Elektrosmog - FORUM

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NOTICE

My PhD dissertation, _The Procrustean Approach Setting Exposure
Standards for Telecommunications Frequency Electromagnetic
Radiation_, is now available as a free download on the website of the
International EMF Alliance. http://international-emf-alliance.org/ .
Click on the publications box at the top.

This is an examination of the manipulation of telecommunications
standards by political, military, and industrial vested interests at
the expense of public health protection. It was written in order to be
an important reference document for all those who are working towards
the establishment of biologically relevant exposure standards.

Don Maisch PhD

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1335
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*UK admits using DU ammunition in Iraq*

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135896sectionid=351020201

Fri, 23 Jul 2010

UK defense secretary says American and British forces used depleted
uranium (DU) ammunitions during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"UK forces used about 1.9 metric tons of depleted uranium ammunition
in the Iraq war in 2003," UK Defense Secretary Liam Fox said in a
written reply to the House of Commons on Thursday, the Kuwait News
Agency reported.

The announcement came after a joint study by the environment, health
and science ministries in Iraq said there were communities near the
cities of Najaf, Basra and Fallujah with increased rates of cancer and
birth defects over the past five years.

More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels of
radiation and dioxins.

Fox said the Ministry of Defense provided the coordinates of targets
attacked using DU ammunition to the UN Environmental Program.

"They also exchanged information with humanitarian and other
organizations; and warned Iraqis through signs and leaflets that they
should not go near or touch any debris they find on the former
battlefield," he claimed.

The use of depleted uranium ammunition is widely controversial because
of potential long-term health effects.

It is reported that the US and Britain used up to 2,000 tons of these
ammunitions during the Iraq war.

The World Health Organization is now investigating the rising number
of birth defects, which Iraqi doctors attribute to the use of chemical
weapons and depleted uranium ammunition during the war.

Iraqi doctors say they' have been struggling to cope with the rise in
the number of cancer cases, especially in cities subjected to heavy
US and British bombardment.

Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights is expected to file a lawsuit against
Britain and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq.

The ministry will seek compensation for the victims of these weapons.

AND:

Iraq to sue US, Britain over depleted uranium bombs
Mon, 01 Feb 2010

LInK: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117557

A child born with defects attributable to exposure to depleted uranium
(see archive photo on link)

Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against Britain
and the US over their use of depleted uranium bombs in Iraq, an Iraqi
minister says.

Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah
newspaper that the lawsuit will be launched based on reports from the
Iraqi ministries of science and the environment.

According to the reports, during the first year of the US and British
invasion of Iraq, both countries had repeatedly used bombs containing
depleted uranium.

According to Iraqi military experts, the US and Britain bombed the
country with nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs during the
early years of the Iraq war.

Atomic radiation has increased the number of babies born with defects
in the southern provinces of Iraq.

Iraqi doctors say they' have been struggling to cope with the rise in
the number of cancer cases —especially in cities subjected to heavy
U-S and British bombardment.

The high rate of birth defects and cancer cases will move in the
coming years to the central and northern provinces of Iraq since the
radiation may penetrate the soil and water by air.

The ministry will seek compensation for the victims of these bombs.
END

*See Part II for the Health Council of The Netherlands take on the
hazards of depleted uranium.*

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1336
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1288: Depleted Uranium litigation and The Health Council of the Netherlands (Part II)

In 2002 the Health Council of the Netherlands, that so-called group of
independent experts who can be relied upon to give their mark of
safety to any toxic product they are asked to rule on, gave the
all-clear for the use of depleted uranium. Below are a few excerpts
from the 2002 HCN report “Depleted Uranium Report from the Health
Council of the Netherlands”, by W F Passchier and J W N Tuyn,
Journal of Radiological Protection, Volume 22, Number 1, March 2002.
Note that Passchier is Chairman and scientific secretary of the
Committee on Depleted Uranium of the Health Council of the
Netherlands. Link: http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/22/1/603

“For relevant exposure scenarios the Committee does not anticipate
that exposure to DU will result in a demonstrable increased risk of
diseases and symptoms among exposed individuals as a result of a
radiological or chemical toxic effect exerted by this substance.”

SNIP

“The radiation dose caused by incidental exposure to DU in the
exposure scenarios considered is limited compared with the radiation
dose received during a lifetime of exposure to natural uranium. As at
the common levels of exposure to natural uranium a contribution to the
induction of cancer in the population cannot be demonstrated, the
Committee concludes that the same is true for exposure to DU. This
general conclusion is also valid for the appearance of lung cancer and
for the appearance of leukaemia after the inhalation of dust
containing slightly soluble uranium compounds.”

SNIP

“Although the risks associated with exposure to DU for the exposure
scenarios considered appear to be very limited,….”

SNIP

“The answers to the foregoing questions are not only of importance
for experts and authorities but also for the population in the
vicinity of the place where DU has been liberated and for persons who
for occupational reasons have to stay there. Open communication can
prevent unnecessary anxiety. For this the Committee refers to another
recently published advisory report of the Health Council `Local
environmental health concerns'.”

SNIP

So, to sum it up, in the HCR’s imaginary world, environmental
concerns that communities may have, be it over depleted uranium, toxic
chemicals, mobile phones, etc., etc. – you name it, - basically boil
down to a simple problem of needing to provide the proper
communication to comfort ignorant communities so as to avoid
unnecessary anxiety.

This is Orwellian industrial risk management speak that can be traced
back to “the sound science movement” that was created by Tassc,
the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition for Philip Morris (Big
Tobacco). This, in turn, can be linked to the risk assessment and
management practices used by both ICNIRP and the WHO International EMF
project, both established by Michael Repacholi. (See The Procrustean
Approach-Chapter 1) All the roads lead to tobacco science and spin if
one takes the time to dig up the shit - and there’s plenty of that
at the Health Council of the Netherlands.

*There is a good case for Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights to expand
his government's lawsuit (last message) to include the HCN for giving
deceptive advice in 2002 that sanctioned the continuing use of DU in
Iraq.*

Don

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1337
*********************************************
The Health Council of the Netherlands, which is an independent scientific advisory body established in 1902 `to advise the government and Parliament on the current level of knowledge with respect to public health issues', has recently published an overview report on depleted uranium. The title of the report is `Health risks of exposure to depleted uranium' and it is freely available in both English and the original Dutch language. A brief summary of the report that was published on 16 May 2001 is presented here.

The use of ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans has provoked disquiet in Europe. In the Netherlands, concern over the release of this material had already been aroused previously following the crash of the El-Al airliner in the Bijlmermeer district of Amsterdam in 1992. It was against this background that the President of the Health Council decided to set up a Committee charged with the task of reviewing the health risks of exposure to DU and the preventive measures required for individuals present in areas where DU has been released into the environment. After reviewing the properties of uranium in general and depleted uranium in particular, and presenting data on the occurrence of the element in the environment and biological tissues, the committee assessed the chemical and radiological health effect of uranium and uranium compounds.

The Health Council Committee concludes that radioactive contamination of the lungs is the principal health risk to be considered in connection with exposure to slightly soluble uranium compounds in the atmosphere. For soluble compounds, the chemical toxic effect in the kidneys is the primary consideration. The toxicological effects are to some extent concordant with those of other heavy metals.

For relevant exposure scenarios the Committee does not anticipate that exposure to DU will result in a demonstrable increased risk of diseases and symptoms among exposed individuals as a result of a radiological or chemical toxic effect exerted by this substance.

Cancer

In view of the fact that DU emits ionising radiation in the form of alpha particles, the induction of cancer, in principle, needs to be taken into account in relation to individuals exhibiting internal contamination with DU. In case of inhalation of slightly soluble DU compounds, attention will in particular need to be focused on the lungs.

The radiation dose caused by incidental exposure to DU in the exposure scenarios considered is limited compared with the radiation dose received during a lifetime of exposure to natural uranium. As at the common levels of exposure to natural uranium a contribution to the induction of cancer in the population cannot be demonstrated, the Committee concludes that the same is true for exposure to DU. This general conclusion is also valid for the appearance of lung cancer and for the appearance of leukaemia after the inhalation of dust containing slightly soluble uranium compounds.

Renal damage

For soluble compounds, the risk posed by exposure to DU is principally of a chemical toxic nature. In the case of increasing exposure, abnormalities will first of all appear in the kidneys. Exposure to small amounts (milligrams) of uranium over short periods will therefore result in changes in the kidneys, which lead to acute, usually reversible, renal impairment. No such dose-dependency has been observed, however, in the frequency of chronic renal disorders among population groups who are chronically exposed to enhanced quantities of natural uranium. Nor have studies involving workers in the uranium industry and ex-military personnel (including the group with shrapnel in the body) to date produced any evidence that uranium can cause renal impairment. Thus the present body of scientific data tends to suggest an absence of irreparable renal damage as a result of the intake of DU in the exposure scenarios considered.

Prevention

Although the risks associated with exposure to DU for the exposure scenarios considered appear to be very limited, the fundamental principle adopted in the fields of industrial and environmental hygiene dictates that unnecessary exposure to a hazardous substance must be avoided and unavoidable exposure be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).

As far as possible exposure to DU in contaminated areas is concerned (for example in the vicinity of a fire in which DU has been released or in an area where military actions involving the use of DU ammunition have occurred), the Committee considers the strategy for protection laid down in the rules and regulations governing radiation protection to be adequate, both as regards limiting radiological and chemical toxic risks. This means that the first priority is to determine the nature and the extent of the contamination. Has contamination actually occurred? After that, questions should be raised like: If so, how extensive is it and which compounds are involved? Are there fragments of DU in the area? Is there a possibility that windblown DU compounds could be inhaled? And so on. Based on the answers to these questions, one can determine whether it is necessary to impose limitations on access to, and use of, the contaminated area, and whether or not individuals who need to enter the area in a professional capacity (relief workers, for example) should be regarded as radiological workers. This will presumably only be necessary in exceptional cases.

The answers to the foregoing questions are not only of importance for experts and authorities but also for the population in the vicinity of the place where DU has been liberated and for persons who for occupational reasons have to stay there. Open communication can prevent unnecessary anxiety. For this the Committee refers to another recently published advisory report of the Health Council `Local environmental health concerns'.

`Health risks of exposure to depleted uranium' (The Hague: Health Council of the Netherlands, 2001), publication no 2001/13, can be ordered from the Health Council's secretariat, preferably by fax (+31 70 3407523) or e-mail order@gr.nl or it can be ordered or downloaded from the Health Council's website www.gr.nl where reports are listed in order of publication.
DatesIssue 1 (March 2002)

Source: http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/22/1/603
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1289: Book review: The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember

The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and
Remember
by Nicholas Carr. RRP: £16.99, Publisher: ATLANTIC BOOKS

Publication Date : September 1, 2010

Hardback

Excerpts the Guardian article on Carr's thesis from guardian.co.uk
home
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/15/internet-brain-neuroscience-debate

The internet: is it changing the way we think? Are our minds being
altered due to our increasing reliance on search engines, social
networking sites and other digital technologies?

American writer Nicholas Carr's claim that the internet is not only
shaping our lives but physically altering our brains has sparked a
lively and ongoing debate, says John Naughton. Below, a selection of
writers and experts offer their opinion

"Over the past few years," Carr wrote, "I've had an uncomfortable
sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain,
remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind
isn't going – so far as I can tell – but it's changing. I'm not
thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I'm
reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be
easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the
argument and I'd spend hours strolling through long stretches of
prose. That's rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often
starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the
thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I'm
always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading
that used to come naturally has become a struggle."

The title of the essay is misleading, because Carr's target was not
really the world's leading search engine, but the impact that
ubiquitous, always-on networking is having on our cognitive processes.
His argument was that our deepening dependence on networking
technology is indeed changing not only the way we think, but also the
structure of our brains.

Carr's article touched a nerve and has provoked a lively, ongoing
debate on the net and in print (he has now expanded it into a book,
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains). This is
partly because he's an engaging writer who has vividly articulated the
unease that many adults feel about the way their modi operandi have
changed in response to ubiquitous networking. Who bothers to write
down or memorise detailed information any more, for example, when they
know that Google will always retrieve it if it's needed again? The web
has become, in a way, a global prosthesis for our collective memory.
SNIP

Full article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/15/internet-brain-neuroscience-debate

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1339
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1290: Book review- Going Somewhere by Andrew Marino Ph.D.

From Cassandria Publishing

Link: http://www.cassandrapublishing.net/goingsomewhere.html

Going Somewhere is a dynamic autobiographical narrative about
biophysicist Andrew Marino’s career in science since the 1960s. The
book explores—with a depth and drama that arise from personal
involvement—an exceptionally wide range of science-related matters:
the function of electricity in living things; the influence of
corporate and military power on science; the operation of the NIH,
FDA, and other state and federal agencies dealing with human health;
the problem of scientific “experts” in legal settings; the
distorting influence of the physics model of science on biology; the
role of chaos theory in experimental biology; and crucial public
misconceptions about how science functions. These matters arise in the
long course of Marino’s scientific and legal activities in the
complex 35-year debate over the health risks of EMFs.
Publication Date: September 2010

This dramatic story of science for sale is told unassumingly, from an
intimate, personal viewpoint, replete with courtroom
cross-examinations, mordant observations about individuals, and dream
fantasies. Marino is engaged in a personal quest, and he reveals his
thoughts in a way few scientists have dared. He is indeed a seeker of
the truth, about electromagnetic fields but also about his own life.
His story is both disturbing and uplifting.

Reviews:

The authors, well known for their work on regeneration, develop the
hypothesis that intrinsic EMFs control biological functions, while
natural EMFs convey information to living organisms. Particle fields,
meanwhile, act as stressors — stimuli that elicit a common
physiological, adaptive response. In this well-referenced book, Becker
and Marino contend that “the present abnormal electromagnetic
environment can constitute a health risk.”
Professor Brian Martin

People whose lives have been touched by cancer or other medical
calamities donate generously to the agencies which promise a
“cure.” Yet the agencies often care more about maintaining their
own life-style and the polluting military-industrial complex which
funds it, than they do about finding “cures.” Going Somewhere
uncovers the insanity of this system designed to hide the truth and
reward the polluter rather than the scientist trying to improve the
public health. Every young researcher will have to decide between
truth and “easy street,” and this is a must-read to warn them
about the difficult choices ahead.
Rosalie Bertell, Physicians for Humanitarian Medicine

In this thought-provoking book, Marino recounts his extraordinary
journey through the realm of health risks associated with
electromagnetic fields (EMFs), his quest for knowledge and truth, and
his battle for justice. It is a thoughtful, fascinating book which
contains the wisdom of an accomplished investigator, a true Doctor of
Philosophy who has been able to stand back, to question the
established order, and to be tenacious in his quest. I highly
recommend it to anyone interested in the effects of electromagnetic
fields on living beings, especially to the truth-seekers, to those
interested in the functioning of modern science, in environmental
science and in its legal aspects.
Stephenie Egot-Lemarre, Bioengeneer

For the readers coming on this scientific niche for the first time,
the stories are fresh and compelling, and like me they will be unable
to stop reading. The book follows the genre established by Rachel
Carson and others, and is more than a worthy successor, written in an
attractive style and reflecting a clear knowledge of the classics
whose early paradigms tell us there is nothing new in human society.
(I particularly loved Marino’s visit to Hades to question some of
the departed biophysics fraternity.)
Roger Coghill, Scientist

Link: http://www.cassandrapublishing.net/GSreviews.html

http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/?p=1340
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