ART KAB'S STORY
My name is Art Kab. I am 47 years old. I have been married for 16 years and have a eight-year-old son. I taught in Japan for over 18 years and then lived in China, where I was also teaching at the university level. After China, I moved to a sustainable community in India, which does not allow cell phone towers on its twenty-square kilometers of land and hence has extremely low levels of ambient electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
In November of 2004, I started working at a university in Japan. Within six months of moving into a new apartment and starting my new job I started to become ill. I gradually developed more and more adverse symptoms. First, I found myself suddenly waking up earlier and earlier until I got to the point where I could barely sleep anymore. I progressively developed the following symptoms: (1) excessive thirst, (2) night sweats, (3) brain fog, (4) swollen lymph glands, (5) fatigue (6) insomnia, (7) a weakened immune system, (8) nausea, (9) heart pain and palpitations, (10) back pain, (11) unexplained anxiety, (12) neurological symptoms, (13) vision problems (14) testicular pain, (15) loss of appetite, (16) rapid weight loss, (17) frequent urination, (18) dry eyes and mouth, (19) impaired memory, (20) inability to concentrate, (21) body temperature regulation problems ( i.e. chills), (22) bone pain, (23) intestinal disturbances, (24) skin rashes, (25) increased allergic sensitivities, and so on.
After searching on the Internet, I determined that I had the symptoms of what was most likely prematurely and misleadingly christened "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)" by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in 1988, four years after droves of people in the USA started complaining of the same symptoms in 1984 - when it was initially dubbed "Yuppie Flu" by the media. 1984 is ominously also the same year that the first commercial 1st generation (1G) cell phone system spread across the United States (and yuppies were the first to start using cell phones and computers). (This is also interestingly the time when the phenomena of what is called Colony Collapse Disorder [CCD], where whole colonies of bees started dying, made its initial appearance. Now, along with this microwave (MW) technology CCD has spread around the world and is now seemingly affecting food supplies.)
I went to see several specialist doctors in Japan who confirmed my suspicions and also gave me the common diagnosis in Japan of Autonomic Nervous System Disorder. Blood and other tests revealed high titers of Epstein Barr Virus, Cytomegalo Virus, Coxsackie Virus, Mycoplasma, Toxoplasma, Candida and so on.
As I progressively became sicker and sicker, I was no longer able to work. After searching on the Internet, I read one horror story after another of people who had contracted this strange syndrome and who had never recovered. Even the CDC states on their Website that CFS is an incurable disease (and a recent survey by the CDC put the rate at one in forty in the USA). And it has been well over two decades and they are still saying they do not know what causes this condition.
There have been a number of theories put forth as to what causes CFS stemming from viruses, mycoplasma, mercury toxicity, Candida, mold, chemical toxicity, free radicals, depletion of the body's store of antioxidants, allergic reactions, abuse as a child, to a genetic predisposition. Certainly, many of these are secondary factors contributing to the symptomology of this disease, which I firmly believe hence stem originally from a massive increase in an underlying cause: ambient EMR (especially microwave) permeating our environment.
After being ill for about six months and searching for answers about what causes this condition, I started to suspect electromagnetic radiation (EMR) - especially high frequency (HF) microwave radiation emitted by cell phones and cell-phone towers - as being the culprit. I had read of one person who had been ill for years with CFS and Crohn's Disease who claimed all his symptoms disappeared when he moved out from an apartment in a big city and into his parent's home out in the French countryside. I also noticed that I always felt better at night (as most people with CFS do) when most people are not using their cell phones - in spite of the fact that I was suffering from insomnia. Moreover, I would get these weird and unexplainable anxiety attacks at specific times of the day, which I later correlated with peak cell-phone usage times in Japan, where I was living at the time. Furthermore, I noticed that I would feel much better if I went to certain places, which I was later able to ascertain had less of this electrosmog now increasingly permeating the planet. People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (PWC) also feel worse when it rains and it is a known fact that cell phone towers will also boost their power output in rainy weather to boost signal strength and reception. Finally, I went to see an alternative doctor in Japan who stated very clearly in his brochure that disease is caused by a combination of factors: genetics, pathogens, chemical toxicity, metal toxicity, and - YES - exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR).
A little more research on the Internet revealed that the symptoms found in CFS are practically identical to what the Russians termed Microwave Sickness in the early seventies:
"In 1971, Zinaida V. Gordan and Maria N. Sadchikova of the USSR Institute of Labor Hygiene and Occupational Diseases described a comprehensive succession of symptoms, which they identified as Microwave Sickness. The initial symptoms are low blood pressure and slow pulse. The second stage includes headaches, dizziness, eye pain, sleeplessness, irritability, anxiety, stomach pain, nervous tension, inability to concentrate, hair loss, which are eventually followed by adrenal exhaustion and ischemic heart disease." (Becker, The Body Electric, 1985, pp. 314-315)
Moreover, numerous research studies have found these same symptoms found in people living in the vicinity of cell-phone towers (AKA mobile-phone masts) and this set of symptoms has also more recently been termed Microwave Syndrome. Furthermore, it has been found by a number of researchers that after approximately five years cancer clusters start forming around these towers-of-death.
Dr. Henry Lai, of the University of Washington, had postulated that the effects of exposure to long-term non-ionizing radiation could very well be similar to the effects of short-term exposure to ionizing radiation. In fact, this seems to be exactly what we are seeing in the symptoms in a number of disease states, which appeared or vastly increased in number with the advent of the mobile phone and WiFi and a drastic increase in ambient EMR in our environment. For example, the following symptoms are found in Radiation Sickness, CFS, and what is known as Microwave Sickness:
Fatigue Swollen Lymph Nodes Nausea Weakness Intestinal Problems Impaired Memory Impaired Concentration Insomnia Loss of Appetite Weight Loss Skin Rash Weakened Immunity Night sweats Heart Problems Visual Disturbances Chills Headaches Flu-like Symptoms
Furthermore, the REFLEX studies performed in twelve European countries have clearly proven that this is indeed what is happening. If one puts a frog in boiling water, the frog will become scalded and will immediately jump out of the water. However, if you put a frog in cold water and slowly heat the water, you can cook the frog. If you expose people to large doses of continuous ionizing radiation (e.g. Chernobyl or nuclear fallout) they will immediately become ill with radiation sickness.
However, if you expose people gradually to low doses of non-ionizing radiation, their bodies will try to adapt, the effects will be more subtle, and hence they may not notice they are sick until it is too late (i.e. they develop cancer or some other serious disease).
The late Dr. Robert O. Becker - twice nominated for the Nobel Prize - wrote 21 years ago in his book, The Body Electric, the following with regards to the dangers EMR is posing:
"The dangers of electropollution are real and well documented. It changes, often pathologically, every biological system. What we don't know is exactly how serious these changes are, for how many people. The longer we as a society, put off a search for that knowledge, the greater the damage is likely to be and the harder it will be to correct." p. 304
After looking around in my immediate environment, I was able to ascertain that there were four 3rd generation (3G) cell-phone towers within a kilometer of my apartment, two of which were within 300 meters. Moreover, most of my adjacent neighbors had WiFi systems bleeding into my own apartment. On top of this, my office at the university I was working at was in direct line-of-sight propagation of a number of mobile phone masts and I was able to later measure extremely high levels of microwave radiation in my office. Finally, the city I was living in had started to implement its digital broadcasting system.
I finally found and decided to rent a log house up in the mountains of Japan - out of cell phone range (one of the very few places) - and immediately started to feel better with the immediate (within 24 hours) disappearance of many symptoms and with most of the rest of these symptoms gradually disappearing over a two month period. I stayed in this log house for a total of four months.
As my body started to heal, I started to become extremely sensitive to the EMR emitted by cell-phone towers and cell phones. Whenever I got into range of a cell-phone tower or people with cell phones (often before I could even see them), I would start to feel sick with nausea, pain in my heart, pressure in my skull, and pain in the lymph nodes. If someone were to make a cell phone call near me, these symptoms would become extremely exasperated. It was very noticeable on our weekly drive into the city that symptoms like headaches, irritability, brain fog, muscle aches, nausea, heart pain and so on would soon appear only to disappear again when we returned to our cabin in the microwave-free zone up in the mountains. Some other things I noticed was that I always felt colder in the city (where it was actually much warmer) than I did in the mountains (where it was actually much colder). It seemed as if the exposure to MW radiation was also affecting my body's ability to regulate its temperature. Another interesting thing that happened is that my severe allergy to cedar pollen completely disappeared for the first time in twelve years - and this was in spite of the fact that we were living outside a small village called Cedar Mountain (Sugiyama) surrounded by nothing but cedar trees and that the news was reporting extremely high counts of cedar pollen in the air at that time of year. Since these hay fever symptoms had started in 1992, now in retrospect (and from research) I firmly believe the cause was the then increasing amount of EMR in the environment since this is just about the time that cell phones started to become popular. We were also able to notice an abundance of frogs in our microwave-free zone and we found this in other areas with little or no cell-phone radiation. On the other hand, we were unable to find any frogs whatsoever in areas heavily radiated with cell-phone microwave radiation.
Fortunately, a number of treatment modalities have alleviated and helped me to cope with this electrosensitivity more effectively. One has been heavy-metal chelation therapy, where by using a number of sulfur compounds that bind with metals one is able to and draw these metals out of the body. Another has been the removal of all metal fillings from the mouth. And finally the daily use of a large variety of antioxidants has helped tremendously.
I decided to leave Japan - one of the most electropolluted countries in the world - to look for a new place to live. After traveling through Thailand, India, Myanmar, and Laos, I decided to make Southwestern China my new home (and then moved to a sustainable community in India, where there is even less of this radiation and a growing awareness about this problem among the people who live there). I decided against going to any advanced Western countries, since these also seem to have the most advanced microwave communication systems (3G and WiMax) and I seem to fare better with the 2nd generation systems now still prevalent in most developing countries. Also, I have - I believe due to microwave exposure - developed a number of sensitivities. At this point, more and more people are getting sick from long-term exposure to electrosmog and urgently seek a place - a refuge - in this world where they can heal in a place where there is no or little EMR emitted by cell phone towers and other sources. Such places are now being called Zone Blanche (or White Zones).
With the advent of cellular-phone microwave technology and WiFi and the drastic increase in the ambient electromagnetic radiation it has produced, the world has seen a major increase in disease states like Autism, ADHD, Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) (AKA ME [Myalgic Encephalomyelitis] in the UK), Insomnia, Behavior Disorders, Allergies, Asthma, Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), all forms of cancer (e.g. Brain Tumors, Breast Cancer, Leukemia, etc.), and so on. And we don't just have correlation here since there are indeed numerous studies also showing causation.
At present, brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer death in children in the USA (and now the UK and Australia) surpassing leukemia in 2002. A recent British newspaper put the present rate of Autism at one in forty (while more conservative estimates in the USA are putting it at one in one hundred). Forty million Americans now take sleep medication for insomnia (up 60% since 2000) while 60% suffer from sleep disturbances. The use of sleeping medication also tripled for young adults (under the age of 45) between the years 1998 and 2006. A recent survey by the CDC also put the number of people with CFS (PWC) at one in forty.
While Dr. Robert O. Becker's warnings went mainly unheeded in the 80s and 90s, in the first decade of the 21st century it seems that more and more people are starting to take this threat more seriously and now certain governments around the world have finally initiated the process of taking action. Below is a chronicle of some of these events:
In 2002, a number of German doctors - belonging to the Interdisciplinary Society of Environmental Medicine - issued the Freiburger Appeal (closing with close to 40,000 signatories) after noting a cause-and-effect relationship between the increase in wireless technology (cell phones, WiFi, DECT, etc.) and "a dramatic rise in severe and chronic diseases" like behavioral disorders, ADD, blood pressure disorders, heart attacks and strokes, brain-degenerative diseases, and cancers like leukemia and brain tumors.
In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) finally and officially recognized electro-sensitivity as a bona-fide disorder - in spite of the fact of well-known collusion with and funding being received from - via Repacholi - the cell-phone industry.
Also in 2005, the Vienna Doctors' Chamber (Wiener Arztekammer) - after the REFLEX Study clearly showed genetic damage - created posters (posted in hospital waiting rooms) warning of dangers and listing rules for use.
In Aug. 2007, a report - issued by an international group of renowned scientists, researchers, doctors, and public health experts - entitled the BioInitiative (www.bioinitiative.org) warns
"Wireless technologies that rely on microwave radiation to send emails and voice communication are thousands of times stronger than levels reported to cause some health impacts. Prolonged exposure to radiofrequency and microwave radiation from cell phones, cordless phones, cell towers, WI-FI and other wireless technologies have been linked to physical symptoms including headache, fatigue, sleeplessness, dizziness, changes in brainwave activity, and impairment of concentration and memory."
In Sept. 2007, the German government warned its citizenry not to use mobile phones (only in emergencies) and WiFi.
In Italy, Japan, and a growing number of other countries (most recently France) children are now banned from bringing cell phones to schools. In May of 2009 France passed a law completely banning cell phones in its elementary schools with many other French municipalities deciding to remove WiFi systems from their schools.
In Nov. 2007, the city of Paris voted to ban WiFi in Public Libraries with other libraries following suit in 2009.
In Dec. 2007, an Australian Democrats commissioned discussion paper found microwave radiation from cell phone towers to very likely be behind the drastic rise in disease states like cancer, diabetes, asthma, allergies and Alzheimer's disease, etc.
In May of 2008, Dr. Vini Khurana, Ph.D. and leading Australian brain surgeon, issued a report showing evidence in support of a growing global health crisis due to the use of mobile phones.
On November 3rd, 2008 Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich wrote to Mr. Martin of the FCC stating
"FCC adoption of rules to authorize use of White Spaces spectrum for wireless devices operating in the home will lead to the repeated, chronic, long-term exposure of individuals, at all age levels, and to more frequencies and quantities of radiofrequency (RF) radiation at very close range than is currently the case. Whether these exposures pose human health risks is under investigation by members of the scientific and public health research communities. I am writing to remind FCC to consider the potential for serious human health effects that could result from the proliferation of these devices in the home, before allowing the proliferation of such devices." http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1045
In January, 2009, the country of Belgium decided to reduce the levels of allowable ambient microwave radiation from 20.6 V/m to 3 V/m while Finish authorities recommended restricting the use of mobile phones by children. In the city of Lyon, France, I campaign was underway to limit use of cell phones for children under 12 while the French Government banned completely the advertising of cell phones to children.
On February 10th, 2009, Dr. Thomas M. Rau, MD, Medical Director of the Paracelsus Clinic said thatto expose children in schools to electromagnetic radiation, known to impair brain function and learning, is "criminal". He further stated that "It is unethical to expose children to electromagnetic load in this way. We know that power stations for electromagnetic waves like mobile phones are hurting the brains of children, so to put such stations into schools is really…very, very, very bad.... Does the school, or does the society, really want to have intelligent, well-educated children, or not?.... If you install mobile phone towers, which radiate to the children, their intelligence, their brain capacity, decreases. You will have more ADD children, you will have less function of the brain, which in the long term reflects on the intelligence of the children, of the possibility to really teach children, and in the long term, the more this overcomes society, the more we will have dumb children."
On February 12th, 2009, a number of German doctors wrote a letter to President Barack Obama, the US Congress, and American citizens warning of negative health consequences seen in Germany due to digital broadcasting.
At a major conference in Brussels entitled "EMF and Health: Science and Policy to address public concerns" a large number of the world's leading EMR experts issued "Expression of Concern" statements:
In March of 2009, an article by Dr. Lennart Hardell in the journal Pathophysiology stated that people who start using a mobile phone before the age of twenty are 5.2 times more likely to develop brain cancer.
March, 2009, brought a reversal of public opinion in France and an unprecedented number of lawsuits were brought against the cell phone giants.
On March 5th, 2009, a French judge, in an unprecendented judgement, forbed the installation of a phone mast based on the precautionary principle stating
"There is a health risk for people living nearby....It is preferable to reduce to a minimum the exposure level of potentially vulnerable people such as children and certain people who are sick....In the light of uncertainties over the guarantees offered for the protection of a sensitive building such as the municipal school ... the precautionary principle compels us to forbid the realisation of the plans to install relay antennas in the bell tower of the church of Notre-Dame d'Allençon."
On March 23rd, 2009, Professor Dominique Belpomme read a statement representing himself, Franz Adlkofer, Lennart Hardell and Olle Johannson to a French Senate Symposium stating:
"We, physicians, acting in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath, we, researchers, acting in the name of scientific truth, we all, doctors and researchers from the different States of the European Union, hereby state in full independence of judgement, that a growing number of patients are to be found who have become intolerant to electromagnetic fields, and that this intolerance is causing them serious prejudice in terms of health, professional and family life; that the possibility of their developing a neurodegenerative disease, or even some form of cancer, cannot be ruled out, and that this prejudice therefore ought to be acknowledged and compensated for by the social security systems of the different member States of the European community.
We hereby warn governments, that in view of our present knowledge, it is not to be ruled out that after a sufficient period of exposure, this intolerance might also affect children and therefore cause a major public health problem in years to come in all the countries making an unrestricted use of electromagnetic field based technologies."
In April 2009, the Breast Cancer Fund cautioned women to reduce their exposure to non-ionizing radiation.
On April 2nd, 2009, the European Parliament approved a resolution on health concerns associated with electromagnetic fields.
On April 8th, 2009, fifty Dutch "doctors presented an appeal to Dutch political leaders and government health authorities at The Hague" calling for a minimization of exposure to electromagnetic radiation after noting an increase in a number of serious health concerns which correlate with the explosion of EMR in the past few decades.
On April 9th, 2009, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in the UK called for the removal of wireless networks in schools to prevent children from getting cancer and becoming sterile.
On April 17th, 2009, five members of the French Senate presented a bill which would restrict exposure to EMR.
The month of May in 2009 was proclaimed Electromagnetic Sensitivity Awareness Month in the states of Florida, Connecticut, and Colorado.
On May 5th, 2009 Dr. Magda Havas, one of the world's leading experts on the hazards due to exposure to EMR, wrote an Open Letter to Parents, Teachers, School Boards, Regarding Wi-Fi Networks in Schools
"I am a scientist who does research on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation and I am becoming increasingly concerned that a growing number of schools are installing WiFi networks and are making their school grounds available for cell phone antennas."
On May 20th, 2009, the Portland City Council formally passed a resolution asking the FCC to look into health concerns due to wireless antennas.
On May 26, 2009, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board unanimously passed a resolution regarding ongoing wireless proliferation near schools which also included a statement in favor of repealing the Telecommunication Act of 1996's preemption of cell tower sitings due to considerations of health and environmental concerns.
Also, in May of 2009, the French government decided to try out the BioInitiative Working Group's recommendation of 0.6 V/m ambient EMR levels on a trial basis in several French cities.
In recent years there has been a severe disappearance in insects, amphibians (frogs, snakes, etc.), birds, (and now bats). Research has indeed connected this disappearance with the global rise in ambient EMR in our environment.
While it seems that finally there is a growing awareness regarding this problem, until very recently in many places in the world (including the USA) there had been nothing but a media blackout regarding the danger this is posing to life on our planet. And now it seems that since they can no longer ignore the problem that there is an effort - via certain media outlets - to the planting disinformation and doubt attempting to belittle this extremely serious problem by ridiculing it and the people aware they are being affected by it.
Many people who know nothing whatsoever about this problem will try to argue with you by spewing out vacant cliches they heard or read somewhere (probably on TV or in the newspaper) hence bypassing any of their critical thinking faculties. However, when presented with the facts, these baseless arguments soon crumble like dust. It is unfortunate what people in the advertising (i.e. propaganda) industries know to be too true: That if you repeat something enough times, people don't just start believing it, they will actually start repeating it themselves - in other words, "Doubt is Their Product." It is their main means of establishing controversy.
A system which puts profits before people is bound to fail in the long term. It seems that the endemic thinking out there is not so much about how they can solve the problem, but rather how they can profit off the problem -- and we can indeed say that the medical industry is profiting big time from the proliferation of illness-causing electropollution. That is the problem!!!
We need to create an environment which promotes health and well-being and not one that furthers the relentless greed for profits of the corporations and the people behind them! Hence, we need stringent laws regulating the amounts of ambient electromagnetic pollution in our environments; we need to ban genetically-modified foods and chemicals in our environments; educate people to take care of their bodies and the environment to which they are tied; and we need to empower alternative medicine practioners. Collusion of the WHO, the FDA, other governmental and international institutions with Big Pharma, Big Cellular, and Big Chemical needs to end!
Sincerely yours,
Art Kab (emfrefugee@gmail.com)
