Reports symptoms near smart meters, workplace towers and phone systems, improvement after relocation and …

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a patient and concerned member of the public. I first noticed symptoms of EMF emissions around 2013 when my electrical co-op installed smart meters for 4 adjoining townhouse units on the wall of my end unit outside my bedroom at the head of where my bed was located. I began experiencing sleep disturbances, headaches, and tinnitus that diminished when away from home and returned when at home. I would occasionally have dizzy spells. I had bouts of disorientation sometimes while driving usual routes. My doctor found no reasons for these symptoms. Between 2015 and 2018 I worked for a church which, unknown to me, had a cell tower hidden in their steeple. While working for them, I would experience tinnitus and headaches at work and began to have more frequent dizzy spells at work and home. On occasion, I had severe attacks of vertigo and nausea at work that required medication and time off from work. I suffered something like a mini-stroke that resulted in awakening to severe disorientation one morning. My doctor found no heart conditions, clotting issues, or hypertension issues. After learning of the cell tower at work in 2018, I began to suspect EMF could be causing my symptoms. I quit that job and moved to a more rural part of the state to avoid the growing number of cell towers near my condo. My symptoms decreased and I bought an EMF meter to monitor my home environment. I hard-wired my computer, and eliminated all wifi from my house. My symptoms have improved significantly. I still suffer from bleed over from my neighbors’ wi-fi and from the power lines running in front of my house. I recently spent about 2 ½ hours shopping in 3 adjacent stores within 200 yards of a newly installed cell tower and suffered the first severe bout of vertigo and nausea since leaving my job at the church with a cell tower. Since moving, I have worked at two different jobs requiring constant communication over VoiP phone systems causing constant tinnitus and headaches. I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. The biological effects should be studied without limit to thermal effects. I would like to see ELF become an additional priority as the magnetic fields from power lines increase my symptoms as much as RF. With data centers bringing increased need for more power and high-power lines being forced upon residential areas in nearby Virginia, I am deeply concerned about a growing cancer cluster among school children in that state just over the state line from me. The data centers also bring concerns about extremely low frequency effects on pollinators, farm animals and people. There is little existing research on these effects. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations—for example, those like me with autoimmune thyroid disease and Lyme disease--and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard.