Posted By shivani on April 4, 2006

Comments on Cordless Phones

Following are comments about cordless phones from 3 individuals from 3 different countries. Remember, DECT is what cordless phones are called in some countries.
Following are comments about cordless phones from 3 individuals from 3 different countries. Remember, DECT is what cordless phones are called in some countries.
From Iris, Israel:

I have also had an experience with DECT.

I have Alasdair’s COM and acoustic COM, and someone asked me to help her see if the cellular antennas near her house were a possible cause for her suffering inside her home.

She felt ill and she was running away from certain rooms in her house but had no explanation why. She asked her husband to sell their house and move somehwhere else because of the antennas that she sees from her window. But the cellular antennas didn’t seem to affect her house – there was no radiation on the side of the antennas, but on the other side of the house- all her kitchen was irradiated, the COM was reading the maximum. She turned off the microwave, but it was still reading maximum (6.5 V/m, it could be more but the device shows up to 6.5) . It turned out that the reason was a DECT phone in the kitchen – not in use DECT phone. As soon as she removed the DECT phone – her kitchen was not irradiated anymore….now she doesn’t want to sell her house anymore….and she also bought Alasdair’s COM in order to warn others, she shows them how their cell phones irradiate. At the same time, I was told by people who bought DECT phones that they were told in the store that DECT phones do not emit radiation at all ! …..

From Don Maisch, Australia:

About a year ago I received two RF meters designed by Alasdair Philips from Powerwatch in the UK that have proved very usefull in determining RF levels in various environments. One is the Acousti-COM (A-COM) Monitor that gives an audible noise to detect the presence of microwave emissions and whether they are pulsed or not. The other is the COM Monitor that measures exposure levels in volts per meter (0.7 to 6.5 v/m).

Now only today I had the good fortune to pick up a quantity of Telstra DECT cordless phones and took to opportunity to test each one’s base station for emission levels. These are the sort of wireless phone that could easily be placed on a bedside table or office desk. Very small innocuous looking gadgets.

However when their base station power transformer is plugged into the mains power point my A-COM Monitor ceased emitting a soft hiss to let out a loud pulsing shrill that pulsed continously for the whole time the base station was energised – not just when the phone is being used. Then using the COM Monitor, I was hitting the red zone at 4 V/m at 1/2 a meter from the base station that cradles the phone when not in use. At this distance one’s head could well be exposed to this level all night long if placed on the bedside table, or for the working day in the office if on the desk. As for any warnings in the instruction pamphlet, all it states is: ” Make sure it is at least 1 metre away from other electrical products to avoid interference.”

It would have been nice to see a warning against placing the base station by a bedhead but everybody knows the stuff is “perfectly safe” as long as you are not an electrical product – right?

Don Maisch
[Of course, human beings are "electrical products." This is why our functions are so disturbed by the frequencies of these phones. ]

From Katharina Gustavs, Canada:

Yes, wireless cordless phones using the DECT technology (or here in Canada it usually says 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz on the base station) are the stuff nightmares are made of. I would rate it the single most trouble-causing device in modern homes. This technology was first introduced to Europe, around 1988 I believe. When I took my building biology training in Germany, Leberecht von Klitzing, a medical physicist from the University of Luebeck who observed EEG changes during cell phone radiation exposure (von Klitzing L: Low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields influence EEG of man. Physica Medica 1995; 11 (2): 77-80.), was one of the instructors.

He told me in a personal conversation that in the beginning of the 1990s he all of sudden had infants brought to him who were perfectly healthy, but their heart beat started going crazy for no obvious reasons. As soon as the DECT cordless phone was removed from the bedroom or neighboring apartment, the infant’s heart beat went back to normal.

RF radiation emitted from DECT cordless phones have a similar pulsed low-frequency (100 Hz) signal like certain cell phone technologies (e.g. 217 Hz) ….the worst thing about these phones is that they do radiate 24 hours a day whether you place a phone call or not! Peak power can be up to 250 mW.

Back in 1999 Leberecht von Klitzing already told me that there are much higher frequencies occurring within human brain wave patterns than previously thought. So the ELF signals attached to a lot of wireless communication technologies are not operating in a void space, but living organisms obviously already make use of these frequency bands. Imagine Industry Canada (or the FCC or whatever the name of the agency in a country that is allowed to sell the usage of frequency bands) would have a chart at their office wall, which shows all the frequency bands already utilized by living organisms. And the most essential frequency bands are highlighted and designated as protected frequencies so they cannot be auctioned off anymore for “human consumption”.

Well, if my memory serves me right, he mentioned such numbers like 100 Hz for human brain wave frequencies. He explained that EEG monitoring instrumentation was not capable to actually pick up on the higher frequencies until recently. The first brain waves (alpha and beta) were recorded by Berger back in 1929. By now neuroscience textbooks describe a gamma frequency range, between 20 up to 60 Hz and sometimes up to 100 Hz for humans. Brain wave frequencies for rodents are documented up to 200 Hz. Gamma oscillations in the human brain seem to be related to meaningful object perception, learning and memory. (Memory-matches evoke human gamma-responses)

And it looks like that certain patterns in the high frequency range (> 20 Hz) during sleep are associated with symptoms of schizophrenia and depression. (High frequency EEG activity during sleep: characteristics in schizophrenia and depression.

In 1999 the Professional Association of Building Biology Consultants in Germany … demanded to ban the DECT cordless phone technology. In October 2002, fifty medical doctors from Germany shared their concern about negative health impacts associated with the use of 2.4 GHz cordless as well as mobile phones in the Freiburg Appeal – an initiative of the Interdisciplinary Society of Environmental Medicine (IGUMED). The Freiburg Appeal states that heart disturbances, extreme fluctuations in blood pressure and behavioral disorders among others could be observed in an increasing number of people using such mobile phone devices and demands that current digital phone technologies should be reviewed and adjusted to our biological needs.

[Thousands of physicians have since signed. Read the Appeal ]

After the first results of the REFLEX study came out last summer 2005, the Association of Medical Doctors from Vienna (Austria) (Ärtztekammer aus Wien) joined the British Medical Association and issued a warning that children under the age of 16 should not be using cell phones. And in fall 2005, the Medical Doctors from Vienna even went a step further and wrote up – 10 Medical Rules for Cell Phone Use – for everybody, not just children. The poster, which was sent out to all members of the association, also recommends against the use of cell phones in waiting rooms. [Look for an English translation here soon.]

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