Occupational exposure

I have electromagnetic hypersensitivity. It started in 2005 when I was subjected to undue stress in the workplace and to the exhaust from a laser printer. It started with a red bloch on my left hand and increased to all areas of my skin that was exposed to the air. At its peak I was subjected to excruciating pain, like an electric shock, that affected all parts of my nervous system. My only solution was to not expose myself to electromagnetic fields. I was forced to quit my job using a computer. One day after I turned on my computer I was met with a strong electric shock that went straight to my heart. Today I still suffer from the effects, but not as dramatic. At its peak I could locate electric wires and cables in walls and even underground. Passing under overhead high voltage lines in a car drew very strong electric shocks in my nervous system. I saw a research doctor in San Francisco and he determined that the surface temperature of my skin increased when exposed to an electromagnetic field. Apparently my skin is conducting electricity.

Dear [Recipient Name], I am writing to share some health concerns I have been experiencing while using my computer for my work as an author and for Zoom meetings. Over the past year or so, I began experiencing painful and concerning symptoms, including an electrical tingling sensation in my body while using my computer, severe headaches, memory loss, and difficulty processing and retaining information. During a few Zoom meetings, I also felt a sudden, sharp pain in the ear facing my computer and office window. These symptoms gradually subsided when I moved a substantial distance away from the room. I have discussed this with my physician twice, and we agreed that the symptoms might be related to EMF exposure. Following this, I experimented by removing my Smart Watch and iPhone from the room, which provided some relief. For context, I am 78 years old and otherwise in good health. I wanted to reach out and share these details with you. Best regards, Kathleen Marden

I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor (Acoustic Neuroma) in 2015 and had surgery to remove the tumor that same year. I was told due to the size of the tumor I’d had it for roughly 10 years; this was from a world-renowned neurologist. In 2004 – 2005 I had a job where I was consistently on my cell phone, I would get earaches from being on the cell phone. My right-side ear would get hot and ache which I hadn’t experienced before or since. I didn’t think much of this until the neurologist said how long I’d had the tumor based on the size. I stopped using my cell phone other than texting and using the speaker phone since my surgery in 2015. I can’t say for certain that was the cause however the time frame was in line with my diagnosis.

I began to be affected by EMFs in 2018 (BUT I DIDN'T KNOW IT) when, without notifying our property manager, ComEd took out the 36 analog meters and replaced them with SMART METERS in a room next to my front door. I began to have symptoms I'd never had before: headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and insomnia (very uncommon for me), unexplained anxiety and unusual fatigue, plus occasional tingling and numbness. After a month+ I saw a ComEd technician opening the electric room, and I asked him if he was affected by the EMR. He said "yes, but I need to keep my job despite how I'm affected. I invited him into my apt. and we talked and shared our COMMON SYMPTOMS, commiserating with each other. I asked him if he would accompany me in creating a program about this at my church, but he was too frightened to do this.

For so many years, I have had problems with electromagnetic fields (EMFs), radiofrequency (RF) radiation, and wireless radiation exposure, and tried so many different ways to solve the problem... with so much frustration when the government (still) says there is no problems with this. As a journalist I have problems to talk long in a mobile telephone also, that also restrick my work here in Norway. I am so thankful for RFK!

I have been suffering with migraine headaches since wifi and also LED streetlights next to my house. It has been over 7 years now. Because of this, I have not been able to hold a 75 hour pay period for work, and have below-poverty level income. I struggle to move out of bed and when I get home from my 8 hour shift at work in the afternoon, I am stuck in bed sleeping the rest of the day due to headaches. EMF'S and RF can harm us terribly and they are with the assault they have put on us with the wifi and 5G and other unsafe utilities, including LED lighting that emit unhealthy frequencies that disrupt our body's circadian rhythms, hormones, and nervous systems. Please understand that decisions made by corporations and government on these issues are critical to our health and well-being. I have suffered over 7 years now and it is not fair. Imagine how many others are as well. I can only wait for Jesus to return to make things right here since it seems people in charge do not want to make it right by deleting these harmful infrastructures that emit these life-destroying radiations and harmful frequencies. Or will they? I have years of doctors' visits and specialists appointments that have been documented. Seems nobody cares. Please do something.

Comment submitted in response to Docket No. HHS-OASH-2026-0397 Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure Category: Public Experiences and Reported Potential Health Effects (with relevance also to Categories 2–4) I am submitting this comment as a private individual residing in Naha City, Okinawa, Japan. I am not a scientist or physician. I am submitting this as a firsthand, timestamped case record, because the domestic health and administrative authorities in my own country have declined to investigate it, and because this RFI explicitly requests real-world clustering data of the kind described below. 1. The core factual record On August 4, 2021, I experienced a left-hemisphere hemorrhagic stroke while at my workplace, an office building belonging to a regional electric utility company in a dense commercial and administrative district of central Naha City, Okinawa. Three months earlier, on May 9, 2021, a female coworker of the same age, working in the same building, suffered a stroke and subsequently left her position. I want to state this timeline as precisely as possible: my hemorrhage occurred before I received any COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose. I received my first dose during hospitalization, after the hemorrhage had already occurred. This sequence removes vaccination as a possible cause of the initial event and isolates it as a pre-vaccination, environmentally-exposed case — which I believe gives it particular evidentiary value for isolating non-vaccine environmental factors, including RF/EMF exposure. To summarize the cluster: Same workplace (a single office building) Same calendar year (2021) Same age cohort (both employees born around 1972) Two cerebrovascular events, three months apart (May and August 2021) 2. The infrastructure context The district in which this workplace is located underwent a concentrated buildout of 5G small-cell and telecommunications infrastructure during 2020–2021. A major regional telecommunications/data-center facility was completed in the immediate vicinity in November 2021, and I understand from published construction timelines that test transmissions from that facility likely occurred during the summer and fall of 2021 — a period overlapping with both cerebrovascular events described above. I want to be transparent about the limits of my own documentation: I have not been able to obtain conclusive public records confirming the exact installation date of any small-cell antenna on my own workplace building. I state this as an open, unresolved question — not as a settled fact. 3. Why I am submitting this I am not asking HHS to conclude that RF/EMF exposure caused these two cases. I am submitting this record because: It is precisely the kind of "public experience" and "workplace cluster" data this RFI's Category 1 explicitly invites. It is, to my knowledge, a comparatively rare pre-vaccination case — meaning it may be useful as a data point for isolating environmental (non-vaccine) contributing factors in cerebrovascular events. No domestic institution in Japan — municipal, prefectural, or national — has been willing to examine or record this cluster. I am placing it into this federal public record because I believe a factual account, however small, should exist somewhere on the public record rather than nowhere at all. 4. Specific points relevant to the RFI's other categories Exposure standards (Category 2): I would respectfully urge that any revised framework consider occupational and workplace RF exposure in dense commercial office environments — not only residential or personal-device exposure — as a distinct exposure category worth separate evaluation. Surveillance (Category 3): I would suggest that same-workplace, same-timeframe clustering of cerebrovascular or neurological events be considered a surveillance signal worth systematic, structured tracking — similar to how occupational disease clusters are tracked in other contexts — rather than being dismissed case-by-case as coincidence. Existing evidence (Category 4): Current exposure standards based solely on short-term thermal effects (SAR) do not, to my understanding, address the kind of chronic, non-thermal, clustered occupational exposure described in this case. I thank HHS for opening this process to public and international input, and I hope this record is useful in identifying the research gaps this RFI seeks to find. Respectfully submitted, NOBUO TAIRA Naha City, Okinawa, Japan

Commprehensive Government Study of the Potential Health Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation and Wireless Technologies To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to respectfully request that the appropriate government health and public-safety agencies undertake, support, or commission a comprehensive, independent study of the potential long-term health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) and radiofrequency (RF) radiation from the many wireless technologies now used routinely by the public. Wireless technology has become an integral part of everyday life, and people may be exposed to multiple sources simultaneously and for extended periods. These sources include, but are not limited to: 5G and other cellular networks and infrastructure Cell phones and smartphones Wi-Fi and wireless internet routers Bluetooth devices Wireless earbuds and headphones Wearable wireless devices and smartwatches Wireless home and office equipment Cellular towers and small-cell installations Other consumer and telecommunications RF-emitting devices I recognize that there is substantial scientific research concerning RF and EMF exposure, and that regulatory agencies have established exposure limits based on currently available evidence. However, given the rapid expansion of wireless technologies and the increasing duration and complexity of everyday exposure, I believe it is appropriate for the government to periodically reassess the evidence using current technology, exposure patterns, and epidemiological data. I respectfully request that any such study examine, among other issues: Long-term population health effects of chronic exposure to RF and other relevant portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cumulative and combined exposure, including simultaneous exposure from cellular networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, phones, wireless earbuds, wearable devices, and other sources. 5G and newer wireless technologies, including whether differences in frequencies, modulation, signal characteristics, network architecture, and exposure patterns warrant additional research. Cell-phone use, including long-term and heavy-use patterns and exposure associated with devices held close to the body or head. Wireless earbuds and Bluetooth devices, particularly because some devices may be used for many hours each day and in close proximity to the head. Children and adolescents, including whether developing bodies or patterns of lifelong exposure warrant separate study. Potential neurological, cognitive, reproductive, developmental, cardiovascular, sleep-related, and other health outcomes, while distinguishing established evidence from preliminary or uncertain findings. Cancer and other long-latency outcomes, including sufficiently long-term epidemiological follow-up to identify effects that may not become apparent for many years. Individual susceptibility and exposure differences, including whether certain populations may experience different effects from comparable environmental exposures. Real-world exposure levels, rather than relying solely on theoretical or laboratory conditions, including measurements of aggregate exposure in homes, schools, workplaces, public transportation, and other environments. Adequacy of existing exposure standards, including whether current limits sufficiently account for chronic, low-level, cumulative, or simultaneous exposure from multiple technologies. Independent scientific review, with appropriate disclosure of funding sources, conflicts of interest, methodologies, raw data where possible, and the full range of relevant peer-reviewed evidence. I also request that the government make the findings of such research readily accessible to the public and clearly distinguish between findings that are well established, findings for which evidence remains mixed or uncertain, and questions requiring further investigation. This request is not based on an assumption that wireless technologies are harmful. Rather, it is a request for continued, independent, evidence-based surveillance and research as exposure patterns and technologies evolve. Given the widespread use of wireless devices and the potentially large population affected by any long-term health consequences, continued monitoring and rigorous research appear to be an important public-health responsibility. I respectfully ask that this request be forwarded to the appropriate federal and/or state agencies, scientific advisory bodies, and public-health authorities for consideration.

Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to share my personal experience with radiofrequency exposure from Wi-Fi and 4G/5G transmitters in my surroundings. I live in Norway, and I am concerned about the increasing level of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation to which people are exposed. I am also concerned that safety limits and assessments may rely heavily on information and research connected to the telecommunications industry itself. I own and operate a company in Norway. We have several computers and a Wi-Fi system at our premises, and the company has been operating for more than ten years. During the first few years, we used desktop computers connected to the internet exclusively through Wi-Fi. In 2017, I received a new desktop computer, which was positioned close to my right foot. Shortly afterwards, I began noticing an unusual sensation along the right side of my body. It felt like a persistent tingling, irritation or discomfort that started in my lower right leg and extended upwards to slightly above my right hip. This continued for several months—possibly four or five months. I consulted a chiropractor because I thought the symptoms might be caused by a trapped nerve or a similar problem, but the treatment did not help. Some time later, we installed a wired internet connection at the premises, significantly reducing our reliance on Wi-Fi. Within approximately one week of installing the wired network, the tingling and irritation on the right side of my body disappeared. To test whether the change might be connected to the Wi-Fi, we disconnected the wired network approximately two weeks later and returned to using Wi-Fi. After a few days, the tingling sensation returned. It was not painful, but it felt like an irritation deep inside the muscles, similar to the sensation of a compressed or irritated nerve. Since that experiment, we have used only a wired internet connection at the company, and I have not experienced those symptoms again. I still use a mobile phone and have Wi-Fi in my home. I am not frightened or distressed by wireless technology in my daily life. However, I am concerned that the telecommunications industry may have too much influence over the standards used to determine which exposure levels are considered safe. Based on the timing of my symptoms, their disappearance after switching to a wired connection, and their return when we temporarily resumed using Wi-Fi, I am convinced that radiofrequency exposure from the Wi-Fi equipment caused my body to react. I have also noticed that vegetation surrounding some 4G and 5G towers in Norway appears to show poorer growth when trees are located very close to the transmitters. I cannot establish the cause based on observation alone, but it adds to my concern that prolonged exposure at close range may have biological effects. When the industry presents this technology as entirely harmless, without what I consider sufficient independent long-term research, I become sceptical. I believe experiences such as mine deserve to be documented and investigated through genuinely independent scientific research. I hope that health authorities will continue to examine the possible biological effects of long-term radiofrequency exposure and ensure that public safety standards are based on precaution, transparency and research that is independent of the telecommunications industry. Sincerely, Geir Loseth Norway

I live in Devon, England; in 2020 I was working in a building in Exeter where '4G Lite' was being installed, the main antennae was in the car parking area of this building; my first symptom was intense chest pain whilst in this area, it lessened after leaving the car park; over the next two years I developed skin rashes along the backs of my hands, my forearms and forehead, i experienced almost constant palpitations on exertion whilst at this place of work, if I had to 'sleep over' i had insomnia [sleep has never been a problem before], intense, constant headaches, foggy thinking, amnesia and extreme lethargy; i recognised the source of these symptoms [an innate knowing], retired and now live in the countryside, without wi-fi, no phone and much fewer symptoms: As the electrification of the environments around me have increased, i have changed my lifestyle completely, [i live like a hermit], i cannot tolerate cities, being in a car for more than an hour, and if i need to take a flight anywhere it takes weeks for my body to recover; I have frequent treatments of bioresonance and homeopathy to help my body cope with the ever increasing electrical fields.