A short history of exposure to radiation

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For millions of years there was hardly any change in the radiation pattern on earth. Life gradually etched itself onto the naturally fluctuating electromagnetism of the universe and the world.

Over the past 150 years, man-made, artificial radiation profoundly disrupted that balance. In this episode, we provide an overview of what happened and why this is a problem.

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1846. The world is in uproar: the discovery of electricity promises to revolutionise man and society. The fascination is such that people remain blind to the health implications of the novel technology.

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When early in the twentieth century Marconi starts testing the first high-power radio telegraphic antennas on the Isle of Wight, he and his wife fall gravely ill. As soon as he starts testing the new technology, he struggles with serious health problems and suffers several strokes. Shortly thereafter, the bees on the island start dropping dead. Astonished, biologists find that after a few weeks even newly introduced, healthy bee populations die out.

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During the First World War, radio use exploded. Thousands of antennas send enormous radio waves into the atmosphere. These upset a delicate balance that has ruled the earth for millions of years. Doctors suspect that exhaustion of soldiers is not just due to conditions at the front, but that the disease rate also has to do with the new technology.

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In the mid-1920s, Marie Curie discovered X-rays. An enormous step for medical science. Even shoemakers were fond of it. To make bespoke shoes, they used X-rays to better map the structure of the foot. Marie Curie will die of cancer and the so-called “shoe box” will be banned 30 years later. It took some time before people understood how harmful they were for health.

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The Second World War brings with it the introduction of radar. Powerful military tools continuously transmitting high-frequency signals. Already during the war, army doctors connect the strange new symptoms many soldiers suffer from, with the new technology. Still, it took until 1976 for the US Navy to compile 3,700 studies into a voluminous report. Those studies clearly point to biological and clinical effects of military radio and microwave technology. The resulting syndrome is called microwave sickness. Soldiers working with radar over longer stretches of time seem much more likely to develop cancer and other diseases.

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In 1968, during the Cold War, the US military started using GPS satellites. For the first time in history, humans surround the Earth with an unnatural electric field. The satellites are orbited in the Van Allen belts.

Doctors and scientists are beginning to link the growing number of wireless installations to  dizziness, heart disease, leukaemia, mental disorders and various chronic diseases.

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The 1980s mark the arrival of the digital revolution, the wireless home telephone and the household computer. Ten years later, the use of wireless technology explodes.

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The era of the mobile phone, smartphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G is dawning. Governments can’t keep up with it all. Regulations are as quickly outdated as they are introduced. As in the early years of electricity, critical voices are ignored.

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Meanwhile, thousands of reports point to the severe damage caused by the wireless revolution in humans, plants and animals. But the government doesn’t feel like paying attention to these warnings. Captured by industry, blinded by treasure revenues and by the economic progress it brings, most governments prefer to remain aloof to such reports.

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And so we arrive at the doorstep of 5G. In 2020, even the European Commission admits that no serious research has been done on the impact of this novel technology on health.  Yet it is forced upon all of us.

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At the onset of 2017, about 1,000 satellites orbited the Earth. By the end of 2019, this number had already doubled. Companies such as SpaceX, OneWeb, Google and Amazon are putting tens of thousands of communications satellites into orbit. China is also joining in. No one knows exactly what the impact will be. There are no rules. Everyone does what they feel like.

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Things are going way too fast. Hiding behind biassed science and captured scientists, industry and politics only care about money and the economy.

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Humans, plants and animals are electromagnetic beings. We have no mechanism to protect ourselves against wireless technology. The electromagnetic soup we live in today did not exist 150 years ago. In just a couple of generations it exploded by a factor ranging in the billions.

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If the government fails to protect us from all this, it is important to inform ourselves and, as much as we can, take protective measures.

In the next episode, we explain why especially at night it is important to limit exposure to wireless technology.

Slide 17: lawsuit

By contributing to our crowdfund, you can support our lawsuit against the Belgian Government and the EU. In this way we strive together for a low-radiation living environment for ourselves and for our kids.