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I have compiled this list of steps to take based on my own experience and that of others. The steps listed are ones that I know to be helpful. Most benefit no particular party. None benefit me financially. I do not make income off this website.

I realize that there are many products available promising quick fixes. There are no quick fixes. Reducing exposure to radiofrequency radiation from all sources is the only way to recover. Complete recovery takes time. Immediate improvements in energy, sleep quality, number of headaches, and other symptoms that come on quickly with exposure usually resolve quickly when exposure is eliminated. Other damage to nerves, muscles, mental function, digestion, immune system function and so on can take a year or more to repair itself and may never do so fully. The longer the exposure and the greater the damage, the longer it takes to repair. Thus, time is of the essence in reducing your exposure. The extreme sensitivity to radiofrequency radiation that most people with radiofrequency sickness experience can fade a bit if exposure can be virtually eliminated, but I have yet to see it go away. Those who are beginning to notice effects, but are not extremely sensitive yet, should immediately reduce their exposure as much as possible to avoid getting full-blown radiofrequency sickness.

Clean power enters the home at 60Hz. Electrical Pollution is 60 Hz electricity polluted with high frequency signals or "dirty" power flowing on the wires and through the earth. People exposed to excessively "dirty" power or wireless communication signals may develop Radio Wave Sickness.

• Neurological: headaches, dizziness, nausea, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, irritability, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, weakness, tremors, muscle spasms, numbness, tingling, altered reflexes, muscle and joint paint, leg/foot pain, "Flu-like" symptoms, fever. More severe reactions can include seizures, paralysis, psychosis and stroke.
• Cardiac: palpitations, arrhythmias, pain or pressure in the chest, low or high blood pressure, slow or fast heart rate, shortness of breath.
• Respiratory: sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma.
• Dermatological: skin rash, itching, burning, facial flushing.
• Ophthalmologic: pain or burning in the eyes, pressure in/behind the eyes, deteriorating vision, floaters, cataracts.
• Others: digestive problems; abdominal pain; enlarged thyroid, testicular/ovarian pain; dryness of lips, tongue, mouth, eyes; great thirst; dehydration; nosebleeds; internal bleeding; altered sugar metabolism; immune abnormalities; redistribution of metals within the body; hair loss; pain in the teeth; deteriorating fillings; impaired sense of smell; ringing in the ears.
  

Please follow the initial steps in both the electrical pollution section and the transmitted radiofrequency radiation section in order since they are arranged from most to least important. Many of the later steps will not work if the first steps are not taken first. Good luck! If you have any questions please email me at: webmaster@electricalpollution.com

The First Step: Turn off, box up and put away all wireless technology. Due to the rampant explosion of wireless technology with many of the transmitters hidden in previously benign objects, I now recommend getting an RF meter to allow them to detect and turn off or unplug all transmitters present within the home as a first step. To the extent that you choose to skip this step, you risk your health, see the Health Issues Page for more details. Corded wireless technology you do not eliminate can be plugged into filtering power strips so they can at least be definitively and easily turned off at night.

[I have found the Cornet ED85EX to be quite helpful with locating transmitters. I recommend getting the sound since it improves directionality and the case for better portability. It doesn't have quite the directionality of the HFE-35C, but it is a lot less expensive and has a higher frequency range.] See transmitter section toward end of Solutions page for more details on transmitters.

Steps to reduce your exposure to high frequencies at home from Electrical Pollution

• Turn off or unplug all devices that repel or kill deer, rodents, mosquitos, or anything else by emitting frequencies. (We often test devices on animals to see if they are good for humans. The very effects these devices are designed for are telling you that they are not safe for people.)
• Unplug or turn off any other devices that claim to generate frequencies. (People with radiofrequency sickness need less exposure not more. Individual response to individual frequencies varies widely and there is far more likelihood of a negative effect than a positive one, in spite of claims to the contrary. Artificial sources claiming to generate the earth's magnetic field can also be dangerous and unnecessary- the earth's field is still there. Read Dr. Neil Cherry's paper "Cardiac Effects of Natural and Artificial EMR" for information about the profound effect the earth's natural electromagnetic environment can have on cardiac function.)
• Unplug or remove touch lamps, plasma TVs, most compact fluorescent bulbs, fluorescent lights with electronic ballasts, some full-spectrum lights, and wireless plug-in telephone jacks since they are very bad sources of high frequencies.
• Remove flashers from decorative lighting. Each on or off event results in a high frequency transient.
• Eliminate sources of arcing (a source of very high frequencies):
  
  • Search for loose connections and bad switches and outlets with a battery operated portable transistor radio - I have found the one from Radio Shack works well. (You can show your electrician how this works. They all need to know how to do it since these are potentially a fire hazard, in addition to being a health hazard.)
    The method for doing this is to tune the radio to AM on a non-station and walk around with it near, but definitely not touching, the wiring, outlets, and switches. You are likely to hear static throughout the house, however as you approach bad connections, switches, and outlets and appliances that emit a lot of RF, the static will get louder and as the radio gets farther away the static will quiet. Mark those connections, switches, and outlets for the electrician to tighten or replace. Try different non-stations since radios only detect the frequencies for which they are tuned.
  • Have an electrician tighten all connections in the main circuit board in addition to addressing trouble spots identified in the previous step.
  • Re-check house with portable radio, smaller problems may have been covered up by larger problems, especially problems occurring at the main panel.
  • Re-check the whole house every few years so any problems are caught and addressed quickly. Electrical systems need to be maintained regularly to prevent problems.
  • Have your electrician replace poorly made switches, fixtures, and appliances using commercial grade switches, outlets, and fixtures. All switches and outlets should be side-wired, not back-wired, and the screws should be tightened firmly to prevent arcing.
  • Use a gauss meter to detect wiring errors. Certain wiring errors cause high EMF. High readings on a gauss meter with no apparent cause - e.g. nearby motor, electronics, high voltage wires nearby, etc. - can indicate wiring problems. Improperly wired three-way switches; nails through wires, wiring parallel to plumbing are just some examples of such problems. Investigative work is often necessary.
  • Have the utility or a professional trim branches bumping or touching overhead wires (Alliant Energy even states in their leaflet entitled "Energy Basics: Power Surges" that "An external power surge, stemming from outside your home, is most commonly caused by a tree limb touching a power line...");
  • Have your utility replace split-bolt connectors with crimp-on connectors, if they have split-bolt connectors on your line. (If you have split-bolt connectors on line you own, you should have an electrician replace those as well.) Utilities have not installed split-bolt connectors in quite awhile because they have a tendency to loosen up and arc as time passes. Even crimp-on connectors in high stress areas may need periodic re-crimping.
• Have your electrician make sure the wire between the meter and your electrical box is large enough and in good shape. If it is too small, it is a bottleneck for high frequencies and a fire hazard.
• Have an electrician remove dimmer switches and halogen lights. If you want mood lighting, use three-way lights. Unlike with dimmer switches, you will save electricity on the low settings.
• Have an electrician bypass or remove variable speed frequency drives (VSFD) where possible. Without appropriate filters they are very bad sources of high frequencies. If you have a VSFD on your motors in your heating and/or cooling system, it can easily be bypassed by the service person. The motor would then just run at high speed. Little efficiency is lost when this is done on a heating or cooling system. Energy efficient washing machines often have variable speed motors and thus require at least one filter.
• Plug in high frequency filters. (Such as those available from Stetzer Electric. Stetzer Electric can be reached by phone at (608) 989-2571 or at their website http://www.stetzerelectric.com/. Questions can be directed to sales@stetzerelectric.com).
  Approximately 20 Graham/Stetzer filters are needed for the average house. They should be plugged in near sources of high frequencies, as well as, frequently used electrical appliances. (Some devices generate pollution that the filter will lower at the receptacle, but will not lower at the device. This is a particular concern when people are close to the device, as they are with hairdryers, sewing machines, and low voltage halogen desk and reading lamps.) A couple should be plugged into outlets installed off of both A and B phases next to the main service box. (Have your electrician use properly rated stranded wire to wire the outlets for maximum filter effectiveness.) The rest should be scattered throughout the house. If improvement occurs only slowly, more filters may be necessary. If way too few are installed initially, no difference may be observed, so it is very important to put in sufficient quantity from the start.
  For specific directions on installation which will help you maximize the filtering effect, as well as help you get a good idea of how many you will need, go to http://www.stetzerelectric.com/filter/
  See the picture Dr. Graham provided of the response of electrical pollution to a 20 mF capacitor, which was documented with a spectrum analyzer.
• Check if you have the new or old style microwave. The old style turned the microwave signal on and off in order to reduce the power. The new style essentially has a dimmer switch on the microwave beam turning the power down. It causes tremendously dirty power. If you have a new style microwave, getting rid of it is the best solution. Next best is to get a number of filters to be used right at the microwave and in outlets on that circuit, so the high frequencies do not get onto the wiring all over the house. (Microwaves often leak microwave radiation when operating and can pose a hazard at large distances for these reasons, even if they do not cause overly "dirty" power. Check with RF meter.)
• Only use laptops on battery. Recharge them when you are not around. They generate a large amount of "dirty" power and the transformer on the charging cord generates a very large field. Also use an external wired keyboard and mouse to reduce your exposure to the high frequencies from the processor. (See section on transmitters since most computers come with them nowadays.)
• Eliminate exposure to transmitted radiofrequencies. See "Non-Grid Sources of Exposure to High Frequencies" below.
• Use a Microsurge Meter, a gauss meter, an RF meter, and a radio, as described above, to check all electronics and appliances. They can malfunction without dying and cause a great deal of high frequency pollution. In order to check them, plug in Stetzerizer meter and watch reading while turning devices, switches, lights, etc on and off. Highly polluting devices will raise the reading. (While checking readings, keep in mind that readings which change quickly are worse than steady readings. The faster and greater the change, the worse they are.) Also measure every device while it is on and off and at its various settings with each of the other meters.
  • Be sure to check high speed internet routers. (A handful of malfunctioning routers have been found that caused incredibly bad electrical pollution levels.)
  • Be sure to check electronics. Some transformers converting AC power to DC power (the boxes that plug into the wall a.k.a. wall warts) are poorly designed and highly polluting. They pollute and use electricity as long as they are plugged in and the outlet is on. They often have a large electromagnetic field, measurable with a gauss meter, so keep your distance and unplug when not in use or plug into a filtering power strip so several related wall warts can easily be turned off when not in use. This will also save money on your electricity bill.
• If one or more consumer products are responsible for making you ill, please report them to the Consumer Product Safety Commission at 1-800-638-2772 or a href="http://www.cpsc.gov">http://www.cpsc.gov. Be prepared with the product name, model and/or serial number, and the symptoms it causes. These dangerous consumer products will not be either removed from shelves or re-engineered unless complaints are filed.
• Have a plumber install a PVC pipe or a commercially available dielectric union between the house pipes and the water/sewer system, which has become an alternate return path for electricity. Pipes with high levels of ground current can cause high readings on a gauss meter.
• Have your heating or gas technician install a commercially available dielectric union just after the gas pipes enter your home to electrically separate the gas tank or the system of natural gas pipes from the gas pipes inside your home, often these pipes have become an alternate path for electricity or radiofrequencies and can also have high readings on a gauss meter.
• Have the phone company install an Radio Frequency (RF) Filter on your phone line. The phone line can conduct the electric utilities ground currents, including high frequencies, since they are both grounded to the same earth.
• Some people have found installing shielded phone wire to be helpful.
• Make sure new electronics come with appropriate harmonic noise filters already installed.
• A caution on old wiring, particularly knob and tube and cloth insulated wiring: This wiring was designed long before modern electronic loads, non-linear loads, were even conceived of. It is not, therefore, designed to be used by them. The high frequencies generated by electronics can cause overheating, resulting in a fire hazard. (Blown-in insulation touching knob and tube wiring is inherently a fire hazard.) It is important to have an electrician check that the fuses/circuit breakers on old wiring are the appropriate size. People have been known to tire of constantly tripping fuses/breakers and replace them with larger ones instead of re-distributing loads or re-wiring. This is a fire hazard and should be corrected.
• Convince your neighbors to do the same.
  

Other mitigation measures:

• Walls do not stop electromagnetic fields. Be aware of this when arranging furniture. Sources of electromagnetic fields (EMF) to be aware of as you place your furniture include transformers for electronic gadgets (the box at the end of the cord), televisions, computers, electric clocks (don't put them right next to the head of your bed), fluorescent lights, and your electrical service panel and electrical meter, as well as wires feeding them. You will also want to be aware of where major wire bundles run in the walls of your house and keep the time you spend near them to a minimum. Be aware that televisions and computer screens with cathode ray tubes (CRT) frequently have electromagnetic fields around the sides and back that are as high, or higher, than those in the front. Electric blankets and heating pads should also be avoided, particularly old models. Any electric device will have an electromagnetic field. These fields can be measured with a gauss meter. You may also want to check a with the radio as previously instructed and an RF meter. Both Warning: The Electricity Around You May Be Hazardous to Your Health. How to protect yourself from electromagnetic fields by Ellen Sugarman and Crosscurrents by Robert O. Becker, M.D. have sections discussing risks posed by specific household appliances. Crosscurrents by Robert O. Becker, M.D. also discusses mechanism of action and sundry other interesting items that relate to electromagnetic fields and health. I suggest that you read one of them or one of the other references found on the reference sheet in the Further Info section for a more in depth discussion.
  
• The frequencies on electrical wiring are now high enough that they radiate. This can be measured using a Multidetector II Plus/Profi meter and probably other rf meters. Lamps and other ungrounded items radiate the worst. Putting a cord with a grounded plug on helps. Lamps and items with the least amount of metal seem to radiate least. Metal shades and reflectors seem to direct and concentrate the radiation. Areas they aim at should be avoided.
• Use rubber gloves when washing dishes or working in the sink. Also stand on a non-conductive mat. Both increase the resistance of the path through your body.
• For computers, put aluminum flashing on desktop and connect it to aluminum flashing under chair with a width of aluminum flashing. If there are different pieces, they need to have a good connection such as aluminum rivets between them. The aluminum flashing can be under a plastic mat like ones used to protect the floor from desk chairs. This creates a path to the floor for the contact current to take that is lower resistance than your body. The aluminum on the desktop can be under a table cloth. (See also the transmitter section since most computers come with transmitters nowadays.)
• Wear conductive socks or copper insoles (at least 2" wide by 16/1000" thick) connected with stranded wire (at least a single 10 gauge wire or 16 gauge lamp cord with both wires connected in parallel). www.lessemf.com sells the socks. Electricity travels through the more conductive pathway this provides, instead of through your body from one foot to the other.
• Shut off non-essential circuits especially while sleeping. This should help you sleep and feel better. (You will get the best results if all circuits in your bedroom or the room you are in are off, including circuits in the walls and floors that may service other rooms. If this is not possible for whatever reason, being aware of where the live wires are and keeping your distance is also effective.)
• Use a digital multimeter or oscilloscope with the red and black leads each clipped onto a different square of aluminum foil to quantify whether shutting off particular circuits helps reduce your exposure in your favorite areas. For example, in a bed place one foil where your head would be and the other where your lower extremities would be. Read the voltage level that results, then carefully turn off circuits and see what readings result. Another example would be placing one aluminum square on the back of a favorite chair and the other on the bottom, not touching each other. You can then repeat the readings as above.
• Sleep on a wood-framed bed.
• Sleep on a mattress without springs e.g. futon with no box springs.
  • Conductive cloth is available that can be put under the mattress pad to reduce the amount of current the bedsprings induce into your body. It should be as wide as a fitted sheet and touch the floor at the head end of the bed.
  • Sleeping in a Faraday cage may also be helpful. There are conductive cloth versions available. Some people have found them to be helpful. Some people have found that it makes the problem worse. Grounding or an insufficient level of blocking may be responsible for this effect. Grounding to the ground wire of an outlet essentially connects you to the utility neutral wire since the ground and neutral are bonded in the box. Even grounding to the earache can result in getting more current and RF up that it removes due to the high level of electrical ground current flowing across the earth. If you get a faraday canopy the higher the decibel rating the better. Also be sure to get it at a place with a good return policy. I would take all the other steps first.
• After reducing your exposure to radiofrequencies using the other steps on this page, consider removing metal fillings if appropriate. More information about the interaction between fillings and radiofrequency radiation can be found at http://www.flcv.com/EMFeff.html. The Dental Amalgam Mercury Fillings website at http://www.amalgam.org was recommended to me as a good resource to start with. This is not a topic with which I have any experience, but I have heard from others who have found removing amalgam fillings to be very helpful.

Other potential grid-related sources of exposure to high frequencies:

• Equipment running at cell towers and strobing lights that are installed without an RF Choke. Information about eliminating this cause of electrical pollution
• Alternative energy systems installed without filters to clean up the waveform the inverter generates. Consult a power quality specialist.
• Work or school. A specialist should evaluate the power quality and recommend appropriate remediation measures. If that is not a possibility, the portable high frequency filters may be able to provide some relief. (I carry eight and a meter with me whenever I leave the house. I find plugging them in at meetings, friends homes, etc. to be a tremendous help.)
• New watt-hour meters (your electrical rate meter) may include modern digital circuitry which generates pollution right at the meter. If you notice a change in your health after the meter has been changed, check the meter with an AM radio (as described in "Mitigation of Electrical Pollution in the Home") and with an RF meter like the Cornet ED85EX. "Smart" meters, AMR, AMI, etc meters often transmit at dangerous strengths. Please also see the Transmitting Utility Meter Page and the transmitter section on this page for more information about transmitting utility meters and what can be done about them.
  

• First and most important: enforce the section of the IEEE 519-1992 that specifies allowable distortion of current and voltage on return current. In other words, the largest polluters will have to clean up their power to certain specifications before returning it to the primary neutral. The utilities would still have to "clean" up after the individual polluters who already meet the specifications, but it would significantly reduce the overloading of the system.
• Make sure that wires at your house and your neighbor's house are connected with crimp-on connectors instead of split-bolt connectors. Split-bolt connectors can be a source of arcing and, therefore, high frequencies.
• Make sure that tree branches are trimmed so they are not touching the wires. Branches rubbing or bumping the wires can cause arcing. (With a little care trees can actually be trimmed away from wires without being mutilated.) Bare wires are more likely to arc, causing high frequencies, than insulated wires.
• Install a primary neutral wire that is 225% the size of the phase wires all the way to the substation and/or filters on the utility side to filter the high frequencies.
• Install transformers with filters built in.
• Make sure that the wires are in good shape. In some areas the wires have overheated so much from being overloaded with high frequencies that the insulation is hanging off in shreds.

The Solution: Both the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have identified remedies for "dirty" power and electrical ground currents.

Non-Grid Sources of Exposure to High Frequencies

• Spark plugs are a source of exposure to high frequencies in gas cars. The high frequencies from the arcing transmit directly and travel on the car wiring. The firing of the spark plugs can be heard on a properly tuned AM radio. Filters used by audiophiles are helpful for filtering them off. We have a stripped down model truck and disconnected the unnecessary wires. (The wires had been run and connected for all the options we did not get.) We also got a diesel for our primary vehicle. Diesels do not have spark plugs.
• Speakers generate high frequency electromagnetic fields. The high frequency electromagnetic fields are generated by the electromagnet used to move a diaphram that creates the sound waves we enjoy listening to. Speakers are usually only a problem when close by, as in vehicles.
• Computer monitors or TVs that have cathode ray tubes emit ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, primarily toward the front of the screen. Maintaining sufficient distance and being off to the side can help. I find I have trouble getting meaningful work done on a computer with a CRT monitor because of the forced close proximity. I have switched to a flat screen (LCD) and find I have no trouble unless the power quality is really bad.

Transmitted radiofrequency radiation (wireless technology)

Important information about transmitters: Safety standards in the United States are based on tissue heating. The strength of signal required to cause tissue heating was calculated and then a safety factor of 100 was taken. No account was taken for other more subtle biological effects of exposure to high frequencies. Thus, transmitters in the United States (I believe Canada is the same.) transmit at strengths far higher than permitted in countries where the health effects (other than tissue heating) of high frequencies are used as the basis for regulation of signal strength. Please read this letter from the Radiation Protection Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the limitations of the FCC standards. The Salzburg Standards recommend no more the 1 microwatts per meter squared. The Russians recommend no more than 10 microwatts per meter squared. The U.S. allows 1,000 microwatts per meter squared. (Cell phones taking a call have been measured transmitting over 2,000 microwatts per meter squared at 10 feet away.)****

Our Volkswagon Jetta handbook actually warns against cellphone use in the car due to the potential for the signal to fry the microprocessor. If the signal has the potential to damage electronics during normal usage, what does it do to sensitive biological systems? Incidentally, the phone does ramp up the signal if it is not getting through to the tower enough and due to the blocking effect of the metal in the vehicle, this often happens in motor vehicles. This results in a greater exposure for you and others when a cellphone is used in a vehicle.

Antennas transmit in all directions from the antenna. This results in substantial exposure to yourself and others around you (kind of like second hand cigarette smoke) each time you use the phone. There are gadgets being sold that are supposed to shield you or direct the signal. An informal test of one of the signal directors showed it to be useless. Not only that but at 10 feet the signal from the phone was still overloading the meter that read up to 2000 SAR, the highest the phone should output when read directly at the phone. Thus, everyone in the room was exposed to a signal that was stronger than deemed safe. Because people using these "protectors" use their wireless technology more than they otherwise would without real additional protection, these things are dangerous.

I think it worthwhile noting that although it is a good idea to use a non-transmitting air-tube headset with your phone to reduce the risk of brain cancer, depending on where the phone is set or worn while doing so, it may increase the risk of cancer in other parts of the body due to microwave exposure. The industry often claims that the phones could not possibly cause brain tumors because most of the signal bounces off of your skull. Your abdomen has no such shield, or at least mine doesn't. Thus, wearing or carrying a phone, with the battery installed, on a belt, in a pocket, or in a purse is likely to result in higher cancer risk in the exposed areas. No one is tracking these cancers related to cellphone use or wireless technology use of any kind. See theBreast Cancer page for a more in depth discussion.

Some cellphones transmit more than others. Smart phones transmit almost continuously in order to update whatever information they have been asked to keep on top of. The more data the more power dense the signal is likely to be. Almost all newer cell phones continuously transmit a GPS signal even when off. In other words, they always transmit a microwave signal. This is a "safety" feature so that you can always be located. However, continuous exposure to microwaves is unsafe. (As an aside, I find it interesting that people are willing to pay to carry around a device that tracks their every movement, but if the government asked them to do so at no charge there would, quite rightly, be an uproar.) According to a news story by NPR the data is being used to track people and their movements in many different ways. Here is a link to a similar story in Technology Review titled Mobile Data: A Gold Mine for Telcos.

Finally, exposure to high frequencies, including from cellphones, decreases melatonin secretion. Melatonin is a hormone that is essential for a good night sleep. It also has antioxidant and cancer fighting properties. Sleeping with a cellphone or other transmitter that is not turned off is therefore not conducive to getting the best night of sleep and has the potential for further health consequences.

The following articles and videos provide good lay oriented information about the health risks and history of wireless technology. Please read or watch them and pass them on.