Saturday, November 15, 2014

14P1-H6. Electromagnetic Interference with Medical Devices from Third Generation Mobile Phone Including LTE

  • 14P1-H6. Electromagnetic Interference with Medical Devices from Third Generation Mobile Phone Including LTE

    S. Ishihara1, J. Higashiyama1, T. Onishi1, Y. Tarusawa1, K. Nagase2
    1NTT DOCOMO, INC., Japan, 2Kanazawa University Hospital, Japan
    This paper describes EMI with medical devices used in hospitals from mobile phones. Transmission power, frequency, transmission mode, and radiation sources are considered to investigate the relationship with EMI. LTE, HSPA, and W-CDMA are selected as the transmission method. Thirty-two different medical devices, which are mainly used in the operating room or ICU, are used in this evaluation. The results show that 12 medical-device models incurred EMI. The results also clearly show that the EMI strongly depends on the transmission power and the distance between the mobile phone and medical device. For example, when transmission power at 800 MHz is the nominal maximum and 10 dBm, the maximum EMI distances are approximately 70 and 10 cm, respectively. Based on this, the nominal maximum power test is important for conservative evaluation. On the other hand, the results do not show that EMI is dependent on the frequency band. Therefore, evaluations must consider all mobile phone frequency bands so that EMI can property detected. Furthermore, the electromagnetic field emitted by a half-wave dipole antenna causes higher levels of EMI than that by a mobile phone. Finally, we show that discontinuous transmission might cause higher levels of EMI than those for continuous transmission.


Friday, November 14, 2014

Call for scientific signatures : Statement on the health effects of RFs

Call for scientific signatures : Statement on the health effects of RFs


I’m willing to collect signatures of MDs and EMF experts such as the 50+ who endorsed Dr Carpenter’s 2012 rebuttal on smart meters

Please read Dr Martin L. Pall’s statement below and tell me if you want to cosign it.
Thanks!
André

Le 2014-11-14 à 15:17, Pall, Martin L <martin_pall@wsu.edu> a écrit :

Cher M. Fauteux and others:

I think that the key issue here is not so much WHO but the corporate media that have essentially completely ignored these concerns.  The way to deal with that is to have a statement, signed by at least 50 scientists/physicians and sent as a letter to as many newspapers, news media outlets, news magazines, local television news programs, etc., as possible across North America and Europe.  It should also be emailed to WHO, to NIEHS and other relevant agencies concerned with public and environmental health, as well as the FCC.  The statement must be relatively short but sufficiently detailed to show that there are major, specific concerns and must deal centrally with the issue of the lack of science behind current international safety standards.

My own view is that the statement should be something like the following:
Thousands of publications in the scientific literature report diverse biological effects cause by microwave fields at exposures that are well within current ICNIRP and other safety standards.  Each of these falsify, therefore, the assumption underlying current safety standards, that only heating effects of these fields need be considered.

While many of these publications report a variety of pathophysiological responses, there are also many reporting therapeutic responses under specific conditions as well.  Each of these occur at what are called non-thermal or microthermal levels of exposure and therefore conflict with current safety standards.
 
Among the pathophysiological effects of such exposures that are well documented are: 
Ø  Single strand and double strand breaks in cellular DNA and other types of DNA damage 
Ø  Oxidative stress
Ø  Several types of cancer
Ø  Both male and female infertility
Ø  Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, making the brain more sensitive to chemical and infectious agents
Ø  Lowered levels of nighttime melatonin; sleep disruption
Ø  Diverse neuropsychiatric changes, including depression
Ø  Changes in the electrical control of the heart including tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death
 
We believe that there are probably additional health effects.   The above list suggests that each of the four things that we most value as individuals and as a species may be jeopardized by exposures to these fields:  Our physical health, our brain function, the integrity of our genomes and our ability to produce healthy offspring.
 
There have been ever increasing exposures to microwave radiation, from radar units, microwave ovens, cell phone towers, cell phones, cordless phones and cordless phone bases, Wi-Fi, computers and tablets communicatinf with Wi-Fi antennae, “smart meters,” and dozens of other cordless communication devices.  Electronic devices generating dirty electricity are also problematic.  We can have no confidence on assurances of safety based on current safety standards.  There are many ways to improve the safety of these devices but there has been no emphasis in doing so.   We need to both lower allowable exposures, which are currently based on heating effects, but we also need to develop genuine biologically-based safety standards. There are feasible approaches to doing both. 
 
Signed:
 
 Let me state that I am sure that some will think that changes should be made to the pathophysiological effect list that I came up with – some may argue for both deletions and for additions to that list.  I don’t view the list as being written in concrete, but rather as a start that should be open to debate, regarding deletions, additions and other changes.  

Martin L. Pall
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences,
Washington State University and Research Director, The Tenth Paradigm Research Group.

Chelation Therapy May Increase One's Risk of Mold -- and Other Opportunistic -- Infections. Mineral Re-supplementation Necessary Afterwards!

Chelation Therapy May Increase One's Risk of Mold -- and Other Opportunistic -- Infections. Mineral Re-supplementation Necessary Afterwards!


I would also like to add that chelation therapy -- while excellent for removing toxic heavy metals from the body -- might also very well contribute to problems with mold/fungus (and other opportunistic infections) due to the fact that it also removes magnesium and other essential minerals from the body: Due to the fact, as I stated in the previous message, that Magnesium acts as a Voltage Gated Calcium Channel Blocker and the lack of it in one's body might very well be contributing to calcium influx into the cell and in turn leading to a chain reaction that inhibits cellular immunity.

"Low magnesium levels in the blood (hypomagnesemia): EDTA can bind with magnesium and increase the amount of magnesium that is flushed out in the urine. This might cause magnesium levels to drop too low, especially in people who have low levels to begin with. If you have this problem, don’t use EDTA."

edta: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions and Warnings - WebMD   
Find patient medical information for edta on WebMD including its uses, effectiveness, side effects and safety, interactions, user ratings and products that have it.
Preview by Yahoo 

I remember Dr. Yayama stating that many of his patients would start to have increasing problems with mold after chelation therapy. I know this was true for myself. One has to replenish the good minerals after engaging in such therapy.

Paul Doyon
EMF Refugee

The debate must heat up, and the WHO Fact Sheet 193 must be corrected.

The debate must heat up, and the WHO Fact Sheet 193 must be corrected.

The debate must heat up, and the WHO Fact Sheet 193 must be corrected. 

À: protecting-people-from-electrosmog <protecting-people-from-electrosmog@googlegroups.com>, Olle Johansson 
Cc: André Fauteux 

Dear All in PPfE and Dear Olle,

This article is yet another wake up call to all as to the enormity of the problem we are facing. In the US, as we know, electrosmog is increasingly rapidly. To me, the recent watering down (again) of cell phone Fact Sheet 193 by the World Health Organization shows that the WHO believes they can end the debate by simply making up "facts" that are in direct contradiction to their own cancer committee, IARC. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/

Tragically, this sentence does not apply to any city in the US or, to my knowledge, to Canada, Australia, the UK and most of Europe: "As scientific knowledge about the side effects worldwide have appeared, more cities in the Western world are tending to lower the values of exposure amid concerns over the possible effects on human health."

So the question becomes, how do we make this wish come true? Olle, I send this to you as well as everyone in PPfE and ask how we can get to the point where this is even possible? What are your recommendations for us -- as in the US I am noting a level of discouragement and illness that seems unprecedented.

Thank you for this quote below, because just like the body is an interconnected system, so is the RF - EMF Spectrum which IARC classified -- as a whole -- as a 2B "possible human" carcinogen.
"According to the European Commission, among the problems potentially related to exposure to electromagnetic fields are an increased cancer risk in the brain (glioma) and the ear (acoustic neuroma) through the heavy users of mobile phones.
It has also reported there is a potential association between exposure to broadcast transmitters and a higher rate of childhood cancer, including childhood leukaemia." 
Also Olle, I am very glad to hear that some in the EC are acknowledging Lennart Hardell's brilliant science conclusively linking gliomas and acoustic neuromas with "heavy mobile use" -- but I think we need to emphasize that heavy use (according to Interphone) was 30 minutes. And how much does the average person truly spend? 30 minutes would be "light use" for most. In California I am hearing of a new glioma diagnosis or death weekly. I hear this in the news and in the course of daily life. I fear it is only the beginning, and we cannot get cell phone warning labeling laws passed in our cities because the CTIA comes in using the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen to say "cell phones do not cause cancer." It is an outrage, but yet it continues because of the lies in Fact Sheet 193.

Question: Where in the EC do we find these supportive leaders who are willing to link cell phone use with gliomas and acoustic neuromas? I wrote about Joachim Schuz burying Hardell's science for the SCENIHR Report, and we know this report was supposed to evaluate RF - EMF levels for all of Europe.  So we, as Americans and Canadians, want to know who will help us and how we can complain on the watering down of the Fact Sheet 193 by WHO as it impacts our health agencies who rubber-stamp WiFi by simply referring to the WHO website. There are mixed messages out of Europe so what do you suggest we do -- as it appears the WHO Fact Sheet 193 is seen as the "ultimate authority" as cell phones are sold for children with no label warnings, and WiFi is rapidly deployed in almost every single school. It is unacceptable. Is it the body count that will finally tell the true story? Somehow IARC's nearly unanimous 2B decision in May 2011 is getting lost ... For better and for worse, what happens in Europe does not stay in Europe. We, across the pond, are trapped by the lies in Fact Sheet 193 from WHO.

Barb Payne offered the WHO link for comment: http://www.who.int/peh-emf/research/rf_ehc_page/en/

The problem is, most of us cannot comment as we lack the scientific credentials to voice an opinion that may be used. What do you recommend?

We want the debate to be over, but it many ways it needs to heat up. Your suggestions for action are very welcome.

Best Wishes to All,

Susan Foster

Wi-Fi 'electrosmog' a risk to health, say scientists
Wi-Fi
        'electrosmog' a risk to health, say scientists

People at risk of ailments from brain tumors to exhaustion amid 'insane' radiation levels, say Scandinavian experts

World Bulletin/News Desk
People are facing a host of illnesses ranging from brain tumors and leukemia to poor memory and concentration as they become increasingly engulfed by an "electrosmog" as Wi-Fi networks expand globally, scientists in Scandinavia have warned. 
The team of experts told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that it was already well established in the scientific community that electromagnetic fields (EMF) from mobiles, wireless LANs, baby calls and other wireless equipment based on microwaves can influence human blood circulation, respiration, temperature control, water balance and other bodily functions.  
But Danish scientist Olle Johansson said the risks are increasing significantly as initiatives are taken all over the world to widen the already extensive network of Wi-Fi facilities. 
 “The wireless society is the largest human full-scale experiment ever, and it urgently needs to be addressed as such," said Associate Professor Olle Johansson from the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.  
Johansson warned: "We are literally enveloped by an 'electrosmog' which contributes to increased sickness rates, and politicians need a totally different approach to the problem. 
"Global populations are not sufficiently protected from the emerging communication and data transmission technologies that are being deployed worldwide and are now affecting billions of people." 
'Insane radiation limits'
Johansson has just published an article detailing the phenomenon entitled: "Health Risk from Wireless? The Debate is Over", together with his colleague Associate Professor Einar Flydal of the Department of Telematics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway,  
"The spectrum of possible health problems arising is extraordinarily wide – from brain tumors and leukemia to exhaustion, decreased memory and concentration and just feeling uncomfortable," Johansson explained. 
The Council of Europe committee examined evidence in 2011 that the technologies had "potentially harmful" effects on humans, and concluded action was required to protect children. 
It said in a report it was crucial to avoid repeating previous mistakes made when public health officials were slow to recognize the dangers of asbestos, tobacco smoking and lead in petrol.
Johansson went on: "The allowed radiation limits throughout the world are insane, to say the least.
"We are talking about values up to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 18th) times higher than nature's background radiation, to which the human body has adapted through many 100,000 of years, and within a couple of decades, we have all been surrounded by biblical levels of artificial radio-waves, well knowing that they have major impacts on both human and animal health."  
'Hard evidence'
He called for the immediate adoption of a precautionary principle, saying he did not agree with the European Commission's conclusion from the Public Hearing of the Preliminary Opinion on Potential Health Effects of Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) in March this year that more research needed to be done.  
“Politicians should now rather take a look at how to get rid of the old 'avoid getting burnt' paradigm that still reigns with the authorities engaged in radiation protection – which goes, 'How long may one stand or sit in front of a radar before getting burned?' - and replace it with biomedical limits based on public health concerns," he said. 
Danish doctor Helge Volkmann, who has opposed the rapid expansion of Wi-Fi for many years, agrees with Johansson. 
He told Anadolu Agency: “Both industry and authorities lean upon studies, financed by the mobile communication industry, showing no dangers. But we have hard evidence that mobile signals can cause cancer. 
"In Denmark, it is hard to find any place outside with no signal, so it is threatening the health of the whole population." 
The company Ruckus Wireless, one of the pioneers in the wireless infrastructure market, estimates that the number of hotspots across the world will increase to 5.8 million by next year - an increase of 350 percent from 2011. 
Health concerns
As scientific knowledge about the side effects worldwide have appeared, more cities in the Western world are tending to lower the values of exposure amid concerns over the possible effects on human health. 
According to the Scandinavian scientists, lower radiation limits have already been studied and proposed in Vienna, Austria and in Brussels, Belgium.  
"In Salzburg, Austria, a proposition has been launched to lower the exposure limit outdoors to one millionth (10-6) of today's levels, and one ten-millionth (10-7) for indoors," says Johansson.
France legislated in March last year to discourage Wi-Fi in schools until it is considered "safe for human consumption". 
And since 2008, the French national library along with other libraries in Paris and a number of universities have removed all Wi-Fi networks and they have also been totally removed from schools in the town of Herouville-Saint-Clair. 
In Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Education has stopped the installation of wireless networks in classrooms prior to the first grade in 2013 and limited the use of Wi-Fi between first and third grades 
Strong growth
Israeli teachers are now required to turn off mobile phones and WiFi routers when they are not being used. 
Germany recommended its schools use cabled computers instead of Wi-Fi as far back as 2007.
However in the U.S. park officials have taken the opposite tack in the Grand Teton National Park in Yellowstone, Wyoming, and are discussing a $34 million fiber-optic line through the park, buried along existing roads, to create the optimal Wi-Fi environment for visitors. 
4G is now supported from Mammot Hot Springs in the park, where Verizon has installed LTE antennas and a microwave path. 
In Africa, Wi-Fi and mobile phone masts are also been rapidly rolled out, with Cisco saying the continent will experience the strongest mobile data traffic growth on the planet, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 70 percent by 2018. 
Africa is followed by Central and Eastern Europe, with CAGR growth of 68 percent and, in the Asia Pacific, 67 percent.  
According to the European Commission, among the problems potentially related to exposure to electromagnetic fields are an increased cancer risk in the brain (glioma) and the ear (acoustic neuroma) through the heavy users of mobile phones. 
It has also reported there is a potential association between exposure to broadcast transmitters and a higher rate of childhood cancer, including childhood leukaemia. 
'Time to act'
Reproductive problems, cognitive function or symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, stress, sleep disturbances and skin problems are also believed to be risks. 
At a public hearing in June, the EU Commission called for further investigation and the World Health Organization (WHO) is to conduct a formal risk assessment of all studied health outcomes from radio-frequency fields exposure by 2016. 
But Johansson said such a move was "totally obsolete" as research is already "overwhelmingly showing the negative effects".  
He said: “It is a scientific fact that radio waves in the centimeter band influence blood circulation, respiration, temperature control, water balance, albumin and sugar concentration in the cerebro-spinal fluid and more. 
"Even electromagnetic fields at levels of only 1/100,000th of what we are regularly exposed to from mobiles, are found to disturb the complex electrical operations taking place at cellular levels, and to cause damage to DNA, proteins, neurons and oxidation processes." 
"In spite of this, we have allowed an electrosmog of an almost unimaginable dimension to develop," he stated. 
Calling for Wi-Fi to be discontinued worldwide, he warned: "It is going to affect future generations, and the time to act is now."

Environmental Health Trust: November 2014

Environmental Health Trust: November 2014

Let's Continue this Fight For Jimmy Gonzalez! 

A fearless crusader for truth, Jimmy--a former Marine officer, father of young children and husband is in hospice with Glioblastoma Multiforme caused from his cell phone. After his diagnosis, he championed the Pembroke Pines Resolution advancing the right to know about cellphone safety  Thanks to Jimmy for courageous efforts telling his story in hopes that it will protect his community. Environmental Health Trust honors and appreciates Jimmy's efforts to ensure that localities around the world issue  Cell Phone Safety Proclamations.

Dr. Devra Davis's talk in Bombay to the Rotary Club helped spread the word about the consequences of wireless radiation. Learn more   








Did you know a cell phone in a moving car emits significantly greater radiation, half of which could be absorbed by the brain while talking? A renowned epidemiologist from the US warns users of this and other cell-phone related hazards in the course of her recent talks in India. Darryl D'Monte reportsLearn more   






More news from Indian medical and health authorities to come. Stay tuned for our next newsletter! 
Actress Juhi Chawla helps to inform the public about the dangers of wireless radiation from devices and cell phone towers. Thank you! 
 Learn more about what it means to be a volunteer. 
EHT needs your help to complete our infant and toddler brain modeling study to learn the true levels of radiation that young children absorb from wireless devices. Although millions of young children are using devices today, nobody can tell us what this may mean for their health.
We're just like you. We're teachers, business executives, parents, retirees, students...you name it. But the one thing we all have in common is our dedication to change. And the more volunteers we have, the bigger impact we can all make. Together. Learn More about what it means to be a volunteer.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS): a historical and biophysical perspective

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS): a historical and biophysical perspective


Video made at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine on June 6, 2014.
 


Sorry, no streaming possible yet 
 
André

Environmental Health; New Environmental Research and Public Health Study Results Reported from A. Burgi et al (Time averaged transmitter power and exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations)

Environmental Health; New Environmental Research and Public Health Study Results Reported from A. Burgi et al (Time averaged transmitter power and exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations)


14 Novembre 2014
Health & Medicine Week
HAMW
2082 Anglais
© Copyright 2014 Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com

2014 NOV 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week -- Current study results on Environmental Health have been published. According to news reporting from Bern, Switzerland, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, "Models for exposure assessment of high frequency electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations need the technical data of the base stations as input. One of these parameters, the Equivalent Radiated Power (ERP), is a time-varying quantity, depending on communication traffic."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research, "In order to determine temporal averages of the exposure, corresponding averages of the ERP have to be available. These can be determined as duty factors, the ratios of the time-averaged power to the maximum output power according to the transmitter setting. We determine duty factors for UMTS from the data of 37 base stations in the Swisscom network. The UMTS base stations sample contains sites from different regions of Switzerland and also different site types (rural/suburban/urban/hotspot). Averaged over all regions and site types, a UMTS duty factor for the 24 h-average is obtained, i.e., the average output power corresponds to about a third of the maximum power."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "We also give duty factors for GSM based on simple approximations and a lower limit for LTE estimated from the base load on the signaling channels."

For more information on this research see: Time averaged transmitter power and exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phone base stations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2014;11(8):8025-37.
Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A. Burgi, ARIAS umweltforschungberatung, Gutenbergstrasse 40B, CH-3011 Bern, Switzerland. Additional authors for this research include D. Scanferla and H. Lehmann.
Keywords for this news article include: Bern, Europe, Switzerland, Environmental Health.
Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world. Copyright 2014, NewsRx LLC
From Andre Fauteux, editor, La Maison du 21e siècle magazine 

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Electro Hyper-sensitivity in Ireland

Electro Hyper-sensitivity in Ireland


The following letter from Margaret Cousins, a retired nurse, explains in harsh detail the painful experiences of people living with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity. The tragedy is that it is becoming more common - the lady and her mother in California who are living in their car after Smart Meters were installed in their apartment block, the Dublin man forced to sleep in his garden shed, the elderly couple who are knocked to the ground when they leave their front door - and the longer the present situation continues, the more people who will be affected.

Pine Lodge,
Cousinstown,|
Bridgetown,
Co. Wexford
Dear John,
I do hope all is well with you and yours.

The radiation situation is horrific down here in Wexford under Fort Mountain. It has been gradually increasing again since June but since last Friday broadband - wi-fi has increased to such an extent that I felt my head would burst and my eyeballs explode over the weekend.
The soreness and gritty painful eyes nearly drove me insane, made worse by an eye test carried out Thursday last. I had to take myself out to Curracloe beach and let the wind blow the electrification away. Signals low since 2 a.m., eyes a little better but the noise and speed of signals rising now at 6 p.m. is everywhere. All I can hear is the sizzling, hissing, swirling tones at speed.  
 In my agony I wrote to.....
 Have they increased the Tetra signal in Leixlip? It goes up here. If there are mishaps in Rosslare Harbour, it goes through the house. I stay in at night causing severe torture. I go to another friend at weekends but it’s like going out of the frying pan into the fire but at least I have company. My poor husband is made to stay on his own all these years, appealing to either ESB (Electricity Supply Board) or mobile phone companies has fallen on deaf ears.

 I met with the county manager on 14 August. His secretary wrote some letters but nothing since. Eithne Monks, another electrosensitive and myself have plagued Emmet Fahy, Air Quality and Environment policy official, Dept. of Environment, Newtown Road, Wexford, with letters and am told when the latest study is reported on he’ll consent to a meeting. Big deal. The generator has gone on and I am scorched just now. Must get out as the noise is horrendous.
Unfortunately, Margaret's situation is all too common.
John Weigel
Ireland

WSJ: Secret US program uses planes to gather Americans' cellphone data


WSJ: Secret US program uses planes to gather Americans' cellphone data

Devices on aircraft mimic cellphone towers to collect phone data in surveillance program, Wall Street Journal reports
Cellphone data from thousands of innocent Americans is being collected by devices deployed on small airplanes as part of the Justice Department’s attempts to expose and monitor criminal suspects, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing unnamed people familiar with the operation.
The spying program operates Cessna aircraft from at least five airports with a range that covers most of the U.S. population, according to the newspaper.
The aircraft carry devices that mimic the signals of commercial cellphone towers to gain access to people’s unique registration information and gather personal data from thousands of cellphones in a single flight, the Journal said. It said the devices collect data on criminal suspects, but also force ordinary citizens’ phones to release personal information.
The report compared the project to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) dragnet surveillance program, which came under heavy criticism last year when former NSA analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the government’s widespread collection of cellphone metadata and Internet communications.
The Justice Department would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the airplane program, the newspaper said.
The report quoted Christopher Soghoian, chief technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, as calling the project “a dragnet surveillance program. It’s inexcusable and it’s likely — to the extent judges are authorizing it — [that] they have no idea of the scale of it.”
By directly gathering the data, the program cuts out commercial cellphone carriers whose records need to be obtained through a court order, the report said. People familiar with the program said they get court orders to search phones, but it was unclear what those orders contained because the records are sealed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The devices can interfere with calls on certain phones, people who are familiar with the program told the Journal, but the government has tried to minimize that risk, including adapting the software so calls to emergency services aren’t interrupted.

Secret U.S. Spy Program Uses Fake Cell Towers on Planes to Collect Your Phone Data

Secret U.S. Spy Program Uses Fake Cell Towers on Planes to Collect Your Phone Data

By 



The U.S. Justice Department operates a secret spy program that uses fake cell towers placed on small airplanes to collect data from the cell phones of users it flies over, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.  The small devices, called "dirtboxes," are embedded in planes and mimic cell-phone towers, triggering any cell phone within range to send its "unique registration information," allowing it to collect thousands of people's identifying information and location in one flight. The program is targeted at tracking and identifying the locations of criminals, though thousands of innocent people's data is picked up in the process. Dirtboxes also allow law enforcement to bypass telecom companies when tracking down data about an individual's cell phone location history. 
But that's not all! According to the Journal:
The program is more sophisticated than anything previously understood about government use of such technology...
Newer versions of the technology can be programmed to do more than suck in data: They can also jam signals and retrieve data from a target phone such as texts or photos. It isn’t clear if this domestic program has ever used those features.
A Justice Department official who spoke with the Journal would not confirm or deny the existence of the surveillance program.
Hope whoever is sifting through this data enjoys my sexts!

Long-term mobile phone use and brain cancer

Long-term mobile phone use and brain cancer


Thursday November 13 2014
We still don't properly understand the long-term effects of mobile phone use
The link between mobile phones and cancer is not proven

"Do mobile and cordless phones raise the risk of brain cancer?" asks the Mail Online.
There are now more mobile phones than people in the UK, so you would expect the commonsense answer to be a resounding "no". But, as we never get tired of saying, it's a bit more complicated than that.
The Mail Online reports on the latest study looking for evidence of a link between mobile and cordless phone calls and brain tumours. This large Swedish study found more than 25 years' use of mobile phones trebled the (very small) risk of glioma, the most common type of brain tumour.
The study matched healthy volunteers with people who had been diagnosed with a glioma, and asked them to estimate the amount of time they had ever spent using mobile and cordless phones. This ranged from less than one year to around 25 years.

No smoke without fire? 

There have been dozens of news stories on a potential link between mobile phones and cancer. But that doesn't prove there is a link. The official line is that there is "no convincing evidence" of a link between mobile phones and cancer

Indeed, we considered a news report about a similar study published in May 2014 to be "inconclusive", while a 2010 news report on similar research demonstrated cherry picking by journalists of what the researchers described as "anomalous" results.
The researchers found:
  • any mobile phone use increased the risk of glioma by a third 
  • using 2G phones for 15 to 20 years doubled the risk 
  • 3G phone (smartphones) use for 5 to 10 years gave four times the risk (the research was carried out before the launch of 4G phones) 
However, some of these results were based on very small numbers and so may not be reliable. And this type of study cannot prove that mobile phones cause brain tumours. 
It has not taken into account other factors, including exposure to chemicals or occupational hazards, despite collecting this information. Even so, it could not account for every possible confounder.
It is also rather unlikely that the estimates for the extent of mobile phone usage are accurate. So, it remains unclear whether there are long-term cancer risks associated with mobile phone use.

Where did the story come from?

The study was carried out by researchers from the University Hospital in Örebro, Sweden and was funded by Cancer- och Allergifonden, Cancerhjälpen, the Pandora-Foundation for Independent Research, and the Berlin and Kone Foundation, Helsinki, Finland. 
It was published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Pathophysiology, and appears to be available on an open-accessbasis.
The Mail Online has reported the story reasonably accurately, and put the findings into context, citing a previous large study looking at the risk of mobile phone use and brain cancer.

What kind of research was this?

This was a case-control study that aimed to see if there was an association between mobile phone use and the development of a type of brain tumour called glioma. 
In this study, cases (people who have a glioma) were matched with controls (people of the same age without brain tumours). The researchers then looked at a variety of factors that each group had been exposed to. 
This is a type of epidemiological study, which can identify potential risk factors for developing a brain tumour. However, this kind of study cannot prove that any of these factors directly caused the brain tumour.

What did the research involve?

The researchers contacted all adults aged 20 to 80 who were newly diagnosed with a brain tumour in central Sweden from 1997-2003, and all cases throughout Sweden aged 18 to 75 from 2007-09. 
They recruited 1,498 (89%) people – 879 men and 619 women. The majority (1,380) had a glioma. The researchers matched each case by age and gender at random using the Swedish Population Registry to obtain a control group of 3,530 people. 
A questionnaire was sent to all cases and controls to determine their exposure to mobile phones and cordless desktop phones. As mobile phones have changed during this timescale, the type of mobile phone exposure was recorded, including:
  • first generation – output power 1 Watt, 900 MHz 
  • second (2G) generation – pulsed output power of tens of microWatts (mW), 900 or 1800 MHz 
  • third generation (3G) – output power tens of mW, amplitude modulated 
The questions asked about:
  • preferred ear for using a mobile or cordless phone 
  • number of years of exposure and average daily use 
  • overall working history 
  • exposure to different chemicals 
  • smoking habits 
  • X-ray exposure to the head and neck 
  • hereditary traits for cancer 
If any of the answers were unclear, a follow-up telephone interview was conducted by someone who was not informed if the person was a case or a control.
The researchers performed statistical analyses to take socioeconomic status into account.

What were the basic results?

Any mobile phone use increased the risk of glioma by a third (odds ratio [OR] 1.3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 1.6).
More than 25 years' use of mobile phones trebled the risk of glioma (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.7 to 5.2). This was based on 29 cases and 33 controls.
For the longest possible periods of use of newer mobile phones:
  • 2G phone use for 15 to 20 years doubled the risk of glioma (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5 to 3.0) 
  • 3G phone use for 5 to 10 years gave four times the risk of glioma (OR 4.1, 95% CI 1.3 to 12) – this was based on 12 cases and 14 controls 
Use of cordless phones also increased the risk (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7), with the greatest risk seen in people who had used cordless phones for 15 to 20 years (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.5). This was based on 50 cases and 109 controls.
The odds of glioma increased significantly for every 100 hours of use and for every year of use.
First using a mobile or cordless phone before the age of 20 increased the odds of glioma more than first use at older ages.

How did the researchers interpret the results?

The authors report that this study gives further support to their previous research, in which they concluded that gliomas "are caused by RF-EMF [radiofrequency electromagnetic field] emissions from wireless phones, and thus regarded as carcinogenic, under Group 1 according to the IARC [International Agency on Research on Cancer] classification, indicating that current guidelines for exposure should be urgently revised".

Conclusion

This case-control study found mobile phone use is associated with an increased risk of the commonest type of brain tumour, glioma. But this type of study cannot prove that mobile phone use caused the brain tumours, as it cannot account for confounding factors. 
Indeed, despite collecting data on variables such as exposure to chemicals and occupation, this information was not taken into account during the statistical analyses.
A further limitation of the study was that the extent of mobile phone use was estimated retrospectively up to a 25-year time period. 
It is highly unlikely these estimates would be accurate because of factors such as memory recall, and patterns of mobile phone usage have changed substantially over the years. 
There is also the possibility of cases having recall bias after receiving a brain cancer diagnosis and therefore overestimated their mobile usage.
Additionally, many of the calculations were based on very small numbers, which reduces the reliability of the findings.
This study does not prove that mobile phones cause brain cancer, and the long-term effects of mobile phone use remain unclear. 
What is clear is that brain tumours are relatively uncommon. While this is a good thing, it means that "proving" what, if any, environmental factors cause them is likely to require a great deal of long-term research effort. 
Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS ChoicesFollow Behind the Headlines on TwitterJoin the Healthy Evidence forum.