EMF and Autism Update

This paper is a summary of recent research and treatment protocols that support the theory that electromagnetic fields and radiation play a role in autism.

Initial Paper Summary

One year ago, Harvard researcher Dr. Martha Herbert, and EMF expert Cindy Sage, had their lengthy paper Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a pathophysiological link published in Journal of Pathophysiology in two parts: Part I, Part II

The paper basically stated that the known symptoms of EMF exposure match the known symptoms of autism, these being primarily oxidative stress, inflammation, lower melatonin and glutathione and elevated calcium.  Their conclusion was that the theory of EMF (electromagnetic fields and radiation) as an environmental factor in autism is plausible and deserves further attention.

Genetic Study

The most recent genetic study in autism found that the majority of the genetic mutations found were not inherited from the parents: Dozens of Genes Associated with Autism in New Research.  The next logical step is to find environmental or physiological factors that would increase mutations.  It has been theorized that the increase in men carrying their cell phones in their front pockets (closer to their bodies than the FCC and cell phone manufacturers recommend) may play a role.  The overwhelming majority of research studies of cell phone wireless radiation and sperm have found an increase in damage to sperm, including damage to DNA.

A study by the University Texas found that children of fathers with technical jobs had a higher risk for autism.

The carrying of a cell phone in the pocket should be reviewed as a possible source of genetic mutation to sperm and a factor in the rising autism epidemic.

Emerging Awareness

Doctors and public health agencies are now starting to include EMF when they discuss the full range of possible environmental contributors to autism:

Pandemic Rates of Autism Cannot Be Explained by Genetics or Diagnosis Alone

Part 2 of Pandemic Rates of Autism Cannot Be Explained by Genetics or Diagnosis Alone

Dr. Martin Pall has gone one step further. He states that the exact mechanism of how EMF impacts the voltage regulated cell membrane channels is now known.   But, that is just one part of the puzzle.   He believes we now understand the whole thing.   We have cell phone and wireless causing sperm damage and contributing to increased genetic mutations and genetic load.   Toxins and total toxic load activate NMDA receptors, which contribute to increased inflammation.  He is very concerned about the toxic contribution of rising levels of glyphosate.  Finally, wireless and EMF are overloading voltage regulated gateways on the cell membranes, allowing positively charge calcium ions into the cell and disrupting the natural modulation of inflammation fighting nitric oxide (NO).

Screening

The lack of an objective biomarker for autism has made diagnosis and research more challenging. Two new non-invasive screens for autism may help us to quickly find children who are at risk and help researchers find more links between environmental exposure and changes in physiological biomarkers.

The first screen is a measurement of the brain’s electrical response (EEG) to light and sound.  The autistic brain takes more time to recover from the stimulus. 

Autism diagnosis could become clearer with sound/sight response screening

Since wireless radiation is basically light at a wavelength below our visual spectrum, it is hypothesized that autistics may be more sensitive to wireless pulses (invisible flicker or flashes) than neuro-typical children are, just as they are more sensitive to visible light than neuro-typical children are.  A study is underway to validate this hypothesis.

The second test is a non-invasive scan of the retina which measures the thickness of the membrane.  The retinal membrane thickness is an extension of the brain and nervous system and is seen as a good approximation for brain health.  Autistics have been found to have thinner retinal membranes:

Reduction in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in young adults with autism spectrum disorders.  

This is a key measure, because the thickness of the membrane is also a variable in the membrane channel’s ability to resist efflux and influx (outflow and inflow) of calcium.  Having a thin membrane equates to being “thin skinned” or sensitive.  We should now be able to quickly measure the effects of lowering EMF exposure and/or adding beneficial factors like healthy fats, which are used to build cell membranes.

Treatment Protocols

Doctors who are asking parents of autistic children to reduce constant sources of EMF and EMR (electromagnetic radiation) at night are seeing improvements in over 80% of the children.  This is a simple and free protocol that parents can try at home on their own, right now.  

Summary

Researchers are now closing in on the factors contributing to autism and EMF is emerging as a very plausible and likely suspect.   Doctors and parents who are measuring and reducing exposure to constant sources of wireless radiation are seeing results.

Understanding EMF and Wireless Safety

Like most people, I used to assume electronics and wireless devices were all safe.  I even worked in the tech industry in Silicon Valley and on one occasion delivered a new computer to a lab for FCC certification.  I have spent the last 10 years researching and funding environmental health efforts to reduce toxins and increase awareness.  After looking at the new emerging science on EMF (electromagnetic fields) effects for the last 4 years, I’m now directing all of my funding and time to EMF awareness, because I believe I can get a larger positive social impact even faster than my previous focus on toxins reduction.

Many people who assume EMF and wireless radiation are safe have heard the theory that non-ionizing radiation is not powerful enough to break apart atomic bonds, and therefore could not damage DNA.  In theory, this is true, but it is not a complete proof of safety and makes a glaring omission of the role of electrons play in biological life. In reality, most studies, not funded by the industry, have found biological effects, including DNA damage. In 2011, the World Health Organization listed radio frequency radiation as a class 2B carcinogen, in the same category as lead and DDT.

If you are interesting in learning more about emerging evidence of EMF health risks, here is a list of resources I have found to be the most credible, useful and up to date: 

Books

Overpowered (2014) by Columbia Professor Martin Blank

An Electronic Silent Spring (2014) by Katie Singer

Movies

Mobilize (2014)

Full Signal (2011) 

Short Videos

International Scientist Appeal on Electromagnetic Fields

Generation Zapped Trailer

Searching for a Golden Cage - Time Magazine (2014)

People 

Martin Blank, Ph.D

Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D

Katie Singer

 

Websites

Internation EMF Alliance

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment

Environmental Working Group

 

Research

A search in Pubmed for EMF finds over 2100 published research papers.  Recently, studies funded directly by industry have come under question and the FCC is used as an example of a captured regulatory agency in business ethics classes at Harvard.  Reviewing research in this field requires a healthy dose of skepticism.  Many neutral scientists have moved from the camp of safety to non-safety.  I have not found any scientists who have moved from the belief that EMF and wireless are unsafe to the conclusion that EMF and wireless are safe.  

Wireless and EMF Reduction for Autism

The question to ask is not can children recover, but what are the most simple and effective protocols for recovery?  Families with autistic children are already overburdened and overloaded on all levels. They need something simple and effective that they can try for free.

That protocol now exists and most children who try it improve.  After everything I've done over the the last 15 years, this has been the most effective, and in retrospect, if I had known about it at the beginning, I would have started with this protocol.  It is fairly simple and can be taught to children.  The hard part is believing that it will work and changing a long held assumption that electromagnetic fields and wireless radiation are completely safe.  This is something that I truly believed as an engineer and designer in Silicon Valley.  It took me several years to release this tightly held belief.

For a period early in my career I was a troubleshooter in customer support for a company that made high-end workstations and supercomputers.  When something was broken, we'd replace the most likely suspect parts.  If the first couple board replacements didn't work, we'd systematically replace every part until the system worked perfectly.   If a larger problem happened in manufacturing and the defect rate of a new product increased, again, we would systematically look at everything that changed, not only with every part, but also with the manufacturing environment.  The first clean rooms were built in Silicon Valley to reduce chemical contamination and electrostatic discharge.  Along the way, as chips became smaller and smaller, special rooms had to be created to minimize vibration, electrical noise and micro-surges that interfered with the machines that traced the microscopic circuits and wires that make up the chips and boards inside the computers.

Many things in our environment have changed and made it harder for our children to develop normally and to their full potential.  Our children are now born with, on average, almost 300 man-made chemicals in their bodies. My experience is that efforts to reduce toxins are effective, but also take a great deal of time, effort, diligence and cost.

Dr. Toril Jelter in California has pioneered a simple protocol to reduce exposure to constant sources of wireless radiation and electrical noise. Over 80% of her patients show measurable improvement in 2 weeks.  This protocol is simple enough that you can do it on your own:

Turn these four common sources of constant wireless radiation and electrical noise off at night for at least 12 hrs:

1) Baby monitors: Unplug for the duration of the trial.

2) Cordless phone base stations: Unplug the cordless phone base station (the largest unit that usually has the answering machine and physical phone line going into it.) Some people put this on an electrical timer.

3) Wi-Fi: Use a timer for the plug or software configuration to turn off at night.

4) Bedroom electrical circuit breaker: Find the circuit breaker that controls the electrical outlets in the child's bedroom.  Turning that off at night will reduce the majority of exposure to field effects and electrical noise (commonly called "dirty electricity").

Before you do these things, you may want to get some baseline data on your child. Take a few photos and some videos to document how your child moves.  Dr. Jelter asks her parents to fill out this survey before the trial and again after two weeks.

What to Expect

The majority of children will slowly and steadily improve as they sleep better.  We know that wireless exposure can drive down melatonin, glutathione and increase oxidation and inflammation.  For most children, removing this constant interference allows their bodies to heal and become more coherent.  A small number of children will show a dramatic improvement after just a few nights of sleeping well.  One non-verbal autistic boy actually spoke a complete sentence for the first time after 3 days on this protocol.

83% of the children in Dr. Jelter's trials have shown measurable improvement after just 2 weeks, and the improvement continued on for months after the trial.  The 2 week trial was designed to convince skeptical parents, many of them who are engineers in high tech, that this would work.  Once they see that it does, they often go on to reduce other sources of wireless and EMF.  

In 17% of the cases, the children showed no measurable improvement.  This does not rule out EMF exposure as a factor.  It may mean that EMF levels are from other less common sources, or from external sources in the neighborhood, such as a neighbor’s wi-fi signal, or a cell tower. In these cases, a building biologist or other professional trained in EMF measurement and mitigation might be required to evaluate the home.  If EMFs are fully eliminated, then one should continue to evaluate other functional medicine factors such as toxins, diet, gut health, infections and inflammation.

If this protocol works for you, please share this document with your network.

This short 3 minute video also quickly walks you through the action steps: Reducing Wireless Radiation and EMF 

References

Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a Pathophysiological Link, Part 1 and Part 2 by Dr. Martha Herbert (pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School) and Cindy Sage (co-editor of the BioInitiative Reports) in Pathophysiology 2013

Autism and EMF: Published Papers (2004-2014)

Calming Behavior in Children with Autism and ADHD by Katie Singer (2014)

Additional Resources

The Emerging Link between Wireless and Autism by Peter Sullivan (2015)

EMF and Autism Update by Peter Sullivan (2014)

Understanding EMF and Wireless Safety by Peter Sullivan (2014)

The Real Reason Electronics Are Effecting Our Sleep by Peter Sullivan (2014)

Find a local Building Biologist to test for EMF's in your home

Videos

The Emerging Link between Wireless and Autism - Peter Sullivan (2016)

Reducing Wirelesss Radiation and EMF - Peter Sullivan (2016)

Conferences

Wireless: A key piece of the autism puzzle and what you can do about it - Peter Sullivan (05/22/2015)

The Autism Epidemic Is Caused by EMFs, Acting via Calcium Channels and Chemicals Acting via NMDA-Rs: Downstream Effects Cause Autism - Martin L Pall, PhD (05/23/2015)

The Real Reason Electronics Are Affecting Our Sleep - Part II

Some people may still sleep poorly even after following the basic tips from "The Real Reasons Electronics Are Affecting Our Sleep." In 2005, I was sleeping so poorly that I had to be hospitalized.  I tried everything I could find: doctors, medicines, supplements, neurofeedback.  I saw some minor improvement, but nothing really restored that deep rejuvenating sleep I had known for years.

One day, on vacation, I realized that I could actually sleep well in some places. What was different?  My bedroom at home was pretty quiet, except for a subtle high pitched noise.  I became convinced that the noise was the cause of my sleep disturbance.  It took me three years to find the source of the noise.  The most helpful person was a building biologist who helped measure EMF (electromagnetic fields), wireless radiation and electrical noise (dirty electricity) on our household wiring.

We put in a few dirty electrical noise filter plugs and I noticed the pitch of the noise I heard at night changed and I finally started to sleep better again. Eventually, I turned off the wi-fi permanently and switched to wired Ethernet for all our computers.  We also replaced our cordless phone with a corded phone.  Additionally, we reduced levels of magnetic fields and electric fields (EMFs) in our bedrooms.  The fields "carry" the noise, just like a speaker transmits sound. When the fields are lower, it's like lowering the volume of a stereo speaker.

The hardest part of the experience for me was recognizing that technology could be a problem.  I worked in Silicon Valley and had always viewed technology as good and completely safe.  This belief proved to be not entirely correct.  I now fund work to raise awareness about wireless safety and the safety of EMF (electromagnetic fields), including their potential role in the rising autism epidemic (Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a pathophysiological link - Part I).  

Sadly, like me, most people have assumed that this is all completely safe and well tested.  Some sleep labs at very elite universities even advertise that they have Wi-Fi in their labs.  I have yet to find a study that demonstrates Wi-Fi does not affect sleep.  The emerging data on wireless and EMF shows that our biological processes are impacted at very fundamental levels.  

Here are some more advanced tips for sleeping well without interference from wireless radiation and EMF:

• Measure the level of electrical noise in your home's wiring with a Stetzerizer or Greenwave meter.  Use the meter to locate high sources of electrical noise and find devices that might be generating it.
• Don't sleep with your head near a power panel or circuit breaker box.  These are sources of high magnetic fields.
• Consider moving your head away from the A/C plugs around the wall or try sleeping with your head toward the middle of the room.
• If you have a smart meter, consider opting out.  They emit a wireless pulse every 6 seconds and the switching power supply in the units can increase the electrical noise in your home.
• Look for other sources of constant wireless radiation: alarm systems, wireless weather stations and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices.
• Hire a building biologist or environmental consultant to come to your house to measure EMF levels and look for other sources of wireless radiation and EMF. Some sources of exposure may be outside your home and they can help you shield your home from those exposures.

Almost everyone is now affected by this rising threat to healthy sleep. Most people know something is wrong, but have failed to find the invisible factor affecting sleep.  I hope that after reading these articles this factor is now clear to you, and that you will take action to mitigate it to improve your sleep and your family's sleep.

Peter Sullivan is an environmental health advocate, autism funder and writer.  He lives in Los Altos, California with his wife and two boys.

The Real Reason Electronics Are Affecting Our Sleep

Many people are now noticing that they do not sleep well after using electronic devices late at night. Some have attributed the sleep disturbance to exposure to blue light, since it is stimulating and is known to reduce melatonin levels at night. But that is only one part of the problem. 

It is important to understand that wireless radiation and EMF (electromagnetic fields) emitted by these devices are basically light with a frequency that is below that which our eyes can perceive.  We know that exposure to EMF can also draw down our melatonin levels, just like exposure to visible light at night.  So, it may be helpful to think of wireless and EMF as invisible lights that should be turned off at night before bed, just like we naturally turn off visible lights.

Here are some basic tips for reducing exposure at night:

• As a general rule, keep electronics out of the bedroom: TVs, cordless phones, cell phones and chargers.  Corded phones that don't need to be plugged into power outlets are OK.
• Move digital LED (light emitting diode) alarm clocks away from your head.  They generate very large magnetic fields.   Ideally, move the clock to the other side of the bedroom or replace it with a battery powered analog or LCD clock.
• Unplug reading lights close to your head.  Even lights that are not on will generate electric fields and bring electrical noise closer to your head.
• Turn off cordless phone base stations at night.  The cordless phone base is the one that has the physical phone line going into it.  Unplug the unit or put it on a light timer.  The wireless signal from these base stations is constantly on and has a large reach, so turn it off even if it's far from your bedroom.
• Turn off your Wi-Fi at night.  You could put the Wi-Fi router's plug on a light timer, or some routers have a software configuration that will allow you to turn it on and off at specific times.  You could also use a remote switch to turn the plug and Wi-Fi on only when you need it for a limited duration of time.

These simple steps will help you avoid the most common electronic and EMF (electromagnetic fields) problems that can interfere with your sleep.  When you are ready, there are even more steps you can take to reduce your exposure: 

The Real Reason Electronics Are Effecting Our Sleep - Part II