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54 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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TUNING OUT NON-IONIZING RADIATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH/SAFETY HAZARDS
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Growing evidence that long wave non-ionizing radiation used in
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electromagnetic devices, microwave products, and TV/radio systems is
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harmful to the public's health, hazardous to effective public safety
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systems, and threatening to military security went largely unreported
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by America's media in 1987. Also underreported were the related
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issues of the Environmental Protection Agency's shut-down of its
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funded programs to study non-ionizing radiation in light of a 1989
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deadline to establish safety standards for public exposure to radio
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frequencies, and, the lawsuit brought against the Reagan
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administration by a coalition of plaintiffs who charge that the
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administration has violated the National Enviromental Policy act by
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not adequately protecting the public and environment from the "Hazard
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of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance" (HERO).
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Studies that suggest links between electromagetic fields (such as
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those produced by overhead power lines, broadcast towers, military
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hardware, hairdryers, microwave ovens, computers, TV and two-way
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radios, and radar), and cellular mutation, cancer, and childhood
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leukemia have received little attention. University of North Carolina
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epidemiologist David Savitz confirmed earlier reports about the
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apparent public health hazard. Savitz emphasized the need for further
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research and more federal funding to determine the extent of this
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potential health risk. Fifteen of 17 occupational studies have
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established links between exposure to low frequency electromagnetic
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fields and cancer. Despite this mounting evidence, the EPA shut down
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its program to study non-ionizing radiation which is supposed to set
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acceptable levels of exposure for humans and the environment by 1989.
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Meanwhile, total federal funding to study the health effects of low
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frequency fields has dropped from $10 million to just $2.5 million.
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A coalition of Pentagon watchdog organizations and individuals
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has brought suit against the government charging Reagan administration
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officials with willful negligence in protecting the public from the
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HERO effect. Though the Navy and Army have been aware, for some 33
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years, of the hazard that electromagnetism poses to weapon systems,
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the Pentagon has acknowledged very little about the hazards that
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accidental explosions caused by various electromagnetic sources pose
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to public and environmental safety. The plaintiffs cite five specific
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HERO related accidents, including the 1967 explosion on board the USS
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Forrestal which claimed 134 lives, along with a possible 25 other HERO
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related accidents that have occurred over the past 25 k;years.
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Finally, in a continuing conflict related to the issue of
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electromagnetic radiation and its effects on public safety and health,
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radar specialist veterans have been filing health claims, related to
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their exposrue to low frequency radiation, against the Veterans
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Administration. All claims to date have been rejected.
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With such a newsworthy issue as the effects of electromagnetic
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radiation on public health and safety so clearly being played out
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during 1987, the news media, for the most part, failed to tune in.
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SOURCES: KQED-TV 9, "EXPRESS," 12/9/87, "Radiation Risk?," by
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David Helvarg; RECON, Vol. 10, #4, January 1988, "HERO: Deadly Game of
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Roulette," by Patricia Axelrod, pp 1,2,8.
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