Housing, work & access barriers

Thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for giving the public a voice to say how EMF affects us. I had no idea EMF was the problem (all 15 of them), until I did my own research and everything pointed to EMF exposure and toxicity - no one else was informing the public! The symptoms got so bad, I was looking to not drive, not work, no income coming in, etc. It turned my life upside down. Some of the symptoms I had were vertigo, heart palpitations (which still occur but not so bad), very poor digestion, horrible hot flashes (I mean red red face) every at least 10 minutes. I had Reynaud's symptoms, unable to sleep no matter what I tried, hands, fingers arms tingling if on the computer too long, feeling of extreme tiredness as if I were "zapped" of energy, and skin burning/tingling sensations. I don't remember other symptoms right now, but it was bad. Once I learned about EMF and took measures to "distance and avoid" most of the symptoms disappeared; some not completely but I felt, after many years, I was not going to die young after all. Even today, I feel shaky, very tired, my hands shake and I'm unable to sleep if I had been in a room w/ many cell phones, which is most crowded areas/rooms. I felt all of these symptoms once after seeing a movie, so it still limits me in considerable ways. I'm unable to fly anymore. I don't go to concerts anymore, or any place crowded. I feel zapped and unable to sleep after driving many hours on freeways. I cannot sleep in most homes/rooms as people have routers. The only way I travel is in our small van that has no windows in the back as that is where I sleep. I appreciate your work greatly, Mr. Kennedy. You are really the only person, in public office, speaking out about dangers of EMFs and doing something about it. I appreciate you.

Thank you for the opportunity to tell my personal story about how I'm affected by RF radiation. I’m 69, a white female, & have been chemically sensitive for 40 years. I started noticing electro-magnetic sensitivity 10-15 years ago. I keep my cell phone in Airplane Mode. We turned off the Wi-Fi in our home & hard-wired my computer. I wear RF-shielding gloves while working on the PC to protect my fingertips from burning. On July 9, 2018, the Pacific Power Company came to our home to install an electrical Smart Meter. Minutes later, I was standing in my kitchen & the new Smart Meter was 6 feet away on the other side of the house wall. My heart started fluttering but I shrugged it off. Suddenly, my heart JUMPED around in my chest radically. I ran out of the house. My husband called Pacific Power, asking them to remove the new meter but they said the employee who had just installed it & was still in the neighborhood wasn’t qualified to uninstall it. We waited 3 days for the electric company to come. I was still healing from a double mastectomy & my health felt fragile. Finally, my husband removed the Smart Meter himself, replacing it with an analog meter he had access to. My heart continued fluttering for a week afterwards & my doctor sent me to the ER. No permanent damage to my heart was found. The ER doctor suggested I was having panic attacks but I knew better. A few weeks later, the electric company finally got back to us &, discovering the Smart Meter had been removed, were livid. We were threatened & fined. When we refused to allow them to remove & replace the analog meter, they cut off the electricity to our home. The food in our freezer had begun to thaw by the time we realized our electricity was out. Feeling very coerced, we agreed to let Pacific Power install what they assured us was a “Non-RF-emitting” meter. They had sworn the Smart Meter was safe, too, but we seemed to have little choice. We felt very bullied. In addition to a fine, we had to pay $139 to officially uninstall the Smart Meter & switch to a non-RF-emitting meter. Since that time, we’ve also paid a monthly fee that customers with a Smart Meter do not have to pay. The non-RF-emitting meter hasn’t caused me any further problems with cardiac arrhythmia. How is it that we have to pay extra money to keep a life-threatening device off the wall of our home? I hope someday to be legally validated & reimbursed by the Pacific Power company for the trauma, pain & suffering they've caused me. I’ve also had problems with RF sensitivity at church since Smart Meters were installed. The metal fillings in my teeth seem to attract RF & exposure makes my jaw ache. I get a sharp headache at my temples & brain fog from too much RF. I’ve stopped wearing metal, especially near my head & heart. I’ve purchased faraday cages for two of the Smart Meters at church so I can socialize & attend baptisms. The effect of too much RF exposure is delayed & hard to notice until I lie down in quietness & feel my limbs buzzing. The buzzing is subtle while I’m busy. I start groaning & feeling cranky. When I finally lie down to rest, the buzzing becomes very apparent & uncomfortable. It takes hours to resolve. A new cell tower was proposed this summer to be built next to my church of 43 years. I spoke to our county’s planning commission in opposition to the new tower. I was shocked to learn that federal law prohibits the planning commission from considering any health objections to the approval of a new cell tower… WHAT?!! Health concerns are the most critical reason not to build a cell tower near schools, hospitals, churches, & in residential areas. I hope that law is repealed ASAP. By God’s grace, the new next-door cell tower was not approved. For folks with electro-magnetic sensitivity like me, “progress” in this modern world is scary. How long will we be able to find safe places to live? My heart goes out to people who are being irradiated by RF & don’t feel the adverse effects so that they act to protect themselves. I trust it’s just a matter of time before those in power decide to prioritize public health over technological growth & profit. I’ve been able to build a relatively safe environment for myself here at home. In a healthy environment, I feel strong & sassy. I can tolerate excursions into town for appointments & groceries. Sometimes, though, after a long day of exposures to chemicals & RF radiation, I become so drowsy that driving is dangerous. The after-effects of heavy exposure cause me to almost pass out. I usually recover from these exposures by falling into bed & sleeping it off but I have to get home safely first. What a waste of human energy, focus, & productivity these environmental toxins are causing. I’m delighted you’re taking a serious look at these things & how they’re affecting people, animals, & plants. Thank you for listening & good luck!

I am amongst the 3% of the population that has EMF hypersensitivity. Other countries have safe zones. We do not. It is difficult to find employment locations that work, homes to live in and locations that are EMF safe. We need more information and education on EMFs, RFs and Wireless exposure, especially amongst children. Please do the right thing for our health and safety!

This is personal and family related as well as science too. The Environmental Working Group has also put out a report on RF/EMF. EMF cause my ears to ring. If I walk closer to a router the sound gets louder and if I walk away it will decrease or go away if I am far enough away for long enough. They also give me sinus infections. If I sleep with EMF's I have sinus infections and if I tent in the woods away from EMF they go away. I have repeated this process several times. When they put a smart meter on our house my kids started having ticks a lot, serveral times a minute and when we called and opted out of the smart meter the ticks stopped. I had tight muscles when they installed the smart meter but that went away after they changed the meter. We did not repeat this process. I have also seen family members kids and babies that had OCD much worse with RF/EMF. When it was removed or reduced it got a lot better. I believe that mast cell activation from the RF/EMF could be one of the reason for this issue. As Far as solutions I would like to see building regulations changed so no plug-ins have to be installed in bedroom and Cell tower are placed at least half a mile from homes, churches, and schools. The EU estimates that 2 to 3 percent of people have EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome). They have limits and the right to have your work checked and for the employer to reduce exposer. RF/EMF cages and bags can be used in rooms and offices without stopping wifi but reducing how much RF/EMF a person gets. Public spaces should not have high levels of RF/EMF because you are limiting the public that is sensitive to those spaces. Opt-out should be a mandated by law. I am wanting to move to a new town but they have no opt-out. How are my kids going to live in a house with no opt-out? Also opt-out should not carry a extra fee as we had no smart meters for decades and had no extra fee so this seems like you are punishing those who are sensitive to this when they had no control over it. DOI: 10.1080/09553000500303518 DOI: 10.1556/ABiol.56.2005.1-2.5 DOI: 10.1002/bem.22219 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113851

I have electromagnetic hypersensitivity. It started in 2005 when I was subjected to undue stress in the workplace and to the exhaust from a laser printer. It started with a red bloch on my left hand and increased to all areas of my skin that was exposed to the air. At its peak I was subjected to excruciating pain, like an electric shock, that affected all parts of my nervous system. My only solution was to not expose myself to electromagnetic fields. I was forced to quit my job using a computer. One day after I turned on my computer I was met with a strong electric shock that went straight to my heart. Today I still suffer from the effects, but not as dramatic. At its peak I could locate electric wires and cables in walls and even underground. Passing under overhead high voltage lines in a car drew very strong electric shocks in my nervous system. I saw a research doctor in San Francisco and he determined that the surface temperature of my skin increased when exposed to an electromagnetic field. Apparently my skin is conducting electricity.

I have been sensitive to EMFs since the 5G towers and smart meters began being installed.. My symptoms are: head pressure, brain zaps, brain feeling scrambled, muscle cramps, anxiety, trouble breathing and numbness and tingling. I actually feel like I have electricity running through my body and I hear electricity in my ears. When I get in low EMF areas (which are now hard to find) my symptoms go away. I can’t drive through major cities as there is tower after tower. I also have trouble on the highways with tons of cars being hybrid and electric. The vibrations of electric cars also bother me. Perhaps EMFs should be studied more heavily in these types of cars. Also, I got rid of my iwatch due to the EMFs being uncomfortable and only use a cell phone if necessary. Please look into radiation from electronics and the safety of them. When I test using my Safe and Sound meter scores are off the charts. Allowing the production of all of these devices has made life horrific for many of us. We are all trying to flee from all of it. Unfortunately, now they are putting data centers up everywhere (and no one really knows what those are for) making it impossible to live rurally either. It is known per Dr. Klinghardt and others that EMFs increase mold toxicity. So many I know are suffering from that as well. I have developed chemical sensitivity due to mold and EMFs. And those nasty laundry detergents that people use. I would like a life where I don’t feel like I am constantly getting fried with harmful rays. So grateful that you are looking into this.

I became electrohypersensitif in 2020. I was living in Brussels in Belgium and working as an actor. I had to fled away from my city, my job, my friends, my family. I was living for more then 1 year in a camping car in the forest. My symptoms were so strong that it was hard for me to even go to the shop. Headaches, sleeping problems, neurological problems, heart problems, tinitus, articulation problems.... I could buy a house in a quiet good area finally, but since 5g was implemented, I'm again less good. I'm trying to find a solution with the help of my laywer and major. We try to find solutions on local, national and international level. We are in contact with people all over the world who all have the same problem with this environnemental pollution. It's bad for humans, animals, plants. It's a huge bussiness that doesn't take care of all these harmfull effects on life. It is urgent to do something. Our life, our fundamental rignts, nothing is respected. So many people who are also affected and who are not making the link between their health problems and wireless technologie. Cancers, neurodegenratif diseases, immunity problems etc. we want the whole world to become healthy again. Thanks for your initiatif! We are to many to suffer everyday of our life, we would like to be able to live normally again... More then 50 international appeals from medical and scientific specialists to alarm around the harmfull effects of wireless technologie and nothing happens. It becomes worse every year. Actually, there are no places anymore where we can really live without artificial emf's. My body is in tension every single day of my life because of the artificial emf's. I would like to have the possibility to live again.

I have a devastating chronic illness called, myalgic encephalomyelitis. This illness dysregulates my body in many ways. Because of this, cellular phone use around me causes body wide discomfort, open sores on my skin and serious digestive issues. WiFi causes muscle spasms. I can rarely leave my house and cannot go to populate areas or any area where WiFi and cellular are deployed. There are few areas I can go without being exposed to cellular or WiFi EMF. Fortunately, I now live in a rural area. This is all documented via my health care professionals.

In May, 2023 the 5G tower turned on across the street from my Miami, FL townhouse. I know because I use a RF-Elec-Mag trimeter. Within 24 hours terrible health symptoms ruined my excellent health status. My flat stomach exploded into the appearance of pregnancy, and has not receded for three years. My dormant low back injury exploded into a painful status, disabling me to this day. Neurological and hormonal imbalances started manifesting in the following months.

I appreciate that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a request for input from the public on the health impacts of RF radiation. Here is some of my personal experience: I have been made very sick by RF radiation exposure. My doctor has diagnosed me with electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Massive, overwhelming numbers of scientific studies have shown microwave radiation creates adverse health effects. The most extreme experience I had was when I suffered severe health symptoms from RF exposure after a smart meter was placed on my residence. I have been in a legal case since 2018 about this. Here is the story: A smart meter was put on my residence by my gas company without my knowledge. I began to experience severe symptoms, which I reported to my physician, who had treated me for over 23 consecutive years. The doctor kept medical records of all my new symptoms: ― Insomnia and fatigue. ― Joint swelling in both hands, with decreased mobility, joint pain, joint stiffness, aches, stinging, and pinching. “I’d never had anything like this in my life,” I said. ― Frequent irregular heartbeats / palpitations. ― Neurologic symptom of dizziness. ― Cognitive dissonance, or “brain fog.” ― Gastro-intestinal symptoms of constipation and abnormal stools. The doctor ordered extensive testing to determine the cause of these symptoms, including: ― Echocardiogram and holter monitor test, to determine the cause of the heart palpitations. ― An appointment with a sleep specialist to consider sleep apnea, to investigate the cause of the insomnia. ― Thyroid test and anti-inflammatory or autoimmune workup, to further investigate the insomnia, as well as the hand pain. I was away teaching in Europe for five weeks, during which time I was symptom-free. When I returned home, my symptoms resumed. I asked the gas company if they would remove the meter. They said they would if my physician sent them a letter. The physician sent a Letter of Medical Necessity and the gas company removed the smart meter. Most of my symptoms subsided as soon as the smart meter was removed. The joint pain and insomnia subsided several weeks later. My doctor diagnosed me with EMF sensitivity and recommended that I avoid exposure to EMFs and RF. I took steps to eliminate almost all exposure at my residence: ― The house does not have wifi or any wireless devices. ― The computer does not have wifi; it is hard-wired, and also has an external, wired keyboard and a wired mouse. ― A no-EMF earphone is used with the computer. ― The desk chair is positioned at least 30 inches away from the laptop screen, at which distance EMFs drop to zero. ― Rather than a cellular phone, a landline is used. ― There is no television. ― There is no microwave oven. ― A low-EMF hair dryer is used. ― Lamps are unplugged when not in use. ― Before purchasing any electrical item, I test the item using a gaussmeter and radiofrequency radiation (RF) meter, to measure radiation. In addition, I suffer effects of RF exposure in airports. My physician wrote a letter excusing me from going through security scanners because body scanners use radiofrequency waves.