Re: NON-THERMAL EFFECTS OF EMF ON CELLULAR SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION

News from Moscow, Message from Russian physicist V. Binhi

Margaret Meade Glaser Posted: Feb 15 2003, 07:48 PM

I invited physicist, Dr. Vladimir Binhi, from Moscow, Russia, to tell us a little about what's been happening in his country regarding EMF issues. He has been kind enough to send us the following message, as well as provide us with a summary report on the Third International Conference "Electromagnetic Fields and Human Health" held in Moscow/St. Petersburg, Sept. 2002 (see next posting).

Dr. Binhi is head of the Radiobiology Laboratory at the General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the Russian National Committee on Protection from Non-Ionizing Radiation and author of the groundbreaking physics text "Magnetobiology" (Academic Press, 2002)
Now, Dr. Binhi...

Dear Forum Readers,

Mankind just relatively recently began to use wireless communication technologies in so dense a way. Therefore, we do not know and we cannot know now the remote consequences of such a Janus-like progress. We have not time enough to empirically observe the possible chronic electromagnetic effects. It takes presumably 20-30 years for the effects to reveal themselves. This depreciates the significance of any epidemiological studies.

Laboratory studies regarding non-thermal biological effects (those arising from infinitesimal electromagnetic exposures) are difficult to replicate. However, this does not necessarily mean the absence or insignificance of those effects. The power and frequency of elecromagnetic waves emitted, say, by cell phones, are similar to the brightness and colors of the optical radiation that human eyes discern [visible light]. The eye sees the world colored, not gray. There is a lot of scientific evidence for "colored" perception of electromagnetic waves by the human body. This means the non-thermal effects are real.

Why don't we observe those effects always and everywhere in laboratories? Because it is a very problematic task, in general, to detect a 1% biological effect of electromagnetic fields in any scientific bio study, due to the great variance in any bio studies; yet such an effect, being real, entails huge social consequences in people lost. Electromagnetic fields may be less evident but not less insidious than smoking.

From the other side, there is no recognized physical theory for those effects that could help to build right electromagnetic safety standards. It means 50/50 for pro and con of cell-phone danger. And this situation will remain until a good physical theory is developed and full scientific knowledge is obtained for electromagnetic biological effects.

Therefore, concerning the phrase: [note: he refers to my summary of his conference notes which follow]

"The U.S. standards and those proposed by WHO are 100 times more lenient than the Russian standards. This is a problem for Russia, which must harmonize its standards if it is to enter the World Trade Organization"

I am not sure that it is a problem for Russia. I would not like it to be so, but perhaps it is a future problem for the U.S., where people are 100-fold exposed to electromagnetic fields--according to the law. The harmonization implies common motion in right direction. Which one is right is a purely scientific question and it should not be considered in connection with the trade interests.

Sincerely yours,
Vladimir Binhi

Edited by Margaret Meade Glaser - Feb 17 2003, 04:15 AM

Margaret Meade Glaser
EMR Network, Board of Directors
Posted: Feb 15 2003, 08:08 PM

Summary of V. Binhi's Report on the Third International Conference "Electromagnetic Fields and Human Health"

Moscow/St.Petersburg hosted The Third International Conference on "Electromagnetic Fields and Human Health" September 17-25, 2002. Scientists from 18 countries participated, spanning Europe, Asia, and North and South America. It was organized by the Russian Ministry of Health, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the World Health Organization (WHO), among others, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Research Labs, the International Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNRP), and others.

Experts at the conference recommended taking guidance from the Precautionary Principle, in order to prevent possible, or even probable, damage to human health from EMF exposure. This is of particular concern since there are now so many sources of chronic, low-level EMF in close proximity to populations.

Participants observed research on possible carcinogenic action of EMF, as well as bioeffects of chronic exposure, a syndrome of hypersensitivity, and effects on the central nervous system and immune system. Possible medical and therapeutic applications of EMF were also noted and were seen as good directions for research.

One of the major problems to be addressed at the conference was the question of harmonization of standards (the WHO seeks to make all countries' safe exposure standards the same). Currently, the maximum permissible levels of EMF in various countries differ by a factor of as much as 100, depending on each country's definition of adverse
bioeffects, and level of recognition of non-thermal effects.

The U.S. standards and those proposed by WHO are 100 times more lenient than the Russian standards. This is a problem for Russia, which must harmonize its standards if it is to enter the World Trade Organization.

Two days of the conference were spent analyzing and discussing the research underlying the lower Russian limits on allowable EMF (also those of other former Eastern block countries). The Russian scientists offered a set of steps they saw as necessary for the successful realization of the harmonization program.

In December 2002, Dr. M. Repacholi of WHO met with Russian scientists in Moscow to discuss the issue of protection of the Russian population from EMF bioeffects, and the participation of Russian experts in the WHO international program "EMF and Health," as well as in the process of international harmonization of EMF standards.

Based on current research on the biological action of EMF from cellular communications, it is the opinion of the Russian National Committee on Protection from Non-Ionizing Radiation that:

1. The Precautionary Principle be a guide. Therefore, they propose the following recommendations to the public:
a. Non-use of cell phones by children under the age of 16.
b. Non-use of cell phones by pregnant women.
c. Non-use of cell phones by persons suffering from neurological conditions or diseases.
d. Limiting the duration of phonecalls to a maximum of three minutes, with a period no less than 15 minutes (minimum) between calls. Mainly, they suggest the use of headsets and hands-free systems.

2. The cell phone manufacturers and retailers should include the following information to accompany engineering specifications:
a. all of the above recommendations regarding use.
b. data and conclusions on relevant health and epidemiological testing on cell phones, measured EMFs, and the name of the test lab.

Margaret Meade Glaser EMR Network, Board of Directors
Posted: Feb 16 2003, 11:26 AM

Dr. Binhi's important new book, "Magnetobiology: Underlying Physical Problems" (Academic Press, 2002), is the first of its kind. In it he draws on fundamental physical principles to derive a reasonable model for interaction of electromagnetic fields with biological systems. Although written for physicists, it may also be of interest to those working in chemistry, biology, medicine, and related fields.

Edited by Margaret Meade Glaser - Feb 17 2003, 04:21 AM
ACN Forums ->Featured Guests ->Ask M.M. Glaser: Electromagnetic Radiation Issues

Message from Dr. V.N. Binhi

Don, Penny and all,

Thanks for the very interesting discussions recently on AM radio towers. There is a "not to miss" article in todays Los Angeles Times newspaper on a commercial building park that is built with five 500-foot AM towers protruding from the building ceilings, and a complete wire netting suspendd over a driveway and parking lot to keep cars and trucks protected from the electric field.

The article is titled "Workers Under Towers are Well-wired but Clueless" Its in the "Surroundings" Section for the City of Industry (LA County).

Says things like "we'd occasionally leave out power cords for our tools over the weekend, and they'd collect the electrical energy. You'd pick up the cord and touch the plug on Monday and get a nasty burn".

Cindy Sage
Sage Associates

Forwarded from Don Maisch and also from Don

SURROUNDINGS / CITY OF INDUSTRY
Workers Under Towers Are Well-Wired but Clueless
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-surroundings20feb20,1,4240478.story

The Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2003

Most employees don't know what the transmitters do or how they are protected.

By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer

Some people have careers working on the radio. In the City of Industry, hundreds have jobs working under it.

They are employees at an unusual warehouse and distribution center built beneath five commercial broadcast towers that send music and talk across the Los Angeles area.

But don't ask those working in the offices and stock rooms of the Towers Industrial Park at the corner of 6th Avenue and Don Julian Road what's on the air. They can't hear a bit of the programming -- even though some of them are just a few feet away from the transmitters of KTNQ-AM (1020) and KXTA-AM (1150).

Chicken wire that helps form the walls, ceiling and floors of the 522,000-square-foot warehouse center is the reason for that.

The flimsy poultry-pen fencing shields workers from the radio stations' combined 100,000 watts of radiated power. It also blocks the Spanish-language oldies music played by KTNQ and the sports talk produced by KXTA that almost everyone else with a radio in the Los Angeles area can pick up.

A heavier wire net suspended over a driveway and parking lot between the center's two buildings protects cars and trucks from the overhead electrical field. The five 500-foot-tall towers rise through the roofs of the buildings. The bottom 25 feet of each shaft is enclosed in a concrete well laced with copper wire that resembles a door-less room inside the warehouse.

Most of the industrial park workers don't realize that their place of business -- built in 1990 -- represents an unusual attempt to use land around the directional AM "amplitude modulation" broadcast towers.

Some think the towers are used for cellular telephones. Others speculate they are part of a landing system for airplanes. Or leftovers from some Cold War missile-defense program.

"I've tried to ask but nobody seems to know," said Andy Woo, who works at a furniture warehouse at the center. "My theory is, it's to warn pilots away from chemicals or something in this area that they don't want aircraft to hit."

Automotive supply worker Israel Curieo said he figures that the wire netting suspended over the parking lot and his loading dock is there to catch the towers in case they fall over in an earthquake.

Carlos Aispuro, service manager for a shipping company, said he uses the towers as a landmark to direct customers to his office, which is in a corner of the center. "I haven't got a clue what they're for," he said.

Aispuro, who was raised about five miles away in Baldwin Park, said he remembers seeing the towers when he grew up. At that time, they were surrounded by a vacant field.

Owners of the land decided in the late 1980s to develop the empty property beneath the towers. The site is now owned by institutional investors, according to its leasing agent.

"Land is becoming more valuable as cities expand out toward the country where radio stations were built decades ago," said Ronald Rackley, a Sarasota, Fla., electrical engineer and an expert in electromagnetic radiation.

Rackley was among those who helped design the warehouse project so that radio waves from KTNQ wouldn't harm construction workers as they built it or employees after it was built.

Although FM radio stations can use a single transmission tower atop a building, directional AM stations such as KTNQ's require a more elaborate setup. The number and positions of an AM stations' towers keep signals from interfering with each other by focusing them in a certain direction.

To make things more complicated, the entire broadcast tower, not just the point on top, serves as the "antenna" for an AM radio transmitter. And a 500-foot tower requires 120 copper-wire "radials," each buried in the ground and extending 500 feet out like beams from the sun, for the transmitter to properly work.

Adding to the difficulty were the 30 thick support cables that hold up the five towers. Many of them had to be altered to make room for the buildings and parking lot.

After studying various radiation shields, Rackley settled on chicken wire. Construction workers were ordered to carefully layer it inside concrete walls and floors and wooden roofs.

"Finding that much chicken wire was one of my biggest challenges," recalls Bob Prizio, whose Anaheim contracting firm handled the concrete work. He bought up all the locally available chicken wire and then turned to an Arizona farm supply company to find the rest of the 1.25 million square feet he needed.

KTNQ, meantime, remained on the air above everyone's heads.

"We'd occasionally leave out power cords for our tools over the weekend, and they'd collect the electrical energy. You'd pick up the cord and touch the plug on Monday and you'd get a nasty burn," Prizio said.

"We could hear Mexican music coming from the base of the antennas when we put up the concrete forms for the wells around the towers. My Mexican workers were dancing," he said.

Rackley eventually co-wrote a paper explaining the project to a National Assn. of Broadcasters convention. After that, buildings began popping up beneath AM radio towers around the country.

Several years after the industrial park was finished, KXTA leased tower space there so it could boost its signal strength for Dodgers broadcasts. Special filtering was added so the two stations' competing AM signals wouldn't interfere with one another.

The unusual transmitter site still attracts attention from broadcasters, said Michael Callaghan, chief engineer of KXTA. "That one is unique. People come and ask us just to see it," he said.

Those at the industrial park take it all in stride.

"Sometimes you hear talking coming through the fax machine. And in heavy wind you can hear the creaking from the towers and wires," said a fabric company administrative assistant, Joann Davis.

Tony Tsou, president of a wholesale computer firm, said the radio towers' signals don't affect his computers.

"Everybody wonders what the wire-mesh thing is over the parking lot. But they've figured out a way to use both the air and the ground here and we don't mind," said Sargon Mikhail, who works at a paint supply company. He said he's not worried about the towers' electromagnetic energy.

"Of course," he laughed, "if I wake up one day with an extra hand growing on my arm because of the radiation, that'll be a different story."

Sorry but I do not have a reference for the following article which was sent to me as an attached file with photos. As I do not send attachments to this list following is the text only. I think it may be from Popular Mechanics if anyone wants to check it out.

Don Maisch

E-BOMB

In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400.

The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the distance. By the time you mistakenly identify this sound as an innocent clap of thunder, the civilized world will have become unhinged. Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite being turned off. The aroma of ozone mixed with smoldering plastic will seep from outlet covers as electric wires arc and telephone lines melt. Your Palm Pilot and MP3 player will feel warm to the touch, their batteries overloaded. Your computer, and every bit of data on it, will be toast. And then you will notice that the world sounds different too. The background music of civilization, the whirl of internal-combustion engines, will have stopped. Save a few diesels, engines will never start again. You, however, will remain unharmed, as you find yourself thrust backward 200 years, to a time when electricity meant a lightning bolt fracturing the night sky. This is not a hypothetical, son-of-Y2K scenario. It is a realistic assessment of the damage the Pentagon believes could be inflicted by a new generation of weapons--E-bombs.

The first major test of an American electromagnetic bomb is scheduled for next year. Ultimately, the Army hopes to use E-bomb technology to explode artillery shells in midflight. The Navy wants to use the E-bomb's high-power microwave pulses to neutralize antiship missiles. And, the Air Force plans to equip its bombers, strike fighters, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles with E-bomb capabilities. When fielded, these will be among the most technologically sophisticated weapons the U.S. military establishment has ever built.

There is, however, another part to the E-bomb story, one that military planners are reluctant to discuss. While American versions of these weapons are based on advanced technologies, terrorists could use a less expensive, low-tech approach to create the same destructive power. "Any nation with even a 1940s technology base could make them," says Carlo Kopp, an Australian-based expert on high-tech warfare. "The threat of E-bomb proliferation is very real." POPULAR MECHANICS estimates a basic weapon could be built for $400.

An Old Idea Made New

The theory behind the E-bomb was proposed in 1925 by physicist Arthur H. Compton--not to build weapons, but to study atoms. Compton demonstrated that firing a stream of highly energetic photons into atoms that have a low atomic number causes them to eject a stream of electrons. Physics students know this phenomenon as the Compton Effect. It became a key tool in unlocking the secrets of the atom.

Ironically, this nuclear research led to an unexpected demonstration of the power of the Compton Effect, and spawned a new type of weapon. In 1958, nuclear weapons designers ignited hydrogen bombs high over the Pacific Ocean. The detonations created bursts of gamma rays that, upon striking the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, released a tsunami of electrons that spread for hundreds of miles. Street lights were blown out in Hawaii and radio navigation was disrupted for 18 hours, as far away as Australia. The United States set out to learn how to "harden" electronics against this electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and develop EMP weapons.

America has remained at the forefront of EMP weapons development. Although much of this work is classified, it's believed that current efforts are based on using high-temperature superconductors to create intense magnetic fields. What worries terrorism experts is an idea the United States studied but discarded--the Flux Compression Generator (FCG).

A Poor Man's E-Bomb

An FCG is an astoundingly simple weapon. It consists of an explosives-packed tube placed inside a slightly larger copper coil, as shown below. The instant before the chemical explosive is detonated, the coil is energized by a bank of capacitors, creating a magnetic field. The explosive charge detonates from the rear forward. As the tube flares outward it touches the edge of the coil, thereby creating a moving short circuit. "The propagating short has the effect of compressing the magnetic field while reducing the inductance of the stator [coil]," says Kopp. "The result is that FCGs will produce a ramping current pulse, which breaks before the final disintegration of the device. Published results suggest ramp times of tens of hundreds of microseconds and peak currents of tens of millions of amps." The pulse that emerges makes a lightning bolt seem like a flashbulb by comparison.

An Air Force spokesman, who describes this effect as similar to a lightning strike, points out that electronics systems can be protected by placing them in metal enclosures called Faraday Cages that divert any impinging electromagnetic energy directly to the ground. Foreign military analysts say this reassuring explanation is incomplete.

The India Connection

The Indian military has studied FCG devices in detail because it fears that Pakistan, with which it has ongoing conflicts, might use E-bombs against the city of Bangalore, a sort of Indian Silicon Valley. An Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis study of E-bombs points to two problems that have been largely overlooked by the West. The first is that very-high-frequency pulses, in the microwave range, can worm their way around vents in Faraday Cages. The second concern is known as the "late-time EMP effect," and may be the most worrisome aspect of FCG devices. It occurs in the 15 minutes after detonation. During this period, the EMP that surged through electrical systems creates localized magnetic fields. When these magnetic fields collapse, they cause electric surges to travel through the power and telecommunication infrastructure. This string-of-firecrackers effect means that terrorists would not have to drop their homemade E-bombs directly on the targets they wish to destroy. Heavily guarded sites, such as telephone switching centers and electronic funds-transfer exchanges, could be attacked through their electric and telecommunication connections.

Knock out electric power, computers and telecommunication and you've
destroyed the foundation of modern society. In the age of Third World-sponsored terrorism, the E-bomb is the great equalizer. In the 1980s, the Air Force tested E-bombs that used cruise-missile delivery systems.

ISIS report - 20/02/03

Chronicle of An Ecological Disaster Foretold see under:

http://www.idealist.org/ip/idealist?MATERIALS_ID=80931&ORG_ID=91768&LANGUAGE
=en&MODULE=MATERIALS&COMPONENT=MaterialsViewer&SID=100a4fe66c2b17ec0d7941c0b2755774
or
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/CEDF.php

A must read