the next big G.

It’s such a massive subject but for those who aren’t aware of what EMF’s are, can you please give a background?

Laura: Sure, so in basic terms there is the electromagnetic spectrum that encompasses a wide variety of electromagnetic frequencies called EMF’s that are both natural and man-made. Some we can’t live without such as the earth’s magnetic field and visible light such as sunshine, they are essential to human health. Visible light helps us with our melatonin and circadian rhythms and ultraviolet radiation gives us our Vitamin D, however it’s the man-made frequencies that are posing some health risks.

Most people know that ionising EMF’s, the ones that encompass x-rays and radioactive substances can be dangerous, however it’s the non-ionising part of the spectrum which is the low frequency radiation that is a cause for debate. These are the radio waves that emit from mobile phones, Wi-Fi, smart meters etc. Over the last 20 years there has been a massive increase in wireless devices on the market and we’ve become surrounded by this electro smog. Yes technology has brought us a lot of ease and convenience, but our exposure to EMF’s has increased and the concern is what is this doing to our health?

True, and it’s now become a necessity for everyday tasks such as banking, communications and work. I even have to use an app to order my daughters sandwich from the school tuck shop! It seems we have no choice, so do we really be concerned?

Laura: All these wireless devices be it your phone, iPad, laptop they all communicate by transmitting radiowaves to connect to a signal to a nearby Wi-Fi router or phone tower. These radio waves are basically a pulsed radiation every few seconds and they’re constant, they’re always there and it’s this intensity of pulsed radiation surrounding us which is of growing concern to scientists. What impact is it having on our immune system, our bodies, or even at a cellular level?

There’s a percentage of our population who are known to be hypersensitive, they have what’s called electro hyposensitivity and these people suffer extreme symptoms from being around radio frequencies or emf’s. They can suffer from fatigue, headaches, nose bleeds, tinnitus, the list goes on.

So, should we be concerned? Yes. We know it can have a real impact on people’s health, and for the majority of us it is having some degree of impact. The main concern is those people in our society who are more at risk such as the elderly, pregnant women and children in particular.

Yes I worry about the children as they’re still growing, their brains are developing and their bodies already have to deal with a lot more environmental stress.

Laura: Certainly children for a start are having lifelong exposure to such high levels of radiation and we don’t yet know what impact that will have, but what we do know is that children’s skulls are thinner and they absorb radiation quicker. They’re still growing, and their cells are reproducing faster so if a cancerous cell is present it could multiply quicker and tumours can develop quicker, so there’s a much graver concern about children using mobile phones and wireless devices. Obviously with pregnant women it’s the effects on her unborn foetus during pregnancy that are of concern.

It also seems like there’s a lot of conflicting information. I see research papers that warn of the detrimental impact, but then I find another report that says there’s not enough evidence, so no wonder society isn’t really taking this seriously because we are being told different things, it’s hard to know what to believe..

Laura: Yes its difficult and some of the problems come from the studies themselves, you have to look into who’s funding the study for a start. According to Dr Henry Lai from the University of Washington, 70% of the independently-funded studies showed a biological effect from radio-frequency radiation as opposed to 32% of industry-funded studies.

You really need to look at the test cases as sometimes they may only test the lowest risk people and they might only run the study for 5 years, whereas the risk comes after 10 years. So it’s very hard to navigate, we really need more independent scientific research.

There can be so many variables too. We’ve all got different lives, different demands, different interests, living in different areas and different homes, so it must be hard to run a study. Also, if it does impact someone’s health it may present differently as inflammation presents itself in different ways so how can you truly relate that to EMF? I think it must be the load, the way we live today is just overloaded. The phone usage guidelines might say there’s nothing to worry about, but does it consider all the other things we’re loading up on during the day?

Laura: Exactly, there have been a lot of studies, for example in 2015 two hundred independent scientists appealed the UN for some stricter guidelines around exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Some countries such as Sweden and Israel are taking precautionary measures, and certainly schools are looking for hard wired options rather than Wi-Fi. That’s where we are behind in Australia, our safety standards are 100 to 1000 times worse than those in some of the European countries.

We go by the safety standards of a government agency responsible for radiation protection, now those standards are based on the international commission of non-ionising radiations protection (INRP) which were founded in 1995/96 are based on the short term effects of heating from radiation exposure, which is really not applicable to what we are seeing today which is long term exposure to low frequency radiation. There just hasn’t been studies to show it’s safe.

It’s like the precautionary principle has gone out the window!

Laura: Exactly.

And now there’s free Wi-Fi at shopping centres, at the airport, in public spaces.. we really can’t get away from it these days.

Laura: Absolutely and that’s the concern for families. They may hardwire or switch off Wi-Fi at night, avoid getting smart meters, they might do all of these precautionary things yet they have neighbours who will have the Wi-Fi or smart meters and if 5G comes there’s going to be a lot more cell towers around, so potentially we will be surrounded with no choice.

Yes I was going to ask as I don’t have Wi-Fi in my home but my neighbour does, so I share her internet to run everything, so even if I wanted to switch it off I can’t. We’re surrounded in our neighbourhoods and we all need Wi-Fi. So what can we do?

Laura: All we can do is reduce our exposure where we can, so obviously distance is the key. It is still important to take some easy measures in your own home such as disconnecting your Wi-Fi router at night. It’s such a simple thing to do and get in the habit because it’s emitting in your home while you sleep. Always turn off any devices, don’t have phones charging next to your bed, put every device on flight mode or switch them off at night and keep them out of the bedroom. Avoid using baby monitors, as much as they’re convenient, they’re another way of transmitting EMF’s.

I was listening to a podcast this morning where they mentioned baby monitors linked to an increase in childhood cancers and illness. Do you believe there could be some links?

Laura: When we think of health effects from electromagnetic radiation we tend to think more about WiFi and mobile phones but there are other, surprising sources of EMR and a wireless baby monitor is one such example. It could indeed all be linked, so the best thing to do is be as informed and aware as possible.

I saw a video that showed thermal imaging of a phone being held to the head and how quickly it heats the brain up.

Laura: And it happens a lot quicker to the younger ones, so that absorption and heat in an adult would almost double for a child in the same amount of time. So the best thing to do is not put your phone to your head whilst talking. Again, there are ways to avoid this such as using the speaker phone or air tube headsets for calls. You can also get anti-radiation cases that will block 99% of radiation. So that’s a very important way you can reduce exposure because we all have mobiles now, and our kids are getting mobiles younger and they need to be educated on 1. the potential harmful effects and 2. how to use it safely and put the phone on airplane mode when not using it. These days mobile phone companies include RF exposure information in their manuals and in their Settings apps explaining how the testing of the phone is carried out and at what distance from the body it was found to be safe. This is usually around 5mm from the body. They also provide advice as to how to reduce exposure to RF (radio frequencies).

So they’re covering themselves?

Laura: It appears that way. The EMF/mobile phone health debate has been compared many times to the tobacco and asbestos industry examples of the 20th century.

I was reading that asbestos and tobacco took almost 100 years to indicate it might be harmful, so we really don’t know yet what we’re stepping into.

Laura: That’s the real concern here. The first medical reports linking smoking to lung cancer actually began to appear in the 1920s but it took the best part of the rest of last century to fight the tobacco industry to make the necessary changes to protect public health.

You mentioned earlier about all the cell towers going up. I spot them everywhere now (although they try to disguise them) and I feel quite concerned, especially the ones going up next to houses.

Laura: Yes how tragic, and the problem is, they can do it.

How far does the radiation frequency transmit? I read it’s about 16km?

Laura: Yes.. but the problem we now face is the rollout of 5G, which uses higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths. These shorter wavelengths are unable to travel as far or go through objects, so instead of having a few larger phone towers around, the 5G network will require thousands of small cell antennas which will potentially be placed on street signs, lamp posts, schools and every street corner.

They’re just looking at the empty space on that radio frequency spectrum, so they’ll have free bandwidth to support more devices, more technology and faster download speeds, that’s the reason for 5G. It’s hard for the 3G and 4G networks to keep up with all these emerging technologies and keep the speeds without time lags etc. 5G is going to use the millimetre wave and we’ve heard it could be anywhere from around 24ghz up to 300ghz which we’ve never been exposed to before. It’s very concerning.

Have there been any trials?

Laura: No, there’s a lot of action groups now for stopping 5G and one of the main concerns is the fact that they haven’t done any of the safety testing and they’re still rolling it out.

How much progress have they made in Australia?

Laura: I believe it’s coming to most places and certainly 5G networks are being used by Optus and Telstra.

So it’s already rolled out?

Laura: We know certain towers have already been switched on – mainly in the cities such as Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. Recently we’ve received calls from people who have had no health issues previously, they were happy at work then suddenly began experiencing issues they’ve never had before, such as headaches, ringing in ears, tingling skin and unable to focus. This is a month or two after the 5G towers were switched on. I just think there’s going to be more and more cases where people start to feel the effects.

So these frequencies, although we cannot see or hear them, they could well be compromising our natural attunement to the planet?

Laura: This frequency is not in tune with our bodies at all. It’s causing an immune response and its affecting the function of our cells our tissues our hormones our brain activity, there’s many biological effects from these EMF’s.

No wonder we’re rushing around these days. I feel like I’m always “on” always buzzing. We’re probably not getting the best recharging sleep anymore either as we’re continually surrounded by this technology. I certainly notice a difference in frequency when I step out of the city and into nature.

Laura: Absolutely. And that’s the thing, our bodies are designed to be in tune with mother nature. The earth has its own frequency and that’s what our bodies really need, they don’t want all these man-made frequencies bombarding and throwing off our serotonin, melatonin and cortisol production. Once our hormone cycle is messed up that starts to affect everything including sleep.

And people sleep with monitors and sleep trackers on their arm! We’re hooked up 24/7.

Laura: Like I said it’s important to get out in nature when you can and relieve the bodynof stress, that’s part of the earthing research. The earth is a potent painkiller, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, stress reliever. It’s like a giant battery that circulates the sun with a limitless reservoir of electrons, so its negatively charged.

These electrons are replenished by the sun, lightening and the molten core and they vibrate at different frequencies giving our land masses and ocean a negative charge. This charge is what keeps our global life humming in rhythm and balance for everything that lives on the land – the animals, plants, humans they all have a constant electrical connection to the earth and its frequency.

Unfortunately we’ve disconnected from this charge because we rarely walk outside barefoot anymore, we mostly live and work above the ground going from home to office, we wear synthetic soled shoes made from plastic rubber that insulate us compared to animal hide that was once used allowing the Earths energy to go into our body.

So, in a sense we’ve lost those important electrical roots which has impacted our health. Inflammation has increased and that’s thought to be part of the reason for the increase in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s. If we simply just earthed ourselves more outdoors this would be amazing for our bodies. The electrons from the earth act like an antioxidant that help combat inflammation as well as maintaining our bioelectrical bodies, our rhythms and hormones.

What if you’re stuck indoors in an office daily?

Laura: In an office situation where you’re surrounded with ambient voltage from computers and printers you can earth yourself at your desk with an earthing product. This will bring your body voltage back down to what it would be if you were stood outside. You can test this with a multimetre.

So basically you can hack the outdoors!

Laura: Absolutely. There are other simple products like the earth strap that you can put on your shoes for a grounding connection, so when you walk on conductive surfaces e.g. concrete, dirt, grass you’re connected to the Earths energy. This is another way of cheating the earths system and getting those electrons through the body.

That’s great because our lives don’t always lend themselves to being outdoors but if there’s a way around it through these simple hacks then that’s a bonus. So with grounding do we need to take our shoes off and stand on the grass or is walking in nature sufficient?

Laura: Any bare skin contact with the earth is recommended. Research has shown that we need 30-40 minutes contact to receive a beneficial charge.

I’ve also found sleeping earthed at night time to be the most effective way of getting benefits because you’re in a resting recuperating state and it’s a long period where your body can uptake those electrons, it’ll even out your circadian levels and lower your cortisol levels so generally people will experience a deeper more refreshing sleep. To me earthing is a preventative medicine and something we really need to incorporate in our lives.

And its easy as well.

Laura: Absolutely and enjoyable, who doesn’t want to be outside in nature?

Yes, I’d rather be outdoors than have to take a pill.

Laura: It literally does transform people’s health. People who are suffering long term injury or pain will notice a huge difference from earthing. All of those inflammatory type illnesses we receive great testimonials and feedback. Electro hypersensitive people will also find that earthing greatly helps them.

What’s your take home message?

Laura: Try not to get overwhelmed with fear, we all want to use our devices and they’re not going away soon. I’d suggest considering ways to reduce your family’s exposure and teach your children how to use their technology safely. Get them into good habits from when they’re young and do what you can to spend as much time as possible in nature.