Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS)
- By Jeromy Johnson
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) is a condition that has been known about since 1932 and has been called various names in different countries around the world (particularly in Europe, Canada and the former Soviet Union). The labels include Microwave Sickness, Radio Wave Syndrome, EMF Intolerance Syndrome and Rapid Aging Syndrome. Whatever you call it, the condition is real and has been known to exist for over 80 years. This new book is an excellent primer on EHS. Some historians believe that Nikola Tesla was also EHS. This would mean that the grandfather of electrical engineering was likely the first person ever to experience EHS.
Approximately 3% – 5% of people are moderately affected , with another 20-25% of people being slightly affected. Less than 1% of the population is severely affected, but the numbers are rapidly increasing with the exponential rise in EMF pollution in our homes and communities. Even if you do not feel the effects of EMF pollution, your biology is still being damaged by this invisible pollution. Thus, all humans are electro-sensitive to a degree. People with EHS are in some ways lucky because their bodies are telling them to get away from a potent source of man-made environmental pollution.
The most famous person who is EHS is Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland , the former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is widely thought that she was forced out of the WHO in 2003 because she admitted in a press interview that cell phones within a few meters would give her a headache. This revelation was not aligned with the economic interests that govern the World Health Organization. She has been silent about the EHS issue for over a decade, until this statement was made recently stating that she is still cautious with cell phones and other sources of microwave radiation. She also recently made this statement regarding EHS in a speech at the University of Waterloo in Canada (the home of the BlackBerry smartphone).
EHS symptoms are headaches (tension along the sides of the head), heart palpitations/pressure in the chest, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), fatigue, skin rashes (particularly on the face), memory & concentration difficulties, irritability and sleep disturbance. Approximately 300,000 people in Sweden (a country that officially acknowledges EHS as a functional impairment) are affected. Millions of people throughout the world are likely affected, yet most do not realize that microwave radiation and electrical pollution are the cause of their symptoms.
EHS is analogous to an allergy and once the body becomes sensitized to sources of EMF pollution, the only known treatment is to significantly reduce exposure. This can have a dramatic impact on one’s life, with some electro-sensitive people giving up their career, their home, social networks and sometimes even their family because it is difficult to live in our modern environment that is now filled with electrical pollution and microwave radiation. These people are EMF Refugees. There have been many suicides around the world related to severe cases of EHS. Thus, the condition can have devastating effects on individuals and families.
While much of the press and even some physicians still keep their heads in the sand with regard to EHS, the evidence of its existence is too strong to deny. Both anecdotal and science-based evidence, as you can see below, makes such denial an increasingly untenable position. It may take some time for it too fully sink in (just like it took generations of doctors to believe in “invisible” germs), but society is beginning to realize that microwave radiation from wireless communication technology and electrical pollution is in the same category as tobacco, asbestos, pesticides, chemicals like BPA, fracking and GMO’s . Tens of millions of people will be affected unless society begins to listen to these canaries in the coal mine and begins to implement solutions
As you do your own research on this topic, you will see that many mainstream sources of information (such as Wikipedia or The New Yorker ) label this condition as psychosomatic and quote outdated or flawed studies. Others go so far as to state that the only way this condition can be helped is through Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) or other psychiatric methods. Mental illness is a convenient scapegoat that has been used for centuries when powerful economic interests face an uncomfortable inconvenient truth that threatens their businesses. It is being used yet again for a condition that is real. It may benefit the reader to remember that homosexuality and even peptic ulcers were once thought to be mental disorders. This may still be the case if you live in certain areas of the world.
We are at the very beginning of understanding EHS and most of the recent science shows that EMF pollution affects our biology . To dismissively label this condition a mental illness is both arrogant and lazy. Such a stance does nothing to advance medicine and science. It only benefits the hugely profitable industries that rely on the proliferation of wireless technology and electrical pollution such as telecommunications, utilities, technology, military, media conglomerates, finance and pension systems. With our very economic, military and political foundations now reliant on this technology, it is easy to see why there is such a concerted effort to discredit EHS as a bonafide medical condition.
If you research this subject with an open mind and search for the truth, you will find that this condition is a real and growing issue for our society.
Evidence for EHS:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21793784
http://media.withtank.com/c05550c3be/ehs-genuis.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241215/
https://maisonsaine.ca/sante-et-securite/electrosmog/ehs-royfo.html
http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/cordless-heart/
http://media.withtank.com/71ada80e9b/aschermann_electrosensitivity_final_20111.pdf
http://citizensforsafetechnology.org/uploads/scribd/Genuis%202.pdf
http://www.weepinitiative.org/LINKEDDOCS/scientific/20080117_bevington_emfs.pdf
http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/ehs.php
http://www.mcs-america.org/july2012.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22153604
http://www.emractionday.org/science
http://www.emfwise.com/awareness.php
http://www.norad4u.com/ehs
http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/health/micro_sickness.asp
http://www.es-uk.info/
For dozens of press stories about EHS – click here
