Dirty Electricity: scare or scam?

Oct. 10, 2010

There are several kinds of electromagnetic emissions that might be
called dirty electricity. There are microwave emissions from cell
phone towers, so you don’t want to live under one. There are the
electromagnetic fields emitted by electrical power lines, so you don’t
want to live under high-tension towers. There are electronic emissions
from cathode ray tubes, like you find in TVs and computer screens. And
of course there are radio waves, television transmissions and gamma
radiation from space. Feel bombarded yet?
Gee, you might wonder, could that hurt me?
Since our bodies are electrical, with our nerves, muscles, hearts and
brains activated and controlled by minute pulses of electricity, there
might be a risk from EMF radiation. But don’t turn your house into a
scene like the one in the film, “The Conversation,” in which the
paranoid protagonist stripped his home of all wiring and electrical
equipment, with no telephone or even a light switch.
So far, as medical science has determined, the EMF emissions in your
house wiring and in your toaster or microwave are so weak and have
such a short range that they are harmless. Nevertheless, there’s been
a wave of panic in some circles, fear that those power-saving electric
bulbs can ruin your health. You can find such anecdotal evidence on
the Internet.
It’s enough to make some people get rid of all those fluorescent power-
saving light bulbs, maybe not for the EMF, but at least for the
mercury they contain.
If the bulbs are harmful, I doubt if it’s the radiation, but the
effect of the 60-cycle pulse. There is an imperceptible flutter in the
light source that is believed by some to have a harmful effect on your
health, which is perhaps why some people who work all day under
fluorescent lighting get sick. But that’s from the flickering,
greenish light and probably not from EMF radiation.
It is true that cathode ray tubes, called CRTs, emit some electrons,
which is why you shouldn’t park your baby within six feet in front of
your old television set. The new flat screens are of a different
technology, with LED screens using relatively little electricity.
I have written before about the controversy about the radio radiation
from cell phones that might or might not cause brain tumors. The jury
is still out on this issue, but in Sweden where the health bureaucracy
is ultra careful, cell phone makers are required to indicate the level
of radiation emitted by those tiny transmitters and receivers in the
phones. And yes, it is not wise to keep your Blue Tooth earpiece on
all the time or to sleep with your cell phone under your pillow, kids,
in case you’re worried that you might miss a 3 a.m. text message.
There is such a thing as unnecessarily tempting fate.
There is a company cashing in on fears of EMF. It’s Graham-Stetzer, a
Canadian company that makes a slew of expensive gadgets to filter out
the “dirt” in dirty electricity. They recommend that you plug in about
eight of these around your average home. The price? You can buy a test
kit for $160. A power bar suitable for recreation rooms runs $99. To
do your whole house could cost around $800.
The Graham-Stetzer products look suspiciously like electronic gadgets
from the era of quack doctors. The claim is that they can filter out
those dangerous EMF rays. You be the judge.
Yes, EMF exists, whether you call it dirty electricity or not, but so
far, no reputable scientist has proved that the EMF in your household
wiring is harmful.
Frankly, I’ll stick with papering the walls and ceiling of my house
with aluminum foil to shield again certain levels of radiation. I
can’t go to the extreme of the copper-lined lab at Michigan
Technological University which shields test equipment from all outside
sources of radio and television signals. Let’s not go overboard on
this. And if you think aluminum walls and ceilings look tacky or
suggest that you are a nut case, you can always wallpaper over them.
If a Graham-Stetzer filter makes you happy, they’ll be glad to relieve
you of your money. As for other radiation, for going out of doors you
might want to line your hat with aluminum foil or wear a steel helmet
which can also give you some protection against meteorites. Everyone
is entitled to her own phobias.

Visit the web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs where you can listen to two
stories, read a third, read reviews, and find links to the publishers
of my books.