Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Matt Fisken, a freelance energy adviser and permaculturist who lives in Hartford.
A number of Richmond residents have found themselves facing an uphill battle on their home turf as they join dozens of Vermont communities who have previously wrangled with wireless development over the past couple of decades. The push by carriers to erect new towers and install cellular panel antennas in close proximity to homes is nothing new, but it is time for us all to start caring how this mode of “progress” is taking its toll.
Not too long ago, mobile telephone companies were in the business of providing a basic service for people in emergencies and for professionals and tradespeople who absolutely required on-the-go communications. Because the phones themselves were more powerful and very few people had them, the towers could be fairly sparse. Before long, visitors to the Green Mountains found the predictable level service they experienced back home would dissipate as soon as they went skiing or sought out our prized foliage and they began asking their service providers for a more robust network. This poor performance was partially a function of the newer, smaller, and less powerful versions of phones which people loved because they could easily fit inside their purses, pockets or bras.
Now, the vast majority of Vermonters have joined the chorus singing “We need better cell service!” It’s no mystery that the transition from first and second generation voice-only (1G and 2G) phones to Internet-ready devices with countless data-intensive “apps” has caused bandwidth demands to go through the roof and companies to respond by redoubling their efforts to deploy infrastructure. What is poorly understood is how the ubiquity of cell phone signals is making each individual call that much harder to remain connected due to radio interference. Now that everyone is at the party, it has become much harder to talk to the person standing right next to you.
Folks who have been unfortunate enough to discover a wireless telecommunications facility planned or already placed in their backyards with little or no warning have few options due to a 17-year-old federal law called the Telecommunications Act (TCA) of 1996. Buried within this massive law is a tiny clause which pre-empts states and municipalities from opposing wireless transmitters based on the “environmental effects of [radio frequency] emissions.”
In plain English, Section 704 of the act gives wireless service providers the right to build virtually anywhere they want, regardless of the dozens of health effects that can be induced by microwave radiation, which constantly emanates from these towers. While emissions vary depending on the directionality of the “main beams,” the energy can be significant and measurable a mile or more away. If a planning board, in denying a permit, indicates any concerns about the wellbeing of the community near a proposed site, the municipality can be sued by the carrier, who will always prevail simply by citing Section 704 of the TCA.
This dystopian scenario was created through copious campaign contributions by the wireless industry to Congress and President Clinton leading up to the TCA’s passing, combined with telecom-funded “research” finding “no conclusive evidence of harm” from cellular technology. Lastly, the safety “guidelines” that were set by the Federal Communications Commission years before cell phones were common only consider “thermal effects” of RF radiation.
These tiny screens appear to be reducing attention spans and putting unnecessary stress on family ties, while some scientists and doctors suspect exploding levels of “electrosmog” is a contributor to the growing autism epidemic and is probably causing other cognitive impairments and learning disabilities too.
This year, only a handful of eyebrows were raised by the appointment and approval of the former Cellphone Trade Industry Association’s Chief Tom Wheeler to head the FCC, replacing Obama’s Harvard Law classmate Julius Genachowski. While the CTIA is technically a nonprofit, it lobbies for an industry that has seen its revenue balloon from $27.4 billion in 1997 to $185 billion in 2012, thanks in large part to the TCA. [link] It should be noteworthy that Mr. Wheeler helped raise nearly $190,000 to help re-elect President Obama in 2012. [link]
Some thinkers are questioning the value of all this handheld technology and are looking seriously at the impacts it is having on our culture. A recent study at the University of Maryland found that cell phone use is making us more selfish and less “socially minded.” [link] In a conversation with Bill Moyers, M.I.T. professor Sherry Turkle discussed the relatively sudden shift our society has made toward avoiding genuine and compassionate interactions in exchange for digital modes of “socializing.” [link] These tiny screens appear to be reducing attention spans and putting unnecessary stress on family ties, while some scientists and doctors suspect exploding levels of “electrosmog” is a contributor to the growing autism epidemic [link] and is probably causing other cognitive impairments and learning disabilities too.
In 1971, the Naval Medical Research Institute published a document titled “Bibliography of Reported Biological Phenomena (‘Effects’) and Clinical Manifestations Attributed to Microwave and Radio-Frequency Radiation” which references more than 2,300 studies and lists dozens of symptoms and ailments associated with these types of exposures. This document is hosted on a government website for anyone to download and read. [link]
It is quite possible that some of this knowledge in the NMRI report was the indirect result of experiments carried out by the CIA under the project code name “MK Ultra” during the 1950s and ’60s, when unwitting U.S. citizens and military personnel were exposed to a wide range of agents, including radiation, chemicals and psychedelic substances. It is known that Theodore Kaczynski (AKA: The Unabomber) was an early subject of these stressful tests during his years at Harvard, before going on an 17-year-long mail bombing spree that ended in 1996 with his apprehension. [link]
Then, there is the D.C. Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis who claimed to have been exposed to and had awareness of a modern-day version of non-lethal electromagnetic weaponry. [link] The initial FBI report asserts Alexis was simply “delusional” and denies that the United States has ever had any program that attempted to control or pacify people with electromagnetic frequencies, but this brief report is certainly not telling the whole story. [link] While the unconscionable actions of these men effectively discredited the messages they wished to communicate, it is possible that the trauma they experienced at the hands of their “controllers” prevented them from acting rationally in the face of what they viewed to be a cold, calculated assault on themselves and humanity.
Eerily mirroring the real-life tragedy of Sept. 16, 2013, is a 2003 made-for-TV movie starring Adam Baldwin and Elizabeth Berkley, which depicts a man entering an office building with a shotgun concealed in a duffle bag. He proceeds to kill numerous people before his weapon jams and he is shot by a security guard. It is revealed that the shooter was previously involved in a government program to experiment on and control the minds of the city’s population using the vast network of cell towers placed on nearly every rooftop. Despite its awful acting and frequent forays into the realms of ridiculousness, a number of important concepts are presented to the discerning viewer including the symptomatology, measurability, and avoidability of microwave radiation exposure. [link]
Even after considering the decades of research, evidence and testimony by unbiased scientists, government agencies and non-government organizations, as well as the stream of reports by citizens who have found their health steadily decline after a cell tower goes up near their home or workplace, it’s incredibly difficult to imagine that our collective rush to go wireless could be such a serious problem. However, it wasn’t long ago that cigarette smoking was almost universally viewed to be glamorous and actually promoted by doctors. [link] Even the admirable Dr. Seuss — best known for his environmental parable, “The Lorax” — got his start illustrating ads for Standard Oil and Flit, a DDT-based insecticide. [link]
I believe we are witnessing mass cognitive dissonance here in Vermont and around the globe — aided by the psychologically numbing effects of the radiation we would prefer to ignore — abetted by those who stand to profit most from the planned obsolescence of the devices — and enabled by the men and women we’ve elected to represent us and trusted to protect us. While it may be too late to reverse this modern-day “tragedy of the commons,” there is no law in the universe preventing us as individuals from learning about “microwave sickness” [link] or how to protect our families from these increasing, insidious exposures. [link]
