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EMF, ELF AND COLD WAR
NUCLEAR GUINEA PIGS
By Jim Martin
January 1994
We're ALL Test Subjects...
As I sit in front of my two-page
computer screen display I am bathed in electromagnetic fields measuring 15
milligauss. It has become common knowledge that video display terminals (VDTs)
emit harmful electromagnetic fields, but it is less well known that there are
much stronger sources of these fields in and around the places we visit each
day. Electricity is so omnipresent in our society that it quite discomfiting to
imagine that this ocean of electromagnetic fields may harm our health. In his
book, _Currents of Death_, (Simon & Shuster, NY, 1989) author Paul Brodeur
consolidates recent research into the long-term effects of continuous exposure
to high-power electromagnetic fields. He also discusses the antagonism of
utility companies, the electronics industry and the military towards such
research, eerily reminiscent of the suppression of evidence that low-level
exposure to nuclear radiation was more perilous than previously believed during
the 1950s. Yet the issue remains: there is an identifiable and
not-yet-understood link between long-term exposure to these fields and serious
health problems. For instance, in 1974 a researcher in Colorado named Nancy
Wertheimer tried to discover common factors in children who had died of leukemia
by obtaining their addresses from the Colorado Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Without looking for any one factor in particular, she noticed that many of these
houses were located along the trunk lines stepping down from power line
transformers. Leukemia rates dropped off sharply in houses further removed from
the main trunk lines. Digging into the issue further, she discovered that
workers in occupations which exposed them to continuously high electromagnetic
fields had developed cancer at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the
population. An orthopedic surgeon with the US Veteran's Administration, Dr.
Robert O. Becker also became convinced of the health hazards associated with
electromagnetic fields. He had been investigating the effects of minute
electrical currents on wound-healing in salamanders. (Animal lovers may want to
turn their heads at this point.) After amputating one of their limbs, Becker
found that the salamanders were able to regenerate that limbs when stimulated by
tiny electrical impulses. Pursuing this research, he found that electrical
stimulation speeded up the rate of healing seriously broken bones in humans.
While his research was met with derision because current medical orthodoxy has
no explanation for such small electric impulses having any biological effects,
today we see the embodiment of this research every Sunday on televised NFL
games; if you see, on the sidelines, an injured player hobbling on crutches that
have a strange-looking black box attached to them, you are seeing a healing
technique developed by Dr. Becker. Players call it "getting stimmed." Becker had
strong evidence of the biological effect of electromagnetism, both beneficial
and malignant, from his research with salamanders. He was concerned about
long-term exposure, but when he spoke out he was removed from his position with
the Veteran's Administration. His discussion of this freezing-out is in his
excellent book _The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life_
(with Gary Selden, William & Morrow Co., NY 1985). It is a useful discussion for
anyone who wants to understand how medical research functions today. Ideas
inconsistent with medical orthodoxy and corporate/government interests are
quickly killed by cutting of grant money.
Since there is no practical way to
shield one's self from an electromagnetic field, the only protection possible is
to limit one's exposure. For people in many occupations, however, this is
impossible. For instance, clerks at check-out stands are bathed in a high-power
energy field measuring over 200 milligauss that emanates from the laser bar-code
reader at waist-level. The distinction between safe and dangerous levels of
exposure have not yet been determined, but epidemiologist David Savitz published
a study 1986 that replicated Nancy Wertheimer's study in Colorado and found that
children living near transmission lines and subjected to exposures of only 2.5
milligauss developed cancer at a rate 40% greater than other children. Despite
evidence such as this, many power companies have set "safe" standards of
emissions from transformers and power lines at 100 milligauss. Even at that high
level of "safety" the check-out clerks at our supermarkets are exposed to twice
the acceptable dose, for eight hours a day. When I approached a woman at the
local supermarket to measure the emissions from her check-out stand, her face
registered shock when the field meter I was using leapt off-scale. "So that's
why I'm always so nervous," she said. Since we have no organ to sense changes in
our electromagnetic environment, it is often hard to notice over-exposure. Signs
include nausea, blurred vision, a metallic taste in the mouth, and headaches.
Electric blankets should be used under no circumstances, since they emit 13-15
milligauss. Both the symptoms and the diseases associated with exposure to
magnetic fields are consistent with the late Dr. Wilhelm Reich's research into
cancer. He identified something he called "oranur sickness" which, like
radiation poisoning, was experienced as a metallic taste in the mouth,
headaches, nausea and blurred vision. One of the hallmarks of this oranur
sickness is that each organism reacts in its own way to it, as it attacks the
"weak point" in a biological system. For instance, one might come down with an
especially acute attack of asthma without thinking any but "oh, there's that old
asthma again" without noticing what triggered it. It is this feature of oranur
sickness that complicates the epidemiology of magnetic fields. Since symptoms
and health breakdowns vary from person to person, orthodox scientists can
dismiss any common factor especially subtle ones such as low-level exposure to
radiation, toxic chemicals, and electromagnetic fields. Thus, when I interviewed
residents of Dunsmuir, CA, who have been recently exposed to toxic fumes
resulting from a train derailment into the nearby Sacramento River, they
reported being told by medical workers at the local hospital that their symptoms
were "all in their heads." However, levels of electromagnetic radiation in our
environment can be measured if not directly sensed. Using a small Trifield meter
(available from Natural Energy Works, POB 864, El Cerrito, CA 94530) which
measures magnetic field, electric field, and radio/microwave field strength in
the ambient atmosphere, I took readings around Fort Bragg and Mendocino at the
common stops along a typical day's business. I was surprised that in some
locations, readings were far lower than expected, such as those next to the
transformer located next to the Mendocino Elementary School, while other
locations had far higher readings than I would have expected, such at the bank
teller's window. Here are some sample readings. Safe, background levels of
magnetic fields that are consistent with the earth's normal emissions are around
0.5 to 1.0 milligauss (MG). Borderline readings occur at 1.0 to 3.0 MG, and high
levels begin at 3.0 MG. (Readings are in milligauss.)
Automobile: driver's seat:.... 7 :
passenger seat:... 4 : back seat:........ 2 Main St., Ft.
Bragg:...................... 0.5 Macintosh Plus VDT:....................... 15
Automatic stamp machine at post office:... 8 Automatic Teller
Machine:................. 8 Arcade Video Game:........................ 100 Xerox
Machine:............................ 100 Safeway refrigerated
isle:................ 8 Harvest Market meat case:................. 75 Harvest
Market fish case:................. 4 Bar Code Reader at check-out:.............
200 Big River Substation (elementary school):. 0.5-7
These random measurements clearly show
that it is virtually impossible for any of us to remove ourselves from an
ongoing, uncontrolled experiment to test the limits of safe exposure of EMF. The
parallels between this situation, where "informed consent" is a meaningless
slogan, can be readily found in the new disclosures surrounding Cold War
radiation testing. It might be useful, at this point, to revisit those days,
when a "voice in the wilderness" spoke out against "safe" levels of nuclear
radiation: Wilhelm Reich. What, in the final analysis, brought the wrath of the
U. S. government down upon Wilhelm Reich, M.D.? Space does not allow a full
discussion of Reich's biography, but those interested won't find a better place
to start than with Myron Sharaf's _Fury on Earth_. There were many dangerous
aspects to Reich's work, from advocating children's sexual rights, or his
thorough analysis of the patriarchal family in fascism and its roots in the
emotional character structures of everyday people, and even his invention of the
orgone accumulator(1). In my view, Wilhelm Reich was imprisoned because he
stumbled onto frightening facts about nuclear radiation during the early 1950s,
a critical point in that newly developed industry. Simply put, Reich found that
there is _no shielding possible_ against the biological effects of nuclear
radiation. On January 5, 1951, in what was called the Oranur Experiment, Reich
placed a minute sample (1 milligram) of radium inside a powerful orgone
accumulator. Reich's shocking report, which can be found in the now out-of-print
_Selected Writings_, details how radiation sickness is a function of the
organism's response to the invasive insult, and not a direct result of the
radiation poisoning itself. Thus different people may be more susceptible to
very minute doses(2), while others may feel no noticeable effects; each person's
reaction is different according to their own emotional and biological structure.
It will be recalled that there was
little understanding of the biological effects of radiation in the 1950s. Many
people remember that soldiers were sent directly into test sites shortly after
the dust cleared from nuclear explosions. They wore no protection and were
merely dusted off afterwards. At this writing (January, 1994) the U.S.
Department of Energy has released many documents about the true nature of
America's nuclear heritage. Dept. Secretary Hazel O'Leary has offered full
disclosure about the years of chronic abuse of an unwitting population of human
guinea pigs by the scientific establishment and the military. So far, reports
have focused on the more insane and fascistic injection of human beings with
plutonium without informed consent. Less has been reported about the facts that
first came out: that throughout the forties and fifties the military dropped
radioactive dust over vast areas of the Western States. To put this into
perspective, the military essentially turned each of us into a huge cohort of
experimental subjects in an on-going test of the biological effects of radiation
poisoning. President Clinton has distanced himself from Dept. of Energy
Secretary Hazel O'Leary, who authorized the release of new information,
characterizing her forthcoming posture as "very emotional". There is little
public understanding today of the true nature of Reich's research. However, the
military, as of 1948, was fully advised of his findings.
Indeed, the AEC
provided Reich with the radium samples he used in the Oranur Experiment. When
Reich first discovered the specifically biological energy he called orgone, he
waited before publishing until he verified the phenomena under a variety of
experimental protocols. One such experiment, "TO-T", measured the temperature
difference between an orgone box (constructed with alternating layers of metal
and wood which create an enclosed field of concentrated orgone), and a similarly
constructed box that lacked the metal lining, but had the same capacity for
insulation. An orgone box is generally warmer than the outside temperature, and
the temperature difference decreases as the atmosphere contracts before a storm.
Albert Einstein was one person who found the question intriguing enough to
invite Reich to his home to demonstrate the effect. Reich had written him a
cautious letter in the hopes that this "Father of the Atom Bomb" would recognize
that the experiments proved an exception to the Second Law of Thermodynamics,
the law of entropy, which requires that equal volumes tend to equalize in
temperature. Reich traveled to Princeton with several devices with which to
demonstrate the orgone energy. He described his long session with Einstein as a
meeting of minds. Einstein observed the phenomena, and said, "If this is true,
it would be a bombshell for Physics." Einstein met once again with Reich and
then suddenly dropped the matter. Einstein's biographers have painted this
meeting in a ridiculous light, saying it was an example of Einstein's
eccentricity. Perhaps, but their exchange of letters, which Reich published
later, belies this assumption.(3) This is important to remember: whatever the
validity of Reich's conclusions, _the phenomena he observed_, which alone stand
in stark contrast to any high school physics text, _was in fact real,
corroborated and sustained against objections_. The FDA launched a multi-million
dollar investigation of the orgone accumulator, declared it a fraud, and set
about bringing criminal proceedings against Reich. Reich's FBI files reveal a
blistering blizzard of letters directed towards getting rid of Reich from
doctors in the AMA, ministers of Christian youth crusades, and one from the
Atomic Energy Commission advising the FDA what "a thorn in the side" Reich had
been. Reich never sold more than 500 copies a year of any one of his
self-published books while he was alive. That an obscure, new line of research
posed such a threat to the medical establishment is on its face inconceivable.
Reich had first made contact with the Atomic Energy Commission on April 30,
1948, to discuss unusually high Geiger counter readings in connection with his orgonomic research. It would still be three years before Reich embarked on the
Oranur Project, a controlled experiment dealing directly with the biological
effects of radiation poisoning. In between, Reich kept the AEC completely
informed of his research via meetings, letters and phone calls, as he grew
closer and closer to an essential national security issue (i.e., keeping the
public in the dark about the real danger associated with radioactivity), while
simply trying to figure out why he was getting such unusually high readings on
his Geiger counters. In re-reading his original documentation, I was impressed
with Reich's ability to distinguish between observed facts, corroborated by
others; new theories drawn from and supported by these facts; and finally
speculation based upon insufficient evidence. Of utmost importance in his
research method was an awareness of the attitude of the observer, basic trust in
one's own perceptions and observations. Although he alerted them when his Geiger
counters told him something was amiss, he did not trust the response offered by
the AEC: don't worry, everything is fine. In this as in other matters he seems
to have been virtually alone. Reich's intent for the Oranur Experiment was to
investigate the treatment of radiation sickness with the orgone accumulator. For
years, he had success in treating terminal "lost-cause" cancer patients with the
medical device although he never claimed having found a cure, as the FDA would
charge. Since it was well known that radiation sickness could lead to leukemia,
Reich planned to investigate the matter at his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine. As
Oranur research progressed, it was decided to test the effect of orgone-charged
radium on lab mice in comparison to untreated radium. In preparation for this, a
sample of radium was placed in a 20-layer accumulator.
After five hours, Reich
subjectively noticed a change in the atmosphere, which he described as heavy and
oppressive. This subjective change was verified when Geiger counters in the room
went off-scale. Workers in the area suffered all the classic symptoms of
radiation poisoning. They had discovered the Oranur Effect. When the radium
sample was removed from the accumulator, it was placed in a steel-and-concrete
safe away from living quarters. Yet the noxious effects, as well as abnormally
high Geiger readings persisted in the accumulator and the room in which it was
situated. It was as if the atmospheric orgone had "run amok", as Reich put it,
concluding that the placement of the radium inside the accumulator had set off
an atmospheric chain-reaction which persisted long after it had been removed.
The next morning, the mice were dying even though they were in an adjacent room,
and Reich awoke with a full-body tan in the dead of a Maine winter. Reich would
subsequently state that "it is the organismic OR [orgone] energy within living
bodies which continues to react to the NR [nuclear radiation] material for
months and even years." In checking background counts around the safe in which
the orgone-charged radium had been disposed, he discovered a more disturbing
phenomena: that the steel and concrete enclosure itself comprised an orgone
accumulator and that the Oranur effect was still evident. It's hard to discount
Reich's documentation of all this, given the complete records and corroboration
of his coworkers. He found a persistent, overcharged atmosphere continuing long
after the experiment had been concluded. _The New York Times_ (2/3/51) reported
that there were unusually high background radiation levels recorded from
Rochester, New York to Canada during the last week of January. There was a
bright side. Both the experimental mice that had survived and the workers
involved with the project exhibited full recovery and more: they were far better
able to withstand the effects of radiation in subsequent work. Reich had found
what he was looking for. There were positive indications that Reich had found a
method of _immunizing against the effects of radiation_. By then, the FDA was
mounting its case against Reich, aimed first at silencing him on the question of
orgone energy. He had been ordered by the FDA and federal courts to cease
distribution of the orgone accumulator. When an assistant, Dr. Michael Silvert,
transported the devices across state lines, he and Reich were charged with the
violation of the court injunction. Unbelievably, the 59 year-old scientist,
researcher, and teacher was sentenced to two years in prison and, as with many
people his age, this proved to be a death sentence.
The rest of the story is now known. It's
estimated that it will cost $200 billion to clean up after the nuclear testing
of the Cold War. But are we all participating in a new experiment to establish
safe levels of electromagnetic fields?
Chronology of Radiation and Biowarfare
Testing Disclosures Through 6/1/94
1942-1946 Dr. Joseph G. Hamilton at
University of California Hospital in San Francisco proposes a radioactive
aerosol as a military weapon. Tests lethal-dose exposure on terminal patients.
One of the "terminal patients" had been misdiagnosed; he only had an ulcer.
(L.A. Times 2/8/94)
1945 Miami, FL; radioactive needles
placed in Army private's nostrils.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center;
751 late-term pregnant women given radioactive water 30 times background
radiation at a free clinic. (L.A. Times 2/8/94)
1948-1952 12 "battlefield radiation"
tests conducted over Tennessee and Utah. Air Force drops radioactive cluster
bombs dispersing as much as 15,000 curies in open-air fallout tests. (L.A. Times
12/16/94)
1950 San Francisco: ships spray city
with bacteria from offshore. (NYT 2/25/94)
1951 Virginia: Aspergillus fumagatus, a
lethal bacteria, released upon workers, mainly black, at Norfolk Naval Supply
Center. (L.A. Times 2/8/94)
1953 Nationwide test: 235 newborns and
infants injected with radioactive iodide. In Memphis, 6 of 7 newborns selected
were black. No one kept track of the subjects, who are now 39 or 40 years old.
(St. Louis Post Dispatch 12/25/93)
1954 Marshall Islands: Navy moves its
ships and personnel when it learns of a wind change prior to above-ground
testing. Fails to relocate native islanders as well.
1956-1986 Chico, CA: 140 tons of hot
shit (radioactive dog feces) accumulates at DOE facility (aka UC Davis
Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research, also known as the "Beagle Club"
by former workers) near UC Davis, where 1,200 beagles were fed, injected with,
and exposed to radiation, including tritium. One worker has claimed that the
sewage system has at times overflowed into Putah Creek, near Lake Berryessa.
(L.A. Times 2/8/94)
1957 Eskimos in N. Alaska, few of whom
spoke English at the time, were given an apple and an orange for their
participation in Army tests to inject them with radioactive iodine. (L.A. Times
2/8/94)
British smuggle radioactive debris in a
diplomatic pouch on regular commercial airline.
1963-1990 34 underground nuclear tests
in the U.S. release radiation into the atmosphere.
1966 Massachusetts: Retarded children at
the Fernald School in Waltham given low-dose radiation in their cereal.
1953-1965 1500 military personnel given
LSD by US Army Chemical Corps.
1968 Nerve Gas agent kills 6,000 sheep
in Utah. (NYT 2/25/94)
1973 Prisoners in Oregon and Washington
agree to have their testicles dipped in radioactive water for $5.00 a week.
1993 Russia, Arzamas-16; elite Vympel
(Pennant) commando units stage a "terrorist attack" and quickly seize nuclear
bomb factory, to test security at Soviet Military facilities. Vympel also
thwarted an attempt to steal fissionable material from a plant in the Urals.
However, when Vympel refused President Boris Yeltsin's order to storm the
parliament house in October, 1992, they refused and talked the opposition out
instead, which was seen as a capitulation. Yeltsin transferred Vympel under the
control of the Interior Ministry, whereupon the majority of commandos resigned
their commissions.
1994 Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.) asked the
White House to investigate any radiation testing that may have been done on US
troops during the Gulf War.
Chernobyl nuclear power station declared
unsafe by the International Atomic Energy Association. Officials now admit that
thousands died in the blast, and the subsequent clean-up takes up 12% of the
Ukranian national budget. (Reuters 3/31/94)
To date: An estimated cost of $200
billion to clean up after the nuclear research of the Cold War, nationwide.
30 deaths from Hanta viruses, long a
focus of military biowarfare researchers.
There remains no independent scientific
or ethical review of human testing conducted by military and intelligence
researchers.
The Department of Energy funds 175 human
test studies involving 725,000 people. (AP 4/5/94) The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission reports that it licenses as many as 200 of the largest medical
institutions in the country to conduct human research. (AP 2/3/94)
Notes:
(1) For a full discussion of current
experimental evidence concerning the operation of the orgone accumulator and its
beneficial use in healing see The Orgone Accumulator Handbook, by James DeMeo,
PhD., Natural Energy Works, POB 864, El Cerrito, CA 95430
(2) A former worker at the San Onofre
Power Plant sues over a rare form of leukemia 1/94. Since she had never been
exposed to levels of radiation deemed "unsafe" by the Department of Energy, and
having a cancer which has been positively linked to radioactive exposure, the
issue the court must decide is whether any level of exposure can be deemed
"safe."
(3) Reich, W. The Einstein Affair.
Orgone Institute Press, Maine, 1953.
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