Dangerous electrical pollution at Woodstock Library
news.omega
wheel chair bound people have the right to access any public buildings
with their wheel chair.
Everywhere you see now wheel chair access, never mind whether the
community has only one wheel chaired student in a school, and a few
elder who need to enter the stores…or the government agency.
Wheel chair bound people have the right for access of/for anything! side
walks are now wheel chair constructed.
Similar refers for EHS people!
EHS people have the right to be able to stay in a library as long as
they wish. If for some reasons they are forced to leave the library
against their will and wish, that means an infringement of their
personal human rights.
In my opinion that should be dealt with wit the Canadian Human Rights
Commission, see below.
Cheers and Best, Hans.
*Environmental Sensitivities*
Environmental sensitivities are not easily defined, as they are a
complex and often poorly understood group of chronic conditions. The
explanation of sensitivities that appears below is given here merely to
provide context for the legal analysis that follows.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Hypersensitivity Disorders,
chaired by former Judge George M. Thomson, defined environmental
sensitivities as:
a chronic (i.e. continuing for more than three months) multisystem
disorder, usually involving symptoms of the central nervous system and
at least one other system. Affected persons are frequently intolerant to
some foods and they react adversely to some chemicals and to
environmental agents, singly or in combination, at levels generally
tolerated by the majority… Improvement is associated with avoidance of
suspected agents and symptoms recur with re-exposure.^2
<http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/research_program_recherche/esensitivities_legal_hypersensibilitee/page2-en.asp?highlight=1#2>
Individuals with environmental sensitivities experience adverse
reactions to environmental agents below the level deemed to be unsafe or
to affect people. The causes, symptoms and triggers of environmental
sensitivities vary from individual to individual. The triggering
environmental agents are prevalent throughout the built environment and
include electromagnetic fields and the chemicals found in building
materials, furniture, cleaning and copying products, fragrances, and
pesticides.
As a result of the scientific confusion, diagnostic difficulty and
general lack of knowledge within the medical and broader community with
regard to environmental sensitivities, the latter are often misdiagnosed
as psychological or psychiatric conditions. This misdiagnosis and
misunderstanding results in social stigma for people with sensitivities
and may result in a denial of accommodation, with individuals being told
that "it is in their head." However, despite the lack of clarity on the
causes of environmental sensitivities and the absence of a diagnostic
test, there is no doubt that individuals experience physical symptoms as
a result of environmental agents. Even if environmental sensitivities
were triggered by a psychiatric condition, the Act’s guarantee of
accommodation to the point of undue hardship and non-discrimination
would be equally applicable, albeit potentially with different forms of
accommodation.
While this paper uses the term "environmental sensitivities," numerous
other terms refer to the same or similar conditions, including "multiple
chemical sensitivity (MCS)," "chemical injury," "sick building
syndrome," "environmental illness," "environmental hypersensitivity,"
"electromagnetic field (EMF) sensitivity," "Gulf War syndrome,"
"environmental sensitivity disorder," "20th century disease" and
"environmental allergies." Because of the variation in triggers and
symptoms, it is preferable to refer to sensitivities in the plural,
rather than the singular.
1. While the Act’s prohibition of discrimination in sections 5-13
applies to all employers, providers of goods, services, facilities or
accommodations, and employee organizations under the federal
jurisdiction of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the researchers
use the term “employers and service providers” throughout this paper.
This term is used for ease of reference and not because the duty to
accommodate and the standard of undue hardship discussed in this paper
do not apply equally to all entities covered by the Act.
2./ Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Environmental Hypersensitivity
Disorders/, to Murray J. Elston, Minister of Health (August 1985), at 17-18.
*Von:* Martin Weatherall [mailto:wea...@golden.net]
*Gesendet:* Wednesday, November 07, 2007 8:35 PM
*An:* W.E.E.P. Information E-mail
*Betreff:* Dangerous electrical pollution at Woodstock Library.
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Martin Weatherall <mailto:wea...@golden.net>
*To:* sne...@woodstock.library.on.ca
<mailto:sne...@woodstock.library.on.ca>
*Sent:* Wednesday, November 07, 2007 11:18 PM
*Subject:* Dangerous electrical pollution at Woodstock Library.
866729 Township Rd 10
R.R. #3
Bright, Ontario
N0J 1B0
Mr. Stephen Nelson
Chief Librarian
Woodstock Library
Dear Mr. Nelson and Library Staff,
A few weeks ago, I spent about ninety minutes in the Woodstock library
conducting research. As I left the library, I felt ill and recognized my
symptoms as being caused by exposure to strong electro magnetic
radiation. I suffer from a condition known as electro hyper-sensitivity,
which is also known as microwave sickness. It is a condition that is
becoming more common because of the widespread use of wireless and
microwave technologies in our environment. I suffered the effects of my
library exposure for the next two days; the main symptom was soreness of
my chest, as if a heavy weight were pressing down on me. Since that
time, I have spoken to two Woodstock citizens who both told me that
they, too, feel ill when visiting the library. They both said that they
purposely do not spent much time inside of the library because of the
way that they feel when they are there.
When I visited the library today, I brought my radio-frequency meter to
find out why I had felt so bad during the previous visit. I walked
around the library and the meter provided me with instant readings of
electro magnetic radiation (EMR). In the upstairs area, readings were
extremely high in the open area at the centre of the building,
overlooking the front entrance. At this location, the readings were off
the scale of my meter, which means they were higher than 2000 microwatts
per square meter. Readings were also very high at the east side of the
building on the upper floor.
I went downstairs and found very high readings in the front desk
entrance way, but the worst exposure that I found was around the desk on
the west side of the entrance way. Once again, the reading was off the
scale of my meter. I believe this is the desk where books are recorded
as people leave the library with their loans. I learned that one of the
people who works at that location has reported feeling ill while working
at this location and blames it on her working environment. My readings
support the fact that her working environment, filled with microwave
radiation, is making her ill. I believe that she is suffering the early
effects of microwave sickness, a condition that will gradually get worse
with continued exposure. In time, she may become electro hypersensitive
and be unable to work. While other employees may not physically detect
their own exposure, the level of microwave radiation at that desk is so
high that it places your employees at great risk of various illnesses
and cancer. There is a great deal of scientific information that
indicates serious health risk from this type of exposure.
I have attached one document that shows this danger particularly well.
It is entitled SNAFU and it was written to show the citizens of San
Francisco the dangers of installing a city wide WiFi system. The writer
is Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University, Ontario, who is probably the
most knowledgeable person in Canada on the subject of health effects of
electrical pollution. I do not know what is the source of the EMR in the
Woodstock library, but I suspect that there is a WiFi system or another
strong source of wireless radiation inside the library at or near the
front desk on the west side.
Whatever the source is, it is a grave danger to your staff and to the
public visiting the library and needs to be mitigated as soon as
possible. Although I spent less than thirty minutes at the library
today, I again felt ill when I left because I had been standing in the
source of high radiation for a few minutes. People should not be
suffering from this kind of problem in their libraries, and I hope that
you will take the appropriate steps to make the library safe. In Europe,
the dangers of wireless technologies have been widely reported in the
press and on radio and television. I have collected a great amount of
news, information, and scientific research that shows that EMR causes
serious harm to human health. I will gladly provide more information to
you on request and I am willing to assist you as best I can.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Weatherall
Co-Director, WEEP - Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution