12.4.09

Electromagnetism and Health - EMF, Bioelectromagnetics

This is a weird field. There is some serious research in very limited areas, and some seriously far-out stuff going on at the grass-roots level. One of the top references on Amazon, from 2005, is this construction industry guide which runs $200. If you search on electromagnetic field meters on Ebay, you wade through pages of new gadgets designed to let you copy the ghost hunters whose antics are enlivening cable tv with their trademark green phosphorescenct videos shot in infra red in some believer's attic.

I like to think of myself on the conservative side of the line that borders unsubstantiated fear of electromagnetic fields in public health issues. But I am more than curious about them. As someone trained in journalism, I sense a story here.

One thing I note is that many of the references that come up for internet searches back to the early 90's. The first two hits in Google on "electromagnetic health" are links to the World Health Organization. That has some authority behind it, and we will get back to their offerings in a minute. Third hit is to an article from Popular Electronics, March 1993, by John Iovine. On Amazon, the top five results for the same search include three books older than 1994.

You would think with the fantastic advances in technology in the last 15 years that research into the effects of something as pervasive as electromagnetic fields would have kept pace with the proliferation of electrical devices designed for personal use, in intimate proximity to our bodies.

That is not the impression a cursory review of the internet literature creates.