'Eleven hard-to-reach chief execs & dangers to children of long-term exposure to EMR' Interconnections Appeal phase 3 report

'No CEO has suggested they would be happy to see a pregnant woman in their family working long hours over a wi-fi laptop.

'No CEO has told me they would be happy to see an infant in their own family playing with, and being irradiated by, an iPad.'

Introduction

This appeal, begun in February 2014, arose out of international concern about the ill-effects to children of long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR). This radiation comes from mobile phones and their masts, smart phones, wi-fi laptops and other wi-fi gadgets, iPads, cordless (DECT) phones, wi-fi baby alarms, etc. New gadgets are invented by the hour and children are exposed from babyhood – a pregnant office worker will be subjecting the foetus to radiation from her laptop and then the infant can be given an iPad in the nursery.

This early and long-term irradiation of children has never been tested for its safety. Yet, we carry on regardless because adults and children like the gadgets and they are useful at home and at work. The Interconnections Appeal is not about returning to pre-mobile phone days but regulating how much radiation the gadgets give out and limiting children's use of them. Every other industry is forced to operate within safe limits but not yet the telecommunications industry.

While the industry spends untold millions advertising its wares to children and adults, there is as yet no agency working on the side of children to support, educate and protect them. The Interconnections Appeal asks the named CEOs of 20 children's organisations in England to get up to date on the international concern and research, become first champions for children and then act as strong advocates to the government for new and appropriate legislation.

Surely the telecommunications industry acts responsibly?

Believing this would be a naïve and unjustified act of faith. There is a long tradition of industries causing damage to people and environments until reined in by government. In my previous Appeal reports I have referred to the tobacco industry (cancer), paint manufacturers (lead poisoning) and vehicle manufacturers (carbon monoxide). We have weed killers killing the bees we need to pollinate our crops[1]. We have waste from operating and then decommissioning atomic power stations that will be radioactive for hundreds or thousands of years – lethal waste that we still do not know how to neutralise or store.

You can probably add to this list yourself. The repeating pattern is of a new industry pushing as hard as it can to sell it products and generate maximum profits while information about its dangers gradually come to light. Eventually, the government comes under pressure from science and public opinion to legislate to make the industry safe. Governments who are benefitting from huge revenue from any polluting industry are likely to be slower to act.

The telecommunications industry in the UK is enjoying a free ride at the moment with no government agency or NGO (non-governmental organisation) fighting for children's rights for protection from this electromagnetic radiation. None of the children's charities or campaigns that I know of has raised it as an issue despite over-whelming international concern and research about the harm it can do.

This is why the Interconnections Appeal asks CEOs of 20 major children's organisation in England to take up the challenge. Once they are properly informed of the dangers to foetuses, children and teenagers they can become a very strong collective force to educate, support and protect children and to influence the government to produce pro-child legislation.

So, who does take these dangers seriously?

Here are a few international examples that came to me as I was writing this report. They are a small sample of an ever-growing body of evidence, concern and action:

1. A short video[2] of an Australian news programme features Dr Magda Havas[3] who is an international authority on the dangers of electromagnetic radiation. The news item reports that France has legislated to discourage wi-fi in schools and Germany, Austria and Israel governments recommend replacing classroom wi-fi with cable connections.

2. School reform bill passed by the French National Assembly on 19 March 2013:

'This public service [based on educational information technologies] should be implemented in educational institutions using an infrastructure favoring the use of wired networks. Indeed the precautionary principle must guide states and provinces to protect children, especially the younger ones, from the influence of microwaves.'[4]

3. Groundbreaking electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome (EHS) Judgment in Australia:

Australian court has determined that Comcare is to pay compensation for an injury suffered by Dr David McDonald as a result of exposure to electromagnetic fields at work. This is a legal acknowledgement of EHS in Australia.[5]

4. Federal Court of Justice of Germany (BGH) has ruled that apartment owners of a condominium association must not enforce the installation of cell phone antennas on their rooftop against the will of individual apartment owners. Due to the controversy over possible health effects from cell phone antennas, there is 'at least the serious possibility of a reduction in the rental or sales value of the condominiums,' the explanation said.[6]

5. News from Flanders Today in Ghent:

As part of a new policy plan for local schools, Ghent's alderwoman of education and youth has banned wireless internet from spaces that cater to children between 0 and three years of age – essentially, pre-schools and day care facilities. Network cables can still be used in those facilities. 'In schools where they work with tablet computers, wi-fi can remain in place,' alderwoman Elke Decruynaere explained to Het Laatste Nieuws. 'We want all children to have access to internet at school, but we also want to be careful. A report has demonstrated that we need to cautious with exposure of young children to radiation through wireless internet.'[7]

CEOs who decide to learn about international concern and research will find many more examples like this. Though such actions are still a very small counter to the tidal wave of technology, they demonstrate that there are not only issues of health but also issues of compensation and insurance cover.

With this in mind, I urge the 20 CEOs targeted in this Appeal to go now to the following two sources of information in the expectation that they will then be inspired to commit staff time to a comprehensive exploration. (I have already offered a list of research papers in my original open letter[8] and I have already informed CEOs about the book, An Electronic Silent Spring[9], which offers many more references.)

Firstly, the BabySafe Project[10], 'Bringing physicians, scientists and educators together to help inform women about the risk that wireless radiation poses to pregnancy and to urge expectant mothers to limit their exposures.'

Secondly, the updated Bioinitiative Report Summary.[11]

The information about the dangers to children is out there for anyone who wants to find it, just as it was for asbestos, tobacco, sunbeds, etc. long before the government came under pressure to legislate.

The third appeal letter to 20 CEOs

This went out in mid-June and it made three main points:

1. It asked any CEO who had surveyed their workplace(s) with a monitor to tell me how they had got on.

2. It addressed the shortage of resources in most of the 20 children's organisations by suggesting they either create a joint fund to pay someone to survey the international concern and research or allocate senior staff members to a cross-agency group to take on the task.

3. It asked CEOs to let me know the result if they had referred these electromagnetic radiation concerns to their insurance people.

The letter template can be found in the appendix to this report.

Responses since the Interconnections Appeal began

No CEO has tried to assure me they feel the radiation is safe.
No CEO has suggested they would be happy to see a pregnant woman in their family working long hours over a wi-fi laptop.
No CEO has told me they would be happy to see an infant in their own family playing with, and being irradiated by, an iPad.

I have asked 20 named CEOs to allocate staff time to survey the international concern and research and I have suggested a shared effort to reduce costs. Positive responses have come from:

Mencap's CEO - 'This is an important subject and one that is high on our agenda....'

Shine Charity's CEO – 'Thank you for this briefing on the various potential dangers of ELF RF etc. I found this a very helpful wake up call....'

WellChild's CEO is constrained by limited resources but says 'I wish you well with your campaign and would ask that you please keep me updated.'

Sense's CEO has not responded herself but a member of staff wrote, 'We take on board the concerns you raise within your letter and thank you.' However, their stance is not to change policies until, 'the definitive health risks have been established.'

There is a range of attitudes here but I take them as indications of open minds and of doors kept open for further dialogue.

I have urged CEOs to buy or rent an electromagnetic radiation monitor[12] to survey the radiation in their workplace(s) and in the settings they provide for children. Knowing about EMR levels enables CEOs to apply the precautionary principle to protect pregnant women and children from the most irradiated places.

No CEO has indicated to me that they have used or intend to use this approach.

I have asked CEO to let me know what sort of response they had if they referred these concerns to their insurance people.

No CEO has come back to me yet on this.

Four organisations have reported to me that they comply with government guidelines and legislation on health and safety. Below are quotes from their messages to me and relevant quotes from their websites.

The Children's Society's CEO wrote,

'We are guided by information about the health and safety of any workplace equipment from the Health and Safety Executive and use this to formulate our policies and procedures....'

From their website: 'We transform children's lives by pressurising central and local government to protect them, and we challenge attitudes that perpetuate harm and injustice.'[13]

Young Epilepsy's CEO has not responded herself but a member of staff wrote,

'We have reviewed in detail the electromagnetic radiation issue and are complying with the position taken by the NHS and HSE....'

From their website: 'Mission: To enable children and young people with epilepsy and associated conditions to develop their full potential through: [4th item listed] influencing policy and thought.'[14]

Action for Children's CEO has backed a message sent to me by a member of staff who wrote,

'...until government advice changes we are not in a position to commit the resources into contributing to research in this area'.

From their website: 'Previously known as...NCH, we have always been active in promoting the issues that young people and children face to policy and decision makers.'[15]

A member of staff from Sense states,

'Sense's stance on any Health and Safety issue is guided by recommendations given by WHO and HSE....'

From their website: 'We campaign for the rights of deafblind people. We work to influence public policy to ensure it meets the needs of deafblind people.'[16]

(Of course, as Sense well knows, deafblind children, teenagers and adults are as vulnerable to EMR as anyone else. They have enough challenges in their lives without adding this toxin.)

I had anticipated this response in my 'NCB & England's children's organisations – editor's open letter to you about protecting children from microwave radiation'[17] In that open letter I speculated on the current stance of children's organisations about dangers to children from electromagnetic radiation and gave as the first possibility:

'You have no concerns and are content to accept assurances from the industry and government that there are no potential dangers to health and wellbeing. If you have been established for some years, this conservative stance now might indicate that you also were happy to follow the official line on dismissing concern about smoking, asbestos, carbon monoxide, etc.'

Given that I am asking CEOs to lead rather than follow the government and to apply pressure on the government to safeguard children with new and appropriate guidance and legislation, responding to the Interconnections Appeal with this sort of easy and bland reassurance seems to me to be wilfully avoiding the point. Ostriches and sand come to mind.

Responses from individual CEOs and the eleven who are proving hard-to-reach

Despite my original open letter[18], three e-mail messages directed to named CEOs, Appeal report phase 1[19] and Appeal report phase 2[20] posted on teamaroundthechild.com, there are still eleven CEOs who have not so far made a direct response to me or even acknowledged my messages. The responses are listed below in groups with name of CEO in brackets:

Direct responses from CEO

Action for Children (Tony Hawkhead)
Children's Society (Matthew Read)
CLIC Sargent (Lorraine Clifton)
Fragile X Society (Tim Potter) *See list in the third group below.
Mencap (Jan Tregelles)
Shine UK (Jackie Bland)
WellChild (Colin Dyer)

Responses from someone other than CEO

Barnardos (Javed Khan)
Contact a Family (Amanda Batten)
Guide Dogs / NBCS (Richard Leaman)
NDCS (Susan Daniels)
NSPCC (Peter Wanless)
Sense (Gillian Morby)
Young Epilepsy (Lisa Farmer)
Young Minds (Sarah Brennan)

Requests for no further involvement

*Fragile X Society (Direct contact from Tim Potter)
Scope (Richard Hawkes). The request came from people other than Richard and I have had no direct response from him.

Organisations that have not responded to date in any way

Down's Syndrome Association (Carol Boys)
Kids (Caroline Stevens)
NAS (Mark Lever)
NCB (Hilary Emery)

The eleven hard-to-reach CEOs who have not yet responded directly to me are listed below. I have excluded from the list the new-in-post CEOs at Contact a Family and Barnardos as they were not in post when the Appeal was launched in February.

Down's Syndrome Association (Carol Boys)
Guide Dogs / NBCS (Richard Leaman)
Kids (Caroline Stevens)
NAS (Mark Lever)
NCB (Hilary Emery)
NDCS (Susan Daniels)
NSPCC (Peter Wanless)
Scope (Richard Hawkes).
Sense (Gillian Morby)
Young Epilepsy (Lisa Farmer)
Young Minds (Sarah Brennan)

Discussion about hard-to-reach CEOs

Given the huge responsibility the twenty CEOs in this Interconnections Appeal have in managing effective organisations and supporting vulnerable children and families in England, it is important to consider here why eleven of them would choose to be consciously deaf and blind to the Interconnections Appeal.

I am aware that many charities, in pursuit of service contracts, are becoming ever-more corporate and I can imagine that a consequence, necessary or not, might be some CEOs becoming increasingly aloof from the common herd. Even so, I do not imagine that any of the eleven hard-to-each CEOs listed above has remained blissfully unaware of the Appeal or of my repeated requests for direct contact with them.

If I am wrong, and there really is such a CEO in the list, then something is very wrong in their management of their organisation. If personal assistants or senior managers feel it is appropriate to insulate their CEO from child protection issues and from international evidence about dangers to children and female staff members, then the whole organisation loses credibility. Such a climate, of course, would have been created by the CEO.

But that is not what I believe is happening here. My best guess is that each of the eleven CEOs is very aware of the Interconnections Appeal and is choosing to remain deafblind – perhaps with the compliance of staff members – perhaps after a policy discussion about what organisational response to make to an Appeal they perversely interpret as some sort of threat.

I feel confident in assuming that each of the hard-to-reach CEOs is genuinely pro-child on other, more acceptable, issues and I like to imagine they are all good, hard-working people with competence in their role. As they are not speaking to me I can only guess what might be going through their minds, as might you as you read this.

This issue of dangers to foetuses and children from long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation is of very great consequence. It would be giant step of effort and courage for any children's organisation to move beyond the comfortable pro-government stance in an effort to protect children. I have acknowledged this from the beginning. It is because the task is so big that I have made my appeal to 20 powerful CEOs and have suggested they could work together on a collective campaign.

If I let my imagination descend to its lower levels, I can conceive a CEO wanting to remain aloof from the Interconnections Appeal so that, one day in the future, when there are heated staff discussions, complaints, grievances, insurance claims or legal actions (whether from staff members, users or users' families), the CEO can assert he or she, because of 'errors of judgement in lower staff members', was never made aware of the international evidence or concern and that no such information ever came to his or her desk.

We see this behaviour every week in politicians and corporate bosses and it would be very, very sad if such unethical behaviour had infiltrated the upper levels in our charities – charities whose workers we all assume are 100% pro child. Any CEO who has made a conscious strategic decision to ignore the Interconnections Appeal with such a self-defence motivation would be acting in a very cowardly manner that would not justify their position at the top of any children's organisation. But let's imagine the eleven hard-to-reach CEOs are better than this!

Last thoughts

As the Interconnections Appeal comes to its summer break, I welcome direct communications from these eleven hard-to-reach CEOs so that we can begin a constructive dialogue and so that readers of the TAC Bulletin and visitors to teamaroundthechild.com can be reassured that CEOs of these children's organisations in England are behaving responsibly in their role as protectors of children and female staff members.

I feel confident that I have made available to all twenty CEOs sufficient information to show them there is a major issue here about foetus and child safety that craves their attention. The Interconnections Appeal to these twenty children's organisations will continue after the break in such a manner that it becomes irrelevant whether or not any individual CEO has chosen to ignore my communications.

Tailpiece

Dr Andrew Tresidder, a British G.P, makes an appeal to other doctors to understand and recognise the symptoms of electrosensitivity. He reports (I have paraphrased a little):

'A number of my patients have symptoms and illnesses which have been caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields, and which have been relieved by avoidance of the same fields. Examples are:

- a 22-year-old whose headaches and tiredness were abolished and sleep pattern improved after moving her mobile phone on charge away from the bed, removing the mobile from her body space by day, and switching off other electrics
- a 78-year-old whose headaches so concerned me that blood tests, an MRI and neurology opinion were sought (both normal) – his symptoms disappeared after switching off his home Wi-Fi hub router and cordless phone
- a 64-year-old very fit man who had noticed 4 months of decreased vitality and increased irritability – both reversed after changing the wireless router to a wired one
- a 40-year-old and a 60-year-old whose headaches disappeared (one) and migraines substantially reduced (the other) after removing cordless phones from the bedroom
- another adult has had tingling of face and muzzle area, and loss of ability to speak and think fluently when near a Wi-Fi router
- a child had a prolonged feverish illness for several weeks after a viral illness, which coincidentally completely resolved when transmitting Wi-Fi, baby alarm and cordless phones were removed from the house (ie failure to recover normally and rapidly from a viral illness).

'Diagnosis in all of these cases is mainly on history, supported in some by the use of an Electrosmog Detector. Other symptoms that more sensitized people can develop include headaches, fatigue, poor sleep patterns, altered sensation and tingling, irritation and rashes, earaches and unsteadiness, confusion and difficulty in memory, aches and numbness, mood swings, faintness, tremors and restless legs, and other sensitivities.'

This is taken from Electromagnetic Sensitivity and Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity[21] by Michael Bevington and published by Capability Books in the UK. Available from:

www.es-uk.info/ E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

__________________

Peter Limbrick

July 7th, 2014

End of report

Appendix 1

The third Interconnections Appeal letter

This went out in mid-June under the subject heading, 'Children, dangers from radiation, insurance and a collective effort' and read as follows:

For the personal attention of CEO, (name of organisation)

Dear (Name of CEO)

Re: Dangers to children and pregnant staff from electromagnetic radiation (EMR)

I am writing to you again on this very important subject of protecting foetuses, babies and children from this radiation. Children and families in England have no one to turn to when they want protection from the ill effects of long-term exposure to radiation from mobile phones, wi-fi laptops, cordless (DECT) phones, wi-fi baby alarms, iPads, etc. The Interconnections Appeal is that CEOs of children's organisations in England will be proactive in learning about the dangers and become the first champions for children on this issue.

The technology is here to stay and brings great benefit, but children deserve the same sort of protection and safety limits that other industries, e.g. aviation, construction and transport, have to conform to. The limits set by the government are inappropriate, out of date, do not offer adequate protection and are much more pro-telecommunications industry than pro-children.

In my previous appeal letter I urged you to buy an EMR monitor so that you could see how much radiation you have in your premises. I would be very interested to hear how you got on with this. Do you need help in interpreting the findings?

The main point of this letter is to support you in exploring the international concern, guidance and research about EMR – from which you will soon perceive the yawning gap between industry/government hype and the message from science (when the science is not funded by the industry).

I am aware of the limited resources you have at your disposal and so I want to suggest a collective effort between children's organisations to explore the research and learn about the dangers. Two approaches occur to me (and please let me know if others occur to you):

The first is for a number of children's organisations to create a small pot of money to fund one or two experienced people to spend time surveying the research. The second is for some CEOs to identify senior staff members who could form a small cross-agency group to take on the task.

Either way, the task would be to fully survey the international research and concern and report back to this group of 20 CEO's in the Interconnections Appeal. My role could be to link together interested CEOs and then make necessary links to key people with expert knowledge about the dangers of EMR. It would not be my role to hold any funds or chair any meetings.

The level of informed public concern in this country and others is increasing rapidly, as is the body of evidence. It seems to me only a matter of time before some parents or parent groups attempt to sue organisations which they believe have caused damage to their children, babies or unborn babies by exposing them to EMR over a period of time. If you have referred this issue to your insurance people, I would be very interested to hear how they have responded.

Please let me know if you would like to be part of the collective effort suggested above. I will do all I can to help. Please acknowledge receipt of this important message about child protection.

With respect and good wishes,

Appendix 2

Soon after posting the phase 2 report of the Interconnections Appeal, I suffered a problem with the teamaround.com website[22] and countered this by creating a blog[23] exclusively for the Appeal. I am not an avid or experienced blogger, but this brings the clear advantage of having all information about the evolving appeal in one place.

Links

[1] For some recent good news about bees go to http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/tag/bees/

[2] https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/24352886/long-time-wi-fi-safety-fears/

[3] http://www.magdahavas.com/biography/

[4] http://www.radiationresearch.org/images/rrt_articles/Precautionary-Principle-to-be%20applied-in-French-Schools.pdf

[5] http://www.radiationresearch.org/images/rrt_articles/Groundbreaking-electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-syndrome-EHS.pdf

[6] http://buildingbiology.ca/wd/news/german-ruling-on-cell-antennas/

[7] http://www.flanderstoday.eu/education/ghent-bans-wi-fi-pre-schools-and-day-care

[8] http://www.teamaroundthechild.com/allnews/researchsurveys/1384-ncb-a-englands-childrens-organisations-editors-open-letter-to-you-about-protecting-children-from-microwave-radiation.html

[9] http://www.teamaroundthechild.com/allnews/publications/1500-an-electronic-silent-spring-facing-the-dangers-and-creating-safe-limits-new-book-by-katie-singer.html

[10] http://www.babysafeproject.org/scientific-studies/

[11] http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/sec01_2012_summary_for_public.pdf