Latest Posts click topics to search past content MILITARY Former US Attorney General Testifies for Plowshares Activists Ramsey Clark supports WA anti-nuke movement Ground Zero Center (Nov 28, 2010) HEALTH Hunger Up 36% in Washington State from Children's Alliance, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010) POLITICS The Progressive Tea Party? Maybe when it comes to surveillance issues Doug Collins, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010) Obama Wooing 'Economic Royalists' FDR was way gutsier Norman Solomon, cartoon by David Logan (Nov 28, 2010) SUBSTANCES The Dirty Secret Behind 'Demon Tobacco' Regulation doesn't cover cigarette additives Doug Collins, cartoons by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010) EDUCATION America’s Education Gender Gap Bill Costello, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010) ELECTIONS Washington State Votes Against Change Janice Van Cleve, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Nov 28, 2010) FOLLOW FILE updates DeCourseys v. Real Estate Giant; Amazon Prevails in Customer Privacy Doug Collins, cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010) ENVIRONMENT Poll: Southwest WA Supports Conservation Climate Solutions, cartoon by John Jonik (Nov 28, 2010) CULTURE What Color Is Your Santa? holiday cartoons by John Ambrosavage (Nov 28, 2010) MEDICINE WA Doctors Tell McKenna: Put Patients Before Politics Doctors for America (Oct 25, 2010) ACTIVISM No, Higher Consciousness Won’t Save Us Charles Reich got his second book right Norman Solomon (Oct 23, 2010) LAW Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons in WA ACLU of WA, with cartoon by John Jonik (Oct 23, 2010) RIGHTS Report: Racial Profiling Pervasive Across America OneAmerica (Oct 23, 2010) WORLD Port Townsend Food Co-op Rejects Israel Boycott Jefferson County BDS, cartoon by George Jartos (Oct 23, 2010) HISTORY A Bellhop in the Swingin' Seventies Overly detailed resume plus cartoon by John Ambrosavage (Oct 20, 2010) Johnny Horizon's Draft Physical Can he avoid Vietnam? John Merriam (Oct 20, 2010) AROUND WASHINGTON Gregoire passes the hatchet; Bears love garbage; Where does the PUD travel to? featuring cartoons by Dan McConnell (Oct 20, 2010) ECONOMY Now's the Time to Expand Social Security Good for both Americans and American companies Steven Hill (Sept 9, 2010) WAR Obama's Speech for Endless War Normon Solomon, cartoon by Dan McConnell (Sept 9, 2010) ENERGY Yellowstone: The #1 National Security Threat Unless we turn Wyoming into a new energy Mecca Martin Nix (Sept 9, 2010) TECHNOLOGY Biodefense, Biolabs and Bugs Seattle City Council takes an important first step to safety Labwatch.org (Aug 9, 2010) WORKPLACE Teenage Microsoft Sweatshop 15-hour shifts under poor conditions at Chinese factory from the National Labor Committee (May 16, 2010) IMMIGRATION Why US Immigration Policy Needs Tweaking Bill Costello, cartoon by David Logan (May 16, 2010) Arizona Immigration Brouhaha Various opinions from near and far, cartoons by Logan and McConnell (May 2, 2010) TRANSPORTATION The Coming Microcar Revolution Martin Nix (May 16, 2010) POETRY A Poetic Look at Tacoma Glass Art Museum; a limer-ICK Gerald McBreen (Mar 28, 2010) Fall Is For Falling Out Of Love, etc. three poems Bob Markey (Mar 29, 2010) BUSINESS Who Rules America? Corporate conglomeration is leading to neofeudalism Don Monkerud, cartoon by John Jonik (Mar 27, 2010) TRUTH Architects and Engineers Ask for New Look at 9/11 Doug Collins (Feb 20, 2010) MEDIA Is Olympic Coverage Sexist? Media coverage rarely gives women equal treatment Univ. of Alberta (Jan 24, 2010) RIGHT BRAIN Why I Don't Come at Christmas Anymore not-so-jolly Saint Nick (Dec 18, 2009) Santa Gets Political art by Ambrosavage, Lande, and Dees (Dec 17, 2009) SPORTS A People's History of Sports BOOK REVIEW Doreen McGrath (posted July 24, 2009) CLIMATE Cashing In On Earth's Cycles: Part 3 Alan Cheetham & Richard Kirby (posted July 24, 2009) Obama: How Serious About Climate Change? Doug Collins (posted July 24, 2009) What is the Washington Free Press? The Washington Free Press exists to carry under-reported news and thought-provoking opinion out to a wider audience. We specialize in news related to Washington State. In order to get the news out, we need your readership and support for basic costs. That's why we ask you to please subscribe and/or donate. If you would like to help us with writing, editing, or "scouting" for writers and articles, please contact us. Doug Collins, editor

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posted July 24, 2009

Petition Launched to Halt Universal Wireless Broadband

by Diane Show & Catherine Kleiber

Numbered references and further reference information appear at the end of this article. 

In response to President Obama’s Broadband Initiative, public health advocates across the nation have launched a petition to limit the Initiative’s scope to fiber optics and communication cables. There is already evidence, they say, that wireless communications are damaging the health of children and other vulnerable populations, and its use should be limited and not expanded.

The Department of Commerce took public comments regarding the proposed use of funds being made available by the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, whose purpose is to bring high-speed Internet to presently unserved rural areas.[1]

The group sponsoring the petition urges that the funds be used only for dedicated hardwired systems, and not for Broadband over Power Lines or wireless networks.

The group is a loose association of scientists, health professionals and citizens who have been monitoring the public health aspects of wireless broadcasts since the introduction of digital cell phones in most of the United States in late 1996.

Radio frequency radiation (RFR) originates from all wireless communication antennas and devices. And when broadband signals are sent over power lines, the entire power grid then becomes a radiating antenna, interfering with ham radio operations and exposing whole populations to radiation. Although RFR exposure levels are regulated by the FCC, there is no scientific consensus as to what is a safe level, and different countries have set widely differing standards. A number of countries have also taken steps to limit the use of cell phones and wireless computers by children.

On April 2, 2009 the European Parliament passed a resolution warning of dangers to children and urging the adoption of stricter exposure standards throughout Europe.[2]

Among scientists who have warned of the urgency of the present situation are Robert O. Becker, the late orthopedic surgeon and bioelectromagnetics researcher, who said that “the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields.”

More recently, Leif Salford, Chief of Neurosurgery at Lund University Hospital in Sweden, who has found evidence of brain damage from even brief exposure to cell phones, has called wireless technology “the largest biological experiment ever.”

The petition to Obama is available for signing online at <wavr.org/petition/ToObama.php>. 

References

1. www.ntia.doc.gov/frnotices/2009/FR_BTOP_RFI_090312.html

2. www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/066-53234-091-04-14-911-20090401IPR53233-01-04-2009-2009-false/default_en.htm 

Scientific Databases

• http://electricwords.emfacts.com/ 

• www.powerwatch.org.uk/science/studies.asp  

Documents

• BioInitiative Report, USA: http://bioinitiative.org/

• Literature Review: ICNIRP Guideline Critique, Dr Neil Cherry, Lincoln University, New Zealand, October 2, 1999: www.salzburg.gv.at/ICNIRP-Kritik1.pdf 

• Joining the Dots: An Overview of Public Health Trends in 2007, published by the Australian Democrats:www.democrats.org.au/docs/2007/Joining_the_Dots11.pdf

• Freiburger Appeal (signed by over 3,000 doctors): http://timleitch.net.nz/pdfs/freiburger_appeal.pdf 

Articles

Review article: Nittby H et al. “Radiofrequency and extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field effects on the blood-brain barrier.” Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine 2008; 27(2): 103-126. www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a793878246~db=all~order=page  

“Cancer Trends During the 20th Century”, Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson, Journal of Australian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine 2002; 21(1); 3-8. www.iddd.de/umtsno/cancertrends.pdf  

Books

• Blake Levitt. Electromagnetic Fields: A Consumers Guide to the Issues and How to Protect Ourselves, Harcourt Brace 1995.

• Blake Levitt. Cell Towers: Wireless Convenience? or Environmental Hazard? New Century 2000.

• Gunni Nordstrom. The Invisible Disease: The Dangers of Environmental Illnesses Caused by Electromagnetic Fields and Chemical Emissions, O Books 2004.

• Robert O. Becker M.D. Cross Currents: The Promise of Electromedicine, the Perils of Electropollution, J.P. Tarcher 1990. 

Websites

• Council on Wireless Technology Impacts: http://energyfields.org 

• EMR Policy Institute: http://emrpolicy.org 

• EMR Network: http://emrnetwork.org 

• Electrical Pollution Solutions: http://electricalpollution.com/ 

• http://electromagnetichealth.org 

• Coalition to Regulate Antennae Siting: www.safeantenna.org/ 

• San Francisco Neighborhood Antenna-Free Union:

www.antennafreeunion.org/info_research.htm 

• Microwave News: www.microwavenews.com 

• Sage Associates: www.sageassociates.net/radiofrequency.html 

• International Commission on Electromagnetic Safety: www.icems.eu 

• Powerwatch: www.powerwatch.org.uk/ 

• EMFacts Consultancy: www.emfacts.com/ 

• FEB: www.feb.se/index.htm 

• h.e.s.e. project: www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/niemr/index.php •