Canaries in the Coal Mine

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It is always sad when we lose a member of the EMF activist community. It is unfortunate that one of our number took her own life recently. Maria August departed this life on March 12, 2019, just shy of her 50th birthday. Sadly, many of her last birthdays here with us were not those filled with joy and jubilance, but those filled with pain and debilitation. Maria was a victim of EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity), an affliction that, while legitimate, nonetheless remains stigmatized and controversial. She conducted an interview with Nicolas Peneault last year regarding what it was like to live with EHS. You can read her posthumous self-obituary for some of her own words on this topic.

Though Maria ended her own life, she is one of a growing number of victims who have - at length - succumbed to poisoning by non-ionizing radiation. She is certainly not the first to have fallen, and will, unfortunately, not be the last to do so, either. The levels of manmade non-ionizing radiation in our environment today have grown exponentially and are continuing to do so. Despite estimates of RF levels today in the environment being anywhere from 1,000,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000,000,000 times higher than they were just mere decades ago, the Trump administration continues to push forward with its plans for 5G across the United States at the same time as our captured and controlled Federal Communications Commission aims to streamline the 5G rollout by eliminating all local control, oversight, and regulation of small cells. Many would say this contradicts the Tenth Amendment, and it does, but beyond that, it is one of the grossest abuses of power by the wireless telecom industry and its government puppet, the FCC.

Maria's death was meant to be publicized, to remind us that while the humdum of civilian life continues all over the country, massive human rights violations are continuing to occur at an unprecedented scale. For the hundreds of thousands of EHS individuals in the U.S. (you might call them posioned, damaged, or just plain disabled), the right to "the pursuit of happiness" is only a reminder of what once was, something largely unattainable, except, perhaps, in death. Given that 5G has already been piloted in 11 U.S. cities and AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, et. al. are continuing to aggressively push for a more expedited and regulatory-free rollout, urban areas in America will soon be densely toxic and unlivable areas. Notice I said unlivable and not uninhabitable - for millions of people will continue to live in urban areas, irradiated without their consent, against their will, and largely without even their knowledge or awareness. But as Maria's passing as shown, more people will continue to get sick, and by ignoring the signs all around us right now, we do ourselves a great disservice.

Maria was a true canary — a canary in the coal mine. She is at the forefront of a long list of deaths that will come less slowly and more surely if plans for 5G continue unabated and unchecked. Yet, not all hope is lost. Brussels has halted development on 5G indefinitely. Awareness in Germany is much greater, with a petition to the German Parliament having already reached over 50,000 signatures. The International Society of Doctors for the Environment adopted a declaration calling for a moratorium on 5G in the EU last year. This in addition to the International EMF Scientist Appeal, a petition submitted to the United Nations and World Health Organization which has been signed by more than 240 scientists from 42 countries. Many European states have already taken action, rather than sit idly by and wait for graves to fill as the United States has done for decades on any important health issue. Even in the U.S., one of the least progressive countries when it comes to health, Senators Blumenthal and Eshoo are asking the tough questions other legislators are not. Even the purported economic benefits that telecom companies claimed 5G have largely been debunked as not likely to materialize. And with no need for 5G on any level, why should we continued to delude ourselves into thinking this is acceptable?

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". If you're not the type to sit idly by and watch injustice go down, you don't have to! Already, two major non-profit organizations are organizing an upcoming 5G Day of Action. One of them will be held on April 22 (Earth Day) while another will be held May 15. Feel free to make your voice heard amongst the corporate influence and corruption that has, for the past two decades, transformed the telecom industry from a noble one to an ignoble one. Whether or not you are electrohypersensitive, the truth of the matter is we have all been contending with gross injustice for far too long and it is not going to stop unless people are willing to stand up and assert their rights.

Of course, plans for direct action can entail the risk of arrest or citation. If you don't feel comfortable sticking your neck out, you can always make your voice heard through the "proper channels". Write and call your elected officials and demand a moratorium on 5G — as has already been done in a few places in the U.S. (like the Bay Area) and, more prevalently, in European countries. Don't forget to write to your editor and have your words published in your local paper. Nothing is as important as raising awareness of one of the biggest health crises of our century, and action and organized resistance can only follow awareness, not precede it.

Maria wanted for others to educate themselves about the health risks of wireless technologies and act more responsibly with their lives. As we remember Maria, we must also remember that the fight continues for those of who are still here. While the charge for pushing ahead with reckless, irresponsible infrastructure is momentous, so is the resistance against it, and great things can happen if only everyone remembers that he or she has a voice.

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