The basic point of epidemiology is to understand which environmental factors can lead to disease.   It is a way of finding a common thread for disease, so that others may not be affected by it.  In particular, it is a way to judge the long term effects of something on a population.  In part 4 of this series, there was a study in regards to dirty electricity.   In this post more papers are presented that are relevant to this topic in regards to Kyanna.

In the recent years some of the most noticeable studies about harmful effects from electromagnetic radiation have come from Scandinavia and other European countries.   One such study shows that the increased risk from brain cancer for children rose by more than 500% if they used a cordless phone or cell phone before the age of 20.  That study can be read here..  There are other studies that show increased cancer rates from living closer to FM transmission stations. Also among these, studies like this one found people living within 400 meters of cell phone transmission towers were three times more likely to develop cancer than those that lived over 400 meters.  All of these pertain to Kyanna as they are present where she lived and all of these items can be measured.   More importantly, you see where towers are located around your home by typing in your address here.

These reports are by no means a smoking gun.  They are a reference point and another piece of the puzzle.  However, they do correlate and fit into the puzzle of a possible means of why Kyanna had a brain tumor and what could have caused it.  What happened to one person can and often does happen to another.  Epidemiology points out hazardous environmental factors that can influence health.   It is because of this knowledge there are limits on things like asbestos, DDT, smoking, and many other things.  The difference is that none of those are/were cornerstones of society like the electromagnetic spectrum is for us today.   Is there then any wonder why we all want them to be ‘safe’?

 

 

 

Dirty electricity, which is high frequency voltage transient, riding on your building’s wires is an unrecognized problem in many parts of the world.  For one, these frequencies occur at low levels that are non-thermal and because all of our standards are based on thermal effects, they are simply written off by many.   In 2008 there was an epidemiology report published that listed chronic exposure to dirty electricity as an important predictor of cancer incidence in an exposed population.   In this case, it was a cancer cluster in teachers in a California school.  In that study it was concluded that a teacher working in a room with reading >1000 Graham Stetzer (G/S) units had an increased chance of cancer by 13%, while working in a room with readings >2000 G/S units for one year increased the chance of cancer by 26%.   When Kyanna was diagnosed, the classroom that she was in had readings of over 2000 G/S units, as well as many other classrooms that she spent time in.  In terms of our home the max G/S reading was 300 and that was in Kyanna’s bedroom.

A large part of dirty electricity is made up of harmonics.  Harmonics are nothing new and have been around since we started using electricity.  What has changed is the amount that are now produced and are unaccounted for.   Harmonics are created when current and voltage are not used proportionately.  Almost all electronics today work this way, this is called a non-linear load.  Since harmonics are an extremely low frequency, and non-thermal, there has not been much attention paid to them from a health standpoint.   However, because of the engineering problems they can pose, there are limits to the amount of harmonic pollution a machine my produce.  Large loads of harmonics can causes problems for the utilities as well as machines.

Harmonics increase impedance, with increased impedance comes increased resistance, with resistance comes heat, and heat is very bad in electrical systems.   In the early 1990’s the utilities, at least in this area, starting running ground wires on the utility poles, instead of running larger primary neutrals or an extra neutral.  You can see the grounding wires today on every couple of poles.  By doing this they gave electricity an alternate path back, however it also means using the earth as a return source.    Undersized primary neutral returns I talk about here and can be tested.   Understanding this frame work, leads to how contact current fits into all of this.

By using the earth, or in some cases the water/sewage system of municipalities,  as a means to complete a circuit you open up many pathways for electricity to travel.  This means that you have small amounts of electricity running through your home.  Biological processes relevant to cancer start at 18 micro amps as stated in this paper here, as well as numerous other well-programmed studies.  This is measurable, by recording the wave form and by also measuring the amount of current running through your body done with a voltmeter.  There are areas that Kyanna was exposed in our house (mainly the basement) that  were higher than 18 micro amps which only adds more pieces to the puzzle.

Kyanna had issues with some chemicals, vitamin deficiencies, gastrointestinal problems, cell permeability, as well as undersized white blood cells.  Though on the surface these may appear to be a set of problems all onto themselves, there are links that tie all of these together.

The majority of the following details are discussed at much greater length here and here, with other papers linked at various points.  The following is a very high overview of the details presented in these two papers.

Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) in research have been shown to disrupt, incite, or alter the biological processes of cells.  For example, exposure to EMF’s will trigger a biological response, such as your body creating more cortisol.  Cortisol is a stress hormone that will put the body into a ‘fight or flight’ mode.  In doing so it can also lower the body’s immune system.  In the short run this can actually prove useful, however prolonged periods of increased levels of cortisol leaves the body vulnerable to many things such as precancerous cells.  By having the body in a heightened state for long periods of time, you lose the short term benefit and create a weaker system.  Continuous exposure to EMF’s can do this to a person.

Calcium ions are affected by EMF’s and this has ramifications in many areas of health.  The flow of calcium ions is critical to overall health as well as maintaining the permeability of the cells.  Exposure to EMF’s can alter the flow of calcium ions, which leads to higher cell permeability.  Once this happens, many foreign things may pass through the cell membrane.  In Kyanna’s case, this would lead to issues with chemical sensitivities.   It is also through the disruption of the calcium ions that the gastrointestinal barrier can be disrupted.

Exposure to EMF’s has been shown to decrease levels of key vitamins in blood of exposed subjects such as this paper here.  This was also one of Kyanna’s known issues.  Without proper nutrition, your white blood cells are not going to: 1) be as big as they should be 2) work like they should.  If your white blood cells are not working like they should then you could be headed for host of issues.

Understanding the links between systems is important.  In 2015 a paper was published that shows a link with the nervous system and the immune system here.  In most cases the areas that are most affected by EMF’s are your central nervous system (CNS), blood, and skin because this is what comes in contact with first.  If you have something that can alter your CNS, it is not that outrageous to consider the ramifications of all of the systems that are tied to that system, such as your immune system.  Kyanna had a brain cancer, however she also had a list of things that would have been treated individually.  When I look back  we were treating all the symptoms, because we didn’t see the connection between everything. Chronic exposure to EMF’s connect all of those pieces.    We were only fixing part of the problems.  All of the frequencies that have been linked to the detrimental effects are frequencies that Kyanna was continuously exposed to all day, every day.

 

The blood brain barrier (BBB) as the name would imply is a security system for the brain.  It is what regulates what gets in and also what gets out of the brain.  It is the last line of defense to keep bacteria, virus, toxins, and some metals out.  Some metals, like mercury, are able to cross the BBB, which make them more dangerous for humans.  The BBB can also make getting medication like chemotherapy to the brain to fight gliomas difficult.  Breaching or leakage in the BBB is the start for allowing something bad to happen.  People with brain tumors have an issue with BBB, the question is why?

In 1975 Dr. Allen Frey published a paper here that described how exposing animals to RF frequencies caused leakage of the BBB.  It is also important to note that when the animals’ BBB leaked, it continued to do so even after exposure had stopped; the BBB continued to leak for more than an hour after exposure.  There was also a noticeable difference in the type of frequency used, whether is was constant or pulsed frequencies.  The pulsed frequency changed brain permeability and behavior more than a constant frequency.  Today many of our electronic gadgets use a pulsed frequency.  These results have been validated by many others including Professor Leif Salford in Sweden.   His experiment yielded the same results which can be read here.

The frequencies that were used in those experiments are similar to those that we use for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cell phones, DECT phones, and baby monitors.  At the time of Kyanna’s diagnosis, she was continually exposed to Wi-Fi (in the home and at school), Bluetooth, and as a child she had baby monitors close to her. RF frequencies can provide the means to cause leakage or a breakdown of the BBB.   The frequencies that have been shown to do this are inundated in our lives and we are all exposed to them, some of us 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.  Finding a source for Kyanna’s blood brain permeability issues sadly isn’t hard to find.  What is even more upsetting is that it has been known about for more than 40 years.    In the last years of Kyanna’s life, she was exposed to multiple sources on a daily basis that have been shown to cause leakage of the BBB.

In a couple of weeks it will be September.  September is childhood cancer awareness month.   Over the course of the upcoming month I am sure you will see many stats that are unsettling.  Stats like how only 4% of US Federal funding goes towards cancer funding for children, or how childhood cancers have risen 24% in the last 40 years.  As startling as the stats may be, September is about kids.  Kids that are sick, really sick.  For some their outlook is good.  For instance, children diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), which is the most common type of childhood cancer, have a 90% survival rate to where as children diagnosed with the cancer that Kyanna had, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), have a survival rate of almost 0%.   In fact 90% of children diagnosed with DIPG will not live another year.   In order to solve problems you have to admit there is one.  Kids getting cancer is a problem.   Once you realize that, you can either work on finding a cure or find reasons it is happening in the first place.

One of the first research papers to link childhood cancer, leukemia, to electromagnetic fields came in 1979 and dealt with powerlines and magnetic fields.  There have been many studies since then that have verified their results which were that children exposed to magnetic fields at levels of as little as 3mG had a higher rate of leukemia.  Since that time there has been more attention paid to electromagnetic fields.  As researchers explored electromagnetic radiation and how it interacted with health, more and more adverse health effects were found.  Some of the most recent studies, from the last couple of months, find links to cancer by exposure from electromagnetic radiation.  This includes studies done by the National Toxicology Program which shows a link between cell phones and brain cancer, and the Ramazzini Study that shows a dose-related increased incidence in breast cancer.  In addition, there is a Swedish study finding of higher rate of cancer in proximity to FM transmitters.   Not all studies have shown electromagnetic radiation to be harmful.  Why?  Because we want electromagnetic radiation to be safe, so we can go on enjoying all of the things that it offers.   We are not the only ones that want it to be ‘safe’.  In a 2006 research paper done on industry funding-bias, the conclusion states “you should take in account sponsorship when interpreting results”.  This ongoing discrepancy on results has led many to question the validity of the research and overall has caused confusion for the general public.   Know there is more than just a smattering of research papers that show adverse effects, there are thousands.

Kyanna didn’t defy the odds.  In fact she died less than 2 months after being diagnosed.  When she was diagnosed we asked why.  The reason that Kyanna is not here is unsettling, because the reasons are all around us.  An over-exposure to electromagnetic fields from a variety of places, and a variety of kinds is the reason that my daughter is no longer here.  I can’t stop them all, I can just mitigate them the best I can.  Sadly, by the time I put it all together it was more than 7 months after she passed away.  By then it was way too late to help Kyanna, but maybe it is in time for the rest of us.  Until more people realize that the wonders and conveniences that we have at the tips of our fingers at all times may not be as great and as safe as we thought, things like what happened to Kyanna will happen to others.  It is not a matter of if.  It is a matter of when.  Society’s exposure to electromagnetic radiation is increasing.  Since the advent of electricity, and now in its many current daily uses, we are exposed to more than a quintillion times more radiation than naturally occurs.  (Saving you a google search, a quintillion is 18 zeros and is still considered at safe levels of exposure in the US.  As a reference, our national debt is 19 trillion.  You would need to increase that 100,000 times to be at the same level.) Is it then a wonder why there is a rise in neurological disorders, auto-immune issues, or why cancer is so prevalent?  According to cancer.org, for a male your chances of developing cancer in your lifetime is 1:2 and the chance of dying from cancer is 1:4.  A female risk of developing cancer is 1:3 and their risk of dying of cancer 1:5.  At some point people will have to ask the question: Why?

Ground current has many different names such as ground current, stray voltage, or contact current.  All of these names mean the same thing:  there is current that is not being contained in a wire.  In a perfect world there would be no ground current.  Ground really is zero.  However, that is not the world that we find ourselves.  A large reason for ground current is the electric utility company’s undersized primary neutral returns from the transformer to the substation.

Our electrical grid has remained much the same despite the advancements of technology and that is where the problem lies.  The introduction of more and more nonlinear loads to the electrical grid (done for energy efficiency) has been a major contributor to this problem.  As time has passed, the use of more and more computers and electronics has become a staple in our lives.  Computers and most electronics use what is called a non-linear load.  Non-linear loads do not use current proportionately to the voltage.  In doing so harmonics are created.  These harmonics then ride on the power cycle which increases the impedance of the electricity returning on the primary neutral.  As the harmonics from electronics add up, the neutral wire becomes overcrowded.  At the transformer the neutral and ground wires are bonded.  This is done for safety reasons, which is now being manipulated on a more frequent basis.  Because the primary neutral wire is overloaded, voltage travels back on the ground, because electricity will take all and any paths available.  By traveling back on the ground, so rises your ground current.

This is all measurable.  If you look at the ground current that is present in my home, you can get the following reading using a Fluke 190-202 Scopemeter:

With a waveform you are able to then identify problems.  Referencing a book on power quality issues such as the Handbook of Power Signatures 2^nd edition, by Dranetz BMI pages 44 & 48, you will find a similar wave.  In the book, the solution is simple, decrease the length of the neutral wire or increase the wire size.  Another solution not listed in the book is to add another neutral wire. However, this is just one way to test this.  Here is another.

To further test to see if the neutral wire is in fact over loaded, you can run a simple experiment.  With a 190-202 Scopemeter hooked up sink to floor you can look at the ground current as you turn on phase loads.  For people that are unfamiliar with this, it means the devices in your house that need a special outlet (240V).  In the figure below you will see a sharp jump when I turned on devices in my house that use phase current at the same time (dryer, electric stove, furnace).

If the neutral wire was sufficient there would be no jump.  The fact that there was this jump further supports that the neutral wire is not big enough to handle the loads in this area.  This isn’t just in my home.  This is in all the homes that are on the same circuit to the substation.

Another test that you can run for a longer duration is another sink to floor measurement that is done using the same Fluke 190-202 Scopemeter for a 24 hr period.   When I did this for my home this was the data that I collected.

In a 4 wire Wye system dealing with non-linear loads, the max amount of current that could travel back on the primary neutral wire is 173% of the largest phase current.  This is the theoretical worst case; however, this also assumes you are at absolute zero (-273 C).  With respect to temperature the primary neutral should then be able to carry closer to 225% of the largest phase current.  What does that really mean?  Does it mean that it will need to be able to carry as much as 225% of the largest phase current all the time?  The best way to answer that question is with an example.  Consider a bridge and the construction that goes into it.  When engineers construct a bridge they look at what the largest things are that will pass over it.  They then account for a safety factor, which makes it so it can hold even more weight, and then it is built.  They don’t assume that the heaviest tractor trailer will be passing over it all the time, but they do acknowledge it will pass over it some of the time.  When it does, the bridge will hold.   Our electrical grid is not like that.  How can you tell?  Look at the electric poles in your neighborhood (because most residential areas are using more and more non-linear loads) and when you see 3 wires on top and one running underneath, look to see if the one wire running underneath is larger than any of the others on top.  In many cases you will not find it so, and in fact the wire is smaller in a lot of cases.   To finish off the analogy, if the bridge can’t hold the weight of the passing vehicle the bridge will break and the vehicle will not make it to the other side.  In the case of electricity, it doesn’t travel on the wire provided.  It travels in the ground.  In both cases each result can lead to injury.

So, what can you do about this?  The first thing to do is measure.  Measure what is there and then decide what to do.  In many cases this will involve telling your power company at some point.   What your ground current is today will not necessarily be what it is tomorrow.  The real factor is: what is the demand on the power grid at the time you took the measurement?   Was that demand then for linear or non-linear?  The important thing for people to know is what your levels are now and know those levels change slightly from day to day, hour to hour.  They will be higher when the demand for power is higher.  Example is when the heat index over 100 and everyone is running air conditioning or when it is -40 and everyone is running their furnace.  Knowing what your levels are now is always a good starting point.   The only real thing a home owner can do is limit the amount of ways for the ground current to get into a home.  In this case if you have all copper piping, and high contact current, look at replacing 2-3 feet of the copper pipe after your water meter or where ever it comes into your home.

In the recent months the hot topic of vaccines and autism has surfaced.  This is not something that is new and there are many people that have very strong opinions on both sides.  For both sides have you ever thought about the role that electromagnetic fields and electromagnetic radiation play?

In 1985, the rate of autism was from 4 to 5 in every 10,000 children¹ in the US.  In 1985, two years after Motorola released the first cell phone there were approximately 900 cell phone towers in the US³.   In 2004 the rate of autism had increased to 1 in every 125 children².  In 2005 there were 175,725 cell phone towers in the US³.  In 2012 the rate of autism was 1 in 68 children².  As of July 1, 2012 there were 480,058 cell phone towers with more than 1.5 million antennae’s in the US³.  Based on our demand for more data to stream videos and communicate, those numbers have and will continue to rise.  As of March 31, 2016 there were 599,462 cell towers with 1,818,436 antennae’s in the US⁴.    However, this is not the only technology to rise dramatically.

Today Wi-Fi is ubiquitous in society.  Wi-Fi can be found almost in all the places that we shop, eat, work, and lest not forget is in nearly everyone’s home.  On top of Wi-Fi we have all of the wireless devices that we claim we can’t live without, although we did just until a few years ago.  We are also inundated with Bluetooth compatible devices, smart meters, DECT phones, and electricity that keeps getting dirtier and dirtier all of which add to the problem.

I am not stating that all of autism is solely caused by the technology that is embedded in our lives, but to deny the role that it has is ignorance.  The bigger thing is what can you do about it?  There is a way to see what role all of the technology in our lives plays in regards to not only autism, but ADHD.  This remedy is free and has no side effects (meaning you will see improvement or things will stay the same) and is explained here.  If you do see an improvement and want the rest of your house more thoroughly tested just contact me at darnell@flutterbusters.com

As many of you would assume there is so much more evidence to suggest that EMF and Autism are related besides a simple comparison between rates of autism and cell phone towers, though the latter is much easier to explain and understand.   For a much more in-depth look into this topic I would urge you to read Autism and EMF, which is a two-part review of the topic that was published in Pathophysiology.  You can read the complete Part 1 piece  here and Part II  here.

 

 

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15148861
2. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
3. Blank, Martin (2014)Overpowered. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press
4. http://www.antennasearch.com/