Technology risk without safeguards

Suresh Kalkunte sskalkunte at gmail.com
Thu Nov 5 12:24:24 UTC 2020


Hi Sabri,

I hope by now my position on health effects from RF is becoming apparent,
ie., my focus is exclusively on health effects from chronic overexposure
scenarios (unintentional overexposure experienced by firefighters, telecom
workers etc. and intentional overexposure) which have attracted
insufficient attention except for rare instances (references I have
provided in an earlier email and one more#1 that deserves mention). Due to
the low volume of findings associated with _chronic overexposure_, it is
understandable that findings associated with _regulated_ RF emitters
(mobile handsets, base of communication tower etc.) as sage is popular
understanding. The sage opinion is true since the test exposure scenarios
are benign.

I have mentioned the following earlier but I repeat to convey circumstances
that have shaped my resolve to pursue this topic. When I certified Wi-Fi
endpoints at Intel Corporation in 2003-'04, I spent 10+ hour days on a
stretch in close proximity to 2.45GHz emissions. I did not experience
perceptible changes to my health due to this overexposure to cause alarm.
However, at Motorola in 2007 when I worked alongside high power (radiated
RF power)/gain (antenna amplification) outdoor Line of Sight emitters where
I was exposed to either the side or main RF lobes of unidirectional
microwave fields, the types of negative health symptoms induced was cause
for alarm. As a Infantryman trained in the U.S. military to anticipate and
defend onself/team from 360 degree threats, I recognized the high risk of
affordable powerful EMF emitters of civilian origin are opportune to get
improvised for malice with civilian expertse (circuit design/fabrication to
get started). Opportune since there are no diagnostic/forensic tests (I
have checked with forensic DNA scientists at the U.S. NIST) and
statutes/code associated with weapon (checked with the FCC), physical
assault/trespass do not yet delineate improvised potent RF as method of
malice.

I sense there is a perception that this discussion is off-topic. However,
having this discussion protects the unsuspecting people (like I was until
2007) and is as important as protecting electronic equipment in the data
center.

Best,
Suresh

#1  Sir William Stewart. Power Density: Radio frequency Non-Ionizing
Radiation. In:Mobile
Phones and Health: A report from the Independent Expert Group on Mobile
Phones, (The
Stewart Report, 2000).
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/62515/cavi_society_attachment.pdf.
This report presents health effects in animal/avian model resulting from
chronic RF overexposure.



On Thursday, November 5, 2020, Sabri Berisha <sabri at cluecentral.net> wrote:

> Hi Suresh,
>
> I'm not disputing anything you or Tom wrote. The current scientific
> consensus is that most RF exposures are sage. We agree on that.
>
> My point is simply that, as Tom wrote in his citation, the biological
> effects of RF are still an area of research.
>
> And for that reason, it's unfair to dismiss a physician's suggestion to
> look into a case as an "internet conspiracy". That's all.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sabri
>
>
> ----- On Nov 4, 2020, at 7:23 PM, Suresh Kalkunte <sskalkunte at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Existing research on health effects from RF signals dwell on emissions
> from regulated sources, (mobile handset, base of a tower etc), my
> overriding concern is, unrestricted/chronic exposure for extended duration
> of time for which there are very rare research efforts devoted.
>
> Chronic exposure to RF is found to induce DNA instability^1^. Even if RF
> at chronic exposure levels are not found to cause DNA strands to break, it
> creates upstream conditions such as excess Calcium influx^2,3^ into the
> cell's cytoplasm with implications on cardiac arrhythmia^4^,  invoke and/or
> worsen neurodegenerative^5^ diseases to name a few.
> Labeling any discussion on adverse health from OVEREXPOSURE to RF is a
> cop-out from doing a threadbare analysis.
>
> Suresh S.
>
> ^1^ Mashevich M, Folkman D, Kesar A, et. al. Exposure of human peripheral
> blood lymphocytes to electromagnetic fields associated with cellular phones
> leads to chromosomal instability. Bioelectromagnetics. 2003;24:82–90.
>
> ^2^ Arber SL, Lin JC. Extracellular calcium and microwave enhancement of
> membrane conductance in snail neurons. Radiat Environ Biophys. Jun
> 1985;24(2):149–156.
>
> ^3^ Rao VS, Titushkin IA, Moros EG et al. Nonthermal effects of
> radiofrequency-field exposure on calcium dynamics in stem cell-derived
> neuronal cells: elucidation of calcium pathways.
> Radiat Res. 2008 March. 169(3):319-29.
>
> ^4^ Grace AA , Camm AJ. Voltage-gated calcium -channels and antiarrhythmic
> drug action.
> Cardiovasc Res. Jan 2000;45(1):43–51.
>
> ^5^ Leal SS, Gomes CM. Calcium dysregulation links ALS defective proteins
> and motor neuron
> selective vulnerability. Front Cell Neurosci. 2015;9:225.
>
>
> On Thursday, November 5, 2020, Tom Beecher <beecher at beecher.cc> wrote:
>
>> The hypothesis that RF may cause damage to human DNA is not at all
>>> conspiracy. The
>>> fact that we haven't been able to identify a factual relationship, does
>>> not mean
>>> that there isn't any. For example:
>>>
>>
>> If you are going to cite that American Cancer Society article, you should
>> cite all the relevant parts. The parts you skipped are bolded.
>>
>> *RF waves don’t have enough energy to damage DNA directly. Because of
>>> this, it’s not clear how RF radiation might be able to cause cancer. Some
>>> studies have found possible increased rates of certain types of tumors in
>>> lab animals exposed to RF radiation, but overall, the results of these
>>> types of studies have not provided clear answers so far.*
>>>
>>> *A few studies have reported evidence of biological effects that could
>>> be linked to cancer, but this is still an area of research.*
>>>
>>> In large studies published in 2018 by the US National Toxicology Program
>>> (NTP) and by the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, researchers exposed groups
>>> of lab rats (as well as mice, in the case of the NTP study) to RF waves
>>> over their entire bodies for many hours a day, starting before birth and
>>> continuing for at least most of their natural lives. Both studies found an
>>> increased risk of uncommon heart tumors called malignant schwannomas in
>>> male rats, but not in female rats (nor in male or female mice, in the NTP
>>> study). The NTP study also reported possible increased risks of certain
>>> types of tumors in the brain and in the adrenal glands.
>>>
>>> *While both of these studies had strengths, they also had limitations
>>> that make it hard to know how they might apply to humans being exposed to
>>> RF radiation. A 2019 review of these two studies by the International
>>> Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) determined that
>>> the limitations of the studies didn’t allow conclusions to be drawn
>>> regarding the ability of RF energy to cause cancer.*
>>>
>>> *Still, the results of these studies do not rule out the possibility
>>> that RF radiation might somehow be able to impact human health.*
>>>
>> The majority of science to date finds no causal relationship between EM
>> radiation and cancerous mutations. If someone wants to claim otherwise,
>> scientific proof is required.
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 4, 2020 at 7:56 PM Sabri Berisha <sabri at cluecentral.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Not that I'm into conspiracy theories, or believe at this point that RF
>>> emissions
>>> are in any way related to cancer, but Suresh' statement is not very
>>> scientific:
>>>
>>> > This is an internet conspiracy theory with no basis in reality or
>>> science.
>>>
>>> RF emissions are absorbed by the human body. Your kitchen microwave
>>> works at
>>> the same frequency as your 2.4Ghz wifi. We all know it's a bad idea to
>>> put your
>>> head in a microwave oven.
>>>
>>> The hypothesis that RF may cause damage to human DNA is not at all
>>> conspiracy. The
>>> fact that we haven't been able to identify a factual relationship, does
>>> not mean
>>> that there isn't any. For example:
>>>
>>> > In large studies published in 2018 by the US National Toxicology
>>> Program (NTP)
>>> > and by the Ramazzini Institute in Italy, researchers exposed groups of
>>> lab rats
>>> > (as well as mice, in the case of the NTP study) to RF waves over their
>>> entire
>>> > bodies for many hours a day, starting before birth and continuing for
>>> at least
>>> > most of their natural lives. Both studies found an increased risk of
>>> uncommon
>>> > heart tumors called malignant schwannomas in male rats, but not in
>>> female rats
>>> > (nor in male or female mice, in the NTP study). The NTP study also
>>> reported
>>> > possible increased risks of certain types of tumors in the brain and
>>> in the adrenal
>>> > glands.
>>>
>>> Source: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposu
>>> re/radiofrequency-radiation.html
>>>
>>> > If your doctor suspected that you had cancer caused by something
>>> related to
>>> > microwave band communications equipment, you need to find a new doctor.
>>>
>>> On the contrary. Few people are more exposed to higher-powered RF
>>> radiation
>>> than a MW techie. That would make them an excellent subject for
>>> scientific
>>> research. Dismissing a medical professional's opinion based in your own
>>> firm beliefs is counterproductive to the advance of scientific knowledge.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Sabri, M.Sc
>>>
>>> ----- On Nov 4, 2020, at 2:01 PM, Matt Harris matt at netfire.net wrote:
>>>
>>> > My first instinct is to let this be because the level of conspiracy
>>> theory
>>> > nuttiness seems to be very high and the level of knowledge of basic
>>> physics
>>> > seems to be very low, but since this list is archived in a way that
>>> lay-people
>>> > may reference it at some point in the future, I'm going to go ahead
>>> and reply
>>> > just this once more and just one point here so that a lack of response
>>> here
>>> > won't be used as fodder by conspiracy theorists.
>>>
>>> >       Matt Harris     |       Infrastructure Lead Engineer
>>> > 816‑256‑5446  |       Direct
>>> > Looking for something?
>>> > [ https://help.netfire.net/ | Helpdesk Portal ]       |       [
>>> mailto:help at netfire.net |
>>> > Email Support ]       |       [ https://my.netfire.net/ |
>>> Billing Portal ]
>>> >       We build and deliver end‑to‑end IT solutions.
>>> > On Wed, Nov 4, 2020 at 2:48 PM Suresh Kalkunte < [ mailto:
>>> sskalkunte at gmail.com |
>>> > sskalkunte at gmail.com ] > wrote:
>>>
>>> >> At an employer where I developed Wi-Fi based SOHO device, an adjacent
>>> group was
>>> >> testing Line of Sight transceivers. Nobody warned me of the inclement
>>> health (a
>>> >> general physician in 2007 suspected cancer looking at a blood test)
>>> from close
>>> >> quarters exposure to the side lobes emanating from the microwave
>>> radio.
>>>
>>> > There is no scientific evidence that RF emissions in the bands used for
>>> > communications have any causal relationship with cancer in humans.
>>> This is an
>>> > internet conspiracy theory with no basis in reality or science. If
>>> your doctor
>>> > suspected that you had cancer caused by something related to microwave
>>> band
>>> > communications equipment, you need to find a new doctor.
>>>
>>
>
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