Housing, work & access barriers

My name is Staci Howard. I'm 36 years old, but in my late twenties I started experiencing many health issues. I went from a very health wife and mom of two young children, to an anxious, hurting women that couldn't get answers. I saw multiple doctors, they all told me that my labs were great and I was healthy. I wasn't experiencing good health, however. I not only was struggling with mental health struggles like anxiety, panic attacks and depression, I was also having many physical symptoms. I was battling headaches, pain in my leg and arms, flushed cheeks, jaw pain, brain fog, miscarriages, trouble sleeping and other things that would come up here and there. I wasn't getting any answers, my health was getting worse and my husband was concerned. One day I realized that when I was carrying my cell phone in my jean pocket, my leg pain increased. I also noticed that my arm pain and headaches were also worse with cell phone use. I had no idea this could happen, but I reached out to a professional in the holistic health space and she confirmed that it can happen. As we dove into this subject, we looked around our apartment and realized we lived under power lines, above six smart meters, wifi in our apartment and the apartments around us and many cell towers within a short distance from our home. This realization was completely overwhelming and my parents graciously allowed our family to move in with them, they lived rurally and they completely changed their lives around for us. They turned their wifi off, which, interestingly enough, I reacted to when my mom turned the wifi back on without my knowledge. I felt completely drained and defeated, I remember crawling onto the couch overwhelmed, having no idea that she had turned it on and not realizing why I was responding in the way I did. I hardly left their home for a month, I finally started to slowly adventure back out into the world, realizing that places like the church building and the library were toxic to me. My tongue would start tingling, I would get light headed, feel nauseous and have extreme brain fog. We all ended up moving even further from city life, moving to Eastern Oregon where we had more sunshine and less wireless radiation exposure. We don't have wifi in our home, I didn't have a cell phone for over seven year, just recently getting one due to my children being older and me needing to be able to be reached easier. It took over a year until I could sit through an entire church service again, often needing to take breaks and go outside. I still react going into the library, or if I'm at church very long I feel, what we call "wi-fried". Headaches, rosey cheeks, tingling tongue, light headed, brain fog... they are all still realities of being in wireless environments. Having my home base safe, allowing healing is what has allowed me to heal as much as I have, I believe it's why I've also been able to have three more healthy babies. My husband also feels a difference between high wireless spaces and our home, he gets brain fog and headaches as well. It's been a long journey, I'm thankful that I can handle being in the community as much as I do, because I know not everyone can. I "budget" my time, knowing if I have church and a meeting in one week, I may not take my kids to the library that same week... or different things like that. I have missed out on many things, I've had to quit volunteer work because I couldn't handle that much wireless exposure. In my experience, schools are the worst. I had take my son to an event at a local public school and I could hardly stand being in the building. It's my belief that food dye and wireless radiation are the two biggest issues in our schools today, with the behavioral issues we're facing, I firmly believe eliminating wifi and other wireless from schools would help these kids an amazing amount. Thank you so much for looking into this! I believe it will be life changing for so many.

I'm an individual of middle age who has experienced issues with mobile phones and WiFi for many years. I thought it was normal until I started to connect the dots. A couple of years ago I contacted an Environmental Consultant and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist and he diagnosed me with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity. My symptoms include head pain, tingling, redness/flushing, burning, fatigue, nausea, and difficulty concentrating. Due to my WiFi sensitivity, I've disabled WiFi and hard-wired my electronics. I keep technology to a minimum. Recently, I had to enable the WiFi to install a new router/modem combo. It was only on for about a half hour but my head felt like it was in a vice. When I finally disabled the WiFi again, the relief was almost instantaneous. My fingers burn if I'm using the computer while it's charging. I installed a landline so that I can use the phone without headaches, but because landlines now operate on VoIP, I have to limit that time as well. I would not let the electric company install a "smart" meter because of the health risks. I think everything "smart" is really dumb because of the EMF and RF exposure. It is getting harder and harder to find a safe place. I recently heard about a woman with such severe EMF that she committed suicide because she couldn't find a safe haven. It is very sad. Now these data centers are going up everywhere, too. I wish the government would do something to prevent this “smart” technology from taking over and destroying our lives and making us sick because whether people have symptoms or not, it is killing all of us!

I’m interested in learning about how having an electrical box near you bed can affect your health. Since moving into our new home, I’ve had health issues and wonder if this could be related. When I look at trying to move my meter or replace it with an analog meter, I’m met with extreme expenses and push back from my electric company. Please help

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a concerned member of the public. Although I have not knowingly been harmed by wireless radiation, I have noticed insomnia and disrupted sleep patterns when I stay at hotels in larger cities where the exposure is more pronounced than when I’m home. I also have friends who believe that wireless radiation exposure has led them to have headaches, brain fog, memory issues, and tinnitus. They are incredibly sensitive to these frequencies and it has affected where they can live and visit. I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard.

Wireless radiation has impacted my life and my family's life in the most deleterious ways imaginable. It started 27 years ago when I first tried to use a cell phone. Head pain, ear pain, heating of my ear and facial tissue, memory loss and brain fog began for me, then in 1999. Over the years my symptoms have gradually worsened. At first I could use a cell phone, but only to send text messages. Then, I had to move to a rural area, away from cell towers, and could only send texts with the phone on a "selfie"-stick. By 2015 I was keeping my cell in a faraday bag 99% of the time. By 2020 I had to get rid of the cell phone entirely, which is challenging at minimum in today's world, and dangerous at times given the lack of safe alternatives, such as payphones which no longer are available. For example, when I'm not at home and close to a landline, schools cannot reach me if my children are hurt or sick or there is any kind of emergency. When we travel, (and we like to go camping every summer), I cannot call a tow truck or a police officer if there's an emergency. Now that my children are teens, they want to have a cell phone. Unfortunately I have to have them keep their phone in a faraday bag at all times and they can only use it when they are far away from me, or at least 45 feet away from our house at the edge of the yard! If their friends come over, they have a hard time understanding they have to turn their cell phones off. Their parents don't trust someone who won't let their kids keep in contact with them by cell phone, which means my kids have fewer friends and social events. I am not able to go to my daughter's STEAM Bowls, where she's always selected to compete, nor to her awards ceremonies, when she is honored for her academic achievements. I tried to attend my grand daughter's band concert, and could not stay in the auditorium with all the cell phones around me. I am unable to wait in doctors' or dentists' offices. I can't pick up my daughter's eyeglasses for the same reason--every person is holding/using a cell phone in the waiting area. I no longer am able to work out at the gym--I have to quickly put on my sneakers and head for the door, getting my work out by walking around outside, because everyone inside the gym is using a cell phone. I cannot use or be around any wireless devices, such as wireless printers, laptops, or tablets. Police officers and firemen make my head hurt very badly with all their wireless devices. I can't see a doctor because their whole office is under wifi and they are always using a wireless laptop and phone, as well. I was given an MRI by a well-meaning but obviously uninformed neurologist and spent 4 months with severe headache, memory loss, tinnitus and insomnia. The worst part is the total isolation that this is pushing me into, unable to go out and among my fellow human beings. I shudder to think what would happen if I ever need to go into the hospital. My doctor tells me "This is not what I believe, but, the medical consensus is that this (EHS) is not real. So I can't help you. Insurance won't pay for it." For 27 years I am shunted out of society and left to survive without any support or treatment. I have even developed early onset Alzheimer's, which is inevitable for people with EHS, because we cannot avoid being exposed to EMR in public, nor at home, from neighbors' wifi and nearby cell towers. Exposure causes brain inflammation, amyloid plaques, tau tangles, Alzheimer's. The link between EMR and neurological degeneration must be investigated. We need SIGNIFICANT investigation into the dangers of wireless radiation, NOW. I worry about my children, my grandchildren, and all the people of the world being exposed to harmful electromagnetic radiation. There is research proving that EMR negatively affects biological life on all levels, from military research into microwaves and ELF to the work of John O. Becker in his book, "The Body Electric," & recent research. And PLEASE stop allowing the military-industrial complex to cover up the harm that EMR (electromagnetic radiation) is wreaking on society! And all of the people suffering from EHS (electro-hypersensitivity), as a result of the blanket of EMR that is everywhere today, should be protected and given accommodations so that we can access public places again. Just like blind and deaf and wheel-chair-bound individuals, we need to be able to enter government offices, go to the doctor/dentist, ride on the bus or take an airplane, or even eat in a restaurant or go to the store. Today, with private and government entities pushing people to use cell phones for everything (and often denying service to those who won't or can't), the EMR is nothing less than ubiquitous and many of us are suffering terribly because of it. We need studies to see if more and more people will become electro-hypersensitive and what harm is being caused to humans and biological life. Please help us! Sincerely.

I was injured by non-native EMFs (nnEMF) when we installed solar panels, hooked up the grid, on our house’s roof. I got very sick with electrical illness (dysautonomia and auto-immune illnesses) and it took me 8 years to recover. I had to move out of that house and spend probably a $100,000 and miss 2.5 years of work in order to get well. EMF and dirty electricity illnesses are a real thing!! The solar panel input made the alternating current “spikey” (for lack of a better word) and my body was thrown into disarray by the constant electrical spikes. I still am now “electrically sensitive” to microwave radiation from my cell phone. For example, if I hold it too long, my hand starts to hurt. There needs to be more information about the truth of electrical and nnEMF and electrical injuries and illnesses. I think this is part of why so many of us are sick and tired. Thank you for looking into this and moving the Overton Window on this topic.

I became sensitized to EMR when I moved from a very low EMR environment (very rural, in the woods) to a very high one (a building in town with 8 units). This sensitivity has turned my life upside down, and I had to get out of that new living situation because I became so sick from EMR exposure. Since then I have struggled to find a good living situation, and now live in a shed where I try to control my exposure as best I can. Among other things, I avoid crowds, meetings, any group setting because of all the cell phones. It is very isolating, and I struggle with it every day. I am a senior citizen and never dreamed that I would be living the way I am at this stage of my life. Different exposures cause different symptoms, including depression, heart palpitations which can go into a sustained flutter, severe blood pressure rise, insomnia, bladder stimulation, headache, extreme tension and irritability among others. It is impossible to get away from it, and it has cost me a lot of money trying to shield and mitigate. It is all the more isolating because most people don't believe it is an issue. My life has become a misery because of it.

I was constantly plagued by migraines in my job as a school secretary. When I was at home, where everything was hardwired, I was fine. Eventually, I had to leave the job when Wi-Fi was installed throughout the school.

Life has become a horrific nightmare since 5g went live. I had issues from 4g that apparently dominated my adult life causing dozens of er visits and hundreds of doctors visits. 5g has been an entirely different animal. I am very nearly dead now and went from working 50hrs a week taking care of 10 schools to essentially disabled and haven't held a job since. Worked my entire adult life until this 5g happened. It gets worse and worse and I'm pretty well faced with suicide at this point and it's looking like the most likely outcome. It's absolutely CLEAR covid was tied to this as is the materials being released into our air via jets. It's completely unconciable this was even considered by those who decided to engineer things to allow such pervasive and intense rf exposure. This 5g bullshit has absolutely ruined my life beyond repair. There's nowhere to run and hide. It has caused considerable suffering for my kid and I've watched it destroy the health of those around me. Hurry up and act on this and shut this crap off!!!

I intentionally live in a small valley, with NO cellphone reception because we're 'below the horizon' of wireless signal, 12 miles from town in order to avoid the wireless radiation.