A 58-year-old woman who claims to be a victim of electromagnetic waves climbed this morning at the top of a crane in Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) to claim her placement in new accommodation.
Horia Necili, 58, has decided to climb on top of a crane since this morning to claim new accommodation in line with her electro-sensitivity. She told AFP this morning: “I can’t take it any longer, I am coming to the end, I have been asking to be relocated in vain for two years”. The HLM that the town hall found for him does not suit him because of its many electrical outlets and waves. She claims that this equipment is the cause of terrible migraines and tinnitus. With the advent of wifi and waves of all kinds, electrosensitivity raises a large number of questions.
What is electrosensitivity?
In december 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) gave a definition of electro-sensitivity or electromagnetic hypersensitivity (HSEM). It is sensitivity to electromagnetic fields. It is mainly caused by WIFI, Bluetooth, cell phones, relay antennas, microwaves, high voltage lines, electrical transformers …
Hypersensitivity manifests itself through a series of symptoms recognized by the WHO. The victims of this electro-sensitivity often describe the same symptoms. Redness, tingling, fatigue, nausea, heart palpitations, difficulty concentrating occur most frequently.
There are quite a few figures on electro-sensitivity victims. The WHO referred to “a survey carried out in occupational health centers” which made it possible to assess “this prevalence at a few individuals per million in the population”.
The mystery remains around hypersensitivity because many deny the existence of this disease. However, governments and WHO are increasingly interested in this public health problem.
Uncertainty about the link between waves and symptoms
Since the first WHO report in 2005, no study has succeeded in fully establishing a causal link between exposure to electromagnetic waves and the symptoms described by electro-sensitive.
The BioInitiative report dating from 2007 announced to provide proof of the dangerousness of electromagnetic waves and its influence on human health. In 2009, the French Agency for Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Afsset) largely discredited this report for its lack of figures.
The evidence for the dangerousness of electromagnetic waves is thin. Anyway, even with little evidence, the WHO decided in May 2011 to classify “radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans”.
Some countries such as Sweden, Austria and Germany have recognized electro-sensitivity for a few years as a real pathology. Germany has even created the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, which provides information to the public on ways to protect themselves against electromagnetic waves.
In France, electro-sensitivity does not have the status of pathology. However, the government announced last June the establishment of health surveillance on the phenomenon of electro-sensitivity.
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