Regular readers may remember that back in August last year I alerted you to a posting on Arthur Firstenberg’s Cellphone Task Force site about phone masts and bird flu. Could there be a connection between the fact that the two wildlife sites in Holland and Northern France which had suffered catastrophic bird flu deaths were in urban environments surrounded by high concentrations of antennae and electromagnetic radiation while the two that had suffered fewest deaths were in country sites with very low levels of EM pollution. Coincidence or was the EM pollution relevant?
And now he asks an equally intriguing – and worrying – question. Could the sudden and dramatic increase in the numbers of deaths of race horses at Churchill Downs in Louisville, home of the world-famous Kentucky Derby, be connected to the wireless devices now fitted to the horses to monitor their movements?
STRIDESafe monitors
As of 29th April this year every horse racing at Churchill Downs was fitted with a STRIDESAfe wireless device, shaped like an iPhone, that fits into the cloth underneath the saddle on the horse’s back.
‘This STRIDESafe device monitors the horse’s movements 2,400 times per second throughout the race, sending 2,400 pulses of radio frequency (RF) radiation every second through the body of the horse. It also contains a GPS component that communicates with global positioning satellites. It also communicates with the RFID chip implanted in the left side of every horse’s neck, ensuring that the chip also emits radiation throughout the race. And because every racehorse wears horseshoes made of aluminum, which is one of the best conductors, the frequencies that are conducted from both the STRIDESafe device and the RFID chip throughout the horse’s body are absorbed and reradiated by its four shoes. Each horse, then, carries not one but six continuously radiating antennas throughout each race at Churchill Downs. So with 14 horses normally competing in each race, there are 84 antennas among animals in close proximity to one another running around the track.’
And as of April 29th the number of horses suffering catastrophic injuries which required them to be put down, or actually dying on the track, increased so dramatically (from 1.25 deaths for every 1,000 horses starting a race to 12 deaths in 1600 starts – an eight fold increase) that races were suspended as of June 10th.
Official enquires have found nothing either on the track or in the horses’ general health to explain such a dramatic rise in mortality. The only thing that has changed is the fitting of a wireless monitoring device to each horse.
Horses are especially sensitive to radio waves
Is this new? Apparently not.
As far back as 1998 in New Zealand a race horse owner documented similar devastating effects on her horses when a radio tower was erected close by – all of her horses were affected and two died.
Apart from becoming nervous and jumpy all suffered from sore feet. Their blacksmith reported that the radio waves had affected the horses’ feet. ‘Their aluminum shoes conduct electricity and their feet had changed shape, had huge cracks where the nails went and were very sensitive inside.’
Arthur Firstenberg has written to Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, Director of Equine Safety & Welfare at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) who has been leading a review into the records of the horses that died, suggesting that her enquiry should at least consider whether the wirelss devices could be implicated. He has not received a response.
He is meanwhile appealing to veterinarians and horse owners:
‘If you are a veterinarian or have experience with horses and would like to help, please send me an email to arthur@cellphonetaskforce.org. This is an opportunity, if we can get Churchill Downs, HISA, and the owners of the racehorses that run in the Kentucky Derby to acknowledge what is happening and get rid of these new wireless devices — an opportunity to educate the rest of the world as well and catalyze a change of direction for us all.’
New distribution for Dr Joneja’s Histamine books