As many people will know, I am electrosensitive – but I am very fortunate in that I recognised my condition very early and that I have been able to shield my work/home space and re-organise my life in such a way as to remain, for most of the time, extremely healthy. Sadly, this is not the case for the majority of sufferers who either do not know what it wrong with them or are unable to escape the radiation which is making them ill – check our ‘personal stories’ section for a very few of the horror stories that we have heard about.
This is not the place to explain electrosensitivity beyond saying that it is a systemic condition which appears to affect those who are unable tolerate the massive increase in man-made pulsed electromagnetic radiation which has occurred over the last 50, and especially over the last 20, years. Symptoms can include heart arrhythmias, tinnitus, blood pressure fluctuations, memory loss, migraine, digestive upset among many others and can be totally debilitating if the sufferer cannot escape to a relatively radiation-free area. For those who are interested there is a huge amount of information on the condition and electromagnetic radiation in the ES section of the foodsmatter.com website.
Since the one of the major causes of the increase in pulsed electromagnetic radiation is mobile telephony, there is, inevitably, a huge vested interest in playing down any suggestion that mobile phones could present a danger to human health – and since many governments have benefited hugely from the mobile phone industry (the UK government has made millions out of granting licenses alone) the whole subject is politically fraught, to say the least. While some countries or bodies, such as Sweden, Luxembourg and the European Parliament, are pursuing a precautionary route as far and mobile telephony and wifi are concerned, others (such as the UK) are in denial. Yet others have a more piecemeal approach – in the north America, unsurprisingly, California and come states in Canada are issuing warnings about mobile phone use; in France, wifi has been banned from libraries in Paris and in several cases mobile phone companies have been told to remove masts which were affecting the health of those living around them, but there is no nationwide policy. And it is in France that the current dispute over the ‘safe’ village has arisen.
An organisation called Next-up has established two ‘refuge zones’ – one in the Drome valley in southern France and one in Italy. Although these are not entirely radiation-free zones, they have a very low level of radiation and Next-Up has ‘built’ a village which is protected from radiation. Living areas are created from metal caravans which form de-facto Faraday cages through which radiation cannot penetrate, no mobile phones or other radiation emitting devices are allowed etc. The idea is that electro-sensitives can go and spend time in the refuge zone where they will be safe from radiation and will therefore be able to recover some modicum of health.
All went well until the owner of the land on which the refuge is built (land which the ‘villagers’ claim was otherwise uninhabitable and unused) decided that they were trespassing and has taken them to court. At this point the hearings, including their recent appeal, have gone against them and they have been told by the judge that they have to leave the site. They maintain that if they do so it will seriously affect the health of those living there. The case has already generated a deal of publicity – see an article in the Times on Line on August 22nd – so it will be interesting to see where it goes from here. The French are notoriously combative in such situations so it is very unlikely that the villagers will go quietly. Watch this space…
18th September.
Just read, thanks to EMFields newsletter, that although the French have been evicted from their ES-free village, another refuge zone is now operational in the Vena del Gesso Regional Park near the town of Brisighella in the province of Ravenna, in northern Italy.
Open since May 2010, it includes a B&B with five shielded bedrooms just next to the ‘refuge zone’ where you can also stay. EMF levels are minimal and the landscape spectacular! The email for the B&B is eremo_del_lupo@percorsietnici.net; the adress for further information on the zone is ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA ELETTROSENSIBILI – AIE – Via Cadorna,5 – 35123 Padova (PD) tel: 02/6431425