Do you have these symptoms?

Do you have these symptoms?

Did you know that being exposed to electromagnetic fields can cause people to develop unpleasant symptoms?

Perhaps you’re one of them.

In a new paper, Professor Dominique Belpomme and Dr Philippe Irigaray from the Association for the Research and Treatment Against Cancer (ARTAC) in Paris, explain what these symptoms are and how we know they’re caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Belpomme and Irigaray say that electromagnetic fields from electrical and wireless sources can trigger harmful symptoms in some people and this is usually known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).

‘… we believe that present scientific knowledge strongly suggests that man-made EMF exposure can be causally involved in triggering harmful adverse clinical symptoms and noxious pathophysiological changes in EHS patients ...’

Among the many symptoms the authors identified are:

  • heart rate variability

  • changes to pupillary light reflex

  • attention problems and memory loss

  • sleep problems

  • changes to EEG and ECG

  • skin changes

  • mental confusion

  • chronic fatigue

  • depression and suicide risk

  • blood and brain changes.

The authors reported that electromagnetic hypersensitivity is linked with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and that about a quarter of EHS patients had MCS as well. They say that ‘both disorders are associated with inflammation, OS [oxidative stress], possible BBB [blood-brain barrier] opening and brain neurotransmitter changes’.

Chemicals may even cause EHS in some cases, the authors say.

Authorities have sometimes argued that EHS is not caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields or is a nocebo effect (has a psychological cause).

But that’s not the case, say Belpomme and Irigaray. ‘From the analysis of our data and those of the scientific literature, we now consider several strong and convincing arguments that prove EHS is caused by non-thermal anthropogenic [environmental] EMF exposure.’

Here are some of them.

  1. Exposure causes physical changes in the body and is linked with MCS, which is considered to be a somatic (physical) and not psychological condition.

  2. Its presence coincides with the arrival and expansion of EMF-emitting technologies in the world.

  3. Studies show that exposure can ‘biologically damage the organism and are noxious agents in healthy people’.

  4. Studies show that some symptoms worsen with increased exposure.

  5. EHS symptoms have been found in exposed animals, so can’t be psychological.

  6. Studies show that man-made fields interact with fields that control biological functions of the body (eg heart and brain).

  7. Exposure has been shown to affect DNA and could affect genes and protein folding.

‘All these different findings clearly argue for a causal role of EMF in inducing EHS directly or indirectly via ROS [reactive oxygen species] and/or RNS,’ they authors say.

How could electromagnetic fields cause these symptoms in the body?

The authors suggest this could be due to effects on neurons, by opening voltage-gated ion channels or it could be due to the presence of magnetosomes in the brain. ‘Magnetosomes are located mainly in areas thought to correspond to the observed EHS-associated pathophysiological abnormalities and clinical symptoms (hippocampus and meninges) in EHS patients. These latter receptors have been shown to contain ferrous magnetite … and maghemite crystals which have been thought to sense EMFs.’

These findings have implications for administrators and medical practitioners. ‘… suitable public health measures must urgently be taken to recognize EHS and MCS as new pathologies and decrease EMF-exposure,’ the authors say.

Dominique Belpomme, Philippe Irigaray, Why electrohypersensitivity and related symptoms are caused by non-ionizing man-made electromagnetic fields: An overview and medical assessment, Environmental Research, Volume 212, Part A, 2022, 113374, ISSN 0013-9351,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envr...; https://www.sciencedirect.com/...

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