{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6315","number":"6315","name":"Grace Uitterdijk","organization":"","posted":"2026-10-28T04:00Z","received":"2026-10-21T04:00Z","body":"I am submitting this as a caregiver to my partner with severe EMF hypersensitivity and as someone with a milder form myself.\nAfter becoming aware/knowledgeable of the existence of this illness I noticed EMF reactions I had experienced myself I had previously ignored/dismissed. I have always felt burning or pain in my legs when having my laptop on my lap or pain in my hand with my mobile phone which if I ignore it, travels up my arm until my whole arm is burning. I always drove old cars with low electrics/radiofrequency with no issues but started feeling the burning in my hands touching the steering wheel in my newer model but only recognized this in retrospect. These issues started before I was even aware of EMFs. \nIn September 2020, my partner became extremely ill and bedbound from one day to the next. He was very fit and healthy, lifting weights and walking 20km every day and eating healthy and one day collapsed after a flu like illness and described feeling a flash/snap in his brain. From then on he started having a myriad of symptoms which haven't eased, only changed at times for the last 6 years with not a single moment in those 6 years without at least 10 debilitating symptoms at once. Initially he was bedbound for weeks and couldn't tolerate any daylight or function at all. He was dismissed medically by multiple doctors despite ending up hospital several times and told his bloods were normal and they didn't know what was wrong with him. Since then we have been on a journey to discover the origin of his illness and seen multiple specialists and spent hundreds of hours of research and his condition has increased in intensity. At the time he was living in a house riddled with toxic moulds (proven by an ERMI later) and started to develop reactivity to many things including chemicals,smells,foods,cosmetics,synthetic materials and EMFs. The intensity of these reactions continued to increase until we became more aware of the source of the different reactions and were able to measure them and isolate what triggers caused which reaction. \nWe have done measurements with EMF meters in many locations and I can 100% say my partner is able to feel with accuracy the level of EMFs by the symptoms he experiences. He reacts to levels FAR below the international safety guidelines.I know that there has been discussion  that people react to the trigger as a trauma response and by calming the nervous system or using brain retraining they will not react and I can tell you that this is categorically not true. It may work for some but not my partner at all. He reacts to an exposure before the awareness he is being exposed eg. we go to nature spots far away from EMFs to ease his symptoms.He will tell me he is feeling awful and the next minute someone will walk around the corner with a phone. The has happened over and over. I am a counsellor and work with many clients with trauma and support brain retraining and I can say with confidence this is NOT a trauma response. My partner reacts to all kinds of EMF exposures differently and can often tell if it is radio frequency, electric or magnetic. The list of symptoms he experiences would cover an entire A4 sheet of paper so I will not list them all but in terms of EMFs specifically, he experiences headaches, full body pains, seizures (convulsing and unresponsive for up to half an hour), brain fog, memory issues, tinnitus, vertigo, burning sensations or skin rashes, insomnia, night sweats, nightmares, constant chronic fatigue, heart palpitations/heart racing, heaviness/stiffness, gut issues, mood swings amongst others. We have moved at least 5 times in the last 6 years and are moving again and have spent thousands on mitigation attempts which do help to a certain extent but finding a safe house is becoming impossible. We never use WIFI, rarely use a mobile phone and switch it off when not in use, only have one circuit on for several sockets but have all other circuit switches off at the breaker at all times and have protective shielding equipment but the EMF levels are still not safe and my partner is still deathly sick. He has no medical support as all doctors have washed their hands of him, no accommodations and no official diagnosis. \nWe need extensive research without any funding conflicts carried out in a scientifically valid way. We need recognition of this condition medically and training so people are not left to die and live in primitive conditions, we need accommodations in rental clauses and work accommodations recognized and we need to create safe low EMF zones and protect these to create safe communities. The data is flawed and doesn't measure cumulative exposure to the levels we are experiencing now. Please take this seriously. People are dying whilst being ridiculed, neglected and forgotten and they do not have a voice as they cannot access the channels to have a voice (all these channels are online). I wrote this on behalf of my partner as he could not do this. ","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6315","tags":["health-experiences","sleep-cognition","exposure-places","policy-standards","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"bb0ebbec427127a5fc88d8c210faf0f6ff50ab5f66a98c560fd3c88c808e3b8a","slug":"health-experiences-comment-6315","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6315","body_sha256":"1c8c1a9f5eb466c9a022afd25019a7cadeaaf2ed70e35bd2fc5a13b4a7d79d92","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"ehs","topics":[{"id":"ehs","evidence":"his as a caregiver to my partner with severe EMF hypersensitivity and as someone with a milder form myself.\nAfter becoming aware/k"},{"id":"neurological","evidence":", he experiences headaches, full body pains, seizures (convulsing and unresponsive for up to half an hour), brain fog,"},{"id":"cardiac","evidence":"weats, nightmares, constant chronic fatigue, heart palpitations/heart racing, heaviness/stiffness, gut issues, mood swings among"},{"id":"access","evidence":"we need accommodations in rental clauses and work accommodations recognized and we need to create safe low EMF zones and protect "},{"id":"research","evidence":"odations and no official diagnosis. \nWe need extensive research without any funding conflicts carried out in a scientifically va"},{"id":"environment","evidence":"e time he was living in a house riddled with toxic moulds (proven by an ERMI later) and started to develop reactivity to m"}],"summary":"A caregiver identifies personal and partner EMF hypersensitivity, describes severe multisystem illness, repeated moves and inadequate support, and requests independent research, clinical recognition, accommodations and protected low-exposure communities.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-28T23:54:32Z","review_method":"Full comment-text review with exact source evidence; attachments not reviewed","review_source_sha256":"d33312871c3180bf1834a6951d28854c0d8883430ed321bcfc56a369d8af5092","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["ehs","neurological","cardiac","access","research","environment"],"primary_topic":"ehs","forum_title":"A caregiver identifies personal and partner EMF hypersensitivity, describes severe multisystem illness, r…"}