{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1825","number":"1825","name":"Janet Menage","organization":"","posted":"2026-10-07T04:00Z","received":"2026-10-07T04:00Z","body":"Living with an intolerance to wireless technology (including the author) (*)\n\nAn increasing number of people live with the difficulties incurred by intolerance to the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) generated by wireless technology. This ubiquitous ‘Electrosmog’ surrounds us all on a daily basis.\n\nEMF expert Dr. Magda Havas estimates that 35% of the population now struggles with symptoms related to exposure to radiofrequency microwaves from wireless devices, such as wi-fi, smartphones, tablets, smartmeters, and mobile phone masts, with 3-10% of people being “hypersensitive” – termed Electrical Hypersensitivity, EHS.\n\nSymptoms include: fatigue, headache, insomnia, irritability, lack of concentration (brainfog), cardiac arrhythmias, tinnitus, low mood and other physical and neuropsychiatric effects (1).\n\nHistorically, it was thought to be a type of Microwave Sickness (2).\n\nIn addition to tinnitus, there can be unilateral, high frequency hearing loss on the side of mobile phone use (3).\n\nMechanisms include effects on the blood and autonomic nervous system leading to enhanced sympathetic response and downgraded parasympathetic response (ie. ‘fight or flight’) (4) (5).\n\nThe WHO radioprotection programme multi-national study on the effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure on cancer in laboratory animals revealed a high certainty of evidence for gliomas, malignant heart schwannomas, and moderate for lung carcinomas, phaeochromocytomas and hepatoblastomas (6).\n\nThe WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) designated EMFs a Class IIB carcinogen in 2011, but, following further evaluation, there is now sufficient evidence to reclassify it as a Class I carcinogen – ie similar to tobacco and asbestos (7).\n\nAlthough there exists an ICD-10 code (W90) for exposure to non-ionising radiofrequency radiation, the medical profession often appears unwilling to consider this as a possible environmental trigger for illness in their patients (8). One helpful clue is that patients have sometimes noted that their symptoms are associated with EMF exposure (eg using a mobile phone). They then feel well when away from the device but feel ill again on re-exposure (9),\n\nSometimes EHS sufferers are not taken seriously and there have been cases where the patient has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act for describing such an attribution of their symptoms (10).\n\nOne might wonder whether irrational acts such as driving into crowds of pedestrians might be influenced by driver irritability from exposure to high levels of in-vehicle wireless technology (11).\n\nWhilst not universally medically recognised, EHS is a real, biological phenomenon, not a nocebo reaction. And as doctors we all remember the misclassification of CFS/ME as “all in the head”.\n\nIntolerance to RF EMFs occurs not only in radiofrequency radiation workers and the military, but also the general public, who are increasingly surrounded by pulsed, polarised electromagnetic radiation at work, school and home (12).\n\nIndeed, the Swedish government has funded shielding in hospitals for patients so affected (13).\n\nLet us hope that medical profession is now willing to educate itself on this topic so as to be better able to serve patients. Since ample, good science is available (14) (15), there is no longer any excuse to passively accept the platitudes of the communications industry based on outdated, thermal standards.\n\n(1)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891061815000599?via%...)\n\n(2) https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-abstract/51/1/66/1422266?redirec...\n\n(3) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3918279/\n\n(4) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24192494/\n\n(5)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S019701861830634X?...\n\n(6)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412025002338\n\n(7)https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30196934/\n\n(8) https://icd.who.int/browse10/2019/en#/W85-W99\n\n(9) https://www.onedaymd.com/2023/07/the-unsettling-rise-of-microwave.html\n\n(10) Personal communication\n\n(11) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn5xnlkegz0t\n\n(12) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17178584/\n\n(13) https://www.eiwellspring.org/ehs/HospitalAccommodationsOfEHSPatientsInSw...\n\n(14) https://bioinitiative.org/research-summaries/\n\n(15) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7139347/\n\n(*) https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1288/rr-1\n\n\nDr Janet Menage M.A. M.B. Ch.B.\nGP (retired), Wales, UK\n ","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1825","tags":["cancer-tumors","health-experiences","sleep-cognition","exposure-places","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"b036c31ce60fb2b2a07f69736fd1e6034c68b164a31d819143a75a8aed570ff4","slug":"cancer-tumors-comment-1825","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1825","body_sha256":"a65f5bbb3178c067721718e1d9de5270902e6855dfc44f34fc426507429a94e8","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"ehs","topics":[{"id":"ehs","evidence":"0% of people being “hypersensitive” – termed Electrical Hypersensitivity, EHS.\n\nSymptoms include: fatigue, headache, insomnia, "},{"id":"neurological","evidence":", EHS.\n\nSymptoms include: fatigue, headache, insomnia, irritability, lack of concentration (brainfog), cardi"},{"id":"cardiac","evidence":"itability, lack of concentration (brainfog), cardiac arrhythmias, tinnitus, low mood and other physical and neuropsychi"},{"id":"cancer","evidence":"on Cancer (IARC) designated EMFs a Class IIB carcinogen in 2011, but, following further evaluation, there is n"},{"id":"mechanisms","evidence":"\nMechanisms include effects on the blood and autonomic nervous system leading to enhanced sympathetic response and downgrade"},{"id":"research","evidence":"pe that medical profession is now willing to educate itself on this topic so as to be better able to serve patient"},{"id":"access","evidence":".\n\nIndeed, the Swedish government has funded shielding in hospitals for patients so affected (13).\n\nLet us hope that medic"}],"summary":"A retired physician describes wireless intolerance, cites research and proposed mechanisms, argues for cancer reclassification, and requests medical recognition and better care for affected patients.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-07T16:33:06Z","review_method":"Complete published comment-body review; exact prior-reviewed body matches reuse source-supported reviews with each distinct official ID preserved. Attachments and external links not reviewed.","review_source_sha256":"ae7ccec04bc1f3087b32cd8b8719ea927374161f2c084e6c02e709c3c454f3c6","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["ehs","neurological","cardiac","cancer","mechanisms","research","access"],"primary_topic":"ehs","forum_title":"A retired physician describes wireless intolerance, cites research and proposed mechanisms, argues for ca…"}