Wi-Fi & indoor exposure

Questions 3, 11, 16 and 18 – Lived experience of EHS I am submitting this response from the UK as an individual with EHS. I am in my mid-fifties and developed EHS in my forties. It became severe enough to fundamentally change where and how I live and work. Q3 – Personal experience My symptoms varied with the type, intensity and duration of exposure, and my sensitivity appeared cumulative. Severe reactions included intense headaches progressing to migraine-like episodes, extreme sensitivity to light and sound, inability to eat, feeling physically out of balance, weakness and exhaustion. I could be confined to bed for 2–3 days before gradually recovering. A significant source of RF/EMF exposure was a cell tower in the paddock I rented for my horses. Over time it carried equipment from approximately six providers. For years I spent around five hours daily within 100 metres of it. Once highly sensitive, I reduced this to about two hours daily, the minimum needed to care for my horses. I also experienced severe abdominal cramps, particularly in association with smart meters, episodes of slurred speech and serious cognitive problems. My short-term memory could disappear to the point that I had no recollection of what I had just said. I sometimes became defensive or unusually irritable when challenged about things I could not remember. At my most sensitive I could not sit in front of a computer screen or be near a mobile phone without symptoms. When cumulative exposure was high, even proximity to a phone in flight mode could sometimes trigger symptoms. I became unable to think clearly, was physically weak and exhausted, and for years could not work or earn a living. I could no longer attend my children's school meetings, shop, visit the doctor or dentist without exposure becoming a problem, or socialise normally. I lost almost all my friendships because I could no longer visit people's homes or meet in wireless public environments. EHS also placed considerable strain on my marriage and has played a significant part in its breakdown. By 2019 I was living with profound fatigue virtually 24/7 and my quality of life had become unbearable. My family and I relocated from Hampshire to rural Mid Wales specifically so I could create an extremely low-EMF environment and attempt to recover. For approximately four years much of my life was devoted to rebuilding my health, strength and stamina. It was a very slow process, but living with greatly reduced exposure allowed me eventually to begin working again. I now operate a business from home. Although considerably stronger, I have not returned to my former life. I generally cannot spend more than around half a day in higher-exposure environments before needing to return home to recover. Exposure affects my nervous system. I use breathwork, particular foods and physical exercises, which help me manage temporarily but do not remove my sensitivity. I still need my very low-exposure home environment, where my body can settle and recover; working with my land and animals also helps me ground. My experience led me to establish The Wireless-Free Farm on our 17.5-acre smallholding in Mid Wales. It is intentionally maintained wireless-free because this remains the environment I need to live and work. We also welcome guests, including people with EHS who struggle to find suitable accommodation. The Wireless-Free Farm is not a lifestyle choice or rejection of technology. It is the practical outcome of the adaptations I had to make to regain a workable life. Q11 & Q16 – Sensitive populations and research I encourage HHS to investigate people with EHS as a potentially sensitive population. Few genuinely low-exposure environments remain, making it difficult for affected people to avoid exposure sufficiently to observe changes. Research should examine cumulative and multiple-source exposure, proximity, duration, pulsed/modulated signals and individual variation, including before and after substantial RF/EMF reduction. People who have reorganised their lives around exposure reduction and low-exposure environments may provide valuable research opportunities. Q18 – Recommendation Please listen carefully to people living with this condition. My experience alone cannot establish scientific causation, but experiences such as mine should not be dismissed because mechanisms remain uncertain. I went from an ordinary, active life to being unable to work, socialise normally or participate fully in society. I had to relocate and redesign my living environment. Reducing my exposure was followed by substantial, although gradual, improvement. Rigorous, independent research is urgently needed. This is not an abstract debate about technology. It affects where we can live, work, travel, receive healthcare, maintain relationships and participate in society.

Last time I travelled by train (in 2022) I felt as if I was having a stroke. I could’t walk normal, everything was tipping over. When I go in to big cities, it feels the same plus that I get this burning feeling in my face. My face get all red. This is also what happens if I stand close to a router with antenna. If I sit in a electric car or even in a hybrid car I get a headache and I feel dizzy. Ever since they put up the smartmeter outside our bedroom I have wake upp every morning with body aches. We turn off our router every night, we try as match as we can to minimize to be exposed for RM/EMF. I can forget to visit my friends who lives in big cities, I can forget to travel by train or by flights. It have becomes a real handicap.

i felt id die with wifi on and had a painful foot ,a plantar fasciitis...i turned it off and felt better

I tried to use Xfinity routers and it made me physically ill. I could not get out of bed while the router was on. I have to use hotspots now. I can't use a proper router. Taxpayers are being tortured for no good reason and without a warrant. Look up cognitive liberties YouTube channel.

I have experienced difficulty sleeping in homes with high EMF's, multiple wi-fi units and numerous cell phones. I have this same problem in hotels which has hampered my traveling. In public venues where there are many cell phones active, I seem to get muscle twitches in my upper arms. This happens at concerts, church services, and public settings. If in cars with multiple cell phones on and wi-fi in the car, I seem to get exhausted soon after the trip and feel washed out with no energy. It takes me usually a day to recover. I also seem to feel dizzy around cordless phones. If possible I unplug them or move away from them.

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 how my family are affected. I have a son with special needs that I care for and when he is near wifi in someone's home he gets anxiety and feels wierd in his head. Also feels off balance. My husband also feels anxious when around cell phones and wifi and gets heart palpitations from these things. I myself get wierd feeling in my face when near wifi and cell phones. Because of this we feel stuck because everyone has wifi in there homes and at least 1 or more cell phones in there homes. 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, families, health care providers, researchers and scientists with an opportunity to be finally be heard on this critical public health issue.

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 as a parent and concerned member of the public. As a parent, I am increasingly concerned about the amount of wireless radiation exposure that my family and children experience in everyday life. Since the introduction and increased availability of 5G technology, I have personally experienced frequent heart palpitations and episodes of dizziness that have been concerning and disruptive to my daily life. I cannot say with certainty what is causing these symptoms, but the timing and the increasing prevalence of wireless technology have led me to have questions about whether environmental exposures, including wireless radiation, deserve further investigation. My greatest concern is for my child and for children more broadly. Children are exposed to wireless devices, Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and other sources of RF radiation from a very young age, often throughout the entire day. As a parent, it is difficult to know what the potential long-term implications may be when there are still unanswered questions about cumulative exposure and the effects of prolonged exposure over a lifetime. I believe families deserve clear, unbiased, evidence-based information about these exposures and any potential health implications. I also believe that people who report experiencing symptoms or other health concerns should not simply be dismissed. Their experiences should be considered alongside rigorous scientific research so that we can better understand what is known, what remains uncertain, and where additional research is needed. 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, and give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations. I also encourage HHS to establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation, cumulative exposure, and public health so that parents and families can make informed decisions about how to protect themselves and their children. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard and for considering the concerns of parents and members of the public.

thank you for this opportunity When 5G was introduces several years ago in Santa Barbara where I live I developed mild to moderate symptoms of tinnitus. It took a couple months to realize this was happening, but at some point I distinctly remember noticing I was not hearing the background sounds I used to hear when it was really quiet outside; insect noises esp. at dusk and sunrise, far away train noises, high flying aircraft, quiet bird chirps, chipmunks, squirrels quarreling etc. All I was getting was a low background hum tone that was louder than the quiet sounds that were always there in the past and I discovered my personal tinnitus. This alarmed me. I went for several years in this state resigned to the "progress" and savoring I still had hearing at all as some cases of tinnitus I read about were brutal by comparison to my symptoms. Our house has used wifi for computers since before 5G came out without a noticeable effect on my hearing, but I thought to switch to Ethernet cabling and stopped using the wifi router to see if there was an improvement to my hearing and to validate my thought that I was sensitive to the EMF radiation. Sure enough, in a couple of weeks, the tinnitus resolved a little and I started very occasionally hearing the faint sounds in the world again, esp. when I woke up in the early morning. My tinnitus is still present 99.9%+ of the time in my ears, but I do occasionally get to experience some relief from tinnitus. Increasing the amount of EMF in this high frequency area of spectrum is very likely to negatively affect me personally and is something I do not want the govt. to allow. thank you for taking comments. Bill Palmisano

Re: RFI Docket response on EMF & EMR comments Re: FCC’s failure to set safe guidelines for EMR exposure. This includes cell phones, all ‘Smart’ devices including smart meters, cell towers, cell repeating units, WIFI in buildings, outside WIFI repeaters, automobile EMR emitting devices, etc. The FCC or any agency that sets safety standards for all these devices need to do thorough scientific studies, but in the meantime, they must mitigate the levels of EMR from ALL devices. Re-tooling is required, no doubt, but it’s the FCC’s fault for allowing the level of EMR being emitted from the start. When cell phones first came out, the telecom industry warned its shareholders that they may be sued for injuries from people who were harmed by the devices. They never warned the customers buying the phones! This is blatant disregard for human health and safety. I have had EHS (also called EMR Syndrome) for over 12 years, all due to the exponential rollout of cell phones/towers, WIFI, and Smart Meters. My life went from normal to very ill in a short period of time. It took me a while to find out it was EHS. When exposed to EMR, I experience heart arrhythmias, an allover weak feeling, my legs feel very heavy suddenly (almost always a Smart Meter for that symptom), migraines, tinnitus, and sometimes stinging of the skin depending upon the level of EMR. If I don’t get away from the exposure quickly, I feel like I’ll pass out. I purchased a Safe & Sound Pro 2 EMF meter to discover where it is safe for me (lower EMF’s). The meter is certified and calibrated, and I can confirm that there are hardly any places left where the levels are truly safe. The safety standard I use is OSHA Standard for EMF exposure for Telecom workers: https://cwa-union.org/sites/default/files/osh-fact-sheet-16-microwave_and_radio_frequency_radiation.pdf 10 mW/cm(2) (milliwatt hour per square centimeter) for periods of 0.1 hour or more. Literally, I have NEVER found readings that are that low except deep in the woods away from homes, towers, and industry. All readings are higher. Smart Meters have been mostly 22,000 mW/sqMeter(intermittently). A parking lot near us presents readings between 12,000 to 1 Million mW/sqMeter! People are being bathed in this excessive exposure every time they go to that shopping center. Cancer, heart issues, brain issues, etc. - all are side effects of this deleterious exposure. It’s just a matter of time…. Day after day, people are dying from all the diseases caused by EMR. We have a dear friend who has brain cancer from holding the cellphone near their ear. Schools that have cell towers near them have been encountering students with cancer; some actually have died! It’s a fact that Autism rates have climbed at the same time EMR exposure has climbed. Pregnant women holding their cellphones on their belly are not warned against this, which is criminal, in my opinion. The FCC was ordered by the Court to re-evaluate safe exposure limits for EMR, and they have blatantly avoided doing so. They know exposure levels are WAY too high now and would be lying if they described a high level as safe, so they’re simply avoiding doing what they were ordered to do. The FCC is a captured agency and the people allowing the exposures from cellphones, towers, etc. need to be fired. People with morals need to replace these ‘officials’. If 5G is put up in the area where I live, I could end up living in my basement and never be able to go out again. It would be like being in prison. Is this what the telecom industry wants? Is this what the FCC wants? Is this what HHS wants? There are tens of thousands of people suffering with EHS in dozens of support groups (mostly on social media) communicating around the planet. They are all desperate for relief from this deadly exposure. If you question these principles of exposure, just look into the “Havana Syndrome”. This is a well-documented illness caused by high levels of EMR. It’s time for our government to wake up and stop ignoring this. We are desperate to have our good health back. There are hundreds if not thousands of scientific studies proving the harm of EMR. If you have one iota of care for the citizens of these beloved United States, you will DO something to fully correct the long-evaded issue of extreme EMR exposure to everyone! I will attempt to attach several studies that prove the harm. Thank you for taking this seriously! It’s long overdue.

To the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Communications Commission: I am submitting this comment because I believe the federal government has waited far too long to conduct a thorough, modern reassessment of radiofrequency (RF) radiation exposure standards and their ability to protect the public. The FCC adopted its RF exposure limits in 1996. Wireless technology and our exposure environment have changed dramatically since then. We have moved through multiple generations of cellular technology while wireless infrastructure and the number of wireless devices surrounding us have greatly increased. Yet the fundamental FCC RF exposure limits remain unchanged. The question should not simply be whether an individual antenna, tower, or device complies with an existing limit. Federal agencies should determine whether those limits adequately address the real world environment people live in today. People are not exposed to one RF source at a time. We may encounter cell towers and antennas, WiFi routers, cell phones, tablets, Bluetooth devices, smart devices, security systems, and other wireless technologies throughout the day. I am especially concerned about infrastructure located near places where children, older adults, and other potentially vulnerable populations spend significant amounts of time. This includes daycares, schools, 55 and older communities, senior housing, assisted living facilities, and residential neighborhoods. Children may experience wireless RF exposure for virtually their entire lives. Older adults, people with implanted medical devices, workers with substantial occupational exposure, and people with existing health conditions also deserve appropriate consideration. Technology continues to advance rapidly. Public health research and exposure standards should advance with it. There is scientific evidence that deserves serious consideration. The U.S. National Toxicology Program conducted large animal studies of RF radiation and reported findings including malignant schwannomas of the heart in male rats under certain exposure conditions. Research from the Ramazzini Institute and subsequent systematic reviews has added to the scientific literature. At the same time, some human epidemiological research has not found increased risks for several health outcomes. Differences in findings should not be used as a reason to stop investigating. They are a reason for better research. Scientific uncertainty should not become an excuse for continued inaction while wireless technologies and infrastructure continue to expand. I am asking HHS, the FCC, NIH, FDA, CDC, NIEHS, and other appropriate agencies to support rigorous, independent research into cumulative RF exposure, multiple simultaneous RF sources, lifelong exposure beginning in childhood, potentially sensitive populations, reproductive and developmental effects, neurological and biological effects, cancer outcomes, occupational exposure, and current and emerging wireless technologies. Federal agencies should also evaluate real world RF environments around daycares, schools, senior communities, assisted living facilities, and residential areas where people may experience prolonged exposure. The public deserves transparency. Americans should be able to understand when exposure standards were established, the scientific assumptions behind them, how compliance is determined, what research supports them, what research raises concerns, and what remains unknown. I am not asking federal agencies to presume the outcome of the science. I am asking them not to presume the answer before adequately investigating the questions. After three decades of extraordinary changes in wireless technology, the American public deserves a comprehensive reassessment based on today's technologies, today's exposure environment, and today's scientific evidence. Technology should not advance faster than our willingness to investigate its potential effects on human health. I respectfully urge HHS and the FCC to conduct the rigorous, independent, transparent review this issue deserves and to ensure that protection of public health, including potentially vulnerable populations, remains a priority. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Gina Paeth