{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6583","number":"6583","name":"Anonymous Anonymous","organization":"","posted":"2026-10-28T04:00Z","received":"2026-10-21T04:00Z","body":"Re: HHS-OASH-2026-0397\nQuestions 2, 3, 9, 13, 15 and 18\n\nI am submitting as an individual with firsthand experience of adverse health effects I believe are strongly and reproducibly associated with RF/EMF exposure. My background includes doctoral-level training in a health science and professional experience in telecommunications research and development.\n\nMy symptoms began after I started working around RF/EMF-emitting telecommunications equipment. Previously healthy and athletic, I developed shingles, musculoskeletal pain, sleep disturbance, urinary frequency, recumbent pressure-related pain and metal sensitivity.\n\nAbout three years later I moved from a rural area into a newly built suburban home and my health declined dramatically. I developed chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, heat intolerance, tinnitus, profound fatigue, brain fog and severe insomnia. My resting heart rate rose from about 70 to 90, yet during exercise sometimes failed to rise appropriately, leaving me dizzy and winded.\n\nEventually I could no longer continue school or work. Extensive medical evaluation, conflicting diagnoses and tens of thousands of dollars did not restore my health.\n\nFor nine years I spent nearly every waking moment trying to regain my health and my life. RF/EMF was initially only one possible stressor I investigated among many. I obtained several RF/EMF meters, mapped sources in my home, turned off Wi-Fi and a cordless phone, and discovered exposures I had not known were present. My efforts culminated in a move to a remote property chosen partly because it had little or no cellular service.\n\nOther environmental factors changed too, so this was not a controlled experiment. Over the following years I progressively recovered and became far more tolerant of heat, foods, chemicals and ordinary stresses, although city trips could still trigger relapses.\n\nYears later the wireless environment around my rural home changed. Cellular service became detectable where previously there had been essentially none. A new cell tower went up, my fixed wireless internet provider changed equipment, and a neighbor installed Starlink.\n\nMy previous syndrome returned severely. My heart rate and blood pressure increased by just under 30%. I developed rhythm disturbances, brain fog, tinnitus and profound insomnia. At one point I was unable to sleep for eleven consecutive days and was taken to the emergency room.\n\nI built an RF-shielding enclosure and confirmed with an RF meter that RF readings inside were substantially reduced. I repeatedly observed my systolic blood pressure fall from around 140 toward my baseline of about 110 under reduced-exposure/shielded conditions. These are personal observations, not a controlled study, but sufficiently repeatable that I no longer regard RF/EMF as hypothetical. To this day I sleep without heat or electricity through snowy winters because that low-exposure environment allows me to sleep.\n\nThis year, after recent work on the nearby tower, I began experiencing pressure, discomfort and visual changes in the eye and surrounding region on the side of my head nearest the directional antenna serving my rural internet connection. Those symptoms abate with shielding that my meter confirms reduces RF levels.\n\nHHS should investigate long-term cumulative RF/EMF exposure, short-duration peak exposures, and factors that may alter individual susceptibility, including heavy-metal burden. Biological effects can depend on intensity, duration, repetition, recovery and repair. Policy should not assume repeated exposures are independent or that cumulative exposure is irrelevant.\n\nLong averaging periods can hide important peaks. Average the energy delivered by a bullet over thirty minutes and its average power looks trivial, while the real-world millisecond impact can be deadly. The body experiences exposure as it occurs, not as an arithmetic average. Standards must address both cumulative dose and instantaneous peak exposure.\n\nPeople are simultaneously exposed to cell towers, Wi-Fi, satellite systems, fixed wireless internet, smart meters, Bluetooth, smart appliances and personal devices. Who measures aggregate exposure where a person sleeps and works? Who is responsible when independently regulated sources combine?\n\nConsumers need a practical right to know. One night, seeking somewhere relatively RF-free, I stopped beneath what I only later realized was a camouflaged cell tower. Camouflaged towers should be clearly labeled wherever people pass nearby. Wireless devices should have an obvious indicator showing when transmitting at low, medium or high power.\n\nI cannot tell HHS which transmitters, or combination of transmitters, were responsible for what I experienced. That is precisely the problem. RF exposure has become ubiquitous, dynamic and largely invisible. Policy must measure and disclose cumulative exposure and give individuals the information needed to reduce avoidable exposure.\n","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6583","tags":["health-experiences","sleep-cognition","exposure-places","policy-standards","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"953e612fa51a34dd5c7f57f6ddfba8a1133d8987e94cc04d2b6fff06756bb247","slug":"health-experiences-comment-6583","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-6583","body_sha256":"b7a7367463347cdd09a73a41a466ac0aa297ac19d7d304948ce1030d88db291f","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"occupational","topics":[{"id":"occupational","evidence":"working around RF/EMF-emitting telecommunications equipment"},{"id":"access","evidence":"I could no longer continue school or work"},{"id":"cardiac","evidence":"chest pain, palpitations"},{"id":"neurological","evidence":"profound insomnia"},{"id":"research","evidence":"investigate long-term cumulative RF/EMF exposure"},{"id":"standards","evidence":"Standards must address both cumulative dose and instantaneous peak exposure."},{"id":"satellites","evidence":"a neighbor installed Starlink"}],"summary":"The commenter reports severe illness beginning around telecommunications equipment, rural relocation and partial recovery, then relapse as nearby wireless infrastructure expanded. They describe shielding observations while acknowledging uncontrolled conditions, and request cumulative and peak-exposure research, disclosure, and updated standards.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-28T23:54:32Z","review_method":"Full comment-text review with exact source evidence; attachments not reviewed","review_source_sha256":"080d48fbc6308583cc5f81908ad5761e26f99400ddb6851fff7a1621c7ff52f0","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["occupational","access","cardiac","neurological","research","standards","satellites"],"primary_topic":"occupational","forum_title":"The commenter reports severe illness beginning around telecommunications equipment, rural relocation and …"}