Occupational exposure

I have been an RF (radio frequency) radio broadcast engineer for 60 years. I hold a General Class Radiotelephone License from the FCC. I have served as Chief Engineer for a number of radio stations, most of them 'full power' facilities in major markets (Boston, Philadelphia)/. Experience with the Radio Sprctrum ranges from the low end of the MW (AM Broadcast) band through the HF, VHF, UHF and 'microwave' bands. I do not have hands on experience with the mobile, personal communications services. The RF bands for these services are very high: Most well above 1 gHz (1 billion Hertz), ranging up yo 79 g hz. This very complicated allocation system is managed by the World Radio Conference. Yes, high frequencies can be dangerous, BUT so can lower frequencies. What counts is the POWER; you are not going to be climbing up and placing your body in front of that antenna, are you? Even that is low - probaby less that 100 Watts. In the field (where we hang out), the electrical field from that antenna is reduced to a tiny value. The transmitter of the phone you are holding should be of more concern! There are many studies/articles - Google. Ordinarily we are immersed in dozens of radio fields wherever we are. We have been in these fields for over 100 years, No measurable damage -- Ever.

EMFs have something to do with the calcium channels of our cells. Studies have been done but aren’t very detailed. People are getting “cavitations” from losing teeth or getting wisdom teeth removed. Why is bone not healing? My grandmother was widowed in her 30s when her husband who was a lineman had a massive heart attack. There’s possibly some sort of correlation with frequencies and our calcium channels. I think it should be looked into.

I had a RF burn to my ear face neck hands from holding a cell phone. I was never compensated for my injury as I couldn't prove it Scientificaly I was working selling them at the time I suffered with a microwave burn for many years

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 employer. I am an owner of a small business working in the oil and gas industry. We build communication towers and hang various antennas to transmit data. We also inspect existing towers as well as repair equipment and hang new equipment on existing towers. If the existing towers have a 5G antenna, our employees need to wear radiation protection and avoid getting in the RF path of the device. If the signal is that strong and that dangerous then humans do not need to be in homes with that signal flowing throughout them. Humans also don’t need to be holding devices in theirs hands, pockets, bras or placing them against their heads or in their ears. People deserve to know exactly how all of this is affecting them and their families. The dangers of the toxins in our world have been covered up and downplayed for far too long. Please get some real answers and tell the American people the truth. I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. 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. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard.

My Personal Experience and Research into the Harmful Health Effects of Ongoing Exposure to Electromagnetic and RF Radiation In September of 2000, my wife and I set up a joint home office in a small room that we packed with 2 computer towers and monitors, 2 printers, 2 cordless phone bases, and multiple electrical cords associated with all of this technology. While most all of these electronics surrounded my wife’s chair at her computer workstation, my workstation was off to one side giving me somewhat less exposure to the total amount of radiation generated. Spending about 4-5 hours a day at my computer (for at least 5 days a week) for next 15 months, I felt increasingly fatigued and frequently felt a burning pressure in my chest (around my heart). By the end of 2001, I experienced total exhaustion and persistent brain fog, leaving me barely able to function. This forced me to take a several-month break to rest and receive the healthcare I needed to recover and feel somewhat functional again. While I was finally able to return to my computer-related work, I still struggled through periodic bouts of severe fatigue and burning chest pressure for the next 9 years. From late 2000 to late 2010, my wife spent about 2-3 hours a day at her computer workstation. During that time frame, she experienced different recurring health issues, most notably severe stomach and intestinal issues, painful bloating, and depression. Her health steadily declined in 2010 until she finally passed away at the end of the year. Prior to that, the doctors had found a grapefruit-size tumor in her lower abdomen. When I then learned about the possible negative health effects of ongoing exposure to different forms of man-made radiation, I wondered if that might have been a significant cause of our ongoing health issues and what led to my wife’s ultimate demise. Aside from the fact that her computer desk chair was surrounded by various radiating electronic devices, there was a metal desk off to her right side and some rectangular metal legs supporting a plywood work surface behind her. When I later consulted a professional building biologist about our office environment, he pointed out that all of the metal surrounding my wife’s computer desk chair would have conducted and amplified the radiation from the electronic devices surrounding her. He also informed me of several fairly simple steps I could take to greatly reduce my radiation exposure in my home office and throughout my home. These steps included: • Removing the metal desk from my home office • Replacing the metal support legs on the plywood work surface with wooden supports • Replacing the cordless phone base near my desk with a corded phone (to eliminate the RF radiation I had been exposed to with my previous phone • Removing all household cordless phones • Replacing florescent lights with daylight/incandescent lighting • Keeping my nearby printer turned off when it wasn’t needed • Maintaining more distance between myself and any electronic devices when I was working in my office. In the year after I had taken all of these steps, my chronic fatigue melted away, my recurring bouts of burning chest pressure vanished, my brain fog cleared, and I became more vibrant and energetic than I had felt in over a decade. In the years since then, I’ve found that I will still experience a milder version of my previous stress symptoms when I spend a moderate length of time in environments that have a fairly high level of electromagnetic and RF radiation. While the experience I just described may not fit the rigors of scientific research, it does mirror that kind of research in some key ways. For starters, I was in good health before this whole episode began. Since my late wife was a well-educated holistic health practitioner and certified nutritionist, she made sure that we both ate a healthy whole-foods diets, used water filters to purify our drinking and bathing water, used air filters to purify the air in our home, and used personal care products free from toxins and harmful chemicals—eliminating several potential contributors to our health issues. Obviously, the one harmful household environmental factor that we didn’t fully understand or address was our electromagnetic environment. When I finally took extensive steps to slash the levels of EMF/RF radiation in my home and then experienced the disappearance of debilitating health issues that had plagued me for over a decade, I was convinced that ongoing exposure to man-made radiation was the culprit.

High usage of land mobile radios from 1 watt to 30 watts while active duty and as a civilian. Handheld and base stations within 1 foot of face, kidneys and eyes. Many times all day. Line of site systems radiating 39 watts 4 feet from bed where one slept and operated many weeks in a row. In 1992 new radios from Motorola came in with .5 meter handset cord from a 19 watt radio that was labeled "Warning. Do not operate within 3 feet of face. Satellite terminals up to 1kilowatt. After 10 years radiation warning signs showed up. No Warning signs about sidelobe rf exposure about 1 mw/cm². No real training on rf exposure and damage to eyesight. Today mifis with high power 1.5 watts are pocket size and not labeled as RF exposure and keep away from eyes and vital organs.Home satellite dishes are same way. No warnings.

Dear HHS, I worked at Intel on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters. I know firsthand that I can't think as clearly when I'm around large concentrations of wireless devices. No, that's not because I'm looking at a screen; just being in their presence makes me foggy. There have been studies where they measure intelligence with and without a Bluetooth headset, and every time the headset is in, their intelligence drops; remove the cause, and intelligence resumes. That's a short-term effect. The long-term effect is headaches, reduced productivity, and various cancers around the location of exposure. Wireless solutions have no place in our public schools. There's no reason computers, tablets, and cell phones can't be plugged in. In fact, you should require that all cell phones and tablets sold after 2028 include a coupon for a free wired Ethernet dongle and are capable of receiving calls and texts over a wired connection. Every product the size of a wallet and larger needs to be required to have an Ethernet port; that way, everyone has options. Not only that, but we have too much technology in our airways. Older technologies like AM/FM, broadcast television, 2G and 3G cellular need to be discontinued. This will help clean up our airspace a bit. In addition, smart meters were never a good solution, and anyone who requests a replacement should be offered an Ethernet-capable replacement. If a residence doesn't have wired Ethernet, the meter can also connect to Wi-Fi. There's no reason to still have a different radio frequency broadcasting one that gets little use, but is transmitting all the time in any case. Would you please help us minimize our exposure? Sincerely, Christian Blackburn

In 2010, when we were living in a 3g-4g world, I built a small 10x10 home office in a nook off my bedroom to do life coaching, writing, webinars, and interviews. Like many home offices, I had this tiny refuge filled with electronics such as dual monitors, desktop, Dect phone, wireless printer, cell phone, and WiFi router. Basically, I was in the office at least 6 to 8 hours/day and sleeping only 10 to 15 feet away from my office. In 2013 I started feeling extreme fatigue, headaches, brain fog, lethargy, aches/pains in the joints and pain all over my body. I would also get numbness in my hands when I would hold the cell phone. I have always been very healthy and never experienced these symptoms on a daily basis before. I started talking to people about my conditions and I met someone who told me my office was filled with EMF radiation and I should start shielding and protecting myself and my family. Once I started doing as she suggested I started feeling better and I was very thankful. Many of my symptoms went away except for my painful joints and numbness. I realized I had EHS so I started being very aware of my daily habits of using electronics wherever I would go. I did the best I could while eating healthier and adjusting my vitamins. Finally, in the beginning of April 2021, I started getting very bad symptoms. My brain fog heightened and I started having dexterity problems in my right hand. It got so bad I couldn't hold a pen or fork and my right leg started dragging a bit. When I admitted myself to the emergency room I was diagnosed with a very large brain tumor. The hospital admitted me right away and into surgery I went. When I came out I found out that I had a 6 cm stage 2 meningioma brain tumor because the biopsy report said that it grew at an 18% growth rate. When you do the math, that means it started growing in 2011 One year after I built my office! Most women get a stage 1 meningioma which grows VERY SLOW and from what I found out usually people who get this type of tumor are men over 60 (predominantly black men) and people surrounded by a lot of radiation. Unbeknownst to me I literally created a microwave oven in my office that I worked in and slept in day and night. Luckily, I am here to talk about this today. My surgeon told me that the tumor was extremely large and if I would have waited much longer the damage would have been severe and irreversible. I thank my lucky stars that I am here to talk about this today and help others when they hear my story. I have been speaking about both of our stories for over 11 years now and have built a small business around technology protection and awareness. Unfortunately, my first husband passed away at the age of 32 leaving me with my 1 year old son. Why is this important? Because he died of a Glioblastoma brain tumor and he was an electrician and I did find a study back in the 90's where electricians had the highest rate of Glio's than any other occupation and that was BEFORE we were surrounded by electronics and wireless tech everywhere. Sadly he is not here to tell his story so I am here to share both of ours. The citizens of the world are fooled because there is NOT enough studies and information to stop the biological damage and death that is being caused from our electronics and Wifi. Something must be done and the lies must stop in this trillion-dollar business because it is truly biological warfare and we must have due diligence with complete and proper studies so we can be protected as well as studies on electrical cars.

I am sensitive to electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) and radio frequencies (RFs) caused by cell phones, electricity, WiFi, cell towers, and other wireless and electronic devices. To say that the discovery of my sensitivity greatly impacted my life, is an understatement. It nearly RUINED me, I had thoughts of ending my life. It has certainly ruined my career as a public school teacher. I can no longer teach in person because I cannot tolerate being around antennas, cell phones, smart meters, and all of the other miscellaneous wireless devices. I am forced to work from home and do not make nearly the amount of money that I used to make. I began having health issues in 2016. My symptoms included leg numbness, brain fog, balance issues, gastrointestinal issues, heart issues, and list goes on. I had never had any health issues prior, at that time I was in my mid 40s. That year, in 2016 was the first year they put WiFi on the ceiling of my classroom. Additionally, I was in a classroom with several iPads and cell phones. Through my health insurance, I had several tests done. The doctors told me it might be MS or a brain tumor. Over a 4 year period, I had blood tests, MRIs, nerve tests, endoscopy, colonoscopy, ekg, and several visits to address the many symptoms that I was experiencing. In the spring of 2020, 5g towers were being deployed all over my city and around my neighborhood. I started developing ear infections, heart issues, and my body felt like it was vibrating all the time. I knew that I hit the end of the road with Western Medicine, all the tests were inconclusive and there was nothing they could do for me. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I got rid of my WIFI and cell phone, I fully wired my home and began sleeping with the electricity off in my bedroom at night. I was still living in a housing tract and was surrounded by cell towers, so my symptoms did not completely go away, but they were greatly reduced by the changes I made. Today, I live with a lot of land separating me from my neighbors. I have a shield on my smart meter, as my electric company will not entertain an analog meter and I am 3 miles from the nearest cell tower. I do not allow cell phones or other wireless devices in my home. I now live a relatively comfortable life with minimal symptoms as long as I stay home. When going out to run errands or traveling I often experience the following: headaches, watery eyes with head pressure, trouble focusing, brain fog, inability to think clearly, balance issues and many other health symptoms depending on the type of EMF or RF and the concentration. I cannot be comfortable out in public, my trips are usually very short. There is plenty of research out there that shows the dangers of wireless radiation. In 1971, the Naval Medical Research Institute in Maryland researched the biological effects and clinical manifestations attributed to radio frequency and microwave radiation. I highlighted the symptoms that I have personally experienced as a result of wireless radiation. In the Naval Medical Research Institute report, they found that the radiation caused all of the following and more: heating of organs, corneal damage, altered menstruation, altered fetal development, liver enlargement, decreased lactation in nursing mothers, altered renal function, changes in the oxidative processes in skin and organs, altered blood flow rate, electrocardiographic changes, myocardial necrosis, dehydration, death, headaches, insomnia, cranial nerve disorders, seizures, convulsions, altered heart rhythm, structural alterations in synapses of vagus nerve, stimulation of parasympathetic nervous system and inhibition of sympathetic nervous system, depression, impotence, anxiety, lack of concentration, tremors, dizziness, scalp sensations, chest pain, increased irritability, blood disorders, vascular disorders, biochemical changes, metabolic disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, endocrine gland changes, and genetic and chromosomal changes. (Navy-Microwave-and-RF-Effects-Brief-1971.pdf)

I have worked on cell towers. You cannot climb a 5g tower but you can hold a 5 g phone. I have Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) if I pick up a iPhone with 5 g my hands will tingle. If I put the phone in my pocket my leg will feel the effects. This affects people differently based on factors I really don’t know. It’s the same reason living near power lines gives people rare conditions. The goal would be to make a 4 g system connected to a 5 g like system that people don’t have to touch. Give people 4 g phones with converters at the towers.