First Person Account: Electrosmog inside the house

In recent years the harm that can be caused by Electro Magnetic Radiation (EMR) from high voltage electrical lines and cell towers has been well publicized in the Eureka Springs area after successfully stopping a high-voltage transmission line, and efforts to stop placement of a cell tower on Judah St., which was not successful.

But it turns out that, in my case, a major EMR danger was lurking in my home from a surprising source, four cordless telephones. In the past, I had rarely used my cell phone because of concerns about EMRs. But it turned out that my cordless telephones, which were transmitting all the time whether being used or not, were emitting hundreds of times greater amounts of EMR than the cell phone.

I found out about the cordless phone EMR problem after having my home in downtown Eureka Springs tested by Anja Schiller, an electro-magnetic radiation specialist certified by the International Institute of Building Biology® and Ecology (IIBBE). Schiller did an assessment of my home including testing radio frequency fields, magnetic fields, electric fields, and dirty electricity. Taken together, these are known as electrosmog.

As Schiller walked towards my office area with a professional level radio frequency testing device, it wasn’t good news when the meter maxed out before she got very close to the area where I routinely spend six to eight hours a day. She had to switch to an adapter capable of measuring high amounts of EMR.

The cordless phones readings were shockingly high, 13,000 microwatts per square meter. Schiller said that the IIBBE recommends the ideal is 0.1, but that isn’t achievable unless you live in the country with few emissions.

“In our modern wireless world, this can be a difficult task,” she said. “The more achievable goal is 10 microwatts per square meter.”

Some older cordless phones only transmit when they are being used.

“If you are going to use a cordless phone, I recommend the older phones,” Schiller said. “Any phone that says DECT is going to be transmitting constantly. A cordless phone is like having a small cell tower inside your house.”

The guidelines and categories from the IIBBE are precautionary guidelines for sleeping areas, but can also be applied to all living areas for people who have electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Guidelines designate measurements into categories of no concern, slight concern, severe concern, and extreme concern. The goal is the no concern category for sleeping and living areas for sensitive people.

Schiller’s report said that the radio frequency (RF) levels in my home were in the severe to extreme concern category with devices on.

“The devices that contributed to the RF levels were the cordless phones (extreme), the microwave (extreme) when on, WiFi router (severe), and the streaming TV (severe),” Schiller said. “With all the wireless devices off, the background levels were in the slight to severe concern category, with the south side of the house (bedroom) in the slight level and the north side (living room) in the severe level (due to cell tower influence). Magnetic field levels were barely above the no concern category throughout the house except right by the microwave and at the toilet which is next to the breaker box, both being in the severe concern category. However, magnetic fields drop off very quickly with distance.”

There is a growing body of research showing that EMRs can cause depression, anxiety, insomnia, memory problems, autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. A 2016 article published in the Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy concludes that 26 studies have associated EMRs with neuropsychiatric effects.

Anxiety is the number one psychiatric problem in the U.S., and insomnia is practically an epidemic with an estimated 60 million people in the U.S reporting chronic sleeplessness. Research has shown that EMRs harm melatonin production in the body, and melatonin is important to regulate sleep. Melatonin is also one of the most powerful anti-oxidants in the body, so it is easy to see how lower levels of it could cause health problems. The impact on melatonin makes it particularly important to have a low EMR environment at night.

Also, the World Health Organization has concluded EMRs may cause cancer.

Schiller said that electrosmog could increase the damage caused by other forms of pollution such as heavy metals because the EMR can interfere with the permeability of the blood brain barrier allowing pollution to damage the brain.

Ditching the cordless phones and replacing them with wired phones was a really easy way to get rid of huge amounts of EMRs. Then I followed Schiller’s suggestion to ditch my wireless modem in favor of direct wiring. The wireless modem was putting out about 300 microwatts per meter, and I was sitting next to it hours per day.

Other recommendations by Schiller were to keep the streaming TV device off and unplugged when not in use and ditto for the wireless printer. She recommended not using or limiting use of the microwave, and keeping as much distance as possible when that microwave is running. She also recommended minimizing the number of devices plugged-in the bedroom at night and using a plug-in switch for lamps in bedroom to easily turn them off at night.    

As a result of these changes, I have gone from 13,000 microwatts per square meter down to fewer than ten in my working area.

Schiller said the background RF fields throughout the house were within the slight to severe concern levels. The main outside source is a cell tower that is .77 miles northeast of the house. There are two other registered towers are within a mile, but only the one to the north was resulting in significant RF fields. The others were being blocked by the topography of the area.

The level of sensitivity to EMRs may vary significantly. Schiller said people who have had exposure to mold or environmental toxins could be electro hypersensitive. But since long term impacts like cancer are possible even in people not showing immediate impacts like anxiety or insomnia, it makes sense to limit EMR exposures as much as possible.