HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1352
https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1352

September 30, 2026
I am submitting this response as an individual reporting my firsthand experience with wireless/RF exposure and changes in my health and functioning that I have observed over many years.
For most of my life I was healthy. I went to college and graduate school, had part-time jobs, and then taught high school in Texas from 2012-2017. And then I got sick. There had been some warning signs, including migraine (starting 2014) and fatigue, but the illness became so severe and seemed to come out of nowhere in 2015. I saw 52 doctors over two years. None could determine what was happening or offer an explanation for the severity of my symptoms, and the primary treatment offered was various pharmaceuticals.
Looking back, I see that several environmental exposures were occurring at the same time. I was working in a school where our classrooms were under a gym. A coworker across the hall had visible mold in his room. The spring before I became severely ill (2015), the Wi-Fi router in the building was upgraded and placed directly outside my room. The building I moved into to live had more than 50 floors and antennas on the roof, and was across the street from a hospital with its own antennas. Hundreds of people lived in the building, with their own routers, cell phones, and other wireless devices.
I cannot determine which exposures contributed to my illness, or to what degree. However, over the years I began noticing a consistent relationship between reducing my wireless exposure and changes in specific symptoms. For example, health professionals have informed me that mycotoxins (which I have high levels of) are increased by EMF exposure, and that heavy metals in the body (which I have high levels of) are made worse by EMF exposure. This is an additional concern that other health concerns are made worse by EMFs.
When I was staying with friends while trying to find suitable housing (2017-2020), I asked them to turn off the Wi-Fi router at night. I noticed a significant improvement in my sleep. I also told my cardiologist about my observations when I was undergoing a Holter monitor evaluation for heart palpitations. I had noticed that the palpitations were worse when the Wi-Fi was operating.
I subsequently began reducing my wireless exposure wherever possible. I use wired Ethernet connections for my computer and phone, keep devices in airplane mode when possible, and not using Bluetooth devices.
My overall health remains poor, but I continue to notice exacerbation of my symptoms with increased wireless exposure. I can often tell without looking at my phone whether it is transmitting or in airplane mode because I experience an intense frontal headache when it is transmitting.
I have also experienced a significant change associated with the cell tower nearest my home. When the tower underwent an upgrade (2026), I experienced a substantial increase in headaches, migraines, head pressure, fatigue, and brain fog. These symptoms have affected my ability to function in daily life. I am currently exploring ways to reduce my exposure while sleeping, but remain exposed during most of the day.
My experience has left me concerned about the cumulative and largely unavoidable nature of wireless exposure in modern life. I live in a rural area and have deliberately reduced wireless technology in my home, yet I cannot eliminate exposure because of nearby infrastructure and wireless signals in the surrounding environment.
I feel like the canary in the coal mine: someone who experiences significant effects that may be associated with exposure levels that most people encounter without apparent difficulty. I do not claim to know what mechanism explains my experience or what conclusions should be drawn from it. I am asking that experiences such as mine be taken seriously as information worthy of investigation.
I believe research should examine not only exposure levels under controlled conditions, but also real-world cumulative exposure, changes in exposure over time, individual variability in response, vulnerable populations, and what happens when individuals reduce their exposure. People should also have meaningful information about the wireless infrastructure and sources of RF exposure in and around their homes, workplaces, schools, and communities.