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic after I lost my apartment due to multiple disabilities and a lack of PCA help, I was inundated by technology all over the place. Large flat screen TVs in public areas that I found myself not being able to be around, I didn't put a TV in my room at all, (when I was in my apartment I still was watching a small cathode ray tube TV, 6 ft away from it)... Anyway, people had cell phones all over the damn place, laptops, large TV screens, every single patient seemed to have some kind of large TV in their rooms, and if my room was next to a person's where the flat screen TV was up against my wall, I physically felt the electricity and I couldn't sleep. Exposure to all of this technology became more and more problematic. Eventually I started actually collapsing near the nurses station where there was so much technology in use and which was right near one of the gigantic large flat screen TVs used by the public community here. I actually started collapsing. I do have a history of autoimmune and inflammation diseases for several decades, and a history of brain damage going back several decades as well. But never collapsing. I got tested for epilepsy. I do not have epilepsy. However the electricity they used in the room to do the testing was so intense, I actually collapsed outside of the room before we could even do the testing. The problem is that I had become so ultra-sensitive to a combination of radio frequencies, EMF fields, RA's, electricity leaking through walls of this old nursing home that couldn't handle high-end technology, or proliferation of cell phones, and I just became sicker and sicker. My functional medicine doctor knew that this was a real physical ailment and diagnosed me with what is being called electromagnetic hypersensitivities. She knows it is real. It was terrible when some of the staff here started believing that I was acting out emotionally by collapsing on the floor. No, my brain and nervous system and all the cells in my body were reacting to the excessive exposure to all these different kinds of energy fields that were pummeling my body. So she gave me the diagnosis. And hold the staff unequivocally that this is real. So they stop pretending this is emotional. This is a real physical ailment. Unfortunately I've been forced to use a cell phone because there are no landlines in this nursing home except for staff. Which puts me in an exceptionally dangerous situation. I'm also concerned that there's talk about ending landlines in the united states. Which I believe would be a really dangerous as more and more people are realizing that excessive cell phone technology is dangerous. We are destroying ourselves, our bodies, probably other things in nature. When I don't absolutely have to use my cell phone as I am now to dictate this, I will put my cell phone on airplane mode and turn it off. And I have become concerned about the proliferation of cell phone towers and that cell phone companies are trying to keep increasing their power. Right now I am on a 4G cellphone and I don't want it to get any stronger. You need to do something to stop this danger that is being caused to all of us. Like cigarette companies making money off of our health problems 50 years ago, you need to stop these technology companies from doing the same.

Since 2014, I've had RF sensitivity. Not EMF so much, but I cannot stay near cell phones, walk talkies, wifi or even cordless phones without strong symptoms if exposed for too long. We do not have wifi in our house and have opted out of smart meters. For me, RF exposure feels a lot like motion sickness and causes strong brain fog with nausea and light headedness. I've been using neural re-programming to try to undo this issue as the sensitivity affects my life badly due to having to avoid these situations. I have to drive older cars that have less technology in them. How much longer can I do that for? The neural reprogramming helps. In my case, I have autonomic nervous system disorder. I get migraines. I believe the ANS disorder is the cause of the RF sensitivity.