OT: Power Lines & Respiratory Concerns

[Guest guest]

Howdy Rhavda,

 

> First, Happy New Year to All! May everyone have a happy, healthy,

> and prosperous new year.

 

Amen and thank you.

 

> Second, has anyone heard of any connection between power lines and

> respiratory problems like asthma, bronchitus, etc? I had a call from a

> friend all upset over being told that her family was going to have

> cancer (this theory,etc. has been around for a long time), and

> respiratory problems of all types. I told her to read up on the cancer

> stuff on the internet but that I had not heard anything about

> respiratory problems connected to power lines. So I decided to ask this

> group because we have some very knowledgeable people on it concerning

> unusual heal concerns. Anyone heard anything? Thanks in advance.

 

The scientific community has been batting this back and forth for many, many

years. Some credible studies have concluded that exposure to an

electromagnetic field or normal voltage transmission lines or high-power

transmitting antenna have no observable effect on the normal functioning of

the human body. Note that they say " observable " effect because they've not

been able to prove otherwise. Bottom line, there is no proof that the risk

is great enough to require a fix .. the jury is still out and odds are good

that they'll never get a decision .. and in time the question will go away

... or be directed to another energy source.

 

> especially Dave Lambert and Butch Owen.

 

If the science fellers don't have the answers .. then all we can have would

be opinion. ;-)

 

Every living thing and mechanical creation is affected to some degree by

electromagnetic fields (EMF) .. or .. Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) .. but

there is no practical way to avoid EMF/EMR because it occurs everywhere ..

in the natural environment as well as in the man made environment.

 

Natural sources of EMF/EMR are radiation from the ground due to natural

deposits of magnetic or radioactive materials in the Earth .. and lightening

... and thunder .. to name just a few. Man made sources include the wiring

in our homes and our electrical appliances, automobiles, other machinery and

batteries of all types.

 

Some gurus recommend that we move away from areas with overhead power

lines. This is kinda like advising city dwellers to move away from areas

where there is a potential for crimes against persons and property. Some

go so far as to recommend we minimize the use of electricity .. which is

contrary to the position of building all electric energy efficient homes ..

and use short electrical cords which in some cases means rewiring a home ..

and unplug our appliances when they're not in use .. which unless you

redesign the home means pulling out the appliances and unplugging them after

each use. Illogical recommendations all

 

If we want to find sources that will support a position that EMF/EMR is a

danger to the human body they are easy enough to locate .. but they are

mostly found on blogs and in advertisements .. or in posts made by folks who

are selling various products that are claimed to reduce the supposed risks

of EMF/EMR.

 

We can not find as many credible or even semi credible studies to refute

this because (in my opinion) its not deemed to be a problem that can be

easily resolved .. IF .. it is a problem. Just a few are:

 

California Polytechnic State University

http://www.calpoly.edu/~dhafemei/background2.html<http://www.calpoly.edu/%7Edhaf\

emei/background2.html>

 

Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health,

http://www.ierp.bham.ac.uk/documents/pub_Fernie_and_Reynolds_2005.pdf

 

Dr. Andrew Weil

http://health./experts/weilhealthyliving/1837/household-devices-and-can\

cer-risk/

 

We must be cautious when listening to safety experts and environmentalists

and we maybe divide them into two categories .. the romantics and the

scientists. Then divide the latter category into logical and illogical

theorists. The former will be concerned about how to fix things today and

will consider the mission to be accomplished when the problem has gone away

... the latter will be concerned about fixing problems that have not yet

occurred and will push the idea that short-term pain is necessary for

long-term gain. Depending on the problem being studied either of these

scientists can be correct.

 

But .. in order to avoid living a miserable life of paranoia .. its wise to

design our preventive measures to the actual risks we are facing today and

then decide if we should restrict those measures that are designed to avoid

risks that might never become a reality. This is true for every action we

take in life .. be it fighting terrorism or driving a car or eating a

hamburger or taking a morning walk.

 

Some countries are concerned about population growth while others are afraid

that their birth rates are declining to a point that their future will have

a shortage of young people. Both are correct and both will try to use

different tactics to fix their problems. But .. they did identify the

problems correctly before they decided to institute measures to fix the

problems.

 

When we fix one problem we can easily create another problem. The unproved

consensus that dietary fat correlates with heart disease is believed by

roughly 95% of medical doctors .. and maybe this push to avoid fat is why we

have so much obesity and other forms of disease in the Western world .. too

many carbohydrates.

 

From a logical point of view living a life of rural simplicity (which is

what I am doing now) does much to reduce risks and from a less than logical

point of view it appeals to the romantic who is against all genetically

modified plants or animals and chooses to purchase only locally grown plants

or livestock .. or grow their own. But if we track it back we'll see that

a big part of that local produce is a result of technological advances made

by past plant and animal breeders. I just ordered 78 packets of seeds from

Burpee Seed Company .. they've been around over 100 years and many of those

seeds are their own creations. Maybe 20% of those I ordered are

" heirloom " seeds .. the rest are improved varieties of these seeds. But ..

we are not at risk of starving so its not really a big thing either way.

 

At the end of the modern day we'll find that there's little logic and even

less comfort in clinging to a romanticized past .. and there is no logic to

trying to plan a risk-free future. We must evaluate the risks, decide how

dedicated we are now and will be in the future to avoiding those risks and

plan our preventive measures accordingly .. while at the same time realizing

that we live in a world where we are not in total control of our

surroundings. We should decide just how safe we think we need to be and

how much inconvenience we are willing to tolerate in order to " maybe " reduce

our risk from a problem that might not really be a problem worth our

concern.

 

So bottom line .. we need to evaluate the risk and take action accordingly

... at the same time we might wanna keep our fingers crossed and pray that we

don't get caught up in a natural disaster .. or have a head on collusion

with a Mac truck .. or get hit in the head by a nut or bolt falling off a

passing aircraft. I do practice what I preach .. I got a new 357 Magnum

for Christmas .. I evaluated the price and the stopping power between it and

other caliber's .. evaluated the risk my family and I face while taking our

daily strolls along a paved, lonely rural road surrounded by woods and

cornfields .. and concluded that firearms were like police officers and

medics .. useless as could be unless you need one and don't have it .. and

though the odds were small that we would be faced with a drunken or drug

crazed dude or a rabid fox or coyote .. the price I had to pay to guarantee

our security and peace of mind was low and it created no inconvenience or

hardship of any kind for my family. Besides .. with the 44 you get more

bang for the buck. ;-)

 

> Rhavda Emison

> Scents of Success (http://www.scentsofsuccess.com)

> Texas Grown - American Made Rose Oil Products

Hoping I am that my new web site will be on line soon .. and that 2008 is

good to all of us. Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com