What a joy to set out on family vacations! The sweet memories of summer adventures are often the most cherished moments of our lives.
While traveling has its inherent stressors, there is also an invisible hazard that is more prominent while in transit. The numerous adverse health effects of the microwave radiation emitted by all wireless devices are unfortunately amplified in vehicles. The steel chassis causes the radiation to bounce around – creating a similar effect as inside a microwave oven. More than 30 years of research, producing 20,000+ peer-reviewed studies, point to a wide array of health problems that can fortunately be prevented.
For our children and grandchildren, summer can be an opportunity for their little bodies and brains to recover from the intense radiation exposures of industrial-strength Wi-Fi in schools and countless hours of wireless exposure from remote learning. Children are more vulnerable to this radiation, as their developing bodies and brains absorb far more radiation than adults due to their thinner skulls, immature nervous and reproductive systems, and their high number of stem cells, which are rapidly dividing and more sensitive to all toxins. They will also have a greater cumulative exposure to this radiation in their lifetime, unless living and learning in low-EMF environments. Yet hours of car travel – bent over their favorite devices – can be a set-up for the rapid onset of symptoms like irritability, attention and behavior challenges, headaches, poor sleep, and more.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended these tips below for reducing radiation exposures from cell phones. This guidance is for both children and adults alike.
• Do not use the phone up to your head. Use speaker mode to limit radiation to the brain.
• Avoid carrying the phone against your body, like in a pocket, sock, or bra.
• Make only short or essential calls on cell phones.
• If you plan to watch a movie on your device, download it first, then switch to “airplane mode” while you watch, in order to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure.
• Keep an eye on the signal strength (ie: how many bars you have). The weaker the signal, the harder your phone has to work and the more radiation it gives off.
• Avoid making calls in cars, elevators, trains, and buses. The cell phone works harder (and emits more radiation) to get a signal through metal.
• Remember that cell phones are not toys or teething items. ~ from AAP’s HealthyChildren.org
Why the Worry? “Clear evidence of carcinogenesis” and DNA damage, found by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in its gold-standard, $30 million animal study of cell phone radiation, is what prompted the American Academy of Pediatrics to publish the guidelines above. NTP (part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health) released their initial findings in 2016, and then held a peer review process in 2018, which included the world’s top EMF scientists, who were vetted to assure no conflicts of interests.
The WHO’s International Agency of Research on Cancer classified cell phone radiation as a “possible carcinogen” in 2011, while encouraging more research on animals to confirm human studies that found cancer. In 2018, the world-renowned Ramazzini Institute in Italy found equally serious cancer risks as NTP, yet at much lower exposures in the “far field”- such as the exposure by cell towers and now 5G antennas.
While our own U.S. government has been slow to set meaningful safety standards for wireless devices, we can fortunately heed the collective caution that has been issued from many wireless-wise countries around the world, including France, Israel, Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, and Russia. Below is just a sampling of some of the other serious health effects, as found in more than 20,000 peer-reviewed studies:
• Oxidative stress and the creation of free radicals, increasing our risk of acute infections (including Covid 19), chronic pain, and also advancing the aging process
• Impaired fertility, both in men and woman
• Insomnia, anxiety, depression, attention and memory challenges
• Autism Spectrum Disorder, which improves dramatically in low-EMF environments
• Neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, and Parkinson’s disease
Here are some Reliable Resources to Learn More:
• Physicians for Safe Technology: MDSafeTech.org Research, education
• Environmental Health Trust: EHTrust.org Education, research, policies, free resources
• Baby Safe Project.org Advice for pregnant women and those seeking conception
• BioInititive.org Compilation of more than 4,000 studies from 29 scientists worldwide
• Building Biology Institute.org: environmental education, safely standards, go to Resources for free podcasts, handouts
• SaferEMR.com News and policy analysis on EMFs; based at U.C. Berkeley Screen Strong, provider of podcasts and resources to reduce kids’ screen time
Below are three basic principles for lowering your exposure:
1. Increase distance (keeping the phone off your body and using a corded headset)
2. Decrease the duration of exposures (ie: turning off Wi-Fi and other devices at night)
3. Reduce power density– or intensity of the radiation exposure. Turning off your cell phone’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and GPS or locator services are easy ways to do this.
Since using our devices less frequently takes more advance planning than the convenience of frequent downloads, here are some ideas to ease the transition:
• Purchase a corded head set for your phone. “Ear buds” or “air pods” create distance from your phone, but still emit extreme amounts of radiation. Reputable brands include headsets from ElectraHealth.com or ShieldYourBody.com
• For an iPhone, these headsets require an adapter: the “Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter” only from Apple.com
• Use a shielded cell phone case to reduce the radiation. Check out ShieldYourBody.com
• Download any desired audio books, podcasts, and movies in advance.
• Try hard-wiring an iPhone or iPad for any downloads, using an adapter such as Ethernet Wired Dongle from TechWellness.com
• For children’s screen time, consider a simple portable, rechargeable DVD player.
• Instead of streaming data (which massively increases radiation levels), borrow movies and audio books from the local library. • Pack a battery-powered alarm clock to use instead of a cell phone at bedside. Sleep is our most important time to recover from the radiation exposures of the day. Casio and Braun both make small alarm clocks with dim lighting and no audible tick.
• Ask for overnight accommodations that are away from a modem, Wi-Fi router, and cell towers. AntennaSearch.com lists many of the registered cell towers in the U.S.
While in a car or plane:
• Keep your devices on Airplane mode; allows phone calls to go to voicemail.
• Step out of the car to make cell phone calls and text; rest areas are ideal for tech stops
• Disable the car’s Blue Tooth by going to Settings on most dashboards. This may also reduce the symptom of “brain fog” from wireless radiation, and make driving a safer experience.
Calming, Creative Alternatives: Our long travel days can be an outstanding opportunity to begin or complete crafts and handwork projects, like crocheting, knitting, and embroidery. These traditional “right brain” activities can calm the nervous system and enhance our brain development. Limiting screen time may frustrate kids at first. Yet they adjust to new routines if they see their parents also practicing their creativity.
• Consider creating a family wish list of desired craft or handwork projects. Shop for needed supplies before departure.
• Sing aloud together, sharing with each other your favorite albums on CD.
• Listen together to an audio book that you have downloaded in advance.
• Gather up some car games, like magnetic checkers.
• Doodle! Zentangle is an easy-to learn way of doodling with simple patterns for relaxation. TanglePatterns.com has a downloadable beginners’ guide.
Once You Arrive, Connect Barefoot with Mother Earth! Have you even noticed all the happy faces while walking barefoot on the beach or at a waterfall? Touching earth with bare feet in water is the ideal environment for “grounding” – connecting to the earth for its calming and healing properties. (The earth has a negative electric charge exactly the opposite of our positive electric charge – about 7.83 hertz or cycles per second). In addition, the negative ions in the air beside natural bodies of water have been showed to improve our respiratory function and reduce symptoms of stress.
Enjoy your getaways this summer! Even if you pick just one of these ideas, know that every reduction in radiation exposure is worthwhile. Fortunately, we can control much of this exposure in our own homes and vehicles. And while we do so, we safeguard our family’s health – our most precious resource.
Click on Tech Safe Summer Travels to download a PDF version of these tips for low-EMF travel. Feel free to print it and share!
Mary Anne Tierney, RN, MPH, an Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist, is certified by the Building Biology Institute and founder of Blue Ridge EMF Solutions, LLC. She is also founder of the grassroots organization SafeTech KidsNC.org. You can reach Mary Anne at BlueRidgeEMFSolutions.com
Selected References:
Autism: Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a pathophysiological link – Part I; Herbert, M., Sage, C., Pathophysiology; Volume 20, Issue 3, June 2013, Pages 191-209 sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0928468013000370
Cancer: National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Radiation Studies, National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, 2018. https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/topics/cellphones/index.html
Cancer: Ramazzini Institute’s study: L. Falcioni, L. Bua, E. Tibaldi, Belpoggi, F., et al (2018). Report of final results regarding brain and heart tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats exposed from prenatal life until natural death to mobile phone radiofrequency field representative of a 1.8 GHz GSM base station environmental emission, Environmental Research, Volume 165, 2018, Pages 496-503, ISSN 0013-9351, doi:10.1016/j.envres. 2018.01.037.
Children’s Radiation Absorption: Gandhi, O., Morgan, L., Davis. D. et al; (2012) Exposure Limits: The underestimation of absorbed cell phone radiation, especially in children, Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 31:1, 34-51, DOI: 10.3109/15368378.2011.622827
Depression: Pall, M., Microwave frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produce widespread neuropsychiatric effects including depression, Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy 75 (2016) 43–51.
Hyperactivity: Aldad, T., Gan, G., Gao, X.B., Taylor, H. (2012). Fetal Radiofrequency Exposure from 800-1900 Mhz-Rated Cellular Telephones Affects Neurodevelopment and Behavior in Mice.
Oxidative Stress/ Immune Effects: Yakymenko, I., et al, Oxidative mechanisms of biological activity of low-intensity radiofrequency radiation; Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 2016, Vol 35, No. 2, 186-202 http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/15368378.2015.1043557
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