This is the first major medical conference of its kind in the U.S. to address the health effects of EMF/EMR exposure. This conference was originally initiated and inspired by William J. Rea MD (1935-2018), a pioneer in the evaluation and treatment of electrosensitivity. After Dr. Rea’s passing in August of 2018, a commitment to produce the conference continued in partnership with the leading practitioners and organizations that have been working globally to provide credible research and education in the area of exposure to cell phone and other wireless radiation.
“Very recently, new research is suggesting that nearly all the human plagues which emerged in the twentieth century, like common acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, female breast cancer, malignant melanoma and asthma, can be tied to some facet of our use of electricity. There is an urgent need for governments and individuals to take steps to minimize community and personal EMF exposures.”
SAMUEL MILHAM MD, MPH
The EMF Conference in Santa Cruz, California, brings together world-renowned speakers on EMF exposure for a first-of-its-kind immersive conference experience.
Interesting and highly relevant. I just read Dr. Milham’s book, Dirty Electricity so I will leave some thoughts here for discussion.
Milham’s thesis is that electromagnetic fields in general, and high frequency voltage transients in particular, are causing most of what he deems the “diseases of civilization,” such as leukemia, ADHD, obesity, and others, and that the effect is subtle and only detectable over many years. He bases this theory on studies he himself performed but also builds on the work of a handful of other EMF researchers. He only started his investigations into the effects of EMFs on human health after his retirement, and does not seem to have the support of the scientific community. You can sense a lot of frustration and perhaps cynicism from Dr. Milham over his findings being rejected by mainstream science.
In my view, the frustration is justifiable. Milham was trained and employed in a field relevant to his research (epidemiology) and had direct access to death records for multiple states on the West Coast for many decades. He is a skilled communicator and can explain his ideas in a straightforward way. He has moved the state of the research forward by analyzing the existing body of research on EMFs and hypothesizing a mediating variable (high frequency voltage transients). And he provides enough information on his methods that other scientists could easily confirm or disprove his hypothesis if given access to the right data. This is real science, and it’s baffling that such an effort would be met only with derision and opposition from his peers. It should be met with enthusiasm and cooperation.
But I also feel that his personal struggles have led him to overestimate the strength of his evidence. It’s only a few studies showing an effect vs. a large body of evidence that there is no effect. Milham’s longitudinal methods and his focus on voltage transients make his research different enough to warrant further study, but the topic still warrants further study before people can be convinced to act on it. However, it’s as if Milham has given up on his ideas being accepted scientifically and now expects society to change only based on his own efforts. He’s also very quick to recommend pricey individual solutions to the problem - the Graham-Stetzer Meter costs about $35 and the websites say you need no less than TWENTY of them - for a total of $700 - to truly clean your home! That’s quite a leap of faith. Nevertheless this is a hugely important area that urgently needs more research, especially with all the telcos and politicians shoving us into our brave new 5G world - and don’t get me started on that!
I have not delved much into this research yet, and am wondering how much of the research out there has taken seriously the possibility that some people are more susceptible than others (possibly based on subtle traits that are not well understood)? Potentially even more difficult scientifically quantify is the possibility of complex, subtle effects on cognitive processing and hormonal balance.
Some people may be essentially immune, some essentially allergic, and many disrupted (or even ‘enhanced’) only under certain circumstances that may very drastically from person to person.