Adverse Health Effects
from the Operation of Digital Broadcast Television
Stations
Global Research
By: Dr. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam and Dr. Christine
Aschermann and Dr. Markus Kern
February 12, 2009
| The following text written as an open letter to president Obama by three prominent German physicians provides details on the adverse health effects of digital broadcasting. |
OPEN LETTER
Bamberg, February 12, 2009
To the President of the United States of America
To the Citizens of the United States of America
To the Members of the House of Representatives
To the Members of the Senate
Warning Against Adverse Health Effects from the Operation of Digital
Broadcast Television Stations
Dear President Obama:
Dear Members of the House of Representatives:
Dear Members of the Senate:
Dear Citizens of the United States of America:
In
the US, digital broadcast television is scheduled to start operating on
February 17, 2009. We write to you today
because we wish to save you
from the significant negative health
consequences that have occurred here in Germany.
In Germany, analog broadcast
television stations have gradually been
switching to digital broadcast signals
since 2003. This switchover first
took place in metropolitan areas.
In those areas, however, the RF exposures in public places
as well as at home continued to increase at the same time. As a
result, the continuing declining health status of children,
adolescents, and adults in urban areas could not be attributed to
any single cause. On May 20, 2006, two digital broadcast
television stations went on the air in the Hessian Rhoen
area (Heidelstein, Kreuzberg), which
until recently had enjoyed rather
low mobile phone radiation exposure
levels. Within a radius of more
than 20 km, the following symptoms
that occurred abruptly were reported: constant
headaches, pressure in the head, drowsiness, sleep problems, inability
to think clearly, forgetfulness, nervous tensions, irritability,
tightness in the chest, rapid heartbeat, shortness of
breath, depressive mood, total apathy,
loss of empathy, burning skin,
inner burning, leg weakness, pain in the limbs,
stabbing pain in various organs, weight increase.
Birds
had fled the area. Cats had turned phlegmatic and hardly ever went into
the garden. One child committed suicide; a second child tried
doing it. Over time the same
unbearable symptoms showed up in
other locations—most recently in Bamberg and
Aschaffenburg on November 25, 2008. Physicians accompanied affected
people to areas where there was no
DVB‐T reception (valleys, behind mountain
ranges) and witnessed how these people became
symptom‐free only after a short period of time.
The
respective agencies responsible in Germany were approached for help,
but they declined to follow up on the
strongly suggestive evidence in the
actual locations. The behavior of
the government agencies disregards the
fundamental rights of affected people
guaranteed in the German
Constitution.
In Germany,
DVB‐T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial)
uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
Modulation. The fundamental principle of this type of modulation works
by spreading the information across
several thousand carrier frequencies
directly adjacent to each other. A
channel is 7.8 MHz wide. The amplitude also changes constantly.
The WHO, the German Radiation
Protection Commission, and the German
Federal Ministry of the Environment rely on the
Guidelines for Limiting Exposure to Time‐varying Electric,
Magnetic, and Electromagnetic Fields (up to 300 GHz), (Health
Physics 74 (4): 494‐522; 1998) published by the International
Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). In this
document, it says: p. 495: “These
guidelines will be periodically revised
and updated as advances are made
in identifying the adverse health
effects of time‐varying electric,
magnetic, and electromagnetic fields.”
p. 507: “Interpretation of several
observed biological effects of AM
electromagnetic fields is further
complicated by the apparent existence
of “windows” of response in both
the power density and frequency
domains.
There are no accepted
models that adequately explain this
phenomenon, which challenges the traditional concept of a monotonic
relationship between the field intensity and the severity of the
resulting biological effects.” Why are the German agencies
in charge not willing to help identify the adverse health
effects? Since immediately, after digital
broadcast television stations had started
transmitting, adverse health effects have
occurred, the review of the
Guidelines announced by the ICNIRP
is imperative. Obviously, there are response windows contained
within the broad frequency bands with their
several thousand frequencies that change
constantly and whose amplitude also
changes constantly. The ICNIRP had already pointed out this
possibility.
In 1992, Dipl.‐Ing. Rüdiger
Matthes, member of ICNIRP and of the Geman Radiation Protection
Agency (BfS), emphasized the preliminary status of the exposure limits
in a hearing on the health risks of electromagnetic radiation:
“…They (electromagnetic exposure levels) are several orders of
magnitude higher than the natural
background radiation levels of
nontechnical sources…In parallel to this development,
findings of scientific studies according to which long‐term
exposure to such fields may trigger
adverse health effects keep
accumulating.…In this context, it is
also important to recognize that
there are large differences in
exposure levels within a given
population. A small child, for
example, absorbs much more RF
energy than an adult person…There
are several findings on low‐level
exposures, which are considered
scientifically validated because they
have been reproduced often but
which are rather difficult to interpret.
The
impact of mostly pulsed or ELF
modulated RF radiation on cell
metabolism, for example, counts among them. It has
been observed that the efflux of certain ions (e.g. calcium) from a
cell increases during exposure to
such fields. The occurrence of this
effect is described almost completely
independent of the actual field strength. It can be found at extremely
low absorption levels.…With all the
currently available scientific findings,
there remain some crucial questions
unanswered. …There are gaps in the
so‐called body of evidence. That
means that the biological effects,
for example, have only been investigated for individual
frequencies. Data (e.g. effect thresholds) on the
various biological effects across the
entire frequency spectrum are not
available.
The exposure limits, therefore, are
based on an approach that greatly simplifies the very complex
reality whose details are unfathomable. It should also be noted that
concrete data on possible effects of long‐term exposures are
mostly lacking.” Real life teaches us that it
was wrong to simplify. In Germany, we see strong evidence of a
direct temporal association between the
start‐up of terrestrial digital broadcast
television and the occurrence of severe health
symptoms. Dr.‐Ing. W. Volkrodt,
former R&D engineer at Siemens,
recognized the danger of electromagnetic
fields for humans, animals, and
plants. He pinned his hopes on
policymakers who would listen to
reason when he wrote in 1987:
“Future historians will refer to
the RF dilemma during the period from around 1975 to 1990
as a short, time‐limited ‘technical incident.’ Owing to the
introduction of fiber optic technology, this incident could be
remediated quickly and effectively.“
Satellites and cable provide the US
population with television services. By
contrast, the risk associated with terrestrial
digital broadcast television transmitters is unacceptable.
We,
therefore, ask you, dear Mr.
President, who has the wellbeing of
his citizens at heart, to stop the scheduled
introduction of this new technology in the United States of
America and to save the people
from the negative health consequences
that have occurred in our country.
Dr. med. Cornelia Waldmann‐Selsam
Founding Member of the Bamberg Appeal
Dr. med. Christine Aschermann
Neurologist‐Psychotherapy
Founding Member of the Freiburg Appeal
Dr. med. Markus Kern
Psychosomatic Medizin
Founding Member of the Physicians Appeal Allgäu‐Bodensee‐Oberschwaben