Translator: Hélène Vernet Reviewer: Rhonda Jacobs
I'd like to begin by asking a few questions.
Who knows if they have a wireless smart meter on their home?
Okay.
And who has their smartphone in their pocket right now?
Great.
And who's read the fine prints in your owner's manual
that says that the smartphone should never be within about an inch of the body?
(Laughter)
So today, I'm going to speak to why we can no longer assume
that our wireless technology is safe.
Technology has allowed us many benefits.
It has connected us to people and to places,
and it has brought us convenience
that few could have imagined just 10 years ago.
It's also brought us tremendous economic benefits.
If we can look at how technology has increased in our lives
in just the last eight years ...
It started with the iPhone,
and then tablet computing,
ubiquitous Wi-Fi,
the smart meter and the smart home,
and wearable tech,
and now the Internet of Things.
If we could imagine how this would look, it would actually look like this:
This is an artist's rendition of what Wi-Fi in our public spaces looks like.
We could actually hear what microwave radiation sounds like
with a device like this.
So if anybody would like to hear what their smartphone
or their smartwatch sounds like,
come and see me at the end and I can show you.
But how does this affect our bodies?
That's the question I want to ask
because this exponential rise in microwave radiation can have effects,
and that's what scientists and medical doctors around the world are now saying,
especially when it comes to children,
because they're going to be affected by this their entire lives.
But today, I also want to share a few solutions.
I want to give everyone here things that you can do in your own lives
in order to reduce this type of exposure.
So I actually got into this topic about five years ago.
Before then, I was a young technology enthusiast.
I always used my smartphone and Wi-Fi.
I've worked in Silicon Valley and have a master's degree in engineering.
So if anyone had told me that wireless technology could have health effects,
I would have thought they're crazy.
So if you're thinking that right now, I can relate.
But this all changed for me over the period of about one week.
I started to experience headaches,
ringing in the ears,
insomnia,
and a fatigue and brain fog that I'd never experienced before.
And I shared this with a colleague at work,
and she said the exact same thing happened to her husband
when a wireless smart meter was installed in their home.
So I went home that evening and I checked downstairs,
and sure enough, we had a bank of wireless smart meters
installed right below our bedroom in San Francisco.
So this started me on a journey
to learn as much about this topic as I possibly could.
I now have a website about this,
and I'm contacted by people all around the world, every day,
who are experiencing the exact same things.
It can be when they have a wireless smart meter installed,
or a new Wi-Fi router,
or even a cell tower placed across the street from their home.
These are the common symptoms that people start to experience.
This is actually from a published paper
on the health effects of wireless smart meters.
So, just here in the Bay Area,
I'm in touch with dozens of people who've had their lives changed by this:
medical doctors,
high school principals,
teachers and students,
IT professionals,
and even entrepreneurs.
These are people who had a normal life,
and then over a short period of time, went to where they could no longer work,
where they could no longer go to an office.
Some of them actually have had to move out of their homes
because they can't be in an environment which is normal now for most people.
I've been in touch with people around the world
who've become homeless because of this.
There are many people that's actually happened to.
And, unfortunately, I know of people who've actually taken their lives
because there's essentially no place they can go,
and this is something that society does not yet recognize.
My own life has been tremendously changed by this.
After that first exposure to wireless smart meters,
now I can no longer be in an environment with strong Wi-Fi for very long.
So I can't go to my work the way I used to be able to.
Most environments are now essentially toxic to me.
So even finding a safe place to live has become very difficult.
Imagine not being able to live in an apartment building
where everyone has Wi-Fi,
or to be able to live next to a cell tower.
This is actually a proposed cell tower here in Berkeley.
The residents have actually stopped it for now,
but most churches and most schools now have cell towers on them.
And so it exposes the people around them
and of course the students who go to those schools.
This is a cell tower in San Francisco:
that brown thimble on top of the telephone pole is a cell tower.
And these are being placed every couple of blocks.
So you could have an amazing home,
and then one week,
a company can come and put a cell tower right outside your window.
So this is something that's happening throughout the Bay Area,
and it's going to be happening throughout the United States.
So it makes it so that people like myself have a hard time finding a place to live,
but it also is ratcheting up the exposure of the entire population.
So you might be asking,
perhaps some people are being injured by this,
but if you're not feeling it, it's probably not that big of a deal.
I think that's a very common experience.
But it's not as simple as saying
that just a few unfortunate people are being affected by this.
Because what the science shows is that we're all affected on some level,
whether we can feel it or not.
And the reason is because essentially, our bodies are electric.
Every cell in our body communicates using tiny electric signals.
It's how our nervous system operates.
So to think that we could put an exponential amount
of microwave radiation into our environment
and not feel effects, is simply false.
To illustrate this, I actually had many friends come to me
when I started to experience this, and they would say,
"Jeromy, are you sure you aren't making this up in your head?"
and I thought this too myself, at the beginning.
But then, a year or two later, they would come to me and they'd say,
"You won't believe it, but now I'm feeling pain in my arm when I use my cell phone,
or when I put it to the head,
or when a new Wi-Fi router is installed."
So this is something where when people have more of an exposure,
more people are being affected.
And it's not just headaches and insomnia,
it's much more serious things such as:
infertility, DNA damage, and eventually cancer.
This is what the research is starting to show.
And you don't have to take my word for it.
I encourage you to start researching this for yourselves.
If you simply Google "EMF research," this is a screenshot of what you'll find.
The World Health Organization is the first link there,
and they actually, in 2011, came out and said
this wireless technology is possibly carcinogenic.
Now there are scientists around the world that say it's most likely carcinogenic.
The third link there is actually my own website.
It's there because the last five years,
I've gathered research from around the world
that shows that we now have enough evidence
to at least take precaution when it comes to this technology.
So, isn't this regulated?
And this is one of the most interesting things I've found:
The Federal Communications Commission
is who is supposed to be regulating wireless technology.
But if you look at the regulations, they're almost 20 years old.
So that means our most advanced technology
is using science that's at least 20 years old.
But not only that, they're based on a concept which is nearly 50 years old,
which says if microwave radiation does not heat us,
then it can't possibly hurt us.
But there are now hundreds of studies that show that this is false.
So how is it that we have a regulatory body
that's not protecting the public?
Well, like many public health issues in our country,
you end up having industry influencing the regulatory body,
and that's what's happening here.
So you have a revolving door
between the wireless lobby and the FCC Commission.
So that's what's happening.
Plus, the science is heavily influenced by industry funding.
This is a study by Dr. Henry Lai.
He looked at 326 studies
based on the biological effects of cell phone radiation.
He found that about half of the studies showed effects and half didn't.
That's pretty normal for this type of research.
But what he found that was interesting
was that if you looked at who funded the studies,
70% of the independent studies showed effects,
and only 32% of the industry-funded studies showed effects.
So you see that there's an influence in money on this topic,
just like many other topics.
Tobacco is another one where essentially the industry funded science
that was going to show their products were safe.
So, that's the bad news.
And now, I want to share some good news,
and that is that there are solutions for this.
We are going to have to have the industry start to create safer products,
but there are ways that we can both protect ourselves
and move industry forward.
So one of the primary things we can do is to move towards fiber optics
because this is a way that we can make our homes safer,
our businesses and our schools.
So fiber optics are safe, they're secure,
and they're one of the fastest things we can use.
Another way we can go is to design products which are safer.
So currently we have product designers and engineers working together,
but we could bring in biophysicists and biologists to work together
to create products that don't just emit right underneath the FCC regulations,
but emit the least amount of any type of electromagnetic fields as possible.
If smart meters had been designed to use either fiber optics
or to emit just once or twice a day
rather than the 10,000 times they do emit,
then I wouldn't be standing here today,
and thousands upon thousands of people around the world
would not have been injured by smart meters.
So what are some things that all of us can do?
This is one of the most important things because everyone wants to know
how to essentially protect themselves and their families.
So, the first thing is to make sure we use our cell phones wisely.
I mentioned that you don't want to put the cell phone
within about an inch of the body.
The industry is telling us this now.
So make sure you use speakerphone,
get an air-tube headset; and when it's on the body,
make sure that you put it on airplane mode
when it's either in the pocket or sometimes in the bra.
And when it comes to kids, we don't want to have kids use cell phones.
But if they must, then please, teach them how use these wisely.
We can wire our homes.
Most people don't need Wi-Fi in their home.
So move towards Ethernets, move towards fiber optics.
And if you must have Wi-Fi, make sure you turn it off at night.
You can get a simple timer so you don't even have to think about it.
When it comes to kids,
we want to reduce their exposures as much as possible.
So if they use an iPad,
put all of the data on the iPad, and then turn the Wi-Fi off.
In schools,
I simply do not think we need to have Wi-Fi in schools
because we're filling those classroom with microwave radiation.
We can have amazing technology, but it can be wired.
And this is where I think we're going to have to go.
When it comes to the smart meter and the smart home,
I recommend you to opt out.
I've had wealthy early-adopting families contact me
who went all in on the smart home,
and they ended up getting sick within a few months.
So this is something that affects families,
and I just recommend that you don't go down this path
because it's a technology we do not need.
And one of the last solutions I want to get today
is to create a safe place to sleep.
Because this is one of the most important things.
Because this is when your body rejuvenates,
and it's when you can make sure that everything's off.
So turn off all your wireless devices, unplug things.
If you have a baby monitor,
I actually recommend that you turn that off, especially at night.
I just do not recommend those for kids.
And if you do these things,
I know many people who've ended up sleeping better;
they are much clearer during the day,
and their fatigue is much less.
So this is something I recommend everyone can do.
So in conclusion,
I want to say that this is a problem that we can solve.
There are tremendous people around the world
working on this right now.
And I believe we're coming to a tipping point
where enough people realize that this is an important topic,
and that there are solutions.
So I recommend that you share this with the people who are closest to you.
Because if enough people wake up to this issue,
then industry will start creating safe technology.
And once they do that,
our entire society can move towards a healthier future.
Thank you.
(Applause)