By Dr. Mercola
Alasdair Philips is qualified in both Electrical- and Electronic Engineering, as well as Agricultural Engineering.
In 1998, he started the British organization Power Watch, which is committed to uncovering the specific details of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect our health and how we can practically protect ourselves against detrimental effects.
Mr. Philips is also a member of SAGE (the UK Department of Health Stakeholder Group on ELF EMFs) and a member of the UK Health Protection Agency's EMF Discussion Group.
Another early group he became involved with was called Electronics and Computing for Peace.
In the 1980s, they were asked to go to Greenham Common Airbase, where a group of women claimed the American military were "zapping" them.
"We went down and we measured, basically, early non-lethal microwave weapons working at the same sort of frequencies that cell phones operate at (about 1800-1900 MHz) [which were being] pulsed at the women...
That's what got me interested in the biological effects of electromagnetic waves," Mr. Philips says.
"... Ten years or so later, I was invited to talk a lot about the first mobile phones and other health concerns, through a series of international [industry] conferences in the late 1990s. I was the token outsider saying, 'Yes, I think there is a problem.'"
Avoid using Wi-Fi routers in your home. Instead, install cable or Ethernet cable. If you need portability, you can use a dLAN device that allows you to access your Ethernet without laying extra wires or irradiating yourself with pulsing microwaves from a router.
"I did a BBC Panorama program a few years ago on Wi-Fi... We were comparing Wi-Fi levels with the levels you get 100 meters from a cell phone tower. They're roughly the same! If you're a yard away from a Wi-Fi router, or sitting next to a Wi-Fi laptop, it's about the same as what's coming from a mast 200 yards away. The UK government gave the UK Health Protection Agency 300,000 pounds sterling to go and do the work to just prove us wrong. Actually they found slightly higher levels than we reported on the Panorama program..."
"There is without doubt an approximate doubling in the incidence of childhood leukemia with magnetic fields above 4 milliGauss, or 0.4 microTesla in U.S. units," Philips says. "It's been confirmed in over 20 studies. Most of the studies are showing a doubling at a level between 3 and 4 milliGauss."
This is a tiny fraction of the international standard, set at 1,000 milliGauss (100 microTesla). They know acute effects may occur at twice the standard limit, at 2,000 milliGauss, but to think the current standard actually protects health is a grave mistake... Unfortunately, according to Mr. Philips, no progress at all has been made in changing the standards for power frequencies to take into account the effects on biological health.
And with respect to microwaves; standing a foot away from your microwave oven while it's running can expose you to upwards of 400 milliGauss, and remember, a mere 4 milliGauss has been firmly linked to leukemia. It would certainly be wise to avoid letting your children stand near the microwave when it's running, and avoid it yourself as much as possible—especially if you're pregnant.
"We recommend you put your microwave oven either in the far corner of your kitchen or ideally in the utility area where you can just go through and put it in and go back a few minutes later. You don't actually use it right next to where you're working on the work surface," Mr. Philips says.
Story at-a-glance
- The British organization Power Watch, founded by Alasdair Philips, is committed to uncovering the specific details of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect your health and how you can practically protect yourself against detrimental effects
- While the international safety standard for power fields, such as those emitted from overhead power lines, is set at 1,000 milliGauss, more than 20 studies have linked exposure at a mere 4 milliGauss to childhood leukemia
- Certain home appliances are particularly troublesome, in terms of the EMF emitted, such as electric heaters, electric stove rings, microwave ovens, electric blankets, and hair dryers
- Under current guidelines, we are now allowed to expose ourselves to one billion-billion-billion-fold more energy within a particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum than our ancestors were exposed to 100 years ago. Therefore, it is prudent to reduce your EMF exposure as much as you can, particularly where you sleep, and to try to make your home into an “EMF safe zone” to allow your body to rest and restore from the daily assault of radiation
Read more about this important danger HERE
