There is much activity in the electromagnetic world – well, at least amongst those who are concerned that the stratospheric increase in man-made electromagnetic radiation over the last 20 years could have catastrophic long term effects on our health. Whereas five years ago, which I first became electro sensitive myself, we got very excited when an article about electromagnetic hypersensitivity (to give it its full title) appeared in any kind of press, now, a major article on the safely of mobile phones and related concerns appears in a national newspaper at least once a week.
We do transfer some of this material, although not nearly as much as I would like (pressure of time), on to the ES section of the FoodsMatter site but just now and then a report comes through that I think everyone would relate to – such as the mayor of Udine and his ‘telefonini’ ban!
Udine is a delightful old town, population around 100,000, which sits half way between Venice and Trieste in Northern Italy – and its mayor, Furio Honsell, has just had it with his counsellors spending most of their meetings updating their Facebook pages and sending text messages. As it happens Mayor Honsell is also a doctor, and a doctor who believes in the precautionary principle: namely that, until we are sure that having mobile phones glued to our ears, and especially to our childrens’ ears, for a large proportion of each day is not going to have some disastrous health outcome, we should not do it.
He has therefore banned mobiles in council meetings and launched a campaign to have them banned in bars, restaurants and hotels in the town; so far sixteen establishments have signed up.
Wherever you stand on the safety issue (if you did not manage to make it through the whole of Andrew Goldsworthy’s very weighty paper featured in last weekend’s FoodsMatter e-newsletter there was a good overview article on msnbc.com which will lead you in more gently), many people who value the convenience of their mobile phone are nonetheless profoundly irritated by their overuse by others, thereby banishing any semblance of peace in public places and making normal conversation almost impossible! They will be right up there with Mayor Honsell. And with the Italian rail company, Trenitalia, who are now introducing ‘silent’ carriages – a luxury which, to their credit, most British train companies have offered for some time.