5G/EMF/RF Mother’s Day 2021: Voices of Experience, Wisdom & Insight Part 1

By Patricia Burke

“Proud mothers, please forgive us if we too feel something of the pride of a new parent… For new Philip Morris, today’s Philip Morris, is delighting smokers everywhere. Enjoy the gentle pleasure, the fresh unfiltered flavor, of this new cigarette, born gentle, then refined to special gentleness in the making.   Ask for new Philip Morris in the smart new package.”- 1956 Tobacco ad SOURCE

In the last decade, increasing numbers of mothers and grandmothers have begun questioning the safety of wireless technologies. Some have gotten involved because of symptom onset following the installation of wireless utility meters, some due to cellphone towers near schools; some due to WiFi in schools; some due to monstrous towers planned for their neighborhoods; some waking up to find that the tower was already being constructed without the knowledge and consent of the community,- and their children were suddenly sickened.

Unfortunately, the EMF/RF issue has also torn many families apart. As many women were the first ones to report injury, they were ridiculed and dismissed by the medical profession, by industry, by demeaning science, by their families. Many microwave-injured individuals have had to move to isolated areas, are unable to travel, and will not be with their families for Mother’s Day.

Smoking on Planes

Similar to the phenomenon of smoking on airplanes, we are exhibiting wide-spread social behaviors based on distorted, corrupted science. But as the lies and suffering have increased, so has the dawning of reason, compassion, and evidence of harm.  Many grandparents, mothers, fathers, and children have been taking action throughout the country and around the world, and the numbers will continue to increase.  In some cases they have had some successes, in other cases not, but this is not a reflection of the efforts being put forth; what is being revealed is the magnitude of the corruption – of the science, of the industries involved.  Some are seasoned speakers, many are reticent to be in the public eye, but they are sincere, and devoted, but most importantly, they have the power of the truth on their side about the risks of wireless. And, as Dr. Martin Luther King noted, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Breaking Up Was Easy in the ’90s

Country singer Sam Hunt’s “Breaking Up Was Easy in the ’90s” is a heartbreak song, but it describes some of the early activism regarding wireless environmental pollution – for a short time, it was easier to gain a foothold, before everyone had a cellphone.

In the late ’90s, informed and concerned citizens with full and demanding lives were learning that cell towers and cell antennas were planned for their communities, and they were asking questions, not about whether they had good coverage or the best plan for a new phone, but about safety, health, and environmental impacts.

Here are some snapshots of Massachusetts Mothers and Grandmothers historically involved in the wireless issue. There are similar efforts emerging across the country, and around the world.

Diana Warren: Historical Preservation, Health Protection

In 1998, in historic Wayland, MA, the First Parish Church planned to sign a contract with a wireless carrier to install an antenna in the church steeple. Mothers Peggy Patton and Diana Warren were concerned. Diana raised the question – if the church were going to engage in conducting commercial business, the congregation needed to approve it. When the citizens started doing their own research, they learned that there are significant RF health effects. Diana Warren noted, “The more research I did, the more concerned I became.” An MIT/ RF engineer concurred that safety standards are too lenient. They asked the town to approve forming a Wayland Planning Board Wireless Bylaw Subcommittee seeking to amend the town’s zoning bylaws, and eventually took the question of tower and antenna placement to a special town meeting vote. They overwhelmingly  won, and defeated the antenna.

Wayland resident Dr. Amar Bose, of Bose Electronics, spoke against having the infrastructure near residences, and about the health risks. The press reported that the video of his testimony was also influencing other communities. “Residents also seemed moved by a videotape showing Dr. Amar Bose, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of audio manufacturer Bose Corporation, testifying in favor of a moratorium on tower construction. “I am now convinced that there is a real danger from electromagnetic radiation,” Bose says on the tape. “I do not believe today that anybody with good grounding in science can refute the credibility of some of the research papers I have seen.”

Wayland voted in favor of protection of health, unlike current legislation, world-wide, that protects wireless expansion. In its bylaws, Wayland wisely specified that it has the right to conduct random testing of the signal power strength level at which the antennas operate, and that the carriers had to bear the costs for testing by an RF engineer. Wireless emissions remain unmonitored in the U.S., and the FCC rarely takes action when antennas are reported to be in violation of codes and ordinances.

Diana Warren went on to work with Janet Newton, who established the EMR Policy Institute. Recognizing that recommendations for telecom policies were being provided by the telecom industry, they saw the critical need to educate legislators. The first EMF/RF safety hearing was held in Congress in 2009.

Fast forward to 2021, telecom policy is still being dictated by industry, and there is still an urgent need for education. Wayland still houses only one cell tower, located in “the wireless overlay district.” And although Diana no longer lives in Wayland, she continues to work on the wireless issue, with a special interest in historic preservation.

Peggy Patton: Wayland’s Wise Ways, 1998 Wireless Overlay Zoning, to Protect Homes and Sensitive Environments

Back in 1998, Diana’s colleague Peggy Patton wasn’t a grandmother yet, but now she has two. She was the driving force, over twenty years ago, on June 4, 1998; residents in Wayland called a special town meeting, proposing a 12-month moratorium for the placement of wireless communications facilities.  Concerned residents won the vote.  Peggy has been involved in countless campaigns to limit the placement of wireless towers and antennas, and was instrumental in establishing the wireless overlay district in Wayland, restricting tower placement to one location. She helped draft multiple, successive wireless utility meter opt-out bills in Massachusetts, and has provided testimony for the Dept. of Public Utilities and the Massachusetts legislature. With colleagues, she founded HaltMAsmartmeters, working alongside MACI, the Mass. Asso. for the Chemically Injured  and Worcester Opts Out. She was forced by Eversource (formerly NStar) to accept a radio-frequency-emitting AMR electric meter. “I kicked them off my property twice, but they came back when I wasn’t home and installed a wireless meter.” The MA legislature has not yet passed the utility meter choice bill.

She continues to be a staunch supporter of the efforts of the Worcester, MA community to highlight the corrupted results reporting, cost overruns, human rights abuses, and deleterious impacts on property values, regarding the controversial National Grid smart meter pilot program. This pilot included plans for a 90-foot tower with 5 antennas in a residential area. The infrastructure tormented neighbors with subsequent sound ordinance violations. The Commonwealth’s utility regulators and legislature have not yet addressed documentation of fraud regarding National Grid and Navigant results reporting.  Thus, policy decisions regarding investments addressing energy and climate are based on inaccurate financial and energy use projections.

FCC vs. ADA

A three-time cancer survivor, Peggy practices EMF-hygiene by minimizing her exposures and using hard-wired devices, and does not own a cellphone.  Like Maine’s Ed Friedman, also a cancer patient, she is unable to secure safety in her home environment.

As noted by Joel Moskowitz, in a November 18, 2013 filing with the FCC, the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in their joint submission, accused the FCC and Federal health agencies of negligence for failing to investigate whether electrosensitive persons are harmed by non-ionizing radiation: “The FCC admits its own lack of expertise in the field. But the overlap of federal agency responsibilities for RF radiation protection and the merely advisory status of the Radiofrequency Interagency Work Group often leaves leadership unclear and encourages a pass-the-buck attitude.”

“The 1999-2000 judicial challenge to the FCC’s 1996 rules never reached the issue of “electrosensitivity” as a cognizable disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (“ADA”) Here again, an agency responsible for ADA implementation acknowledges that the impairment may be disabling but has promised merely further inquiry. After more than a decade, that investigation remains unopened. The dockets here have been updated with massive additional evidence of the crippling effects of RF radiation on an admitted minority – but a suffering minority – of U.S. citizens. The FCC and its sister regulatory agencies share responsibility for adherence to the ADA and should replace promises with serious attention to a serious medical problem. This is one area where the FCC could lead in advice to electrosensitive persons about prudent avoidance.”

Read Godelieve’s story here.

5G/EMF/RF Mother’s Day 2021: Voices of Experience, Wisdom & Insight Part 2 will continue on Monday May 10^th.

You can read the rest of this Mother’s Day series HERE and find Patricia Burke’s entire archive HERE.

Patricia Burke works with activists across the country and internationally calling for new biologically-based microwave radio frequency exposure limits.She is based in Massachusetts and can be reached at [email protected].