Case Studies

Dirty Electricity Elevates Blood Sugar Among Electrically Sensitive Diabetics and May Explain Brittle Diabetes.
Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 27: 135-146, 2008.

Magda Havas

Abstract

Transient electromagnetic fields (dirty electricity), in the kilohertz range on electrical wiring, may be contributing to elevated blood sugar levels among diabetics and prediabetics. By closely following plasma glucose levels in four Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics, we find that they responded directly to the amount of dirty electricity in their environment. In an electromagnetically clean environment, Type 1 diabetics require less insulin and Type 2 diabetics have lower levels of plasma glucose. Dirty electricity, generated by electronic equipment and wireless devices, is ubiquitous in the environment. Exercise on a treadmill, which produces dirty electricity, increases plasma glucose. These findings may explain why brittle diabetics have difficulty regulating blood sugar. Based on estimates of people who suffer from symptoms of electrical hypersensitivity (3-35%), as many as 5-60 million diabetics worldwide may be affected. Exposure to electromagnetic pollution in its various forms may account for higher plasma glucose levels and may contribute to the misdiagnosis of diabetes. Reducing exposure to electromagnetic pollution by avoidance or with specially designed GS filters may enable some diabetics to better regulate their blood sugar with less medication and borderline or pre-diabetics to remain non diabetic longer.

Conclusions

In addition to lifestyle and genetics, the environment appears to be another factor contributing to high levels of blood sugar. This concept presents a possible paradigm shift in the way we think about diabetes and the consequences may be far reaching. As a result, we have labeled environmental diabetes as Type 3 diabetes.

We recognize that there is, as yet, no accepted definition of Type 3 diabetes and that our definition may be in conflict with others that have been suggested including a combination of Type 1 and Type 2, gestational diabetes, and that Alzheimer's Disease is a form of diabetes (Steen et al., 2005; de la Monte et al., 2006).

What we describe here is a totally different type in the sense it has an environmental trigger. Doctors have long suspected an environmental component but it has not been until now that one has been found.

The increasing exposure and ubiquitous nature of electromagnetic pollution may be contributing to the increasing incidence of this disease and the escalating cost of medical care. Diagnosis of diabetes needs to be done in an electromagnetically clean environment to prevent misdiagnosis, and to properly assess the severity of this disorder. Most medical centers have electronic equipment and use fluorescent lights that produce dirty electricity, which is likely to cause abnormally high blood sugar readings for those with a combination of diabetes and electrohypersensitivity (Type 3 diabetes). Dirty electricity may also explain why brittle diabetics have difficulty controlling their blood sugar levels.

Type 3 diabetes, as described in this study, is an emerging disease. Unlike true Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics whose blood sugar is not affected by dirty electricity, Type 3 diabetics may be better able to regulate their blood sugar with less medication, and those diagnosed as borderline or pre-diabetic may remain non diabetic longer by reducing their exposure to electromagnetic energy. The GS filters and the microsurge meter provide the tools needed for scientific investigation of dirty electricity and may help diabetics regulate their blood sugar by improving power quality in their home, school, and work environment. Minimizing exposure to radio frequencies (kHz to GHz), flowing along the ground or through the air, also needs to be addressed. Large-scale studies are needed in controlled settings to determine the percentage of the population with Type 3 diabetes.

These results are dramatic and warrant further investigation. If they are representative of what is happening worldwide, then electromagnetic pollution is adversely affecting the lives of millions of people.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: biological effects of dirty electricity with emphasis on diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
Electromagnetic Biology Medicine 2006;25(4):259-68.

Magda Havas

Dirty electricity is a ubiquitous pollutant. It flows along wires and radiates from them and involves both extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and radio frequency radiation. Until recently, dirty electricity has been largely ignored by the scientific community. Recent inventions of metering and filter equipment provide scientists with the tools to measure and reduce dirty electricity on electrical wires. Several case studies and anecdotal reports are presented. Graham/Stetzer (GS) filters have been installed in schools with sick building syndrome and both staff and students reported improved health and more energy. The number of students needing inhalers for asthma was reduced in one school and student behavior associated with ADD/ADHD improved in another school. Blood sugar levels for some diabbetics respond to the amount of dirty electricity in their environment. Type 1 diabetics require less insulin and Type 2 diabetics have lower blood sugar levels in an electromagnetically clean environment. Individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis have better balance and fewer tremors. Those requiring a cane walked unassisted within a few days to weeks after GS filters were installed in their home. Several disorders, including asthma, ADD/ADHD, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, are increasing at an alarming rate, as is electromagnetic pollution in the form of dirty electricity, ground current, and radio frequency radiation from wireless devices. The connection between electromagnetic pollution and these disorders needs to be investigated and the percentage of people sensitive to this form of energy needs to be determined.

Graham/Stetzer Filters Improve Power Quality in Homes and Schools, Reduce Blood Sugar Levels in Diabetics, Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms, and Headaches was presented at the International Scientific Conference on Childhood Leukemia, London, 6th-10th September, 2004.

Magda Havas and David Stetzer

Summary
Graham/Stetzer filters significantly reduce radio frequency electrical noise on indoor wiring -- generated by computers, energy efficient lighting, dimmer switches, and entertainment units within the home or workplace and transported into the buildings by power lines from neighboring property. The resultant improvements in power quality in homes and in schools are associated with fewer and less severe headaches, more energy, lower blood sugar levels for diabetics, and improved balance for those with multiple sclerosis. Results are observed within a matter of hours or days. Case studies for blood sugar, multiple sclerosis, and general wellbeing are presented.

Poster One and Poster Two go with the above paper.

"Dirty Electricity and Electrical Hypersensitivity: Five Case Studies" was presented at the World Health Organization Workshop on Electrical Hypersensitivity, 25-26 October, 2004, Prague, Czech Republic.

Magda Havas and David Stetzer

Abstract
Deteriorating power quality is becoming increasingly common in developed countries. Poor power quality, also known as dirty electricity, refers primarily to a combination of harmonics and transients generated primarily by electronic devices and by non-linear loads. We have assumed, until recently, that this form of energy is not biologically active. However, when Graham/Stetzer filters were installed in homes and schools, symptoms associated with electrical hypersensitivity (such as chronic fatigue, depression, headaches, body aches, and pains, ringing in the ears, dizziness, impaired sleep, memory loss, and confusion) were reduced. Five case studies are presented that include one healthy individual; one person with electrical hypersensitivity; another with diabetes; and a person with multiple sclerosis. Results for 18 teachers and their classes at a school in Toronto are also presented. These individuals experienced major to moderate improvements in their health and wellbeing after Graham/Stetzer filters improved power quality in their home or work environment. The results suggest that poor power quality may be contributing to electrical hypersensitivity and that as much as 50% of the population may be hypersensitive; children may be more sensitive than adults and dirty electricity in schools may be interfering with education and possibly contributing to disruptive behavior associated with attention deficit disorder (ADD); dirty electricity may elevate plasma glucose levels among diabetics, and exacerbate symptoms for those with multiple sclerosis and tinnitus. Graham/Stetzer filters and meters enable individuals to monitor and improve power quality in building and they provide scientists with a tool for studying the effects of dirty electricity. For the first time we can progress from simply documenting electrical hypersensitivity to alleviating some of the symptoms. These results are dramatic and warrant further investigation. If they are representative of what is happening worldwide, then dirty electricity is adversely affecting the lives of millions of people.

Single-Blind Studies

Power quality affects teacher wellbeing and student behavior in three Minnesota Schools, Science of the Total Environment, July 2008.

Magda Havas, Angela Olstad

ABSTRACT
Background Poor power quality (dirty electricity) is ubiquitous especially in schools with fluorescent lights and computers. Previous studies have shown a relationship between power quality and student behavior/teacher health.
Objectives The purpose of this study is to determine the ability of power line filters to reduce dirty electricity in a school environment and to document changes in health and behavior among teachers and students.
Method We installed Graham Stetzer filters and dummy filters and measured power quality in three Minnesota Schools. Teachers completed a daily questionnaire regarding their health and the behavior of their students for an 8-week period. Teachers were unaware of which filters were installed at any one time (single blind study).
Results Dirty electricity was reduced by more than 90% in the three schools and during this period teacher health improved as did student behavior in the middle/elementary schools. Headaches, general weakness, dry eyes/mouth, facial flushing, asthma, skin irritations, overall mood including depression and anxiety improved significantly among staff. Of the 44 teachers who participated 64% were better, 30% were worse, and 6% did not change. Behavior of high school students did not improve but elementary/middle school students were more active in class; more responsive, more focused; had fewer health complaints; and had a better overall learning experience.
Conclusions Dirty electricity in schools may be adversely affecting wellbeing of teachers and behavior of their students, especially younger students in middle and elementary school. Power line filters improve power quality and may also protect those who are sensitive to this energy. Work on electric and magnetic field metrics with and without Stetzer filters urgently needs to be carried out to determine just what characteristics of the dirty electricity may be interacting with the people.

Keywords: Power quality Dirty electricity Electrohypersensitivity Attention deficit disorder (ADD) Electromagnetic fields (EMF) Radio frequency radiation (RFR)

Teacher and Student Response to the Removal of Dirty Electricity by the Graham/Stetzer Filter at Willow Wood School in Toronto, Canada was presented at the 3rd International Workshop on the Biological Effects of Electromagneti Fields, 4-8 October 2004, Kos, Greece

MAGDA HAVAS, MICHELLE ILLIATOVITCH and CAMERON PROCTOR

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test the effect of the Graham/Stetzer microsurge filters on the wellbeing of teachers and on the behavior of their students in a private school (grades 1 to 12) in Toronto, Canada.
GS filters remove electromagnetic frequencies from 4 to 100 kHz on indoor wiring and they were installed in this school because one of the students is electrically sensitive. Teachers were asked in a single blind study to complete a questionnaire daily between January and March 2003 for a 6-week period (3 weeks with and 3 weeks without filters). Eighteen teachers out of 49 completed the questionnaire enough times to enable statistical analysis. Symptoms improved for 55% of the teachers and got worse for 11% of the teachers while the filters were installed.
Three teachers (16%) had no response to the filters and another three (16%) had mixed reactions (some symptoms improved and some got worse). Overall teacher wellbeing improved while the filters were in place. Teachers were less frustrated, less tired, less irritable. They were better able to focus and had better health, improved mood, and greater sense of accomplishment. Student response appeared to be age-specific with younger students responding more favorably than older students. This preliminary study needs to be repeated in other schools. If the Graham/Stetzer filters are as effective as they appear to be, then the dirty electricity in schools, homes, and offices can be reduced until other methods are in place to minimize the production and distribution of this form of electrical pollution.

Epidemiological Studies

A New Electromagnetic Exposure Metric: High Frequency Voltage Transients Associated With Increased Cancer Incidence in Teachers in a California School published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (2008)

Samuel Milham, MD, MPH, and L. Lloyd Morgan, BS

Background In 2003 the teachers at La Quinta, California middle school complained that they had more cancers than would be expected. A consultant for the school district denied that there was a problem.
Objectives To investigate the cancer incidence in the teachers, and its cause.
Method We conducted a retrospective study of cancer incidence in the teachers' cohort in relationship to the school's electrical environment.
Results Sixteen school teachers in a cohort of 137 teachers hired in 1988 through 2005 were diagnosed with 18 cancers. The observed to expected (O/E) risk ratio for all cancers was 2.78 (P 1/40.000098), while the O/E risk ratio for malignant melanoma was 9.8 (P 1/40.0008). Thyroid cancer had a risk ratio of 13.3 (P 1/40.0098), and uterine cancer had a risk ratio of 9.2 (P 1/40.019). Sixty Hertz magnetic fields showed no association with cancer incidence. A new exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients, did show a positive correlation to cancer incidence. A cohort cancer incidence analysis of the teacher population showed a positive trend (P 1/47.1 10 10) of increasing cancer risk with increasing cumulative exposure to high frequency voltage transients on the classroom's electrical wiring measured with a Graham/Stetzer (G/S) meter. The attributable risk of cancer associated with this exposure was 64%. A single year of employment at this school increased a teacher's cancer risk by 21%.
Conclusion The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is unusually high and is strongly associated with high frequency voltage transients, which may be a universal carcinogen, similar to ionizing radiation. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2008. 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Childhood Cancer in Relation to Indicators of Magnetic Fields from Ground Current Sources. Bioelectromagnetics 1995; 16: 86-96.

Nancy Wertheimer, David A. Savitz , Ed Leeper

Abstract

This study examines childhood cancer risk in relation to certain factors likely to indicate magnetic field exposure from ground currents in the home. Substantial ground currents are most often found in homes having conductive plumbing, in which an uninterrupted metallic path in the water pipes and water main connects the grounding systems of neighboring houses. Information on plumbing conductivity was obtained from water suppliers for the homes of 347 cases and 277 controls identified in an earlier study of magnetic field exposure and childhood cancer in the Denver area. An increased cancer risk was observed for children in homes with conductive plumbing: The matched odds ratio was 1.72 (1.03-2.88) and increased to 3.00 (1.33-6.76) when analysis was limited to cases and controls who were residentially stable from the reference date to the study date. A measurement metric likely to indicate active ground currents (measurements having above-median intensity and a nonvertical orientation of <55¡ from the horizontal) was identified. In contrast to measured field intensity alone, for which only modest associations with cancer have been reported, this metric shows a high and significant cancer risk [matched O.R. = 4.0 (1.6-10.0)] consistent over a range of intensity and angle cutpoints. Such elevated nonvertical fields were also associated with cancer in an independent data set, which was gathered to study adult nonlymphocytic leukemia in the Seattle area. The associations of cancer with conductive plumbing and with this exposure metric both suggest that cancer risk is increased among persons with elevated magnetic field exposure from residential ground currents.