TreeHugger recently conducted a study that adds credibility to the assertion that EMFs (electromagnetic fields) affect living things.
TreeHugger investigators observed maple trees over a year-long period and deduced that the tree limbs tended to grow away from power lines – an effect they dub "electrobonsai." The study, based on observational phenomenon, is far from scientific and may actually detract from serious investigation.
Since tree limbs tend naturally to conform to (i.e., grow away from) any obstruction, or anisotropic stimulus, the observation is only marginally significant. What is significant, however, is that the leaves do indeed avoid the source of the EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies). This effect is known as the corona effect, in which leaves are subjected to electromagnetic heating, drying and ultimate necrosis.
After time, the tree "remembers" which areas are affected, and directs its growth away. Add to this the fact that leaves succeed one another along a genetic spiral, in an adaptation of the Fibonacci sequence (Schimper-Braun’s Law), and one can see that obstruction of even a single leaf generates a new sequence, and ultimately a new direction in growth.
There is no doubt in scientific circles that EMFs affect living tissue. The question is, how much? Since EMFs are produced when anything electrical is operating – including your microwave – this article will define EMFs as anything above the 4mG level – the criteria usually used when studying EMFs. In the human body, which uses a form of electromagnetism (calcium ion exchange), EMF exposure has been cited as the cause of headaches, memory loss, dizziness, nausea, Alzheimer’s, depression and suicide.
Living tissue has its own electromagnetic activity. Calcium causes muscles to contract, among other things, and this is an electrically-mediated reaction occurring at the cellular level. EMFs are known to hinder the movement of calcium ions through the cell membrane, preventing the neurotransmitter from delivering a chemical signal to the body.
A scientific study conducted by the BioInitiative Working Group and completed in 2007, was prompted in part by observations by Colorado Public Health Worker Nancy Werthheimer, who noticed that the incidence of childhood leukemia was much higher among children who lived near high-voltage power lines.
A more recent study supports its findings: living tissue responds to radiation, specifically RF-EMFs (radio-frequency modulated electromagnetic fields) produced by cell phones. This RF radiation alters protein expression in skin cells. That is, the affected cells exhibited proteins that were radically different as a result of the radiation. According to Vini G. Khurana, an Australian neurosurgeon, cell phones pose a greater health risk than cigarettes and asbestos.
Other disagree, vigorously. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in its 2000 Consumer Magazine, published a report casting doubt on Khurana’s obsrvations. The National Cancer Institute followed up with its own synopsis of studies, again denying any link between cell phones and cancer except for the 2004 study at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, which shows a statistical rise in acoustic neuromas (benign cancers) among long-term cell phone users. I’m no fan of the FDA, which is sloppy and negligent, but science is science, and the FDA didn’t rely on its own sloppy science to generate the report.
High-voltage power lines and their attendant EMFs have been around since about 1907, when the invention of the disc insulator facilitated transmissions over 40 kV (kilovolt, which equals 1000 volts). Today, the highest-voltage line on record (765 kV, to be built by Allegheny Energy and AEP) runs 250 miles through West Virginia. Cell phones have been around, in their present form, since about 1990. Before that, they were too large to carry in a pocket.
Power lines and cell phones are an integral part of our modern society. I’m writing this on a PC, getting my daily dose of VLF (very low frequency; 500 Hz to 30 kHz) radiation. Outside my homes, a high-voltage power line delivers ELFs (extremely low frequencies; 1-300 Hz) to power the computer. I don’t have a cell phone, so am spared the RF (radio frequency; 10-100 Ghz) radiation. The planet on which I live is surrounded by a magnetic field (.03-.06 gauss). Inside my body (50-300 Hz), calcium ions are prompting my fingers to touch the keys to create this text.
Given the above information, the question about EMFs being dangerous becomes moot. Even if you are ready to discard your cell phone – which is more likely to cause a fatal traffic accident than give you cancer – and move to the woods, how much radiation can you escape? Leukemia and cancer are tragedies, but more likely the result of chemicals – many of which were not even around until a few decades ago – than of radiation. These chemicals have now entered all the air, water and soil on the planet, dispersed by winds across vast distances. A little bit of Cherobyl radiation lives in your backyard.
Instead of giving up your cell phone, or your laptop, discard the disinfectant wipes and aerosol air fresheners.
Disclosure: I don’t own stock in any company manufacturing cell phones, or in an energy company.