This week on Balance Your Life podcast I am joined by R Blank. R is the CEO of Shield Your Body, whose mission it is to Make Technology Safer. With hundreds of thousands of customers in over 30 countries, and having been interviewed on platforms ranging from ABC television to ElectricSense, R is an internationally followed expert on issues of EMF, health and safety. He was inspired to create SYB when he co-authored the best-selling book, ‘Overpowered’, with his father, Dr. Martin Blank, one of the world’s leading EMF scientists. He has degrees from Columbia University and UCLA and now hosts the new Healthier Tech Podcast. On this episode we talk about the short term and long-term health risks associated with daily exposure to EMF, practical advice for reducing EMF and radiation in our lives. We also discuss things we can introduce into our lives to help better protect us against EMF, how EMF affects our immune system, how many sources of EMF are currently in our home, and so much more!
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Meghan Pherrill 0:01
Welcome to balance your life podcast. My name is Megan Farrell and I am the host of the show. This podcast is designed to inspire and empower you to start a maintain your own wellness journey, so you can become the best version of yourself. Let’s begin. Hello, fam. Welcome back to another episode of balance your life podcast. I am your host, Megan Farrell. And today, we are really diving into the world of wellness. This whole New Year is all about wellness, and how to be the best version of yourself how we can live our most healthiest, happiest lives, and really enhancing our well being in the best possible way. And today’s podcast episode is one that I have been doing a lot of behind the scenes work on. And it’s all about em F. So I’ve always been someone who’s been really mindful about carrying, let’s say, like my cell phone in my bra. When we were house hunting, I was a damn didn’t that we didn’t buy a house behind or next to like a hydro field. And today’s podcast episode with our special guest is really diving into the short term and long term health risks of EMF exposure and radiation. We live in a world where it’s very hard to get away from all of this. So we really talk about practical ways that we can reduce our exposure to it. How do we live in a modern world with it, and why we should be more mindful of this because let me just tell you, the health risks associated with EMF exposure and radiation will blow your mind, you are definitely going to want to rethink some of the things that you do in your daily life, especially when it comes to this stuff. So who is our guest today, our guest of the show is R blank. R is the CEO of shield your body whose mission is to make technology safer, with hundreds of 1000s of customers in over 30 countries and having been interviewed on platforms ranging from ABC television to electric sense, R is an internationally followed expert on issues of EMF health and safety. He was inspired to create si B when he co authored the best selling book overpowered with his father Dr. Martin Blake, one of the world’s leading EMF scientist. He has degrees from Columbia University and UCLA, and now hosts the healthier tech podcast. On today’s episode, we talk about the short and long term health risks associated with daily exposure to EMF practical advice for reducing EMF and radiation in our lives. We also discuss the things we can introduce into our lives to better help protect us against EMF, how EMF affects our immune system, and how many sources of EMF are currently in our home and so much more. This was a real eye opening podcast episode. R is full of knowledge. He is an expert in this field. We talked about so much on this podcast episode and I know this is one that’s really going to make you rethink how you are living your life with the potential of exposure to EMF radiation. And I’m hoping it gives you some tips to start to reduce it into your life so that we can all live happier, longer lives. You know there’s this saying that it’s not one thing to live a happy long life. It’s one thing to live a disease free, happy, long life. And today’s episode will hopefully get you on that path
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R Blank 6:35
Thank you so much, Megan, I’m really looking forward to this chat.
Meghan Pherrill 6:37
I would love to know if you could give a short little bio of who you are and where in the world you are currently joining us from and where you are based out of because I know it’s different right now. Yeah, yeah.
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R Blank 6:48
Okay, so I so I beat my company shield your body. We’re based in Las Vegas. And at the moment I’m I’m I’m dialing in to chat with you from the Pacific coast of Panama.
Meghan Pherrill 7:07
Amazing. And for anybody who is like, oh shields your body. This sounds cool. Like what? What is shield your body? And how did you get into this space of creating this product?
R Blank 7:19
Sure, yeah. So shield your body, which is it shields your body calm. Mission at shield your body is to make technology safer for you to use and to enjoy. So we do that in two primary ways. One is through education, and safer ways of using technology that well also the health risks that come from modern technology as well as safer ways to use technology. And then the other component of the company is the catalog of products that we make and design and produce and sell that are laboratory tested to reduce your exposure to EMF radiation, which is which is emitted by all modern technology. In terms of how I got into this. I used to be in software development. I did. I had a an agency in Los Angeles. And we built large scale enterprise software applications for a wide range of companies like Apple, Microsoft, IKEA Mattel, and it was about 2012. And my father, his name was Dr. Martin Blanc. And he was one of the world’s leading researchers into the subject of EMF radiation and its health effects. And he’d gotten a contract to write a book. And he might my dad was a great writer, but his experience really was communicating to other scientists, other academics, advocates, and so forth. This book was meant for the normal, wide consumer audience. And so he asked me for some help. At that point, as I mentioned, I’d been in software development, I’d written a book, I was ti taught on the faculty of the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. So I had a lot more experience of communicating in these ways. And so he asked me for help. And that’s what I did, I jumped in, I co wrote the book became known as overpowered, it is still today, one of the best books on this subject of EMF and health effects. And in the course of writing that book, it really hit home to me. Well, let me let me step back one second. I mean, obviously, you know, my father being, you know, my, my father, I knew him my whole life. So I was aware of the work that he did. And so that’s why, for instance, I never had a microwave oven. And when I eventually got a cell phone after college, I knew never to hold it up against my head. But that was really kind of the extent of it. And in the course of writing overpowered, I really realized just how strong the science is indicating human harm and in fact harm to all living things from these forces. And then you know, you start to realize, this, these four EMF comes from the sources of EMF form the entire infrastructure of modern life, right? So it’s our economy, it’s our society. It’s how it’s how we do our jobs. It’s how we communicate with people. It’s how we entertain ourselves, it’s how we store and prepare our food. So you can’t go back to a life without EMF, unless you’re willing to go back to 1850. So I realized there had to be safer ways to use this technology. And that’s where the idea came from, for what becomes si B.
Meghan Pherrill 10:28
This is such an interesting topic. And it’s something that I’ve been talking a lot, kind of behind the scenes with, you know, friends family. And it’s this, I think, for me, it kind of really came into play when we could go into a whole other topic about this, but when COVID hit, and everybody was really kind of like in this limbo, about vaccine, not vaccine. And I don’t want to dive into that, because I feel like that’s just like a whole other can of worms to open. But I was kind of blown away how this was consuming so much of our lives, and how yet we are, so we exposure things to danger, radiation, EMF, all these other things that can impact, you know, the cells of our body, or health and wellness. In our daily life, that’s not a vaccine that may or may not help out with this COVID. And I, the more I kind of was thinking of it, like, you know, we, we don’t know what to do about getting vaccines or the flu shot, or but yet, so many of us are spending hours and hours and hours on our phone or phone is in our pocket. It’s our life. It’s, you know, we live behind towers, and it’s just, it’s all around us. And, you know, listening to some people speak about it in this wellness space, they’re like, you know, like, I don’t have like one of those NES systems at home because I feel like it gives off dirty electricity. And it just really got my mind thinking of like how much we do on our daily basis, like you said, a microwave, which I know everybody in friends family in my inner circle that they have a microwave, and it doesn’t seem to kind of like, well, no, like everybody, just like you have a microwave like that’s the norm yet. Other things that we look out on are like, no, that can be scary, that can be dangerous, but we do things in our daily life that already expose us to disease and radiation and EMF, I would love to know what besides a microwave, what are things that we have in our daily life that are leading to exposure to EMF and radiation?
R Blank 12:46
Sure. So well, let me step back even one bit, right, because I said, you know, you’d have to go back to 1850. To get a life without EMF, what I meant was, you’d have to get a life without human made EMF, because there are certain forms of EMF that are naturally occurring. The the one that everyone knows, is sunlight, sunlight is a natural form of EMF. And it’s essentially it with a couple of minor exceptions, like the Earth’s magnetic field, it’s essentially the only form of EMF that all life on Earth evolved to live with. Now, there are a few forms of EMF with even more energy than sunlight. And these are things like X rays, and gamma rays. And everyone knows these are really, really harmful, even in very, very small doses. So that’s why when you go to the dentist, and you get an x ray, they put on a lead jacket, and they leave the room while it’s happening, right, because that’s how harmful that stuff is. So the forms we’re talking about have less energy than sunlight. And we call these, you know, radio frequency or microwave, or elf. And these come from anything that runs on power, and anything that communicates wirelessly. So I mentioned 1850, the reason I picked that number, and it’s not an exact number, it’s an approximate number, because that’s when the light bulb came about the light bulb was really the first source of exposure of human made EMF. And then you had the development of a power grid to power the light bulb because everyone wanted a light bulb. And then once you had this power grid in place, people started building out new appliances to run on that network. And so each of these became new sources of exposure in our lives, as well as the power lines, right? That that that run all of these things. Eventually, they realized you could send signals remotely wirelessly using EMF radiation. And so that’s when you get technologies like FM radio, television, radar, eventually cell phones Wi Fi Bluetooth. So to answer your question, it basically I mean, there’s a lot that emits this stuff and and that’s part of the the real issue these days because it It keeps, it keeps the number of sources of exposure in our lives keep increasing often exponentially, right? It wasn’t, wasn’t too long ago that no one had well, actually stepping back, it wasn’t too long ago that no one had Wi Fi in the houses. Now everyone has Wi Fi, not only do they have Wi Fi, they have a ton of Wi Fi devices. But it wasn’t too long ago where no one’s thermostat was a wireless device. Now you because you mentioned the nest, it wasn’t too long ago that no locks hat were a source of EMF, right? It wasn’t too long ago that watches weren’t a source of EMF wasn’t too long ago that headsets weren’t a source of EMF. And yet all of these are increasingly, the wireless versions of these products are increasingly popular. So as you look around a modern house, you know, you’re seeing dozens, if not hundreds of these sources. And if you live in an urban area, like in an apartment building, you’re exposed not only to yours, but to those from all of the apartments and structures nearby. And so we’re talking about a lot of concurrent exposures that that accumulate over time, which is why I believe this is not just me why I and many others believe this is a growing health risk.
Meghan Pherrill 16:15
I was listening to I brought him up a few times on the podcast because I think he’s a really interesting guy. But it was Ben Greenfield, and he was talking more or less about how, like our, the biology of the body. And maybe he goes maybe in you know, hundreds of years of changes, but it hasn’t caught up to all this exposure that we’re getting, you know, from 5g, like the body can a client, acclimatized more or less it can adapt to certain things, especially like, you know, the sun and stuff like it has learned to filter that out. But we all of a sudden, it seems like in the past 1015 20 years, even even shorter than that, we have, like you said, everything has gone wireless. And our bodies are just not used to being able to deal with that. And I remember reading about when 5g was coming out and in the wellness space, because I know techies love this stuff. In the wellness space. People were going like how, how safe is this, actually. And when they came to? I think you’ll appreciate this when they came to like put in like Bell TV into our house. I asked the guy was like, Can we do something other than like 5g, and he looked at me and he goes, like, that’s not an option. It has to be 5g, because I’m trying to be really, really mindful about all of this stuff. But even I would love to even back up a little bit above that and say like, why does this stuff kind of matter? Like why why should we be a little bit more concerned about the exposure that we’re doing? If somebody is like, well, you know, like, I throw my coffee in the microwave for 20 seconds? Like, how much harm is that actually doing to me? And like, is it really that bad to be using a cell phone and being on it? Like, why? Why does this stuff matter?
R Blank 18:01
Yeah, so it gets to me one of these, one of the challenges when it’s not just about EMF, it’s about a lot of these a lot of these toxins in our environment, is that, you know, if something causes immediate harm, you really worry about it. And if something causes harm, in the long term, you know, maybe it’s easier to put it out of mind. And then especially with technology, right, because we love technology, we are dependent on technology, increasingly, many of us are addicted to multiple forms of technology. And so you don’t want you know, you don’t even want to think about the potential harm because you needed to do your job, you need to stay in touch, you needed to get that that dopamine rush from updating your feed, or pinging notifications on your phones. And then you add to it, the fact that EMF is an entirely invisible, you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, smell it, and so forth. For all of these reasons, it’s very easy to put it out of mind. The thing in terms of why, why people? Well, how I think I think your questions really kind of getting into kind of considering what the risk is and how to modify your behavior in the face of that risk. So the risk is, I would say, quite significant. The risk is not immediate harm, right? The risk is not that you’re going to turn on your phone and get cancer the next day. The risk is although there are some short term health impacts. So for instance, for a lot of people who have trouble sleeping, when they learn, you know the types of things that I am sharing and they turn off their Wi Fi at night. Their Sleep Can Improve within one to two days. There are scientific studies showing that men who carry their phones in their pockets suffer from significantly decreased sperm counts or infertility when they stopped eating their phones in their pockets, their sperm counts can can rebound. So there are some definitely there’s definitely some short term impacts. But really, the bigger concerns are these longer term things. And so I would say, you know, you have to realize that this stuff is bioactive, this stuff is harmful, but you can’t escape it. All right. So I people like me, don’t go around saying, EMF is harmful, get rid of it, because that is impossible. In fact, that’s kind of how I started talking to you today, right explaining that, that’s, that’s not possible. And so it really is a matter of reducing your exposures that don’t add any value to your life. So I personally am very opposed to microwave ovens for a variety of reasons, but they are very, very large sources of you. I mean, they’re, they’re super high powered devices. So if you are going to use a microwave, you know, get into the next room, while it’s on, you know, because distance really makes a big difference. But, you know, when it comes to all of these new smart devices in your life, don’t don’t, don’t Inc, don’t increase your exposure, unless that thing is really going to add value to your life. That is how I recommend approaching those decisions. And the other is just take some basic precautions and how you use this technology, right? So I’m not telling you to give up your cell phone, I would say don’t carry it in your phone, or bra, which a lot of people do. And or if you do to put it into airplane mode, I also mentioned just before, right, turning off your Wi Fi at night, that’s when you’re not even using the Wi Fi, why get those exposures. So cut out the extraneous and unnecessary exposures. And when it comes to adding new exposures into your life, really think about whether this is something you really will get value from, or whether you’re buying it just because it’s tech.
Meghan Pherrill 21:54
No, thank you so much for saying that. And I think that’s what I really appreciate about what you’re doing is you’ve, you know, even said, we can’t really get away from this, a lot of us depend on it for our jobs. You know, even in my head, I’m thinking when you had mentioned about X rays, I go well, like if somebody is an ultrasound tech or an x ray tech or a doctor, like they’re exposed to it, and it’s even within dentist now, you know, they do X rays on my teeth, and I’m always going do I have to get this done today? And he is like, Yeah, I’m like, Huh, you know, because I and that’s these are things that I’ve become more aware of is like the fact that yes, they leave the room, they put the lead bib on you, if you will, and even to if I have to microwave something in the oven, I’ll put it in a press start and I bolt away from it as fast as I can. And I don’t know, like it’s just it’s almost become a little bit more intuitive to me to like, stop. Stop exposing myself, unnecessarily. I do the airplane mode at nighttime, too. I’ve been on a crusade with my dad, because he does. He’s like, I can’t sleep at night. I’m like, because you have like a million gadgets going on in this room. Like turn it off. TV, you know what, like people who always have TVs on I’m like, why? Like turn it off during the day, especially if you’re, you know, some people like, well, I just like it for sound, it’s like, I don’t know, I feel like we’ve got to come up with different reasons as to why we’re always addicted to technology, I would love to know, in a realistic world for somebody who maybe has to work or lives in, you know, Toronto, Las Vegas, what are things that you think we can absolutely get rid of or reduce? In our, in our world make maybe we don’t need wireless locks in our house, but what are things that you think are like we could definitely get rid of and it would make a huge difference in our life?
R Blank 23:54
Sure. Well, I mean, everyone has to go through that decision making process on their own. Right, so because I’m not here to well, there. I will have a few exceptions to this in a second. But I’m not here to tell people what technology to use or what technology not to use in general, I want to make people aware that there is a cost to your health and your health risk from these exposures. And so when you’re evaluating a new technology or how you use a technology, it’s not just getting the benefit out of the technology. There’s also the cost of engaging with that technology. So you have to engage in a more mindful cost benefit analysis. Someone like me, leads I mean, I run a business right now I’m talking to you on a on a nice MacBook Pro you know, I so there are certain pieces of technology that I use and enjoy quite a bit. But overall I’m a relatively low tech guy. Which is big difference from back when I was in software I loved gadgets i Every new gadget I could get so I would never put a you know Wi Fi lock on or Wi Fi thermostat I would avoid a smart meter. But everyone has to kind of go through that process themselves, and decide what really adds value. That said, I am I am vocally against wearable technology. And the reason is, there’s there’s two things right that that contribute to your your exposure, right? There’s how strong the signal is, and then how long you’re using it. And so when when, you know, for instance, I tell people not to carry their phone in their pocket or their bra, right, because when when it’s when you’re carrying your phone in your pocket or your bra, the phone is right up against your body, which means you are getting the maximal possible dose, if you move it even two or three inches away, and it should be much further. But if you even move it two or three inches away, you’ve radically reduced your exposure from that device. When it comes to wearables, you can’t move it further away. They are designed to be worn on your body, a lot of them are designed to be worn on your head, which is obviously in close proximity to your brain, but also to your eye and some very important nerves. So like an example of that are Apple air pods and other Bluetooth headsets. I am very opposed to those. So when I said earlier, I don’t go around telling people not to, to use technology to seize it more mindfully and Apple air pods are a big exception to that because not only are you wearing them in very close proximity to some very important parts of your body, you’re wearing them for extended periods of time, which increases your exposure. So now we have Ray Ban. Ray Ban, I forget what what they called it, maybe it’s Ray Ban stories, the face the Facebook glasses made by Ray Ban, Snapchat has I think, the spectacles or something like that. So snap has wearable glasses, Apple is going to be releasing glasses. These I mean, fortunately, Google Glass was a failure. But now these are real products from real brands that have been designed for consumer use consumer acceptance, these are also going to be sources of very high exposures, they don’t have to be as strong as a cell phone in order to be an exposure of significant concern. And again, there’s no way to use those devices more safely, because they are right up against your body. So the wearable tech is, it’s what I’m most worried about these days, because I think we’re finally hitting a point where the companies are designing products that that are compelling to people. Unlike, for instance, Google Glass or even the Oculus VR headsets, which are just not mass market products. Were finally getting to the point where they’re doing it. They’re doing it in ways that appeal to consumers, and they’re going to be marketing them to children. And that is where I am I’m most well I say most worried. And that’s where that’s where I’m most vocal in my opposition is to those types of wearable technologies. But in general, I don’t I wouldn’t have a smart block, I wouldn’t have a smart thermostat. I don’t even see the value in a smart fridge. Right? What does that mean? Can you not order your groceries? Like what? I don’t know, I don’t understand why you need that. And so, in general, I don’t engage with most smart tech, but some of it can add value. And you know, if it does, if you get real value out of it, then you know, do it.
Meghan Pherrill 28:28
Thank you for speaking on that I have somebody in my life who is every new gadget that possibly could come out they have and I’m like, I don’t even like going into your house because it’s just so I just feel like it’s so EMF. And even like, the Apple air pods, those. I feel like the moment I saw those I was like, I feel like this is not a great idea to be sticking these into our ears. And I remember listening a while ago about even the idea of speaking on a cell phone if you could put it on speaker and keep it away from you because you didn’t want it close to your brain. And I feel like these are all things like you said, they’re not necessarily immediate in our world, if you’re not going to hold the phone up to your brain and go I got brain cancer. But these are long term potential effects and maybe even to give it a little bit more of like a real world context. And maybe if you are able to speak on it, I would love to know when my dad was diagnosed with cancer when he was 25. So like I wasn’t in the picture, but they had lived behind a tower field. And he says the doctor had that was one question. You know, do you do this? Are you a doctor you’re exposed to X rays do you live behind like a tower field? And he was like, yes like it literally it’s on our back. It’s in our backyard. And he The doctor didn’t really say anything about it but I remember like having In this conversation and going, that’s so interesting to me that a doctor would ask that and then, I mean, I wish they had follow up to say, you know, why they why they have asked that question, but it’s amazing to me that I feel like a lot more medical professional professionals are kind of aware of it, maybe maybe not, but that these things are just so acceptable in our society.
R Blank 30:30
Yeah, well, I think awareness in the medical community is, is is slow going, but it is growing. Earlier this year I attended was virtually because you know, 2021, but the EMF medical conference, and that was put on the presenters were by and large doctors and scientists, but presenting to doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals on the state of the science. So you see awareness growing, I think that that’s for sure. In but but it has, you know, it has been slow. you one example. I would, I would, I would just bring up and talk about with your listeners. There was a doctor, I you’ll have to forgive me. I forget the year it was a long time ago. And his name was Semmelweis. And he was working in a hospital, and there was just very high rates of mothers dying in childbirth. And he postulated that maybe we should wash our hands before helping the women give birth. And and he did the work and he saw the mortality rates plummet. And he put he theorized on the presence of these germs, that if you wash your hands, they go away. But of course, the doctors couldn’t see the germs, and they thought he was nuts. And they laughed him out of the field. He was committed and ended up committing suicide. And of course, we know he was right. Sometimes it takes time for medical communities to accept things even when in like in the case of Semmelweis, he was able to demonstrate that what he was saying was true, you know, it still takes time there’s built in so like my father, I mentioned, he was one of the leading researchers in in EMF and health effects. But when he went to graduate school, he was taught this stuff was harmless. When he was teaching at Columbia medical school, for the first couple of decades of his career, he taught that this was harmless. It wasn’t until, you know, he happened to come across some science, that that a colleague of his had done that, that he started asking questions, and he went, and he said, this was Dr. Reba Goodman. And he went and he spoke with her, he learned about her work. And then they started actually collaborating on Unreal. But the point is, my father who became one of the leading academics and scientists in this field, he had been taught the complete opposite and in fact, he had been teaching the complete opposite this stuff, it takes time to change minds, but the science is strong. And again, cancer gets a lot of the the AirPlay, because it is so terrifying. But it is not just cancer, right? So we have multiple immune condition we, when I when everything I’m about to say is backed up by science, right. So we have decreased immune function, heightened auto immune function, we have infertility and subfertility in men, we have increased rates of miscarriage. In women, we have birth defect, higher rates of birth defects in children, when they are exposed in utero. We have sleep disruption, we have anxiety, we have memory cognitive issues that are emerging not only in adults, but particularly in children. We have just a whole series. So here’s the thing that I want people to want if one of the things I want people to take away from this interview, when you hear people like me talk about EMF, right? They we talk about all of these different health effects. And it sounds a little crazy, like how can this one toxin create all of these different health effects? But what the truth is, is that you are seeing these health effects in basically every biological system that is measured. Right? So if you if you if so it’s not just brain tumors, it’s multiple types of tumors. It’s thyroid tumors, it’s colorectal, it’s breast, you see it not just in tumors, right. But you see it in in the function of your endocrine system. You see it in so many different places. And you might wonder why and there’s a lot of potential reasons why some of what you know, if you want we can talk about but the point is the fundamental mechanism, we we evolved to live with a certain type of EMF exposure, like I mentioned, which was sunlight almost entirely sunlight. A couple of Little like the Earth’s magnetic field, that was essentially it. And we have now been bombarding our environment with this stuff, more and more and more every year. And our bodies, and it’s not just our bodies, it’s all it really is all life, it’s all other animals, it’s all plants, our bodies and all life have just not evolved to cope with these exposures. And it will take a long time for our bodies to evolve to cope with these exposures. And by then the exposures will be much, much greater. So that bat is you really do you see these health, these negative health outcomes in essentially every biological system that is measured?
Meghan Pherrill 35:44
I would love if you had mentioned, we could talk about the reasons why this is so why why this is all happening with maybe making it you know, in more In layman terms, if we could talk about it, because I will say 99.9% of the people who’ve come on this podcast have, and I’ve openly talked about this, I’ve been blown away by the people who have come on that say they had an autoimmune disease, that they have anxiety and depression, that they have some sort of, like mind blowing amounts of like disease and cancer. And I’ve said, you know, like, maybe it’s just because I’m older, and maybe I’m just like more prone to hearing this. But I feel like I just don’t remember being younger. And hearing all of these diseases, I will say too, and maybe this is like interesting for you, too. I moved from an area in Toronto to this place called Pickering in Ontario. And Pickering is known to have a nuclear power plants. And I when we move there, I’m not kidding you. I knew five people, you know, brothers or sisters of people who had cancer, and I’m trying to it was the blood cancer and like tumors. And I remember being like, wow, that is really weird like that. That’s such a, like, it seems to be very prevalent here. And I you know, everybody joked around, like, be careful around the nuclear power plant, like don’t go swimming in the nuclear power plant lake. And Jokes aside, you go, this could be like a real actual issue here.
R Blank 37:27
Yeah. So in terms of there, there are several mechanisms that, that, that that have been demonstrated when it comes to EMF exposure. But there’s one that I find that’s really powerful for to help people understand. Right. And this science, this is strong science, it goes back to the 1990s has been replicated multiple times, a couple of doctors, Dr. Henry Lai, and Dr. Narendra Singh, and they at the time, it was the 90s. So they are studying cordless phones, not cell phones, but very similar type of radiation. And what they showed by studying rats is, is that is that exposure to cordless phone radiation, increased something called strand breaks in the DNA. So DNA, as we all know, it’s the it’s the fundamental building block, right? Because it has all the information, it stores all the information that defines all of our biological systems and defines us as creatures. And DNA in almost every cell in our body has two strands. And the two strands are mirrors of each other. Right. So what they found is that exposure to cellphone radiation led to strand breaks, that’s where the the strand of DNA breaks. Now, when when one strand breaks, the cell hasn’t can look at the other strand, right, which is the mirror image and say, Oh, I can recreate the broken parts. But that process isn’t foolproof. So that leads to that’s where mutations come from. If both strands break, that’s a double strand break, the cell will actually either die or kill itself. apoptosis is a process by which it will kill itself. That’s actually, I mean, you certainly don’t want all the cells in your body dying. But that is actually a preferred outcome. Because the cell can’t mutate at that point, if it’s if it’s going to die, right, it won’t mutate. So if you have a single strand break, that’s what creates the potential for mutation. Now, what they showed is exposure even very, very short exposure, just a few minutes to cordless phone radiation led to significant increases in the occurrence of strand breaks both single and double strand breaks. Even more worrying from the data was that this process continued for hours after the exposure. So DNA, right it’s in every cell of every living thing. That is one reason. And we see that EMF exposure can harm DNA in a way that leads to DNA mutations. DNA mutations are a core mechanism by which disease is formed. So we’re talking about something that is in every cell, not just my body and your body, but but your pets, the trees outside your window, all marine life, all birds, everything shares this, and we see the impact that this can have on DNA, that is one of the mechanisms, there are others we could go into. But that just shows you a very powerful, I think, example of the type of mechanism that’s at play, and why it can impact basically every biological system of every living thing, because we’re hitting these very fundamental mechanisms.
Meghan Pherrill 40:53
Thank you for speaking on that. I think it’s, it’s, it’s a really, really interesting topic. And I think if we can make it more like applicable in the real world, for a lot of people, you know, a lot of us just can’t go live in a cave and meditate all the time. Although that sounds amazing. Just to, you know, give people like people, I think a lot of the time people know, things that they shouldn’t be doing. And then when you kind of give very specific reasons, like, Hey, this is why you shouldn’t carry a cell phone, in your breast pocket or in your pants. And this is the science behind it, it starts to make it a little bit more tangible, and like reasons like, oh, okay, this is actually not a great thing. And I think a lot of the time, like, we’re prone to seeing like, what is the evidence behind this? What is the scientific benefits? Or, you know, the studies that are showing why we should or shouldn’t be doing a certain thing?
R Blank 41:52
Yeah, well, in this case, the case of EMF, the science, when I keep I keep saying it’s very strong, it’s 1000s of studies, there’s actually a review. So my father was one of the authors of something called the Bioinitiative Report. And the Bioinitiative Report was created by a group of international researchers like, including my father, who surveyed 1000s of studies on these questions of EMF and health, and then summarized what they found just by surveying the science. But as I mentioned, they surveyed 1000s, right, so if you go to bio initiative.org, you can see that the actual report, they summarize it on a conclusions page in pretty accessible language. But, and that was just a portion of the science. And that was last updated 10 years ago, and there’s been more science. So we’re talking about 1000s of studies at this point, into these questions of EMF and health. It’s not just one or two, I mean, you know, I’m not going to come on people like me are going to come on shows like this, and just start rattling off this science, this science this, this study this study, because it doesn’t, it wouldn’t make any sense to anybody. But so we picked specific ones, to talk about to make specific points. But if you actually go out, and look, there’s a lot of science on this. In fact, one of the things my company did this year was we created a we call it the SI B EMF health effects app. And it’s at shield your body calm slash FX, the letters FX. And we have at the time you and I are talking now we have about 1000 studies in there. And we’ve indexed them based on specific EMF levels. So you can type in a specific level of EMF, and then see a whole bunch of science that shows specific health effects at or below that exposure. So there’s just what I’ve just tried to hit home the point that there is a lot of science on this question. This is not a poorly investigated area of science.
Meghan Pherrill 43:53
I think one thing that’s really on people’s mind lately, especially if COVID 2021 2020 2021, likely 2022. And where I currently am, we’re going into what is known as the cold and flu season. And a lot of people I think are really starting to appreciate health is wealth and you know, what are things that I can do to support my immune system so that I don’t get COVID or I don’t suffer the consequences as badly or I don’t get the flu that knocks me out for three weeks at a time. Could you can you speak on EMF and the immune system and what you know, maybe even some short term effects are of it and then leading into long term which you have talked about, you know, the autoimmune diseases and cancer and even the fertility, but I’m just wondering if there’s a few more pinpoints for the immune system you can speak on? Yeah, so
R Blank 44:46
yeah, well, I think I mentioned immunosuppression. So immuno suppression is when your immune system doesn’t react as strongly as you want it to. And sometimes you actually want that right. So if you are, if you’re undergoing certain treatments, you don’t want your body to react to those treatments as as invasive, right? You want them you want your immune system to sort of stand down. And so you take these immunosuppressive drugs to weaken your immune system. So you can undergo these treatments. There’s a researcher out of Europe, Ali Johansen, who who found in a review of of research, that that exposure to EMF can have the same effect as taking those immunosuppressive drugs, right? So, EMF can suppress the immune system. Now, this in some, and this is probably this is probably one of the most important topics in EMF, there’s a condition often goes by the name, EHS, or electro hypersensitivity. It’s sometimes called MICROWAVE SICKNESS, sometimes called electromagnetic illness, sometimes just Wi Fi allergies. And there are the estimates for how many people have this condition are varied. But by one set of estimates, about 3% of people have significant EHS and up to 35% of people have some degree of EHS. And what this is, is like I say it’s Wi Fi allergies, it’s effectively an allergic reaction to exposure to EMF radiation. So whereas someone like you or I could walk into a room and be fine, someone with EHS could walk into that same room and start experiencing pain, auditory impact, rashes, and in xiety, and in some people, like I say, the condition is, is weak and manageable. In others, it is effectively debilitating, and people have to move or give up their jobs and move and up and their entire lifestyle to move to lower EMF environments. So the immunosuppression the immunosuppressive behaviors that are that we’ve seen can contribute to this type of EHS that we’re seeing. And I believe you’re going to see more and more and more of this, as the levels of EMF in our environment increase, the number of people who will be at a certain will have an exposure sufficient to trigger these types of symptoms will increase as well. And again, you know, it’s a really wide range of symptoms, headaches, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, cognitive problems. And so that is, I believe that is a and it’s, I should note, it’s formally recognized in a couple of countries in Europe, it’s recognized in Medicare billing codes in the United States. And there are a few institutions around the world that actually can diagnose and treat this, including, I believe, it’s called the Women’s College in, in Toronto. So so this is it’s gaining in awareness. And it’s also gaining in unfortunately in in the number of people who are suffering from it, but that was, that was immunosuppression. There are other studies that correlate EMF exposure to autoimmune diseases. So
the the chronic exposure to EMF radiation can trigger auto immune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and celiac disease. And in fact, not only not only is the science showing that the sciences there’s there’s actually a study which we linked to, from our blog, showing that using EMF protection products can reduce or eliminate autoimmune disease in certain patients. So you’re you see these these these two different things, right? You see immunosuppression, and then you where the the immune system isn’t working as strongly as it should. And then you also see autoimmune disease, when the the immune system is so overpowered that it’s attacking your own body, I would just throw in a couple. I mean, there’s a lot this is like a whole tot like this could be a whole show on its own, but there are there are studies showing for instance, that EMF exposure can stimulate the growth of mold in our environments. Mold obviously contributes to multiple diseases and can weaken the immune system. So, mold mold can produce 600 times more biotoxins in the presence of certain levels of EMF in the environment. So and the final thing I would say is, because I mentioned EHS, there are also other serious conditions that people have like Lyme disease, multiple chemical sensitivity, heavy metal toxicity, what what we’re finding is that there is cross susceptibility to these. So if you have Lyme disease, you are more likely to have EHS and vice versa, the same for multiple chemical sensitivity and so forth. So these immune system conditions make you more susceptible to other immune system conditions.
Meghan Pherrill 50:05
Want to be very mindful of your time, like you said, I feel like this could be a whole other podcast interview. But it’s as you’re speaking, I’m in my head, I’m going, I feel like you know, I’m sure we’ve all known somebody who’s like, there’s, they’re always sick, there’s something always wrong, or even somebody who’s been diagnosed, kind of like with fibroma, myalgia. And doctors are going, we don’t really know what it is like your blood work is kind of showing that it’s nothing like cancer serious, but like, clearly there’s something going on, but we don’t know what it is. And, you know, maybe this kind of gives somebody a little bit of an idea that to start looking a little bit more at something like this. Women’s College in Toronto I know is like they look at a lot of I don’t want to say a lot of things that aren’t out there. But you know, even things like pelvic health, that can relate to other issues within the body, they tend to look at things and they won’t just women signal that woman’s health. But I guess what I’m saying is like, I would hope that this inspires somebody, if they are feeling this way, they have been told, Well, there’s nothing like very obviously wrong with you, except we know you’re not doing well, to maybe to start to look at things like this, maybe they are being exposed to radiation or EMF that’s contributing to suppress the immune system. And, you know, you said it, kind of towards the start little things like removing your cell phone from your pocket like these little things can start to really compound and make a difference in reducing your levels to it. Which leads me to a question that I would love to ask what are some free, inexpensive, and maybe even like, not really inexpensive, but products and they can be your own or other ones that you suggest that can really help us reduce our risk to even EMF?
R Blank 52:01
Sure. So great question. So the the the best, this is what I always say, if you come to my website, you’ll see it everywhere the best EMF protection is free, it comes down to what I call the the two key rules of EMF protection. And that is to minimize your use of EMF emitting technology. And to maximize the distance from the technology when it’s in use. Now minimizing your use is kind of intuitive. But because the less of this stuff that you use, the less of this these forces you’ll be exposed to. But as there is more and more and more tech in our lives, right, I think it becomes more important to just remember that, that that decision, and that you have to engage with that process every every other time. So minimizing your use. It is saying no to things like us, maybe your new smart thermostat or your smart lock. But it’s not only that, right? It’s also I mentioned earlier, turning off your Wi Fi at night, or turning your phone into airplane mode, when you don’t need it to actually have an active connection. The the the less you use this stuff, the less you’ll be exposed to the second key role is maximizing distance. And maximizing distance matters because the power of EMF radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. So if your phone is an inch away from your body, versus two inches away from your body, by doubling that distance, you’ve cut the power of that exposure by 75%. So that’s why it really matters. To keep this stuff as far away from you as possible. It also really matters I like to underscore this because as more and more and more EMF is being deployed into our environments, out of our control, right neighbors have Wi Fi cell towers going up satellites going into the atmosphere, as more and more of that happens, it is still the stuff that is closest to your body, that really makes a huge difference to your own personal levels of exposure. So that’s why it’s first minimizing use, and second is maximizing distance. Now, you mentioned products, which is what I make and sell it. So IB products form what I call the second line of defense because the first line of defense are those two key rules, not getting the exposures in the first place. But a lot of these exposures are unavoidable. So I say not to carry your phone in your pocket, for example, or your bra. And that is that is very good advice. But some people have to or they just really want to there’s no other convenient way, but maybe they need it on them for their job. So that’s why for instance I make the phone pouch, which is just a pouch for your phone and you put your phone in the pouch and then put it in your pocket or on your belt and the back of the pouch is lined with the shielding fabric. The front of the pouch is not so that means the shielding fabric deflects the radiation away from your body. But because the front isn’t shielded, your phone can still communicate and send and receive text messages and stuff. forth, all of my products are based on this thing of what I just called shielding technology. This is universally accepted technology. It’s almost 200 years old. Since Michael Faraday invented what we call the Faraday cage where he showed, if you weave conductive metals into certain patterns, you can block and deflect EMF radiation in much the same way that a shade blocks and reflects sunlight. So all of my products are based on this, they are all lab tested, and they’re all testable by by you as well at home with a with a meter a decent quality EMF meter. So you can you know, because there’s a lot of different if you if you just search online for EMF protection, there’s kind of a really wide range. And you know, some of it maybe isn’t, doesn’t seem so legit. EMF shielding is based on universally accepted science. And my products are all laboratory tested, and I show you how to test them for yourself. So I mentioned the phone pouch. And I have several electronics accessories like that. Another category of products that I make are apparel. So for instance, I make underwear for men, which is fantastic at protecting the reproductive organs, I make a bandana and a neck gator or neck tube, which can it’s also for the head and neck, which is but it can be worn in all these different styles. And that’s great for I mean, it protects the area that it covers. So that’s great for either protecting your brain or your thyroid, a lot of people use use those products for that. The apparel is great for protecting yourself against sources that are not in your immediate control. Right. So if you’re out and about in the real world, and you want to reduce your exposure to EMF out there, apparel is really the only way to do that. And then a third category is bedding. So I make these bed canopies that create these full 360 degree by 360 degree protective cages effectively around your bed. So they they they work really well. And they protect you all night long. So they they provide tremendous shielding, and they do it all night long. So and, you know, that’s that’s obviously not 24 hours a day, but it’s about a third of the day. And it’s a really important third of the day because that’s when you’re supposed to be resting, rejuvenating, re energizing for the next day. And so the and again that that is great because they you know, it’s it’s really hard to shield your entire house, but you can buy and install a canopy and then your your bed becomes this refuge, which is so those are those are really the three categories of products that I have. Which is like I say electronics accessories, like my phone pouch, apparel, like my boxers and my bandana, and then canopies.
Meghan Pherrill 57:53
I think these are all, you know, I I keep saying to you like you are somebody I think who like recognizes we can’t get away from this, but you’re doing what you can to help everybody reduce their amount to it, which I think is absolutely incredible. And I would just like to ask if there’s anything that I haven’t asked you, it can either be a fun fact, it could be a study, or it could be just another tip or trick that you haven’t mentioned yet that you want the listeners to know or to maybe be more aware of when it comes to EMF or radiation.
R Blank 58:30
So that I appreciate asking that question. I think the one thing I would say is if I mean, so you can take the steps I just told you, you can take those steps and you can cut your exposure. And it’ll make a big impact. If you’re carrying your phone in your pocket and you stop carrying your phone in your pocket. That’ll make a big difference in your exposure. If you are concerned about your exposure to EMF radiation, I am a strong advocate for buying a decent meter and learning how to use it. I don’t make or sell meters, but I do recommend them specific models. And this is because again, you know, if you’re carrying your phone in your pocket, you know that’s a big source of your exposure. But as we talked about, right EMF it’s invisible. It’s odorless you can’t see touch Smell Taste it. So with the obviously like I say there are certain obvious big exposures, but there’s other ones that you may not know and I’ll give you an example you know when I stay in Airbnb as I bring my meter and you know there was one I remember where it right where the couch was. The levels were just super high like crazy high. Like I hadn’t seen those in a regular house before. And but three feet away from there. They were right there were normal. And it must have had something to do with some crazy wiring in the wall or something. I mean, it wasn’t my house. It was a rental. So I didn’t, I didn’t worry about solving it. But I would not have known that just three feet away was a much safer place to spend my time, then then then that super high exposure area. And in general, the only way to know how much EMF you are exposed to, is to learn how to test. And so that is why I’m such a big advocate of learning how to test and I have a ton of materials about testing on my site. And as a starting point, I would I would encourage your listeners to download the free ebook that you can get at shield your body comm slash test. That’s T S T. And that URL is important. Because like I say we spend a lot on education at si B. So there’s all different kinds of ebooks that you can find on my site, I am pointing you to the one specifically at shield your body comm slash test that one has meter recommendations, it explains all the different kinds of units that you can encounter, it tells you what safer levels of exposure are, and links out to other resources as well. And so that is and it’s all free that one is it’s just totally free. And if you are concerned about your EMF exposure, that is like the number one thing I would encourage people to do, learn how to test.
Meghan Pherrill 1:01:22
I feel like I need to get one of those. And then I’m gonna go to everybody’s house. And I’m like, You need to change this up. If people want to learn more about you, maybe they’re just really fascinated by this conversation. Maybe they want to purchase some of your products or just kind of check out more of your resources. Can you once again, let everybody know where they can go find your website where they can find you online and all that stuff?
R Blank 1:01:47
Sure. Thank you. Yeah. So the website is shield your body calm, that’s shield your body all one word calm. And we we sell not only in the United States, but in Canada, the UK, Australia. We are also shield your body. Again, all one word on all the major social networks. The one I would recommend, or most strongly encouraged people to join us on is on YouTube. We have a very vibrant YouTube channel, hundreds of videos, some EMF education, some webinars, some podcasts, and including our own healthier tech podcast. So that youtube.com/shield Your body is my favorite of our social presences. But but we’re shield your body calm and shield your body on every social platform.
Meghan Pherrill 1:02:36
Amazing. I have one final question for you. You gave us so many resources people to check out your free ebook. But is there any other podcast book or resource that has brought you value? It doesn’t even have to be related to EMS, it could be about health and wellness in general, it could be a fantastic fiction book that you love, but a book that you want to leave or a resource or podcast that you want to leave with our audience.
R Blank 1:03:00
Yeah, oh, um, I I’m a big fan of podcasts. And the there’s this whole genre of them that are kind of radio plays. And the there were a bunch and only one is coming to mind right now. So I’ll just say that when it’s rabbits, which is it is it is just a fantastic story. It’s it’s like a it’s like a mystery but a little science fictiony and a little weird and the way that the way that they use sound and the pot the medium of podcasts to really tell a powerful story is is really fantastic. So yeah, I would say rabbits on so you can search for that on on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh
Meghan Pherrill 1:03:49
amazing. Are thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your knowledge and expertise. I will make sure everything is linked in the show notes so people can go right to their to connect with you. I appreciate you coming on so much and sharing your story.
R Blank 1:04:03
Thank you so much for the opportunity. Megan. This has been a real pleasure.
Meghan Pherrill 1:04:08
If you love this podcast episode, spread the love by sharing this with your friends and family. Share it out on social media. And don’t forget to give it a five star rating and review from the bottom of my heart. I am so grateful that you are here. Until next time
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
