{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-0002","number":"0002","name":"Karen Johnston","organization":"","posted":"2026-09-21T04:00Z","received":"2026-09-21T04:00Z","body":"I am submitting this from Scotland, UK, because in April 2020, around the time two 5G masts were installed close to our home, both my son and I experienced a dramatic deterioration in our health.\nMy change was extreme. I went from having lifelong health problems that I had largely managed to experiencing severe neurological and autonomic symptoms. I struggled to walk, lost control and function on my left side, developed bladder-control problems, could not remain upright and at times struggled to hold a conversation. I also became aware of a persistent humming-type noise.\nI am not presenting the timing alone as proof that RF exposure caused this. I am reporting what happened to us and asking why it happened, and whether people with particular underlying biological vulnerabilities could be more susceptible to environmental exposures, including RF/EMF.\nWhat makes my experience particularly relevant is what was discovered afterwards. I was eventually diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS), Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS), Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), ADHD and autism.\nBefore these conditions were recognised, many of my symptoms had instead been attributed to fibromyalgia, Functional Neurological Disorder, EUPD and body dysmorphia. There was no joined-up explanation for what was happening throughout my body.\nMy son has also experienced significant health problems. We had both experienced health difficulties throughout our lives, but these had been considerably more manageable before this period. The deterioration around 2020 was different and significant enough that I began questioning whether something in our environment had changed.\nI was so concerned about the sudden change in our health and environment that I raised it at the time with my GP, local political and council representatives, and even contacted environmental campaigner Erin Brockovich. These were not concerns I developed retrospectively; I was actively reporting them while this was happening.\nThere is another observation I believe is important to record. I had the smart meter removed from our home nearly two years ago. Since its removal, neither my son nor I has required an ambulance to be called to our home. Before its removal, our health episodes had been severe enough for ambulance assistance to be required. I cannot say that removing the smart meter caused this change, but the timing is significant enough that I believe it deserves investigation alongside our other RF/EMF exposures.\nI have also had concerns about mould and Aspergillus exposure. Blood testing has included IgE and IgG findings relating to mould/Aspergillus exposure, and I continue to have concerns about mould in my environment.\nThis raises a wider question that I believe deserves investigation: are environmental exposures being studied together rather than independently? I would particularly like to see research examining RF/EMF alongside damp and mould, indoor air quality and other environmental stressors.\nI would also like research to look specifically at potentially susceptible groups. Are people with mast-cell disorders, dysautonomia/PoTS, connective-tissue disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and autism being separately examined when RF/EMF health effects are assessed?\nMy experience cannot establish causation, but I believe the pattern is important enough to investigate: a substantial deterioration affecting two members of the same household around a period of environmental change, followed by another notable change in our experience after the smart meter was removed.\nI have extensive medical documentation covering my symptoms, subsequent diagnoses and environmental concerns. I would be willing for my experience and records to contribute to properly designed research into these questions.\nI am asking HHS to investigate whether there are vulnerable subgroups whose responses may be missed when population-level results are averaged together, and whether combinations of environmental exposures could matter.\nKaren Johnston\nScotland, United Kingdom","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-0002","tags":["child-development","health-experiences","exposure-places","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"b61ea2bb6dda3d895376273d03c47a332a5a0178b9e542187717be072349910c","slug":"child-development-comment-0002","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-0002","body_sha256":"1bebce0b34b619c3840fe17799764860ed9180cac538aac05f1f04d85059a5db","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"research","topics":[{"id":"research","evidence":"I am asking HHS to investigate whether there are vulnerable subgroups whose responses may be missed when population-level results are averaged together, and whether combinations of environmental exposures could matter."},{"id":"children","evidence":"Are people with mast-cell disorders, dysautonomia/PoTS, connective-tissue disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD and autism being separately examined when RF/EMF health effects are assessed?"},{"id":"neurological","evidence":"experiencing severe neurological and autonomic symptoms"},{"id":"smart-meters","evidence":"I had the smart meter removed from our home nearly two years ago."},{"id":"environment","evidence":"research examining RF/EMF alongside damp and mould, indoor air quality and other environmental stressors."},{"id":"infrastructure","evidence":"around the time two 5G masts were installed close to our home"}],"summary":"Reports a marked deterioration in her and her son’s health around changes in nearby wireless infrastructure, and a later change after smart-meter removal. Asks HHS to study susceptible subgroups and combined environmental exposures. She explicitly states that the timing does not establish causation.","reviewed_at":"2026-09-22T00:49:16Z","review_method":"ChatGPT source-text review, September 22, 2026","review_source_sha256":"d8e694f2389ea7a7eef87033dfae2a266b8437f8db61414fc9937a59a9220357","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["research","children","neurological","smart-meters","environment","infrastructure"],"primary_topic":"research","forum_title":"Reports a marked deterioration in her and her son’s health around changes in nearby wireless infrastructu…"}