{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1267","number":"1267","name":"Dr. Alexandra Carswell Engle","organization":"","posted":"2026-09-30T04:00Z","received":"2026-09-30T04:00Z","body":"I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure.\n\nI am a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor, Medical Director and Owner of Regenerate Health Medical Center in Santa Barbara, California. Environmental medicine is an important part of my clinical work, and I have worked with patients who report symptoms affected or exacerbated by EMF and wireless radiation exposure.\n\nThis issue is also deeply personal to me.\n\nI am very sensitive to EMF and RF exposure. My concern developed through my own experience, my clinical work with patients, and years of continuing education and investigation into environmental exposures and their effects on human health.\n\nMy reactions can be immediate. When I am around high levels of RF exposure (measured in microwatts per square meter), including from cell towers, Wi-Fi, or prolonged cell phone use, I develop headaches. With longer exposure, I can experience dizziness and nausea.\n\nThese experiences have substantially changed how I live. I rarely leave my cell phone connected during the day. I turn it on when I need to check messages or use it for a specific purpose, then return it to airplane mode.\n\nMy family and I have also gone to considerable lengths to reduce exposure in our home. We use hardwired Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi and avoid Bluetooth and wireless devices. We use dirty electricity filters and an EMF kill switch so we do not sleep in an electrical field. Our solar panels were intentionally placed only over non-sleeping areas. We also use graphite-based shielding paint and EMF-blocking window film.\n\nThese choices require time, expense and planning. We make them because I can personally tell the difference.\n\nThat experience also affects how I practice medicine.\n\nAt Regenerate Health Medical Center, we take environmental exposures seriously when evaluating persistent or unexplained symptoms. We consider the environment in which a patient lives, sleeps, works and attempts to heal. I have encountered patients who report symptoms associated with EMF exposure or worsening of existing symptoms in higher-exposure environments. Their experiences deserve serious investigation rather than automatic dismissal.\n\nMy perspective is therefore both personal and clinical. I know what it is like to experience these symptoms myself, and I also know what it is like to sit across from patients describing similar concerns. When patients repeatedly report changes in symptoms associated with their environment, physicians should be encouraged to investigate those patterns, not taught to disregard them simply because our understanding of the exposure is incomplete.\n\nI am particularly concerned by how difficult these exposures are to control. People can filter their water, remediate mold or stop using a particular chemical. Wireless radiation can come from neighboring Wi-Fi, cellular infrastructure, smart meters, schools, workplaces and public spaces. Even inside your own home, substantially reducing exposure requires actively working against how modern technology is designed.\n\nHHS should take a serious and independent look at this issue.\n\nPeople reporting sensitivity to wireless radiation should be documented and studied. Clinicians observing patterns among environmentally sensitive patients should be heard. Research should examine potential biological effects beyond tissue heating and investigate chronic, cumulative, real-world exposure from multiple sources.\n\nI also urge HHS to investigate potentially susceptible populations, including children and people reporting electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and study whether reducing exposure is associated with measurable changes in symptoms, sleep, autonomic function and relevant biological markers.\n\nAs a physician, I want better answers for my patients. As someone who personally experiences symptoms with higher EMF exposure, I want those experiences taken seriously and investigated. And as someone whose family has gone to considerable lengths to create a lower-EMF home, I want Americans to retain the ability to make meaningful choices about their exposure.\n\nHHS has an opportunity to examine this question through the lens where it belongs: human health.\n\nPlease listen to patients, families, clinicians and researchers raising these concerns. Fund rigorous research reflecting modern exposure conditions, investigate those who report particular sensitivity, and give Americans better information and greater ability to make informed decisions about their exposure.\n\nThank you for giving those of us who have experienced this issue personally and clinically an opportunity to be heard.","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1267","tags":["child-development","health-experiences","sleep-cognition","exposure-places","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"baec95d072b9ef57d96ca600d7727144c0b6bab4609a8a8c336daeff3d153672","slug":"child-development-comment-1267","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1267","body_sha256":"63edb40f40148c5fc13a0fd95db663a33157346dff0e81c3b331594014576528","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"ehs","topics":[{"id":"ehs","evidence":"s issue is also deeply personal to me.\n\nI am very sensitive to EMF and RF exposure. My concern developed through my own e"},{"id":"neurological","evidence":"ches. With longer exposure, I can experience dizziness and nausea.\n\nThese experiences have substantially changed how I l"},{"id":"research","evidence":"ians and researchers raising these concerns. Fund rigorous research reflecting modern exposure conditions, investigate tho"},{"id":"children","evidence":"stigate potentially susceptible populations, including children and people reporting electromagnetic hypersensitivity,"},{"id":"wifi","evidence":"r square meter), including from cell towers, Wi-Fi, or prolonged cell phone use, I develop headaches. Wit"},{"id":"optical","evidence":"ngths to reduce exposure in our home. We use hardwired Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi and avoid Bluetooth and wireless dev"},{"id":"electricity","evidence":"avoid Bluetooth and wireless devices. We use dirty electricity filters and an EMF kill switch so we do not sleep in an electr"},{"id":"standards","evidence":" should examine potential biological effects beyond tissue heating and investigate chronic, cumulative, real-world exposu"}],"summary":"A self-described naturopathic physician reports personal EMF sensitivity and similar patient accounts, describes extensive home mitigation, and requests independent research on cumulative exposure, susceptible groups and symptom changes after exposure reduction. Credentials and causal claims are unverified.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-01T00:49:26Z","review_method":"Full comment-body AI review with exact supporting passages; attachments unread.","review_source_sha256":"7704485f7bdb16243dab9edccbf8dadc1996ec31ad6462a1b23d7ee92f64789a","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["ehs","neurological","research","children","wifi","optical","electricity","standards"],"primary_topic":"ehs","forum_title":"A self-described naturopathic physician reports personal EMF sensitivity and similar patient accounts, de…"}