Report claims Phone mast allergy 'in the mind'

For me this is another disinfo report

Phone mast allergy 'in the mind'
Mobile phone masts are not responsible for the symptoms of ill health some blame them for, a major UK study says.
Dozens of people who believed the masts trigger symptoms such as anxiety, nausea and tiredness could not detect if signals were on or off in trials.
But when they thought the signal was on they reported more distress, suggesting the problem has a psychological basis.

There has been numerous reports on this subject and now one pops in the bbc claiming its all wrong, and now this report claims people are just delusional. Remember last week the bbc had a report claiming the sun does not cause climate change.

What do you guys think

[edit on 7/25/2007 by andy1033]

They can get away with saying it doesn't affect humans, because according to our current biological and scientific theories, it shouldn't... but sadly, it does, its just our understandings of how we work aren't complete..

Well, even thats not true. They know phone masts and the associated radiation is bad for us, but they can't tell us that, because in order to do so they would need to adjust some of our current understandings, which in turn would very quickly shatter the world paradigm.

Originally posted by andy1033
For me this is another disinfo report

What do you guys think

I think it's totally psychosomatic. Look, if you set up a decently designed experiment where neither the test administrator nor the subjects know when the thing's on or off, and they show totally random reactions, then they are imagining it.

Worse, if you take the same group and put them in a room with a fake transmitter that hasn't got anything inside but a light on the front, and they get sick when the light's on and are fine when it's off, then it's definitely in their heads.

is that why schools in uk, want to get rid of wireless internet fearing it is effecting kids. its all to do with the levels

[edit on 7/25/2007 by andy1033]

No, it's all to do with hysterical parents. The key word here is "fearing", due to lack of understanding of anything to do with science, for the most part.

There is a resounding lack of believable studies that show any effects whatsoever, much less propose scientifically rational mechanisms for damage.

I have had all of this myself for the past 12 years with M.E./Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. "It's all in the mind!" what a load of rubbish! Can't prove the HOW so it can't possibly be real

Originally posted by Muppetus Galacticus
"It's all in the mind!" what a load of rubbish! Can't prove the HOW so it can't possibly be real

Of all the things you do 24 hours a day, or have done for the past 12 years, how do you know THIS is why? You have fibro, so it MUST be this. Why?

What sort of proof have you? Why even speculate it's that, and not, say, some new detergent you started using 12 years ago, or an allergy you developed to bananas or something?

These "electro allergic" people were tested and didn't know when the transmitters were on or off. They also displayed symptoms when told a transmitter was on, and relief when told it was off, and there was no transmitter.

There are a few things wrong with this study.

Firstly the observer was known to be part of the study. This is a poor practice. What should have been done is a measure of general illness in built up areas around mobile phone and wireless internet masts. This way the general sample is larger and the subjects are not aware there is a test going on.

Secondly I'd like to point out that:
While it may be psychological, it may also be real, at the same time. Allow me to elaborate: If you found that low power microwave devices did give you headaches and you got used to this point, then simply knowing one was nearby might cause the same effect, even if it were off. Just because your mind makes it real when its not there does not mean that it isn't real when it IS there.

This may be as simple as a defense mechanism in the human species. Remembered pain can be as real as real pain as long as it serves to force you to avoid the object or person which providing the pain (or danger) originally.

Finally, I remind you all of the existing very real evidence linking mobile phone radiation to cancer.

www.newscientist.com...

But Leszczynski has found that phone radiation somehow targets proteins in "stress fibres" in endothelial cells, which line blood vessels. This causes the endothelial cells to shrink.

No mechanism

Leszczynski conducted the research at temperatures too low for heat to account for the biochemical changes in the cells.

But de Pomerai warns the study does not reveal the mechanism by which mobile phone radiation caused these changes. "Until you can demonstrate a mechanism and demonstrate that it is not a heat-activated process people will dismiss it," he told New Scientist.

This is because microwaves do not have enough energy to break even weak chemical bonds - so most scientists believe the only way they could possibly damage cells is through heating. But the energy levels of mobile emissions are set well below those required to cause any heating.

Long-term effects

The blood-brain barrier normally prevents unwanted molecules from entering the brain. But mobile phone radiation might allow molecules to pass through small spaces between cells, caused by the shrinking.

Alternatively, stress fibres might transport molecules directly across the cell membranes, as has been shown in some animal studies.

"If the blood-brain barrier is even temporarily affected by mobile phone radiation it might have long term health effects," Leszczynski says. "How harmful to the health it might be is impossible to say for now". Human studies are urgently needed to determine this, he says.

This was a study from back in 2002.

Yes the mobile phone companies are hushing this up. Yes it is probably as bad as smoking. I choose not to use a mobile phone because of this research and the fact they annoy the hell out of me.

[edit on 26-7-2007 by Yandros]

Originally posted by andy1033
is that why schools in uk, want to get rid of wireless internet fearing it is effecting kids. its all to do with the levels

No, it'd be because they don't want the students abusing the internet access.