A few months ago I noticed I was feeling tired and out of sorts all the time, writes Julia Stephenson.

 

I am well doctored to put it mildly – I probably consult more doctors than Woody Allen, who has separate screenings of his movies for his - and my frequent health checks discounted any serious malady.   Everyone is entitled to a hobby; mine just happens to be my health, and what a fascinating hobby it is.  Indeed friends say visiting my flat is like visiting the Mind, Body and Spirit exhibition – I have whole cupboards full of drops, vitamins and homeopathic remedies.  The whole flat rattles.

Fortunately help was at hand.  When at a loss for a diagnosis I visit a dowser who never fails to get to the root of any health problem.  It may sound crazy but who cares if it works – and her clientele, ranging from royals, celebrities and hypochondriacs like me, would be quite lost without her.  She insisted my problem was caused by 'electromagnetic smog' in my flat.

The problem is that our dependendence on office and communications equipment (mobile phones and the masts needed to power them, microwaves, computers and electrical equipment) also emit frequencies which can have a detrimental effect on our wellbeing.  Indeed my symptoms had begun soon after installing wireless technology in my sitting room. 

So I immediately turned off my wireless network and replaced it with broadband.  Wireless technology allows you to access emails and the internet anywhere in your living space.  It's very convenient but was obviously affecting my health.

There is much anecdotal evidence that WiFi technology is harmful. 

Within hours of the Swedish town of Götene activating their new WiMax (wireless) system the local hospital emergency services were receiving several calls from residents complaining of symptoms ranging from difficulty breathing, blurry vision and headaches to heart arrhythmia.  This could just be mass hysteria, but a few hours is an extremely short time for there to be any general knowledge that the WiMax had indeed been turned on.  Either this is a case of the general public conspiring together to prove a point, or a genuine health effect, which just happens to coincide with other health effects also attributed to low-power microwave radiation exposure.

Our bodies have a natural energy field around them; the US National Institute of Health has coined the phrase 'biofield' to describe it.  We are surrounded by a soup of electromagnetic smog all the time, whether we have wireless technology or not. 

However wireless technology, like GM crops and phone masts, is everywhere and its effects have no boundaries.  In essence, we live in an electro dictatorship.  Even if you haven't voted for this technology, by owning a mobile phone or using electrical equipment you will still suffer the same effects as those who do.  For example, although I've turned off my wireless access I can still tap in as my neighbours have it.

Research currently being carried out by the industry (with a vested interest in selling mobile phones), the government (who gain revenue from mobile operators) or at a snail's pace by academics asserts that mobile phone masts and electromagnetic pollution are not dangerous.  Despite the public's growing concern over the siting of masts close to schools and empirical evidence from residents who blame proximity to masts for a bewildering array of health problems, the Department of Health and the Mobile Operators Association insist that British masts conform to international safety standards.  A research group commissioned by the government funded Health Protection Agency reports 'Exposure levels from living near to mobile phone base stations are extremely low and the overall evidence indicates they are unlikely to pose a risk to health.'  The report goes on to say 'research has limitations and the possibility remains open that there could be health effects from exposure – hence continued research is needed.'

Many doctors are more forthright and are now convinced this powerful technology is storing up huge problems for our future health.  To date, 1,200 physicians in Germany (2000 worldwide) have signed a petition (the Freiburger Appeal) calling for severe restrictions on wireless technology because they are seeing such a dramatic increase in certain diseases and symptoms in their patients.  As Dr Nicole de Canha explains, 'any imbalance in our electromagnetic field creates a disturbance in cell structure and function, which can lead to illness in sensitive individuals.'

Pioneer in the field of bioelectromagnetics, Dr Robert 0 Becker, who wrote the book The Body Electric and was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, claims that electromagnetic pollution is the greatest threat to our environment, greater even than global warming. 

It's not just the usual suspects like mobile phones and microwaves that are the problem.  Even cordless hands-free home telephones, such a boon to multitaskers enabling one to patiently listen to friends and family for hours while cleaning cupboards, re-potting house plants and re-organising one's CD collection, are now off limits as their electrical force field is nearly as powerful as that of a mobile phone.  Since I'm now chained to a phone on a lead, my cupboards are filthy and my patio over grown.  But at least I'm less radioactive.
 
Far more sinister and difficult to avoid are mobile phone masts, which over the past 10 years have sprouted all over the country to power the mobile phones owned by over 75% of the UK population.  If you want to find out how close you live to a mast log on to www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk and type in your postcode.  The results may shock you - there are now 35,000 mobile phone masts in the UK and the chances are that several are in your immediate vicinity.

It's supposed you are never more than 10 feet away from a rat in London, but you may find yourself closer to a phone mast than a rodent.

Despite being implicated in a number of health problems – something that alarms parents of the 1 in 10 schools sited close to masts - these masts need no planning permission and are often disguised in trees, petrol stations, shop signs, even church steeples.  You probably wouldn't even notice them unless you were specifically looking.

For instance, the support pole for the golden angel weathervane on Guildford Cathedral is actually a mobile mast and supports several antennas. In return for using the site, which sits on a hilltop and is a coveted location, the angel was regilded.  It seems that even He can not offer protection from this insidious pollution.

Fortunately there are steps we can take to reduce the amount of electro smog we are subject to. 

Like many people I'm mobile dependent but I now use a  headset which delivers sound through an air-filled wireless tube (similar to a doctor's stethoscope).  Conventional headsets use wire to deliver sound the earpiece which may also deliver radiation directly to your head. 

You could also try the Q-Link pendant, which employs Sympathetic Resonance Technology that the makers claim 'repairs and tunes your biofield'.  According to Professor Kim Jobst, 'Q-Link is a safe and effective tool that helps guard the cells of the body against electromagnetic-field effects.'   Certainly, friends who wear a Q-Link report they feel healthier and more energetic although I must confess it had no effect on me at all.

The homeopathic medicine company, New Vistas, and the Australian flower essence company, Bush Flower Remedies, both make drops that reduce the amount of radiation stored in the body.  These, however, have had a noticeable effect on my wellbeing. 

But I've had the most beneficial effect from using an electromagnetic field protection unit which I have plugged into my wall at home.  This was created after years of research by scientist and homeopath Gary Johnson, a leader in the field of electromagnetic research.  Before I ordered the unit he sent me a map detailing 13 masts within a 5-minute walk of my flat. My area, and probably yours too, is pulsating with electromagnetic emissions.  Even in the distant countryside there is no escape – phone masts are being erected all the time to cope with the growing numbers of people owning mobile phones and using modern technology.  

The magnetic field protection unit claims to offer unlimited protection from any negative electromagnetic emissions in a 700 square metre radius.

Johnson has also developed a small unit, about the same size as a mobile phone, to carry around when you are outside the home to protect you against negative emissions.  My unit has been plugged in for a month now and I've noticed an improvement in my energy levels and I sleep much better.  Even my plants have perked up.

But we shouldn't have to invest in gadgets to guarantee what is a basic human right – pure air.  Water, food and air are essential to life.  While we have some control over the water we drink and the food we eat, we have barely any control over the quality of the air we breathe.  Already riddled with pollutants from cars and factory emissions, our air now faces an even more invidious threat from electro-smog.
 
Professor Leif Salford of Lund University, Sweden, who has been researching the effects of phones masts for 15 years reports that exposure to radiation emitted by mobile phones and masts can destroy cells in the parts of the brain responsible for memory, movement and learning.  He states that humankind's dependence on mobile phones is 'the world's largest biological experiment ever'.

Meanwhile our government obfuscates the truth, erecting masts slyly without the public's knowledge or consent.  For as yet no one really knows how high a price we will pay for our dependence on modern technology.

• Magnetic field protection boxes from £235 - www.subtlefieldtechnologies.com
• Q-Link pendants cost from £70 - www.QLinkworld.co.uk
• Mobile phone headsets – www.rf3now.com (also available from Sloane Health Shop, 27 Kings Road, SW3 – tel: 020 7730 7046)
• Bush Flower remedies, Electro essence - www.ausflowers.com.au 
  

And see this in The Independent!

• Germany warns citizens to avoid using WiFi

 

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