Electrical Fields and Allergies

It may surprise you that allergies and electricity are linked. But I found this out nearly 30 years ago. When patients told me they felt sick after switching on the television, at first I suspected hot wires and chemicals ex-gassing from the insulating plastics, etc.

But the penny soon dropped that the actual EMF field was to blame and this could form part of an “overload” phenomenon, so that individual tolerances dropped markedly in an electrically “dirty” environment.

Nowadays, we are very switched on (excuse the pun) to the ways in which electrical fields and currents cause sensitive individuals to react. What’s more, we can predict that all this will steadily get worse, as ambient EMF fields get stronger and more complex.

Background

Planet Earth is a complex electrical environment. Even before Man set foot on it, never mind invented electricity generating machines, the whole globe was bathed in immense fields of charged particles, which in total power make our National Grid look like a glow-worm beside a nuclear explosion.

We are continually receiving bombardments of highly charged particles from the sun, the so-called Solar Wind. These sweep into our upper atmosphere where, fortunately for us, they are contained; though the upper layers become super-charged: the Ionosphere. Because of the Earth’s polarity, these sheets of electrical energy only dip down to near ground level at the north and south poles and this effect gives rise to the aurorae. The Northern Lights (aurora borealis) are, in reality, nothing more than a giant electric storm. Observers who are close describe swishing and crackling noises, typical of electric discharges, and occasionally tingling and the smell of ozone, which is the familiar odor from electrical sparks.

If this isn’t enough, then the whole rotating globe works rather like a giant dynamo, charging up the planet’s very substance. Thus rocks have innate electricity, called piezo-electricity. It comes to the surface especially where there is volcanic and earthquake activity, and is the cause of a greenish glow often seen in the region of a recent earthquake.

Occasionally this ‘rock electricity’ escapes into the upper atmosphere, causing streamers or ‘rays’; the well-known Andes glow is such a manifestation. Doubtless this accounts for a number of strange world-wide phenomena, phantom lights, apparitions etc. Even the flying saucer enthusiasts must concede that some sinister-looking lights in the sky have an entirely natural earth-bound origin. St Elmo’s Fire is an electrical effect which used to terrify our ancestors, especially sailors. A greenish glow surrounds objects, such as ships, buildings and even people under certain favorable atmospheric conditions. It is simply a harmless build-up of static electricity, but without the benefit of scientific knowledge it must have seemed a fearful, even diabolical, manifestation.

Then, of course, there is lightning in all its forms which, although intense, is a very minor effect in global terms and represents no more than a local build-up of static which then discharges itself.

Along Came Man

Then along came that inquisitive and inventive biped, homo sapiens (Man). By the time of the Ancient Greeks our species had discovered that rubbing amber with silk or fur produces static electricity (the Greek word for amber is elektron, hence electricity).

In the eighteenth century the Italian Volta (after whom the volt is named) discovered that alternate layers of copper and zinc discs, separated by brine-soaked cloths, gave rise to an electric current. The battery was born.

In the nineteenth century a Dutchman called Oersted discovered that a current in a wire has a magnetic field. In 1831 Michael Faraday realized the importance of the opposite effect: that if a coil of wire is rotated in a magnetic field, a current is produced. Thus the dynamo or generator was born.

This in turn led to other possibilities, such as the electric telegraph and Thomas Eddison’s great boon, the electric light, which freed Man from the shackles of night. It is impossible to overestimate the benefit of this simple advance, which lengthened the working day to a potential 24 hours and so speeded up Man’s progress into the technological age.  How much slower it would have been if we had all continued to down tools and books at sunset (there were lamps and candles, true, but these were not very good).

Finally, we arrive at the twentieth century, and today we have radios, TVs, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, ovens, toasters, clocks and a whole host of gadgets powered by electricity, at work and in the home.  Cables run everywhere in walls, under floors and over our heads. We are literally surrounded by electricity, in a way which would have been unthinkable 150 years ago.

In modern urban environments, it is almost impossible to get away from electricity.

Ambient Levels

We are now exposed to ambient levels estimated conservatively at a million times greater than natural background radiation. Some scientists put it as high as a hundred-million-fold increase in exposure. Isn’t it strange, then, that nobody, until recently, asked the question: Is it safe?

New and disturbing evidence suggests that indeed it is not.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that a number of people are made ill in the presence of electro-magnetic fields. Symptoms include flushing, palpitations, diarrhea, muscle aches and pains, disorientation, headache, fits and blackouts. Depression may also be a feature. It is known that human brain waves (EEG patterns) alter when an electric appliance is switched on anywhere in the vicinity.

Electro-magnetic activity around high-tension cables is easy to demonstrate. If you want some fun, carry an ordinary domestic fluorescent tube near an overhead power supply on a dark night and you will be able to observe it glow while you are still up to 100 meters away. People, it seems, are far more sensitive and notice effects even from three times that distance.

Some people are extremely sensitive to external electrical fields. This adds to their body load and may be a hitherto-unrecognized contributor to allergic sensitivities. The probability is that allergy itself is an electro-magnetic effect. Most clinical ecologists are familiar with the fact that it is sometimes possible to get a reaction from a patient simply by holding the allergen substance near to his or her body (i.e., within his or her L-field).

This cannot be a humoral (chemically-borne) effect.

Are You Electrical Sensitive?

My friends Cyril Smith, formerly of Salford University and Dr. Jean Monro of the Breakspear hospital (latterly the Breakspear Medical group) researched this area a great deal together in the 1980s and here are some points to note, which they say would suggest electrical hypersensitivity, in allergic individuals.

• The individual is hard to stabilize with normal allergy desensitizing methods.
• There may be sensitivity to weather effects, since there are important electrical changes in the atmosphere which precede the arrival of weather fronts, thunderstorms, etc.
• The patient may demonstrate a poor tolerance of drinking and washing water, though paradoxically sea bathing may alleviate symptoms in electrical sensitives.
• The patient may be aware of feeling bad in the presence of electronic equipment such as computers, TVs, etc. For example, one of my patients got an asthma attack every time the TV was switched on. It can be as obvious as this yet people remain unaware of the culprit until it is pointed out to them.
• Fluorescent lighting often troubles the patient.

A curious and fascinating effect is that electrical gadgets often go wrong or fail in the presence of these patents; they are notorious for stopping watches, causing glitches in computers, failure of machinery, etc.

Some patients are even aware of giving off static charges and other people get a spark or a shock when touching them or coming close. This is very troublesome, particularly in allergics of this kind. My nurses report an unusually high incidence of highly-charged patients of this type.

Is Your Home A Problem?

 

Bedrooms are often the WORST, yet we spend most time there

Ambient electrical fields vary enormously, with location and the nature of the property. Older style houses, with a metal conduit wiring system, could have an ambient field strength of as little as 2- 3 volts per meter (V/m) and the magnetic field just 0.01 microtesla (µT).

Most people can live tolerably at up to 10 V/m electric field and 0.025 (µT) magnetic field. You’ll need an EMF field meter to measure what’s present.

In modern buildings, much higher readings of 40 – 50 V/m are common. It may be lower at ground level, so don’t forget to measure it around head height. Beware also that modern fluorescent and halogen lighting has a field which spreads easily through floorboards and will appear at calf level in the room above; typically a bedroom. So that can be a real hazard to individuals sleeping in a low bed.

What Can You Do?

If you are concerned about electrical levels and think you may have a sensitivity:

1. Remove all unnecessary electrical devices from you bedroom, such as electric alarm clocks, radios and tea-makers.
2. Get rid of your electric blanket.
3. Change your bed for one without any metal in the framework.
4. Get a mattress without springing (a ‘futon’-style bed would serve very well for both this and point 3).
5. Avoid electrical equipment as much as possible. If you have to cook with electrical systems, try to have them all down one side of the room. Tests show that being surrounded on all sides by such equipment has a more detrimental effect.
6. Switch electricity off at the mains each night. The ‘ring main’ (loops of cables around a room) bathes inhabitants in a pool of electro-magnetic energy, day and night while the mains are switched on. It seems logical that this isn’t really good for us.

We normally recommended that patients who feel the effects of electrical static build-up try to ‘discharge’ themselves once or twice a day. This is easily done by walking barefoot on the earth or grass in the garden outside. If outdoors is not easily accessible or the weather is inclement, earthing to the water pipes can be tried. Just touching them should be sufficient, in theory. In practice there is more relief to be gained from standing on an earthed plate: On no account do this while handling any live electrical equipment. Some patients prefer to wrap a wire connected to the water pipes round their wrist in bed at night.

Synthetic carpets are particularly hostile to electrical sensitives. Bare floor boards or tiles are far better. At least try to have these in the bedroom, even if not the lounge. A kitchen with tiled floors, and cooking in bare feet, are ideal, so that earthing needs no special time or procedure.

Safety with all electrical apparatus is important. An iron with a faulty wire becomes far more lethal if you are not insulated by a thick carpet and underlay.

Finally, remember that some effects from electricity may be due to low frequency sound vibrations caused by resonance at mains frequencies (50/60 cycles per second). Buzzing of fluorescent tubes is a case in point. Sound waves have a distinct pressure that is capable of great harm to biological systems. Electric fields from some apparatus are not strong enough to cause symptoms to most allergics but vibrations are capable of harming anyone.