No, she's not a beekeeper. This woman believes that her bizarre headgear can save her from the dangerous electrosmog all around us. Can she possibly be right?She can venture into built-up areas only if she is swathed in a net-and-hat ensemble made from a special "shielding fabric" that makes her look like a bee-keeper. "I'm sure people laugh," she says, "but I don't mind as long as it keeps me well."
Sarah, 51, is one of a growing band of people who claim to be experiencing extreme - and incapacitating - sensitivity to electrical appliances, as well as to certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves.
"Wi-Fi, or wireless broadband networks, seem to be the worst thing," she says. "Closely followed by mobile phones - particularly if they're being used in an enclosed space - the base stations of cordless telephones and mobile phone masts.
"I have to restrict the amount of time I spend on the computer or watching television, and make sure I don't have too many household appliances on at once, because that sets me off as well."
This may sound bizarre, but there is no doubt that Sarah's symptoms are real. To date, they include hair loss, sickness, high blood-pressure, digestive and memory problems, severe headaches and dizziness.
In one "provocation" study, a number of people who claimed to have electrical sensitivity were placed in a room with a mobile phone and not told whether or not it was switched on.
Asked by a researcher how they felt, they failed to establish any link between physical symptoms and the alleged trigger.
Sarah Dacre believes that this is because the tests were carried out in an area with high background electrosmog. "Once you are sensitised," she says, "that's it.
Link & Image: DailyMail
Tags: Electromagnetic Waves | Electrosmog | Allergy
Comments
Whether or not such people are to be admired may rest on whether their disease is real--not real as in symptoms, real as in cause. Sympathy, sure, but admiration? Not if they are actively promoting a false theory of disease by ignoring scientific evidence. I won't say that her theory is impossible, only that it is not likely and unproven.
There seems little doubt the woman has actual symptoms, the question is whether the symptoms are caused by the presence RF or the belief that RF is present. The blind study mentioned in the post is a strong indicator that sensitivity to RF is a belief-based psychogenic illness. The difference is vital as it affects the proper treatment of the disease and of public policy.
The dismissal of test results because they contradict the woman's preconceptions suggest that no amount of evidence will be sufficient to talk her out of her presumption. The complaints that there was "electrosmog" present are both invalid and easily remedied. She claims to be extra sensitive to local RF fields as well as "electosmog" rather than a steady state of malaise, thus the test should show people's ability to react to additional RF over and above the base level--just as the woman claims to. They didn't. In addition, the test could be reproduced in rural area with low background RF and I have little doubt that the results would be identical: negative.
We should not accept people's theories just because they are sympathetic and otherwise bright people. This possible theory of disease is far more easily tested than most and the initial tests say it is psychogenic. Anecdotes, on the other hand are not reliable evidence.