Centre wakes up to radiation hazards

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2006 02:27:01 AM]

NEW DELHI: The government has finally woken up to the health hazards due to mobile telephony. Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), under the department of telecommunications (DoT), is formulating guidelines on installation of cellular mobile towers and use of mobile phones.

“A lot of reports have come on the adverse impact of electromagnatic waves in microwave range on human health. Therefore, we are formulating guidelines on mobile towers and phones,” said Maya Saxena, a deputy director general of TEC. Mobile towers continuously emit radiation. Some studies have that these radiations cause fatigue, headache, sleep disruption and loss of memory. Mobile telephone industry, however, says that there is no evidence of health hazards due to mobile phones.

“At present, there are no guidelines on mobile handsets and erection of mobile towers. This is a serious issue and the health ministry and the communications ministry should formulate some guidelines,” said B C das, director of Institute of Cytology and Presentive Oncology under the government of India. He explained that when the technologies come to India there are lot of manipulations. Therefore, we do not know whether the final product arriving in India is based on the same guideliens that are stipulated in the US and Europe.

Health hazards of mobile telephony is of interest due to growth in the consumer base. A large number of studies have not found any indication of short or medium term impact on human beings. However, there are some studies that suggest that the microwave radiations cause effect biological tissues in animals resulting in the growth of certain tumors, cell death and increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier. Therefore, there is an indication that microwave radiations may have adverse impact on human health.

“Some studies suggest that radiations can even cause cancer. However, it is not yet confirmed. Such studies are less in number. Most of these studies are conducted in the US and Europe. No laboratory has done any study in India,” said Mr Das.

“Some reports suggest that there are certain neurological effects of radiations if human bodies are exposed to it for a long period. They may also damage DNA. Only long-term studies can confirm this,” said Mr Das.

Copyright ©2006Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2191743.cms


Informant: Iris Atzmon

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India wakes up on radiation hazards

Read the enclosed information with regards to the rise in breast cancer in India. It's mainly in the urban areas, I wonder why? Thank God they are waking up to the radiation hazards.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/breast_cancer_india.doc


Best wishes

Eileen O'Connor
Trustee - EM Radiation Research Trust
http://www.radiationresearch.org

Radio interview on cell phone health issues
http://www.emfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=575

Cell Phones, Towers & Wireless Networks
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/cell_phones_towers_wireless_networks.htm

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/australian_journal_electromagnetic_fields_sage.pdf

"This is a briefing report that provides overview of the major issues and evolving public policies regarding exposure to electromagnetic fields (extremely-low frequency or ELF-EMF 60-hertz electric power frequency electric and magnetic fields)."


Informant: Iris Atzmon

Men who use mobile phones face increased risk of infertility

by JENNY HOPE

Last updated at 21:01pm on 23rd October 2006

Men who use mobile phones could be risking their fertility, warn researchers.

A new study shows a worrying link between poor sperm and the number of hours a day that a man uses his mobile phone.

Those who made calls on a mobile phone for more than four hours a day had the worst sperm counts and the poorest quality sperm, according to results released yest at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

Doctors believe the damage could be caused by the electromagnetic radiation emitted by handsets or the heat they generate.

The findings suggest millions of men may encounter difficulties in fathering a child due to the widespread use of mobile phones and offers another possible explanation for plummeting fertility levels among British males.

Sperm counts among British men have fallen by 29 per cent over the past decade, a drop which has also been blamed on increasing obesity, smoking, stress, pollution and 'gender-bending' chemicals which disrupt the hormone system.

The latest study backs up previous research which indicated a link between mobile phone use and sperm quality, but it is the biggest and best designed to date.

US researchers in Cleveland and New Orleans, and doctors in Mumbai, India, looked at more than 360 men undergoing checks at a fertility clinic who were classified into three groups according to their sperm count.

Men who used a mobile for more than four hours a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count than men who never used a mobile.

The men with highest usage also had greater problems with sperm quality, with the swimming ability of sperm - a crucial factor in conception - down by a third.

They had a 50 per cent drop in the number of properly formed sperm, with just one-fifth looking normal under a microscope.

Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, who led the study, said "Almost a billion people are using cell phones around the world and the number is growing in many countries at 20 to 30 per cent a year.

"In another five years the number is going to double. People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be.

"It is just like using a toothbrush but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility. It still has to be proved but it could have a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of our lives."

Altogether 361 men in the study were divided into four groups, with 40 never using a mobile, 107 men using them for less than two hours a day, 100 men using them for two-four hours daily and 114 making calls for four or more hours a day.

The main finding was that on four measures of sperm potency - count, motility, viability and morphology, or appearance - there were significant differences between the groups.

The greater the use of mobile phones, the greater the reduction in each measure. Prof Agarwal said "This was very clear and very significant. Many in the lowest group for sperm count would be below normal as defined by the World Health Organisation."

The WHO says a normal sperm count is above 20 million per millilitre of seminal fluid. "There was a significant decrease in the most important measures of sperm health with cell phone use and that should definitely be reflected in a decrease in fertility" he said.

Motility measures the swimming ability of sperm, viability measures whether non-swimming sperm are still alive while morphology is the appearance compared to the norm.

Although the men were seeking fertility treatment at a clinic in Mumbai, not all would have had a problem - it could be their partners, he added.

Prof Agarwal said the most likely mechanism was damage to sperm- making cells in the testes caused by electromagnetic radiation or heat, although a fall in hormone production could also affect sperm motility and sperm DNA.

He said: "These cells in the testes have been shown to be susceptible to electromagnetic waves in previous research in animals.

"Somehow electromagnetic waves may be causing direct damage to these cells and that perhaps causes a decrease in sperm production."

Mobiles may also increase temperature in the groin, if a man was wearing it on a belt or carrying it around in a pocket.

Prof Agarwal said it was too early to advise men trying to start a family about whether they should limit their mobile phone use. He said "We still have a long way to go to prove this but we have just had another study approved."

More than 40 million people in Britain are thought to use mobile phones. Alasdair Philips, director of the consumer pressure group Powerwatch said "It's a plausible link between the amount of time spent using a mobile phone and a possible effect on male fertility.

"The eyes, breasts and testicles are the areas of the body most likely to absorb the energy and many men carry their mobiles attached to their belt."

Sending text messages uses less power than talking but it can be a more intense emission of radiation, especially on trains, he said.

"I've seen men on trains spending two or three hours continually texting with their mobile phones held in their laps, and they press Send in the same position when it starts to seek a signal.

"This needs a considerable amount of power within what is effectively a metal box. We advise people to send a text with their arm outstretched next to the window when travelling on a train" he added.

He said local heating of the groin triggered by a mobile phone might also be involved in affecting sperm quality.

"Sperm is very temperature sensitive as shown by many studies, and a short-term rise in temperature could be responsible" he added.

However, Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said "This is a good quality study but I don't think it tackles the issue.

"If you're using your phone for four hours a day, presumably it is out of your pocket for longer. That raises a big question: how is it that testicular damage is supposed to occur?"

He said mobile phone use may be a marker for other lifestyle factors known to affect sperm quality.

"Maybe people who use a phone for four hours a day spend more time sitting in cars, which could mean there's a heat issue. It could be they are more stressed, or more sedentary and sit about eating junk food getting fat. Those seem to be better explanations than a phone causing the damage at such a great distance" he added.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=412179&in_page_id=1770

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Cell phones may hurt sperm

TENILLE BONOGUORE

Globe and Mail
Update 23.10.06

Men who spend hours on their cell phones have lower sperm counts than usual, according to new research that suggests radiation or heat from the phones could be to blame.

Both quality and quantity appear to be affected by heavy cell phone use.

In an observational study carried out in Cleveland, Mumbai and New Orleans, 364 men who were undergoing evaluation for infertility were divided into three groups according to their sperm count.

Among the men with a normal sperm count, those who did not use a cell phone at all averaged 86 million per millilitre, with 68 per cent motility (swimming ability) and 40 per cent being in normal form.

However, men who used a cell phone for more than four hours a day averaged 66 million sperm per millilitre, with 48 per cent motility and 21 per cent taking normal form.

The findings, from a team led by Ashok Agarwal of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, could indicate that the electromagnetic fields generated by mobile phone handsets are interfering with sperm production.

In the paper ‘Relationship between cell phone use and human fertility: an observational study' presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in New Orleans on Monday, Dr. Agarwal says the use of cell phones is strongly associated with a decrease in sperm quality, but said large scale studies are needed to identify exactly what is causing that drop.

Dr. Agarwal said that if the effect is genuinely caused by mobiles, several explanations are possible. Animal work has shown that electromagnetic fields can damage Leydig cells in the testes. Mobile phones are also known to cause a heating effect on tissue that could be damaging to sperm.

Both phenomena occur over short distances, so holding a phone at a distance from the crotch while speaking should not be dangerous.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061023.wsperm1023/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

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Mobiles may decrease men's fertility

From Mark Henderson,
Science Editor of The Times, in New Orleans

Men who are heavy users of mobile phones have significantly lower sperm counts than usual, according to new research that suggests radiation from handsets could be damaging male fertility.

Both the quantity and quality of a man’s sperm declines as his daily mobile use increases, a study of 361 infertility patients in the United States has found.

The greatest effects were seen among very heavy users who talk on a mobile for more than four hours a day, these produce about 40 per cent less sperm than men who never use a mobile at all. Smaller falls in sperm count were also seen among those who use mobiles less frequently.

The findings, from a team led by Ashok Agarwal of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, could indicate that the electromagnetic fields generated by mobile phone handsets are interfering with sperm production. Previous studies have shown that close and heavy exposure to this form of radiation damages sperm in the laboratory, though an effect has never been convincingly demonstrated in the real people.

Other researchers cautioned that the study shows only an association between mobile phone use and sperm counts and not a causal link. It is more likely that heavy use is a proxy for another factor, such as stress or obesity, that is actually responsible for the effect, they said.

"On the face of it, the findings seem pretty robust, but I can only assume that mobile phone use is some kind of surrogate for something else," said Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield. "If you are holding it up to your head to speak a lot, it makes no sense it is having a direct effect on your testes.

"Maybe people who use a phone for four hours a day spend more time sitting in cars, which could mean there’s a heat issue. It could be they are more stressed, or more sedentary and sit about eating junk food getting fat. Those seem to be better explanations than a phone causing the damage at such a great distance."

Dr Agarwal, who presented the results today at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in New Orleans, said they were worrying because of the huge extent of mobile phone use.

"Almost a billion people are using cell phones around the world and the number is growing in many countries at 20 to 30 per cent a year," he said. "In another five years the number is going to double.

"People use mobile phones without thinking twice what the consequences may be. It is just like using a toothbrush but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility. It still has to be proved but it could have a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of our lives."

In the study, 361 men who were having their sperm analysed prior to fertility treatment were asked about their mobile use and split into four groups: those who never used a phone and those who used one for less than two hours, two to four hours, and more than four hours a day.

Median sperm counts were measured at 85.89 million per millilitre for non-users, 69.03 for the second group, 58.87 for the third and 50.30 for the fourth. Sperm motility, or swimming ability, also fell with increasing phone use, as did other measures of quality.

"The main finding was that on all four parameters - sperm count, motility, viability and morphology - there were significant differences between the groups," Dr Agarwal said. "The greater the use of cell phones the greater the decrease in these four parameters. That was very clear and very significant."

The results are similar to those of a previous study from the University of Szeged in Hungary, which found a 30 per cent reduction in sperm count among men who kept a mobile on standby in their trouser pockets. That research also failed to control for lifestyle. Such controls are important because sperm production is very sensitive to a number of factors, including obesity and heat: lorry drivers and travelling salesmen, for example, tend to have low sperm counts because the long hours they spend sitting warms their testes.

Dr Agarwal said that if the effect is genuinely caused by mobiles, several explanations are possible. Animal work has shown that electromagnetic fields can damage Leydig cells in the testes and mobiles are also known to cause a heating effect on tissue that might be hazardous to sperm. Both phenomena occur over short distances, so holding a phone at a distance from the crotch while speaking should not be dangerous.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2417951,00.html


Informant: Iris Atzmon

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I am sending you along this article from today's (Tuesday, 24 October, 2006) IRISH INDEPENDENT.


Best, Imelda, Cork


IRISH INDEPENDENT. TUESDAY, 24 OCTOBER, 2006

MOBILE PHONES ARE DAMAGING MEN'S SPERM PRODUCTION: TALKING FOR FOUR HOURS A DAY COULD MAKE YOU INFERTILE, SCIENTISTS WARN

Jeremy Laurance in New Orleans

(Mobile phones may be causing widespread damage to sperm production in men with potentially devastating consequences for global fertility rates, a study suggests. Microwaves emitted by the phones reduce the number, mobility and quality of sperm by almost half in the heaviest users, to the point where some men may become infertile, scientists say. Almost a billion people around the world are using mobile phones and the number is growing fast. Even a small effect on fertility caused by their use could result in millions of men being rendered childless. Concern has grown about the effects of mobile phones for a decade, but very little hard evidence of the dangers has been presented. Scientists from the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, tested the sperm of 364 men who were being investigated for infertility with their partners. They found that men who were the heaviest users of mobile phones - more than four hours a day - had the lowest sperm counts at 50 million per millilitre and the least healthy sperm, judged by its mobility and the proportion of abnormal sperm. In contrast, sperm counts were highest (86 million per ml), and the sperm healthiest, among those men who reported that they did not use mobile phones. All men produce a high proportion of sperm that are abnormal - including the fertile - but in the heaviest mobile users the 'normal' sperm fell to 18pc compared with 40pc in those who never used mobiles. Professor Ashok Agarwal, who led the study, said: "On all four parameters - sperm count, mobility, viability and morphology - there were significant differences between the groups. The greater the use of mobile phones, the greater the decrease in these parameters." "People use mobile phones without thinking what the consequences may be, but mobiles could be having a devastating effect on fertility. It still has to be proved but it could have a huge impact because mobiles are so much part of our lives," he said. Among the heaviest users in the study, with an average sperm count of 50 million per ml, well below the threshold set by the World Health Organisation which defines infertility, Prof Agarwal said. The findings, presented to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in New Orleans yesterday, will spark renewed concern about the safety of mobile phones, which have been linked with a range of ill effects from headaches to cancer. However, critics said the effects would only be felt by men who carried phones in their pockets or on their laps, close to their testes, while they made calls.

(Copyright Independent News Service)

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Dr George Carlo - electromagnetic
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/dr_george_carlo_electromagnetic.htm

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Mobile phones 'could damage male fertility'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=351570&in_page_id=1774

Infertility is only a phone call away
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10407357

Warning to male mobile phone users: chatting too long may cut sperm count
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1929905,00.html

Heavy mobile use 'damages sperm'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6079782.stm

Fertility
http://www.tetrawatch.net/links/links.php?id=health&list=fertility

IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CELL PHONE USE AND SEMEN QUALITY?
http://tinyurl.com/y46ju4

World J Surg Oncol. 2006 Oct 11;4(1):74
[Epub ahead of print]

* Hardell L,
* Hansson Mild K,
* Carlberg M,
* Soderqvist F.

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: The use of cellular and cordless telephones has increased dramatically during the last decade. There is concern of health problems such as malignant diseases due to microwave exposure during the use of these devices. The brain is the main target organ.

METHODS: Since the second part of the 1990s we have performed six case-control studies on this topic encompassing use of both cellular and cordless phones as well as other exposures. Three of the studies concerned brain tumours, one salivary gland tumours, one non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and one testicular cancer. Exposure was assessed by self-administered questionnaires.

RESULTS: Regarding acoustic neuroma analogue cellular phones yielded odds ratio (OR) = 2.9, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 2.0-4.3, digital cellular phones OR = 1.5, 95 % CI = 1.1-2.1 and cordless phones OR = 1.5, 95 % CI = 1.04-2.0. The corresponding results were for astrocytoma grade III-IV OR = 1.7, 95 % CI =1.3-2.3; OR = 1.5, 95 % CI = 1.2-1.9 and OR = 1.5, 95 % CI = 1.1-1.9, respectively. The ORs increased with latency period with highest estimates using > 10 years time period from first use of these phone types. Lower ORs were calculated for astrocytoma grade I-II. No association was found with salivary gland tumours, NHL or testicular cancer although an association with NHL of T-cell type could not be ruled out.

CONCLUSION: We found for all studied phone types an increased risk for brain tumours, mainly acoustic neuroma and malignant brain tumours. OR increased with latency period, especially for astrocytoma grade III-IV. No consistent pattern of an increased risk was found for salivary gland tumours, NHL, or testicular cancer.

PMID: 17034627 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17034627&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum

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Seems that the media is hungry like a wolf today for the sperm study, so it is a good opportunity to push at the same time also the new review by Hardell, attached.

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/tumour_risk_associated_with_use_of_cellular_telephones.pdf

Iris Atzmon.

A world-class centre of excellence in Cambridge, set to speed up the delivery of new ways of diagnosing, treating and preventing cancer, has entered its final phase of development today.

Leading figures from funding bodies, key stakeholders and the construction project team will gather at the Addenbrooke¹s Hospital campus to celebrate the topping out of the University of Cambridge - Hutchison - Cancer Research UK Laboratory Building.

The £42 million project involves construction of 14,000 square metres of research laboratories which will house up to 300 scientists. Funding is provided by Cancer Research UK (£14 million) and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (£16.5 million), with the remainder coming from the University of Cambridge and an anonymous donor.

Ray O¹Rourke, Chief Executive of Laing O¹Rourke, the main contractor, welcomed more than eighty guests to the ceremony. He said: ³We are delighted to have reached this important point of this significant construction project. We now look forward to reaching a successful conclusion of this major landmark building.²

The striking five-storey building designed by Anshen/Dyer architects, will provide open plan glass-walled research facilities, a 200-seat seminar theatre, a restaurant and an exhibition area. It will add further strength to the ground-breaking cancer research already in Cambridge. Fostering collaboration between scientists and doctors, improved approaches to cancer diagnosis treatment and prevention will be developed for the benefit of cancer patients.

Innovative research is planned, including cancer genetics and the study of the earliest stages of cancer development. Bioinformatics, which is increasingly important for analysing complex research data, will be developed jointly with the University¹s Department of Mathematical Sciences.

Professor Alison Richard, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge said: "We are celebrating a significant milestone for cancer research worldwide. I am deeply appreciative of the significant funds provided for this facility by Hutchison Whampoa and Cancer Research UK. It is gratifying that these funds are a reflection of the outstanding quality of the research being done in this area at the University of Cambridge.²

Professor Bruce Ponder, Cancer Research UK Professor of Oncology, University of Cambridge said: ³I am delighted that Cambridge has again been recognised as a world leader in medical science. The partnership between the University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK will make a unique contribution to turning cancer research into cancer treatment."

Cancer Research UK's Chief Executive, Professor Alex Markham, said: "We're very excited by the plan for the new Centre, which will put Cambridge at the forefront of cancer research not only in the UK, but indeed the world. Exciting plans for research at the Centre are already under way and we expect new cancer therapies to reach clinical trials in Cambridge as a direct result. Results from these trials should benefit cancer patients worldwide."

Sir Ka-Shing Li, Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, commented that he is happy to make a contribution to what is clearly one of the world's most important centres for Cancer Research. He is also delighted that links between Cambridge University and Hutchison continue to strengthen in both the medical research and the general educational fields, thus contributing to the two-way flow of expertise and knowledge between Hong Kong, China and the United Kingdom.

The construction project is being managed by the University¹s Estate Management and Building Service. It is the biggest single construction project the University has ever undertaken and marks only Phase One of a two-part research development on the Addenbrooke¹s campus. Phase One began on site in July 2003, and is set to be complete in Autumn 2005. It is one of several projects made possible by the recently-opened staff multi-storey car park which has freed up land for development.

19 Apr 2004

http://professional.cancerconsultants.com/oncology_main_news.aspx?id=34605

[jcm note 10 20 06.....an Idaho organization....]

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ARE CHILDREN LIVING NEAR HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER LINES AT INCREASED RISK OF ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA?"

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/leukemia_high_voltage_lines_why_more_investigation_needed.htm

THE GUARDIAN yesterday (Friday, Oct. 20, 2006) carried an article on a new breakthrough in military technology: "Now you see him . . . scientists take step closer to making invisible cloak a reality" by Ian Sample, Science Correspondent.

To highlight two points I found of particular interest:

(1) "The test involved firing a beam of microwaves at the object, the same radiation used for radar."

(2) Dr Ulf Leonhardt's observation that "'This technology is extremely versatile. If you wanted to concentrate electromagnetic waves in one place, you could do that. If you wanted to shield something from electromagentic pulses you could do that too. Invisibility is just the tip of the iceberg.'"

And of course this military scientific breakthrough in microwave use points up yet another time the intertwining--if not merging--of military and non-military/civilian when it comes to sourcing/pointing an acccusing finger at who is responsible for our adverse bio-effects to electromagnetic radiation.

Best, Imelda, Cork


Entire article is pasted in below

Now you see him ... scientists take step closer to making invisible cloak a reality

· UK-US team makes object 'effectively disappear' · Technology could allow vehicles to escape radar

Ian Sample,
science correspondent
Friday October 20, 2006
The Guardian

It won't help you sneak around Hogwarts without being seen or let you stalk the USS Enterprise just yet, but scientists have unveiled the world's first cloaking device, using technology designed to make solid objects vanish from sight. Cloaking devices are keenly awaited and coveted by the military, which believes they will usher in a new age of stealth technology by hiding planes and other vehicles from radar. More advanced versions could ultimately be good enough to make objects or people invisible to onlookers.

The prototype was built and demonstrated in America by a team of US and British scientists only five months after proving it was theoretically possible to pull off the most famous of optical illusions, without breaking the laws of physics.

The device works on the principle that an object vanishes from sight if light rays striking it are not reflected as usual, but forced to flow around it and carry on, as if it was not there. To make cloaks, scientists developed "metamaterials", meticulously patterned thin metal sheets that can bend light in precisely the right way.

In the demonstration, scientists showed that a small object surrounded by rings of metamaterials in effect disappeared.

The test involved firing a beam of microwaves at the object, the same radiation used for radar.

Normally the beam would penetrate and bounce off the rings, but measurements showed the waves split and flowed around the centre. "The wave's movement is similar to river water flowing around a smooth rock," said David Schurig, a scientist at Duke University who helped conduct the experiments.

At present, although the angular lines of stealth bombers make them hard to spot on radar screens, they can leave a "shadow" that gives away their position. The military hopes that cloaking devices could render them almost completely invisible.

Sir John Pendry, the theoretical physicist at Imperial College London, who developed the idea, said cloaking devices to hide vehicles from radar were only a matter of years away.

"It's already been quite an achievement designing this cloak, but next we want to develop a thin skin that can cloak a plane without interfering with the aerodynamics. If you wanted to cloak something big and clunky like a tank, that's feasible in the medium term," he said.

A cloaking device that makes objects invisible to the eye is a tougher prospect.

Radar waves are about 3cm long and to cloak objects from them, metamaterials need to be designed with features a few millimetres across. Visible light waves are far shorter - less than one thousandth of a millimetre - meaning a cloaking device would need metamaterials with much finer features to bend light properly.

"It's not yet clear that you're going to get the invisibility that everyone thinks about with Harry Potter's cloak or the Star Trek cloaking device," said David Smith, who led the experiments at Duke University.

While scientists have high hopes for invisibility devices, they are less optimistic they will ever be able to challenge Harry Potter's stealth garment. "Our device is more an invisibility shed than an invisibility cloak," said Prof Pendry, whose research appears today in the journal Science.

Scientists praised the work yesterday. "This is the first practical demonstration of something close to a cloaking device and that is highly impressive," said Ulf Leonhardt, a theoretical physicist at St Andrews University. "It's a dream to be able to see and not be seen that runs far back through history. Vision is our basic sense, and invisibility is an optical illusion that's incredibly powerful and fascinating."

Dr Leonhardt said the technology behind cloaking devices was so powerful it would quickly be picked up by other scientists and used in other ways.

"This technology is extremely versatile. If you wanted to concentrate electromagnetic waves in one place, you could do that," he said. "If you wanted to shield something from electromagnetic pulses you could do that too. Invisibility is just the tip of the iceberg."

Vanishing acts

The dream of invisibility has enthralled people for millennia, stretching from Perseus's ancient encounter with Medusa to Harry Potter via the Romulans, James Bond and the half-hearted attempt by Predator in the eponymous film starring the governor of California.

In fiction, caps, rings, cloaks or dubious injections are invoked to help a character disappear without trace, in the case of the Paul Verhoeven film The Hollow Man, organ by organ, and in the case of the German tarnkappes (magical caps), by hordes of dwarves at a time.

Most recently Harry Potter was able to disappear under an enchanted cloak.

But in some cases at least, where fiction leads, fact has tried to follow. The invisible woman became so by bending light around herself, the same concept used in the rudimentary cloaking devices being built today. If light is bent around an object instead of bouncing off it, an onlooker will see nothing.

In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams extended the desire for invisibility from people to problems, with the "Somebody else's problem field", which banishes worries by rendering objects inside it someone else's concern.

A new study from Israel provides us more hints, indirectly, about the EMF and blood pressure connection - since electromagnetic pollution reduces human melatonin levels, and melatonin deficiency is related below to high blood pressure at night, then what does it say about blood pressure at night - in people who are exoposed to EMF-R? Very interesting new study.

Iris Atzmon.


Melatonin reduces night blood pressure in patients with nocturnal hypertension

Am J Med. 2006 Oct;119(10):898-902.

Grossman E, Laudon M, Yalcin R, Zengil H, Peleg E, Sharabi Y, Kamari Y, Shen-Orr Z, Zisapel N.

Department of Internal Medicine D and Hypertension Unit, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, affiliated with Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. gross-e(at)zahav.net.il

PURPOSE: Nocturnal hypertension is associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. A blunted nocturnal surge in melatonin excretion has been described in nondipping hypertensive patients. We therefore studied the potency of melatonin to reduce nighttime blood pressure (BP) in treated hypertensive patients with nocturnal hypertension.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight treated hypertensive patients (22 males, mean age 64+/-11 years) with confirmed nocturnal hypertension (mean nighttime systolic BP >125 mm Hg), according to repeated 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), were randomized in a double-blind fashion to receive either controlled release (CR)-melatonin 2 mg or placebo 2 hours before bedtime for 4 weeks. A 24-hour ABPM was then performed. RESULTS: Melatonin treatment reduced nocturnal systolic BP significantly from 136+/-9 to 130+/-10 mm Hg (P=.011), and diastolic BP from 72+/-11 to 69+/-9 mm Hg (P=.002), whereas placebo had no effect on nocturnal BP. The reduction in nocturnal systolic BP was significantly greater with melatonin than with placebo (P=.01), and was most prominent between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM (P=.002).

CONCLUSIONS: Evening CR-melatonin 2 mg treatment for 4 weeks significantly reduced nocturnal systolic BP in patients with nocturnal hypertension. Thus, an addition of melatonin 2 mg at night to stable antihypertensive treatment may improve nocturnal BP control in treated patients with nocturnal hypertension.

Publication Types:

* Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 17000226 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17000226&dopt=Abstract

The danger of working in the semi-conductor industry was pointed also in Gunni Nordstrom's book "the invisible disease" which is very recommended.

Iris Atzmon.


Computer factory staff are ‘at greater risk of cancer’

MARTYN McLAUGHLIN
October 19 2006

Staff at computer factories could be at increased risk of contracting cancer because of working environments containing high levels of chemicals, metals and electromagnetic fields, according to a new study. In what is the largest study of its kind, the findings focus on upwards of 30,000 deaths of members of staff at factories in the US since 1969. It comes as government health inspectors have begun conducting a long-delayed follow-up inquiry into an Inverclyde factory at the centre of numerous cancer scares. Scots scientists have criticised the "limited" second investigation into the National Semiconductor plant in Greenock, and say the new study helps "firm-up the picture" surrounding health risks. The study by the Boston University School of Public Health in the US, published in the science journal Environmental Health, analysed the causes of death for 31,941 IBM workers and compared them with causes of death among the American population during this period. The information was obtained from IBM as part of a California lawsuit against the firm. The results of the study indicate there was increased mortality due to several types of cancer, especially in manufacturing workers and workers at particular plants in California, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont. Most notably, there was an excess of deaths due to cancer of the brain and central nervous system. Richard Clapp, from Boston University School of Public Health, said: "It was not possible to link these deaths to specific chemicals or other exposures in the workplace because the information necessary to do this was not available." The research appears to back up previous, smaller studies and highlights clear health risks for workers in computer factories. Among these was the Health and Safety Executive's initial 2001 study of 4000 people at National Semiconductor, which showed statistically significant excesses of lung, stomach, and breast cancers among women and an excess of brain cancer among men, with some rates four or five times higher than average. The HSE said it had received "ethical approval" to begin a new study at Greenock. Announced last June, and planning to look at various cases of cancer in more detail, it has been subject to significant delays. Professor Andrew Watterson, of Stirling University's occupational, environmental and public health group, said: "The US study confirms some of the evidence we have seen at Nat Semi. The families of former Nat Semi workers have been calling for years for a Europe-wide or international study into the industry, and this is the next best thing." Jim McCourt, of Phase Two, a support group for Nat Semi workers, said: "We've no doubt working in Nat Semi is dangerous. The scale of this study shows the industry has a real problem, and we would call on the HSE to initiate a UK-wide study."

"The results of the study indicate there was increased mortality due to several types of cancer, especially in manufacturing workers and workers at particular plants in California, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont. Most notably, there was an excess of deaths due to cancer of the brain and central nervous system."

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/72495.shtml

Part I: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/superc1.pdf
Part II: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/superc2.pdf
Part III: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/superc3.pdf


Informant: A. Brüggemann