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Victim of electrical
pollution
Bright-area
resident suffers health problems from electromagnetic
radiation
By Heather Rivers HEALTH REPORTER
Thursday September 13,
2007 WOODSTOCK - It started out with a ringing in his
ears.
Soon after he moved into his Bright-area farmhouse in
October 2003, Martin Weatherall began experiencing nausea,
difficulty thinking, headaches and ongoing sleep
disruptions.
Today, Weatherall, 56, believes he suffers
from the effects of electrical pollution, or electro
hypersensitivity, developed after years of exposure to
electromagnetic radiation.
On Thursday, Weatherall will
address Norfolk County on behalf of Simcoe resident Dan Currie
who is pleading with council to take the necessary steps to
remove a Rogers cellphone antenna from a nearby water tower
that he believes is adversely affecting his health.
Currie
has had to move from his home because of the impact of the
antenna on his health.
Currie’s ordeal has been documented
this week in a CBC Television three-day news series that began
airing Monday.
In April, council received a letter signed
by 11 Simcoe-area doctors who said it is not wise to situate
sources of electromagnetic waves near schools, residential
neighbourhoods and hospitals.
"Scientific research shows
(that electromagnetic waves) damage cells, DNA and change
blood composition," Weatherall said.
Born in England in
1951, as a young adult Weatherall joined the British Navy
where he was exposed to large amounts of "radiation in one
form or another."
"The combination caused me to be electro
sensitive," he said.
After working briefly as a newspaper photographer,
he joined the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force where he
worked as a police officer, forensic identification officer
and a director of the Toronto Police Association.
After
retiring and settling into his new home in Oxford County, he
started to get sick.
When he investigated he found so much
electrical pollution it led him to install a tingle voltage
filter to mitigate the situation.
"It cut it down by quite
a bit," he said. "But what we found was that most ground
current was coming through the telephone system."
Bell
Canada sent in a specialist from Peterborough to install
filters and change the grounding.
A specialist from
Wisconsin also found excessive electricity "identified as
coming from the Hydro One system," he said.
"This
electricity is filled with high frequencies which cause health
problems," Weatherall said.
Eventually he would rid his
house of much of the pollution by removing ductwork in the
attic that made the house "act like an antenna."
As
Weatherall learned more about the electrical pollution, he
started an organization called WEEP Canada (Wireless
Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution) with two other
people, designed to raise awareness about the issue.
Weatherall says Woodstock is a hotbed of electro magnetic
radiation from many sources including two Rogers antenna
located within the city.
House wiring, electrical
appliances, the electrical distribution system, transformers,
cordless phones, cellphones, microwave transmission
facilities, WiFi and other wireless systems are items he also
flags as possible electrical pollutants that can cause a
number of ailments.
Dr. David Flowers, a professor at Trent
University, is co-founder of WEEP Canada.
The current
Canadian safety levels for electro magnetic radiation are far
too lenient, he said.
"There are lot of current health
issues from breast cancer to Parkinson’s disease to
hyperactivity that are linked to EM pollution," he wrote in an
e-mail. "Canada should be following Germany’s government, who
last week told their citizens not to use wireless networks or
cellphones."
In June the Ontario government, after being
lobbied by farmers, took a first step in recognizing the issue
by stating it is addressing concerns about stray voltage and
its impact on livestock.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan
directed the Ontario Energy Board to implement measures to
address the issue of stray voltage, particularly as it affects
the agricultural sector.
Tina DeGeus, an information
officer with the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada, said
electro magnetic radiation differs from other radiations
because it is non-ionizing.
"The possible health effects
have not been established as they have been for ionizing
radiation," she said. "Scientists are at odds over whether or
not it is a health risk."
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