Neurological symptoms & sleep

Comment on Docket HHS-OASH-2026-0397, responding to Questions 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18. Perspective (Q2): I am submitting as an individual, a citizen journalist with 16 years of independent investigative work, the last 10 on electromagnetic radiation and health. I am the author of The Non-Tinfoil Guide to EMFs, host of the Smarter Tech podcast and director of the documentary Body Burden, and I have interviewed more than 100 scientists, physicians and engineers in this field. My comment focuses on research gaps (Q16). My perspective is that our RF safety standards rest on the wrong assumption, that only tissue heating matters, and that this assumption keeps the gaps open: it created a culture of "no effect" from the public to regulators to researchers, and the topic was systematically defunded. The research is completely inadequate to protect the public, while the technology rolls out faster than our ability to study it. The attached document gives the evidence and full references for each gap below. 1. Combined exposures and the exposome (Q16, Q18, Q5o). Almost all RF research tests one exposure at a time, while people live with RF alongside metals, pesticides and mold. Dr. Ronald Kostoff's work documents how other agents modify EMF effects. Exposome studies should include wireless exposure (ambient RF, home Wi-Fi, smartphone use and position) as a standard variable. 2. Real-world exposure measurement (Q7, Q8, Q5n). The U.S. has no national program measuring actual RF exposure in homes, schools and hospitals, no routine post-market SAR testing of devices in body-contact positions (GAO-12-771), and the FCC has said it lacks the resources to routinely monitor transmitter emissions. 3. Sleep (Q12, Q16). Pulse-modulated RF alters the sleep EEG below current limits. Sleep clinics, which produce our reference data on sleep, are full of Wi-Fi, wireless equipment and phones, so the baseline is polluted. Sleep studies should run with and without wireless, with RF recorded; children sleeping beside phones and routers need study. 4. The microbiome (Q16). A 2024 study found a 5G-band RF field altered the gut microbiome and 258 metabolites in mice. People keep phones, laptops and tablets very close to the abdomen for hours on end, yet human studies do not exist. 5. Antibiotic resistance, tested in hospitals (Q16). Laboratory studies report that Wi-Fi and phone radiation change bacterial antibiotic susceptibility, biofilm formation and gene expression. Hospitals combine resistant pathogens with dense wireless, and no one has studied that setting. This is urgent. 6. Pregnancy (Q11b). Dr. Hugh Taylor's Yale research found in-utero cell phone exposure caused hyperactivity and memory impairment in mice. Prospective birth cohorts with measured exposure are needed. 7. Fertility and phones in pockets (Q5p, Q9, Q11). Frequent phone use is associated with lower sperm concentration. Carrying position cannot be settled because nearly every young man carries a phone against his body. Female fertility is barely studied. 8. Cancers where phones are now carried (Q12, Q11a). If RF is a possible carcinogen at the head (IARC Group 2B), the concern does not stop at the head. Dr. De-Kun Li and Dr. Devra Davis have raised phones in pockets and bras as worth investigating alongside rising early-onset colorectal, testicular and breast cancers. No study has examined carrying position. 9. Devices in the ear and on the head (Q13f, Q11). AirPods and other Bluetooth earbuds, Bluetooth hearing aids, smart glasses and VR headsets place transmitters near the brain for hours a day. Their effects on tinnitus, enlarged lymph nodes, hearing loss, cognition and head and neck cancers are unstudied. Hearing experts should test whether loud sound does more damage when an RF transmitter, a source of oxidative stress, sits in the same ear. 10. Towers near schools, hospitals and sensitive populations (Q15a, Q15b, Q11). Studies in several countries report symptoms, DNA damage and cognitive effects near base stations. They need replication in the U.S. with measured exposure. Chile bars towers near schools and hospitals; Switzerland applies limits ten times stricter at sensitive places. 11. Pollinators and insects (Q14). To my knowledge no RF exposure standard considers wildlife. Insects absorb more RF above 6 GHz, where 5G and 6G are heading, and field research on pollinators is almost absent. These answers will not come quickly, even with a massive research effort. Hundreds of scientists (the International EMF Scientist Appeal, the 5G Appeal) have asked governments to apply the precautionary principle: minimize exposure now and give the public informed consent. Instead, governments have a financial incentive to speed up wireless deployment. Further development of 6G, the Internet of Things and satellites needs guardrails in place first. Thank you for opening this question to the public. Nicolas Pineault, The EMF Guy

I was diagnosed with MCS And EHS over 10 years ago. It is debilitating. Exposure to wifi especially results in symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, disautonomia and severe nervous system complaints. I rely on medications and limited exposure to survive but it is not easy. Approximately 10 years ago I was incapacitated for over one year. While I did get some better, I am now 70 and just recently lost my job and I must somehow find another one to live. I believe the EHS began with mold exposure. To this day I suffer from chronic fungal sinusitis. Please study the existing science. Think about the children being exposed to microwave radiation. There must be a solution to help people like me and save the health of children, animals and nature. Now with the explosion of satellites raining down 5g, think of the people with symptoms who won't know what is happening to them. Please educate doctors. As far as the disautonomia, most doctors have not heard of disautonomia. Please find a way help those of us who are suffering from the effects of EFs and help save the children. Thank you for giving us a chance to be heard. Thank you for studying this issue and being willing to stand up for the people who quietly have been suffering for years. Respectfully, JALLEN

I am submitting this comment as an individual citizen to share my day-to-day observations regarding wireless devices, living spaces, and overall well-being. ​When discussing how environmental factors might impact people, it is easy to assume that everyday lifestyle issues—such as diet, general stress, screen habits, or irregular sleep hours—are the only things driving changes in how rested or balanced someone feels. Over time, I have tried my best to pay close attention to these patterns and adjust my surroundings to see what differences I could notice. ​Even while making an effort to keep my general habits, diet, and schedule consistent, I have repeatedly noticed a practical difference in my sleep quality and how relaxed my system feels depending on where I am physically located relative to active Wi-Fi equipment. Using a handheld RF meter (a Safe and Sound Pro II) simply as an informational tool to check local signal levels, I noticed that areas right next to active routers or transmitting equipment consistently lined up with more restless nights and feeling less recovered overall. ​Conversely, when devices were turned off, unplugged, or moved farther away from where I rest, I noticed my sleep felt noticeably more continuous and settled. While I recognize that personal observations and correlations noticed in daily life are not formal laboratory studies, the consistency of what I observed in my own environment felt very real to me. ​Beyond just the raw strength of an individual signal, what stands out to me is the sheer number of overlapping broadcasting points we now live around. In any modern home or neighborhood, you are rarely dealing with a single transmitter; you have multiple wireless devices, mesh systems, and neighboring networks all transmitting simultaneously. As a citizen, I find it alarming that equipment is certified in isolation under standards that simply do not reflect the layered environments we actually inhabit. When multiple signals broadcast in the same physical space, wave dynamics like constructive interference can create complex, fluctuating peaks that single-device testing does not capture. ​My request to the Department is simply to take everyday citizen experiences and the reality of multi-device environments into account when evaluating how wireless technologies fit into our homes, especially in spaces meant for rest. It would be helpful to see more public guidance, balanced research into overlapping field interactions, and practical device options—such as straightforward ways to turn off wireless functions when not in use—so individuals can easily manage their home environments in the way that feels best for them.

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a parent, and in a professional manner as a licensed massage therapist, and for myself as I am currently experiencing the side effects more frequently and with more intensity. When 5g was first released, I noticed in both of my children, sleep disruption, they both began talking during their sleep, restless sleep, and “never feeling rested” after waking. My daughter was getting headaches on a regular basis, my son started having massive allergies. Both started struggling with anxiety. My massage clients common complaints were so identical it was scary. Sleep disturbances,headaches,anxiety,brain fog,depression , tachycardia, muscular fatigue accompanied by multiple trigger points, and vision issues. Speaking for myself, i began having headaches more so on left temporal area that were excruciating and caused nausea, dizziness, and light/sound sensitivity. My daughter suffers with the dizziness on a more severe level. I have never suffered from allergies but all of a sudden started having major issues with my eyes, and unexplained rashes (my daughter too) Onset of brain fog, decreased appetite, light sensitivity and ear ringing followed. My daughter began getting chronic ear infections at 16 which she never had before. She started getting dark circles under her eyes, started losing appetite and struggled with sensitivity to cold, and pressure changes. I’ve been personally experiencing the rapid onset of arthritis in my hands that started on my left side in 2020, accompanied by swelling, excruciating deep aching pain with no relief, and has now started in my left hand. It seems to occur in synchronic pain with my temple headaches. These are only a few of major problems I have personally encountered along with my children and my profession. Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my concerns.

5G rollout made me physically sick, with anxiety, insomnia, night sweats, nauseousness, dizzy. I had to get rid of my cell phone.

1. Anonymous. I live in Rhode Island. The website www.RI4SafeTech.org effectively educates the public and decision-makers about EMF/RF: “We envision a world with safe technology. Choosing safer, faster, wired tech avoids wireless harm.” 2. Responding as an individual, patient, and caregiver. 3. I was a stay-at-home dad. In 2009, when we moved to a new home, I checked with my wife, who was amenable to the idea, and installed an Ethernet-only modem for our internet connection, just in case RF radiation could be a health problem for our young children. This connection used ethernet cords and didn’t allow Wi-Fi. We also had to turn off Wi-Fi on our computers to stop the RF radiation. Moreover, we continued to taper off cellphone use, eventually turning them off altogether except for emergencies or to do the occasional inconvenient tasks demanded in a world increasingly commandeered by wireless technology adherents. Additionally, for our landline phone connection, we removed our cordless handset phones and replaced them with corded phones. In 2016, when I had returned to work outside of the home, I began to get health problems which were directly related to Wi-Fi exposure. I could tell the difference between my home environment, without a Wi-Fi modem, and the library, which had a Wi-Fi modem. Here’s what happened. These were not “potential” effects, they were real. I began working at my public library, for 20 hours a week, and started getting many symptoms, including flushing, red ears and hands, heart palpitations, brain fog, dyslexia, headaches (which would build as the day progressed), short-term memory loss, irritability, anger, anxiety, and depression. When I went home, I’d feel much better, except that now I had terrible insomnia even though I was so tired. I’d collapse in sleep for 2 hours, then wake up, unable to sleep. At my wits end at work, I finally realized that what I thought was a smoke detector on the ceiling was the whole-library Wi-Fi access point, just ten feet from where I worked at the Circulation Desk. I could tell the difference between environments highly polluted with radiofrequency radiation and those with less radiation. After doing a deep dive into the topic, and after wrestling with the cognitive dissonance of some sources telling me it was no problem and just my imagination, and visits to many doctors who had no medical framework or education regarding what I was experiencing, I finally quit my job and began to recuperate. Now I know I get Electromagnetic Radiation-Syndrome (EMR-S) from exposure to what the telecom industry calls low levels of RF radiation and other EMFs. I do my best to avoid RF radiation and EMFs, but it is impossible to function in American society without some exposure to it. It is an ongoing ordeal to stave off the attack of RF/EMFs on my person and my family. It is not just people who are “sensitive” to it that the radiation affects. If you have cells, you are affected. All living things are affected by EMF Radiation, which includes: Radio Frequency (RF), Magnetic Fields (MF), Electric Fields (EF), and Dirty Electricity (DE). (Thanks to Nicolas Pineault, and his book: The Non-Tinfoil Guide to EMFs.) The problems I was having were compounded by several factors related to the medical and government systems under which our lives operate. By chance, I finally visited a Nurse Practitioner who had been trained in Russia, where they teach about neurasthenia and how electricity and electromagnetism can cause symptoms. Wikipedia and other sources co-opted by medical industry capture, mischaracterize symptoms from EMFs as psychological disorders. This condescending and incorrect view of patients, supported by industry but not by science, harms people who are already hurting. In Russia, they listen. Writer Arthur Firstenberg catalogues this mistake in his informative book, The Invisible Rainbow, where he demonstrates that electricity as well as Wi-Fi (which is pulse modulated electricity shot through the air) have an effect on our cells. Martin Pall, PhD, elaborates on the mechanism for cellular change in his work at Washington State. Samual Milham, MD shows, in his book, Dirty Electricity, how Washington state and other US states have epidemiological data supporting the reality that the introduction of electricity to homes caused health problems. Firstenberg also shows how these findings—such as an increase in diabetes—are independent of diet for these groups. Paul Brodeur, a staff writer for The New Yorker, wrote The Zapping of America (1977), which can be read at archive.org, and chronicles the U.S. military’s medical trials and coverup of radar and other EMF damage. https://archive.org/details/zappingofamerica00brod/mode/2up A book useful regarding educating both patients and doctors is: The Sensitive Patient’s Healing Guide by Neil Nathan, MD.

I experienced burning sensation throughout my body, loss of sleep, increased anxiety and depression. That developed into hormone inbalance and excessive uterine bleeding and ultimately loss of my uterus.

Our loved one was harmed by over exposure to radiation at a hospital where she worked and in an apartment building where she lived. Neither place would test the area. She heard a physician speak about his daughter's problem with radiation exposure. She purchased the meter he recommended and tested the environments, which were in the high danger zone. She moved out. She suffers greatly and cannot go in many places without excruciating pain (headaches, jaw pain, stomach pain (as if being punched in stomach), brain fog, speech problems, etc. She once visited Green Bank WV and felt peace. If she walks on a beach or barefoot in the woods, she feels better. Her life and travels have been significantly compromised as a result. She has been unable to fly or go to many places. Please update guidelines and create safe places for people like our loved one. She recently moved to a new place and has been unable to create a safe environment. She needs a landline, but the wiring was removed when the contractors renovated the house and local suppliers refuse to install one. She really needs help. She rarely goes to large events and even struggles going to church because there are no safe zones, despite her pleas to create these. When she goes into a hospital (after working in hospitals her entire life), she gets quite sick. She can only travel in old cars, since so many of the newer ones have too much technology. We're concerned for her life, as it looks like she now needs surgery for something and we're concerned about how to protect her during and after surgery and recovery. Most physicians we encounter here in Boston don't even recognize this issue yet. Please help her and all those who suffer from this manmade disaster. We're concerned for her life at this point.

I strongly support the HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. My symptoms with wireless are mild and manageable. Primarily, holding my cell phone in my hand for more than 5 minutes cause significant paresthesia and the longer I hold my phone, the worse it gets. My symptoms resolve if I don't hold my phone. It is definitely not positional or an issue of nerve entrapment such as carpal tunnel syndrome. My main concern are the Americans who are experiencing debilitating effects such that they can barely engage with the world. I have a close friend who is effected, and I have seen her symptoms that almost mimic a stroke or neurologic condition when she's exposed to wireless radiation environments. She is simply gaslighted when she tries to get anyone to listen to her concerns. We need to be cautious and thoroughly consider the potential danger to humans. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health.

I am commenting on the request for public comment on EMF, RF and Wireless radiation exposure. I would like to see transparency of industry detailing the frequencies being emitted from their equipment. I became hypersensitive to electromagnetic exposure after smart meters were installed by the electric company. At first I was dizzy queazy. I started vibrating indoors and out in 2012. There was a cell tower nearby and also a digital over the air fee tv signal coming into my house. No cable or wifi in this house. After some research I thought the low frequency 3-4 hz vibration could be from the smart meter modem motor. The electric company denied any connection between their equipment and my symptoms. I also have tinnitus which I have always known was RF. I was hit and felt attacked by a low frequency pulse for three hours at a time that was definitely a beating and I cried the entire time. When I laid down at night I felt like I was on top of a running truck engine and broke out in shingles. I had crawling sensations all over my body. I visited a grocery store and felt like my internal organs were being knocked around. It was extremely frightening. I experienced static in my head that felt like bacon sizzling in a pan. My body’s electrical system has been altered. I feel wifi and when 5G came online I got hit with frequency bullets that caused my brain to vibrate. So the known science about RF affecting our physical chemistry and our body’s electrical sytem is being ignored. Why do we have no rights to question and protest our inescapable exposure to RF and why isn’t there a database where we can register our personal testimonies. I feel tortured and the doctors can only prescribe drugs to help keep me calm. And what about the SINE Wave? Is it being distorted and emitting harmonics that are affecting us? Who is measuring these affects with instruments that would inform us? I have fatigue, brain fog and random pains all over my body. I hear a high pitched whine. The vibrating I experience is more pronounced since my cable company installed all new equipment in my apartment. I can see my neighbors WIFI ID on my phone so I’m exposed to that too. I forgot to mention I had heart palpitations in the beginning and went to the ER fearing a heart attack. When trying to rest at night I am helped by prescription drugs for a few hours. Why can’t we sign up to a registry with such accounts. And shame on the Government telling doctors they may not diagnose Havana Syndrome for civilians!