Electrical hypersensitivity (EHS) in a nutshell: Summary

Introduction to electrical hypersensitivity

Electrical hypersensitivity. Some people show signs of hypersensitivity towards electromagnetic and electric fields emitted by video display units (VDU) end a host of other electronic apparatuses and electrical installations. Especially those using computers extensively are at risk. we hold them to be "electro-hypersensitive" and show "sensitivity". There are relatively few such people; rough estimates run between 1:1000 to 2:100, but personal tragedies may be great.
Symptoms. In light cases, sensitives suffer from headache, buzzing ears, itching, rosacea, dizziness etc.; in more severe cases, they may get problems with fatigue, memory loss, concentration and sleeping problems, flu-like feelings, fever and such things. Without drastic 'sanitation' of living and working quarters complaints will become stronger and adequate functioning becomes problematic. One becomes socially isolated. There is no cure or medical treatment and prospects seem discouraging. The evident solution is to eliminate such fields or escape them.
Confusion with ME and MCS? Electrical hypersensitivity is badly understood and not commonly accepted. Sensitives have no standard record or repertoire of complaints, except that intensive use of VDU's is often associated with the initiation of the Electrical hypersensitivity phenomena. One person may complain about itching hair while another may develop headache or nausea. Symptoms resemble those recorded for different food allergies, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or Fibromyalgia (FM), all to be called environmental diseases. Whether EHS is one of the phenomena of these diseases or the initiator, remains to be ascertained in every individual case. Confusion between the real cause of the symptoms is possible, as it seems. There may even be connections between the different illnesses. It seems at least worth exploring that possibility.
Low profile of Electrical hypersensitivity. Little has been published about Electrical hypersensitivity, and indeed very rarely in the medical periodicals. There is little interest with health care centers because the problems have no name or 'label' or diagnoses are confused unintentionally with the other diseases mentioned. 'Emotional unstability' is one such attribute. Also, electro-hypersensitives may have problems to express there ailments in clear terms and demand too little attention of medical staff.
We electro-hypersensitives wish to change this low profile. We shall provide ourselves with a sound basis, a platform where we can group ourselves and make an inventory of the complaints that unify us. Next, it will be time to reach the other electro-hypersensitives in this country and see what we can do to gain recognition and advertise our views. This website will be the primary communication channel although many electro-hypersensitives will not spend too much time behind their computer.
Aims of this website. Our primary aims are to make public a few basic insights:
- what is wrong with you
- you are not alone!
- how to prevent further deterioration of the health situation
- what can we do about Electrical hypersensitivity? What are the prospects?
- how do we communicate with our family and colleagues in order to gain their sympathy and cooperation in making your living and working circumstances bearable?
What is the disturbing field factor? We do not know what it is that makes fields so harmful to some. Is it the emission energy, the frequencies transmitted or the combinations of several field characteristics? We plan to bring some light in this matter and initiate several measurements to define which field character of a certain emitter is relevant to a single person or to all electro-hypersensitives. Ideally, a person could take a portable meter with him/her and explore all spaces new to him for the presence of dangerous fields. For, as electrical hypersensitivity cannot be cured, the sole solution for an electro-hypersensitive is to avoid such fields. Major options are to replace deleterious equipment by more friendly solutions, or to move to a cleaner area.
Why are humans susceptible? The question why some persons are affected by certain fields and others not cannot yet be answered. The human being is probably equipped with sensors for EM and E-fields as well as with internal messenger systems to convey the stimuli received to the reacting center. Somewhere in that pathway from detection to expression there is a discriminating system that in some persons may be more finely tuned than in other persons. If this involves the system in most animals that detects fields like that of the earth's magnetic field is not certain. For that possibility speaks the fact that extremely low frequencies ('ELF' frequencies) in the range of 0,1 Hz to 40 kHz are detected rather easily by us, and often. Stimuli of that nature are perhaps upsetting specific body functions in the Electro-hypersensitives because the non-natural frequencies cannot be dealt with properly whatever organs, tissues or cells may be involved.
Which body functions are disturbed? Along this line of reasoning we speculate on possible disruption or malfunction of cell biological processes that are the basis of the bodily problems. The making of hypotheses has a function of its own: it stimulates following the scientific literature on cell and molecular biology for possible clues and explanations for our experiences. It also makes clear that we intend to find solutions following well-established methods of natural science. When the existence of electrosensitivity is firmly established, manufacturers of disturbing equipment can be asked to redesign the electronic system to the specifications of the Electro-hypersensitives.
Broadening of expertise desirable. This website must grow thanks to the active participation of a group of fellow Electro-hypersensitives. For, breakthroughs can be foreseen only when different disciplines are brought together to tackle this complex matter. The working group needs electrotechnical engineers, physicians, physicists, health care officials, molecular and cellular biologists and so forth. And above all other Electro-hypersensitives to substantiate the reports and illnesses, to help designing better working spaces, and so forth. Our ultimate aim is to bring about a change in thinking about the beauty of the electronic world around us. We all love that world dearly, but there should also be space for those that suffer from unusual sensitivities.
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Expressions of electrical hypersensitivity differ as well as the fields causing the problems. One person may happily survive in an environment literally packed with computers, whereas an electro-hypersensitive is bothered by a handheld computer or a laptop computer switched on at a distance of some odd 8 meters. Why such differences?
Characteristic complaints often expressed are: headache, dizziness, itching, rosacea (sebarrhoic eczema), concentration problems, sleep problems, 'phantom' sound suggestions (high-pitched whistling, low-frequency rumbling), memory malfunction, feeling of cold, influenza. Some of these symptoms are initiated seconds or minutes after the switched-on signal, other symptoms take hours to develop. Similarly, the duration of discomfort or illness usually takes hours after the switch-off signal, but may also last for two days or longer. Generally, the more serious the Electrical hypersensitivity responses, the longer the duration of discomfort. The normal comfortable condition can be reached only in an absolutely field-'clean' environment. During this clean period a certain health-'reservoir' is build up that allows a mild exposure to fields without direct effect, but eventually the old problems reoccur. Thresholds for field effects to occur are lowered as time progresses. This makes that problems can only become more serious if too little is done to improve the electronic environment.
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Disturbing office and home equipment

AC fields in the extremely low-frequency (ELF) area are considered particularly disturbing. The longer the duration of exposure, and the closer the source, the stronger and more persistent the effects are. Equipment considered harmful are listed. Especially those emitting non-sinusoidal AC fields and those reflecting unstablized power lines: fluorescent tubes, energy saving lamps, electromotors, generators and video display terminals (VDT) such as computer monitors. In particular the electronically regulated power supply in cheap electronics are a source of evil. The working with classical fluorescent screens of PC monitors are a frequent initiator of problems with office workers and the electrical sensitivity may easily spread to other electronic and electric equipment as well. We have the strong impression that digital pulses travelling through the connecting wiring of all modern digital equipement are among those most thereatening te health of electro-sensitives.
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For all clarity, we speak of 'fields' rather than 'radiation', and we make a distinction in 'electromagnetic (EM-) and 'electrical' (E-) fields. The different types of field can be static or alternating, and be variable in strength and direction. We focus on fields around equipment in home or in the office because it is there where most Electro-hypersensitives experience discomfort or illness. The intriguing question is which fields exactly are disturbing and why, and why other fields are not or less disturbing.
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To characterize EM- and E-fields simple as well as more complex meters are available. A good working knowledge of the behavior of fields is required to determine the correct field strength and be aware of the uncertainties in values read. The mode of operation of some measuring instruments is explained.
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Simple equipment allows us to assess the strength of EM- and E-fields in our search for a relation between field strength and induction of ill effects of certain equipment. We measured field strengths of the power net at home, IT apparatuses, TV set, household appliances, telephones and automobiles, among others. There is a rough correlation between strength of fields and effects but there are also several obvious exceptions. We suggest that field strength is not the only relevant parameter and that certain fields have particularities which cause effects. We cannot yet determine the exact frequencies that are emitted, although there is a clear dose-response relation for the 'low' and 'high'-frequency component in the mixture of fields for every field so far investigated. The occurrence of possible specifically acting frequency 'windows' should be taken into consideration.
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There are norms for the protection of the health of users of certain instruments, for instance the Swedish TCO norms for PC monitors and other electronic office equipment. Our measurements indicated that the modern TFT screens are far better that those norms and that certain more common monitors are worse. Norms for livings quarters and bedrooms are far too mild and should be readjusted to the low tolerance levels of Electro-hypersensitives. Biological effects of EM- and E-fields have not or hardly been taken into consideration. Ideally, a more personal definition of norms would seem desirable, considering the extreme individual variation in susceptibility. The degree of capacitieve loading of skin potential by E-fields from the ambient power lines is one of the factors that has never been taken into consideration.
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EM- and E-fields are part of our daily life. The introduction of electronic and electric appliances started problems for the EA-sensitives because their body did not know how to cope with those unnatural signals. Here we explore the possible biological causes of the phenomena. There are two possible biological models that can explain the biological effects: (1) the oscillation/resonance model, and (2) the polarization model. Numerous laboratory observations indicate that there are frequency 'windows' for fields to be effective in influencing cellular and molecular processes. It would seem that the former model can best explain the occurrence of effects restricted to certain frequencies only. There are several biological phenomena to examined in more detail for finding the clue as to the deleterious effects of artificial fields.
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A page with personal stories of electrosensitive, meant to motivate others to contact us and find solutions for their problems. Call for contributions to be placed on this page (anonymously).
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Now that the danger of deleterious fields is made public you may take measures to survive in this electronic world. Threatening equipment can be spotted with the aid of relatively simple and cheap meters and living and working quarters can be assessed for field intensity, both electromagnetic and electric fields. A series of advises can help choosing optimal sleeping and working sites and maneuver through several potentially dangerous situations.
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Electrical hypersensitivity will grow worse if no proper action is undertaken. There is a way out of the problems if you are willing to take an active attitude and explore your electric environment. Escape unfavorable situations and/or replace equipment by pieces that are more friendly for you. Most measures cost very little and give considerable relieve, but as long as bad apparatuses remain no spectacular effects can be hoped for. Inform your relatives and colleagues about your problems and ask for their cooperation to make your direct environment acceptable for you. You have no other choice!
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It is necessary to investigate which types of fields in your environment are most threatening and also how great individual variations in sensitivity actually are. We need help from professional electronic engineers and experts in physics to make breakthroughs in this field.
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Progress in understanding our dangers and the finding of appropriate solutions requires that we join hand. We need to exchange personal information on the history of your Electrical hypersensitivity and the solutions found already. We need different expertise to go out and make our point: that Electrical hypersensitivity exists and needs public attention. There is reason to believe that many more persons suffer from this allergy without even knowing and we need to bring them our message.
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You find here:
- websites with information on related topics
- books
- scientific publications
- WHO publications
- suppliers of instruments and services.
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Last update: 05-07-06