Kat Khatibi Podcast on Health, Happiness, & Beauty

The Kat Khatibi Podcast is where Kat speaks with experts in the medical field like physicians and researchers, fitness and diet experts and clean beauty proponents. In this episode we get into exactly how to protect yourself from EMF, while still being able to use technology with R Blank.  Which EMF blocking tools work?  How to figure out if a technology is emitting a lot of EMFs?  How to mitigate your exposure and risk from EMFs.  

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Transcript

Kat Khatibi 0:00
Welcome to the show R Blank is the CEO of shield your body whose mission it is to make technology safer. AR is an internationally followed expert on the 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 Blanc, one of the world’s leading EMF scientists, he has degrees from Columbia University and UCLA. In this episode, we share the facts of emf use and how to best protect yourself and your family while still being able to use technology. Have you ever thought about making your own podcast? I’m sure you have great ideas, but you just don’t know where to begin? Well, here’s where anger is gonna be a lifesaver. It’s a one stop shop for creating and distributing any podcast. Best of all, it’s 100% free.

Kat Khatibi 0:55
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Kat Khatibi 1:45
Welcome to the caca TV podcast, your source for all things health, happiness and beauty.

Kat Khatibi 1:57
Welcome to the show. On today’s episode, we have R Blank. He’s the CEO of shield your body whose mission it is to make technology safer. 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 Blanc, one of the world’s leading EMF scientists. In this episode, we share facts about EMF use, and how to act yourself and your family while still being able to use technology. Hello, thank you so much for being with us here today.

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R Blank 2:34
Thank you so much Cabot’s It’s a pleasure to be here, I’m really happy to have the chance to speak with you and your audience.

Kat Khatibi 2:41
Tell us a little bit about your journey and what brought you to focusing on issues with EMF.

R Blank 2:46
Sure, if I may just start emf is for those who don’t know, it stands for electromagnetic fields. And it’s a type of energy. And it’s it’s all around us. And increasingly, we’re exposed to it from our tech. So anything that runs on power, and anything that communicates wirelessly is a source of emf. And I got into this field through my father, actually, his name is Dr. Martin blank. And he was one of the world’s leading EMF scientists, and back now almost 10 years, but he had a contract to write a book, most of his life was writing academic papers. And such, this was supposed to be a book for real people to understand where the science is in terms of the health effects of exposure to this stuff. And he asked me for some help, because he didn’t have the kind of experience writing for just normal people. He was a very smart man used to writing for other very academically steeped people. So he asked me for some help, I jumped in and I helped writing, I helped to write the book, it’s called overpowered, still available, it’s still one of the best books on this topic. And he’s an EMF scientist for almost my entire life. So I was aware of these issues, but I didn’t understand them the way I did, having the opportunity to basically learn from him in the course of writing this book. And there were a few facts that stood out to him pretty clearly that were pretty central to my shift. So the first is the science on EMF exposure is it’s pretty deep at this point. So for instance, when my father went to school, he was teaching at Columbia medical school, he went to Columbia and Cambridge. And when he went to school, it was he was taught this stuff was benign, the stuff was safe, which is what people thought for a long time, but really starting in the 1990s and then getting into the 2000s. And now the 2010s the science on this has gotten really strong a body of 1000s of scientific studies showing a wide range of negative health effects from exposure to this stuff at levels that we all are exposed to every day. But second fact was that the sources of this stuff are fundamental to modern society into the modern economy. You can’t go back to a point where there’s no human made here. EMF in our environment, unless you’re willing to go back to 1850, and not have light bulbs, and not have refrigerators, much less cell phones and Wi Fi. And so this stuff is bioactive, the science is very clear. But it’s also fundamental to our lives to our society to our economy. So I realized there had to be a way for people to use this stuff more safely. And that’s when I started what became swipey.

Kat Khatibi 5:28
So I’m already terrified about EMF a little bit because when I was a kid, I used to sleep on the neighborhood meter box, that’s where we would hang out for eight hours a day in summer. So I’m like, that’s got to have done something scary. I don’t even want to know. So let’s start with the basics. What is EMF? Is it just like electricity? Is it the Wi Fi? What Where is it? Sure, yeah, as

R Blank 5:51
I started out, by saying EMF stands for electromagnetic field. So it’s a form of energy. It’s formed by as the name suggests, electricity and magnetism. So some forms of emf are natural one that’s incredibly common that we see every day is sunlight. sunlight is a natural form of emf and the earth has its own magnetic fields. And lightning is also a source. Although that’s not constant. That only just happens when the lightning strikes. But for the first several billion years of life on Earth, we evolved all life on Earth evolved just with those forms of emf that we were exposed to that natural type of emf. So EMF exists on this spectrum, sunlight is in the middle. Now, there’s some EMF with more energy than sunlight. Those include things like x rays, and gamma rays, even UV rays. And those have so much energy, they can knock electrons free from the cells in our bodies. And those are incredibly dangerous, even in very small doses. So that’s why when you go to a dentist and you get your x rays done, they wrap you in a lead coat, and the technician leaves the room. Because that’s how dangerous this stuff is, you want as little of that stuff as possible. Now there’s forms of emf with less energy than sunlight. And these include what we’re talking about today. There, they have names like radio waves, microwaves, extremely low fields, extremely low frequency fields. And these are emitted by everything that runs on power, and everything that communicates wirelessly. So that includes, like I said, light bulbs and refrigerators. It includes power lines, it includes cell phones, and Wi Fi, and Bluetooth, and even infrared. Now, it was long thought that stuff was inert, that it was fine to have around that it didn’t do any, it didn’t cause any harm to living things. And that’s the assumption that recent decades of science has really shifted. But in terms of where it comes from everything, like I said that runs on power communicates wirelessly, which is there’s not only a lot of things, it’s a continually growing number of things. So the amount of emf that I grew up with was less than the amount that you grew up with was less than the amount that our parents grew up with. And our grandparents grew up with almost none. And you can go back to the late 1800s. And there was virtually none in the environment at all. So this it’s not just that since the late 1800s. Now human made EMF in the environment, it’s that the amount keeps growing and growing and growing. Because the tech keeps that we surround ourselves with just keeps growing and growing. But and I know you’re going to get to this. Don’t be terrified because that is not the that is not the right response is what I believe but please come on.

Kat Khatibi 8:45
Okay, so I have heard, don’t put your laptop on your lap keep everything away from your reproductive organs. So what can EMF do to male and female fertility?

R Blank 8:58
Matt? Good things is the short answer. And I think we’ll probably get into some of this later in the interview. But the what the science shows is that EMF impacts many different systems in our body. So it’s not like I’ll answer your question here about fertility and fertility, sub fertility. It’s not just that it’s harmful for your fertility. It’s all of these other things because of the mechanisms that are involved. But there’s very strong science showing that the EMF from things like cell phones and laptops leads to a rapid decline in in sperm count and sperm health and can contribute to infertility. And there’s studies out of Kaiser Permanente that show this really clearly with men who carry their phones in their front pockets. Now the good news and this is unfortunately just for men and not for women, is that sperm regenerates daily. Basically every 24 hours your body is producing more. So if you remove source of emf then you can see a reconstitution of the sperm health and sperm count. So that’s really just so I know you don’t have very many listeners, but just so everyone listening understands that that particular form of damage is not irreversible because the sperm is regenerating every day. with women, it is unfortunately not the same, because women are born with all of their eggs. So any damage that is incurred that is permanent. And fortunately though, for women, the the eggs are stored deeper in the body with men, they’re outside basically entirely unprotected with women there inside the body forms a natural shield, not a perfect shield. But less of this radiation gets in there. But there are studies showing that this can contribute to fertility issues in women and perhaps more concerningly, to birth defects and, and also miscarriage rates. So this, keeping your laptop on your lap is not something anyone should do. And in fact, if you check the DELL LAPTOP manual, they advise a separation of eight inches between the laptop and your body, even though they call it they still call it a laptop. Unlike other companies that have actually switched the name to notebook, Dell still calls it a laptop, but if you read the manual, they tell you it should be at least eight inches away from your lap. And you’ll find that a lot with technology where if you actually read the manual, they’re telling you to create that sort of distance, that sort of separation because of the potential health outcome.

Kat Khatibi 11:36
Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why my friends hate me because I always mentioned things like this. manuals and look at that, see, and they’re just like you ruin everything. So what about the fertility of plants and animals

R Blank 11:49
so the same things applying you there’s there’s a growing body of research on plants and animals, but particularly plants, not quite so much animals yet, but it none of it is as deeply studied yet as as with humanity. But the science shows very clearly, that the negative health risks associated with EMF exposure, these are not limited to humans, these impact all living things, because we all have the same structure to our DNA. We all have nerves. Most living things have nervous systems that rely on very low forms of emf to communicate. So when you add more, it disrupts things. There is a, there’s a This wasn’t peer reviewed research. This was viral content, but it was later replicated by scientists showing but it was done by these school girls in I believe it was Denmark. And they were doing a school experiment for their science class. And they had two sets of watercress seeds, and one they placed next to the Wi Fi router. And one was much much further away from the Wi Fi router. And the seeds next to the Wi Fi router failed to grow and died. And the ones much further away, survived and grew. And again, there was viral content online that wasn’t scientific. But then as I said, a couple of years later, scientists did actually reproduce it in a lab setting. So that was a pretty visual demonstration of this. But the impacts that we see in humans are the very same that we see across not only the animal kingdom, but a Flora as well.

Kat Khatibi 13:27
Yeah, there was a YouTuber that I had watched, she went on vacation someplace with no internet, no electricity, but then she needed to contact her family and she wanted to email them. So they gave her some big contraption that she put in there. I don’t know how it worked. And she was able to use it. But they left it on the left for the day. And when they came back, there was bugs flying all around it. And then there was like dead bugs the next day after they had turned it. Oh, wow. Yeah, that there’s

R Blank 13:55
something going on. Yeah, you remind there’s actually studies into the relationship of this type of radiation and colony collapse disorder in bees, which if your listeners don’t know, there’s a pretty serious issue in the world. There’s a lot of serious issues in the world today, unfortunately. But there’s one serious one when it comes to bees. And bees are very important to us because of their role in pollination where colonies are just dying. And sometimes we have no idea why there’s one study where the researchers put a cordless phone in front of the hive, and none of the bees actually came back the colony died just from the presence of a cordless phone. It is believed that this type of radiation, which in the case of cordless phones, and cell phones and Wi Fi, it’s called radio frequency. It interferes with the Magneto reception. So bees and other insects as well as birds, I use the Earth’s own magnetic field as basically a guidance system. So that’s how they know where they’re going. And when you throw this massive source of rain Your frequency into the mix. you’re removing their ability to navigate. And you see the same thing in bird migratory patterns, which is another area that has been studied in terms of the relationship of emf. So the fact that it was surrounded by insects, like you said, it doesn’t surprise me.

Kat Khatibi 15:17
Is there anything on the sciences show anything that EMF does to the immune system?

R Blank 15:21
Yes, there. So with EMF, there’s actually a couple of issues that scientists have identified. And so one is immuno suppression. So exposure to electromagnetic fields, and everyone should keep in mind when I’m talking about exposure to electromagnetic fields, the vast majority of studies that I’m talking about, are looking at exposures that we encounter in daily life, they’re not looking at these massive folk, if you live right next to a power substation, they’re looking at levels of exposure that people just are exposed to in daily life. There, there is a study that shows that exposure to EMF suppresses the immune system so that we are less able to fend off disease and illness on our own. Interestingly, though, there’s another study that shows that EMF triggers auto immune suppression, people who have autoimmune disease can take certain drugs that suppress the ability of their immune system, so that the body isn’t constantly fighting against itself. And there’s a study that shows that taking a sorry that being exposed to EMF has the same result as taking autoimmune drugs. And so there are some pretty significant it’s not as well researched in area yet as for instance, the infertility or tumors, but it is an area where there is science, and it is showing concerning outcomes.

Kat Khatibi 16:50
When I was a kid, there was I think there was a big newspaper had an article on linking cell phone use to tumors on the side where you use the cell phone, and it was like a big deal. And everybody knew about it, and suddenly it was gone. nobody talked about it. Yes,

R Blank 17:04
that is how it works. And yes, there is strong science showing that’s called an ipsilateral tumor ipsilateral meeting on the same side. And yes, there is very strong science showing that the the risk of ipsilateral tumors, not only does it grow, when you use a phone, it grows, the more you use the phone, so that it has this dose response relationship. And the more frequently that you were using a cell phone, on the side of your head, the more likely you become to develop a tumor in that part of your brain.

Kat Khatibi 17:36
Yeah, so it’s gonna be like almost everybody soon,

R Blank 17:39
that’s that’s almost everybody is already experiencing some effect from exposure to EMF, but either it’s not that serious, or they don’t realize they’re experiencing it, or it’s, they’re attributing it to something else. Because again, EMF has so many different impacts on the body. So if you’re having sleep disruption is a great example of this. EMF impacts the endocrine system, which impacts your melatonin output, which impacts your ability to sleep. And this is also an area where there’s good science, how many people do you know who can’t sleep well at night who have at least some nights have sleep disruption? Do they go around saying, Oh, I’m having this problem with EMF because I can’t get sleep through the night? No, they’re saying, I have this problem with sleeping through the night. Maybe I’ll try melatonin. Or maybe I’ll try Ambien. And so that’s what I mean by I think most people these days have are experiencing effects from exposure to EMF, but they don’t realize it or they’re dealing with it in other ways. Now, when you’re talking about something like brain tumors that impacts and I forget the numbers offhand, but it’s a very small portion of the population of brain tumors. Even if you quadruple the rate of brain tumors, you’re still I mean, that’s really bad for the people who get the tumors and I’m not diminishing that. But that’s nowhere near everyone is getting brain tumors. So it’s this issue with incidence and relative incidence and the growing risk. And so the growing risk isn’t that everyone is going to get a brain tumor. It is that more people will get brain tumors but it’s really that everyone will be experiencing some set of effects from exposure to this stuff. Now there’s some people I apologize if you were planning to get to this I don’t know that have a condition called electro hypersensitive, some people refer to it as electro hypersensitivity, and it’s basically an allergy for from exposure to EMF, and in some people, it can be light symptoms, like it’s just uncomfortable. For other people, it can be completely debilitating. Estimates run anywhere from three to 15% of the population, depending on which study you look at have EHS and this is a population that that isn’t forming. tumor unnecessarily but can’t read their ability to experience life is incredibly life becomes just miserable. Because I deal with people contact me all the time who have this condition and are asking for relief and how they can. And so it is I think it just makes logical sense that the more EMF that goes into the environment, which again is something that’s happening every day, every month, every year, more and more people will hit that threshold where they have this level of extreme discomfort. And some extreme cases, some people move to the middle of nowhere. Other people invest 10s of 1000s of dollars to put shielding around their homes or their living spaces. And that is a condition that I think, as I say, more and more people will start to experience.

Kat Khatibi 20:49
Yeah, I did hear about that, too. And there was a woman, she lived in the middle of nowhere. And she’s like, I can’t be around anything. And I feel all these symptoms when it’s around. And yeah, I’ve actually had friends that said they’re sensitive to it as well. Yeah. So my husband bought this thing. I don’t know what it is. That’s a

R Blank 21:08
tray of two EMF meter.

Kat Khatibi 21:10
Yeah, it does this work. Yeah. That’s a

R Blank 21:13
great, I didn’t realize we were gonna be on video. So I but I have that exact meter. It’s one of the one I recommend the most to people not that it is. So when it comes to EMF meter. Okay, let me step back. And it’s your question that is an EMF meter that allows you to measure how much EMF there is, wherever you’re holding it. Now when it comes to EMF meters, like if you go on Amazon and look for one, you’ll see a whole bunch like $20, and $30, and $40, and $50. Those are junk, people should not bother with those, they can’t tell you anything, then there’s some that professionals use that cost 1000 2000 3000 5000. Some very sensitive ones that they’ll use in labs can cost 20,000. And even up from there, obviously, those are very good, but they are not practical for people, most people to buy when people ask me what type of EMF meter they should buy, that is one of the ones that I recommend, there are a couple others as well. And that is because for that that meter costs in general about $160. And it measures three types of emf. So it measures the radio frequency like that comes from cell phones, and Wi Fi and laptops. And then it also measures electrical and magnetic, which is the the two types of fields that you want to measure from like power lines and electrical appliances. So for about $160, you can measure all three types of emf that I’m talking about with you today, reasonably accurately. So that is a fantastic meter. And I actually, I have an ebook, which I’m happy to send to you after this explaining how to use it most effective.

Kat Khatibi 22:49
Okay, because I don’t know how to use this. I don’t know where the instruction manual is, either. But I noticed that like I checked next to where he sleeps on the bed, and it was relatively long while I slept in the bed, it was sky high. Wow. And I’m like, I’m the one who has sleep difficulties. He’s out like a light, no problem. But most like what is here.

R Blank 23:12
That’s exactly why I’m such an advocate for people learning how to test because that’s a great example of how you would not have known that unless you took a meter because EMF, which I think everyone already knows, but we didn’t i didn’t explicitly say it’s invisible, it’s odorless, you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, you can’t taste it, you can’t smell it, you have no idea. If you see there’s a Wi Fi router right there, then odds are pretty good that there’s a high level of, but beyond that, particularly when it comes to our homes and what’s in the walls, you have no idea how much there is and the difference of even a couple of feet can make have these huge differences in the actual readings. And so that’s why I am a really big advocate that people buy a meter just like the one your husband did, and learn how to use it because it’s actually not that hard. And then test because in a lot of cases, one example I give is for people in their living room, they’ll use that meter and they’ll go around and they’ll see where their couch is super high. And just a few feet away, it’s way lower. And so they know they can now move their couch and not have to up in their whole life not have to invest you know, 1000s of dollars in protection, they by moving their couch, they are exposing themselves to less EMF radiation. So I applaud you and your husband and for picking the right one. And I’m glad to hear that you’re using it in terms of your bedroom, what could be causing it as you move it around, the levels will change. So where it’s getting higher, that’s the direction from which you’re getting that exposure. It may well be something in the walls, walls often hide these things. electricians don’t most electricians don’t consider EMF emissions when they lay out the wiring in your walls. It could be something on the other side of the wall one it might not be in your case, but one common In one, particularly things like living rooms, is people will have the refrigerator, their kitchen refrigerator, just on the other side of the wall refrigerators can be huge sources of emf. And so something coming through so something coming from within the wall or something coming through the wall, and but you use that meter to track it down.

Kat Khatibi 25:19
Interesting. Unfortunately, I bought one of those, it’s a great couch it has the electronic that goes up makes it lay flat like a bed and super comfortable. But I feel like because it’s electrical, just makes the whole couch light up.

R Blank 25:32
Yeah. So get it to the position you want it in, and then unplug it. And then if you want to adjust it, plug it back in, adjust it and then unplug it. That would be how I would recommend dealing with that.

Kat Khatibi 25:43
Good idea. All right, what are some other ways that one can prevent damage from EMF? Okay, so

R Blank 25:50
great question there. It all comes down to what I call because I’m often asked this question, I call it the two rules, the two key rules of emf protection. So number rule number one is minimize And rule number two is maximize with minimize, you want to minimize your use of emf emitting technology. Now I tell this to a lot of people. And they think I’m advocating that they give up technology. And that is not at all what I’m saying I’m saying to turn it off when you don’t need it. So one example that I just gave you, is unplugging your couch when you’re not actively because when you unplug it, it stops being a source. If you left it plugged in, and you’re not actively readjusting it, you’re getting exposure, but with no actual benefit from that whole thing. So just unplug the couch. Another one that I often tell people and this applies to most people is to turn off the Wi Fi at night, a lot of people won’t give up Wi Fi, you could wire your house with Ethernet, but that’s expensive, it’s difficult. A lot of people aren’t willing to take that step. So instead, I tell people to turn off the Wi Fi at night, because you’re not using it when you’re asleep. There’s no benefit to it being on but you’re getting that exposure for whatever it is hopefully eight hours. But even if it’s six hours, if you turn off the Wi Fi at night, then you’re not getting that exposure. So these are there’s all sorts of ways that people can minimize their use of emf emitting technology without actually negatively impacting their ability to enjoy and benefit from that technology. So that was rule number one is minimized. Rule number two is maximize. And this gets to what you back to what you were saying before with the laptop. With maximize, you want to maximize the distance. And that’s because and when I say distance, I mean between the source of emf in your body. So that’s because the power of emf radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. So if you and your laptop are one inch away, and instead now you and your laptop are two inches away, you’ve cut the power of that exposure by 75%. That’s what an exponential diminishment of power means in real life. So with all of this tech, you want to use it as far away from your body as possible. The example we just said, was not using your laptop in your lap, instead, put it on a table even better put it further away from you and use an external keyboard, a mouse, but any amount of distance really matters. This is also why it is so important that people not carry their phones in their pockets or bras. This is another example by the way of where if you actually read the manual, you’d see the company is telling you the same for instance, in the iPhone manual, there’s a minimum disk minimum distance of separation, that they say that you need to maintain in order to have the levels at what they say the radiation levels that what they say they are, when you’re carrying your phone in your pocket, or even worse up against your head, you are getting as full a dose of that radiation as that device is capable of pushing out. So you want to keep as much distance between your body and your tech as possible. So those are the two key rules, minimize, use and maximize distance. And they’re both free. They’re both easy to implement you and you don’t have to do it perfect. Yes. And you could go down a whole checklist of 100 things that you could do to pick one thing and do it, SEO and then maybe next week, pick a second thing and start doing that. And you can really make a rip. Even as the amount of emf in our environment just grows and grows and grows, you can make a really big difference in your personal exposure and your family’s exposure by implementing those two key roles. My

Kat Khatibi 29:32
husband was working on his laptop one day and it was plugged in because it kept dying and he was working for a long time. So it’s plugged in. I touch his neck and I could feel electricity. And then I started freaking out like okay, this is not good. So then I got him like a wireless keyboard. But I’m thinking isn’t that still doing something?

R Blank 29:53
Yeah, it depends. Odds are you got him a Bluetooth keyboard. Yeah, so a better solution would be in him. Four red keyboard, those are much lower power, but so I am not an advocate of wireless peripherals like keyboards and mice. That said, using a wireless keyboard is almost certainly going to be a smaller source of emf than his computer itself, especially if the computer is plugged in. Because when the computer is plugged in, you’re also channeling your electrical systems EMF right into the device. So a plugged in laptop emits more EMF than a laptop just running off of battery. So you but you have you actually you have to, thankfully, you have the trifield. So you can verify my guess. But my guess is the Bluetooth keyboard would emit less EMF than the laptop itself, especially if the laptop is plugged in. But an infrared wireless keyboard would be even less than the Bluetooth. Okay, good

Kat Khatibi 30:53
to know, I didn’t even know that was a thing. Yeah,

R Blank 30:55
I didn’t either until a few months ago, but you’d be surprised with things you’d come across in my little corner of the world.

Kat Khatibi 31:03
So what are your thoughts on smart meters on the homes?

R Blank 31:07
It’s an example. Everything is becoming smart. And when I say smart, I don’t mean actually smart. It has the name smart. Because what smart means is it’s just communicating wirelessly. And in some extreme cases, they have smart hairbrushes now, and smart kitty litter boxes, there’s even Oh God, I hate to even say there’s even a smart tampon on the market. And all of these things becoming smart. It’s such a silly pun, but it’s so stupid. Like, I keep trying to think why would I even want a smart fridge Do I really not know what to order when or to buy when I go to the grocery store Do I really need this was that a need in my life that was missing before Samsung released a smart for I don’t think it was. So there’s just this drive to turn everything into smart meaning wireless, because there’s this implicit assumption that not only is it safe, but it’s better. As soon as you turn any take any analog or dumb device and put up a Wi Fi or Bluetooth chip in it, it’s gonna be a better device and a better experience. And I don’t subscribe to that I do believe there are some smart devices that depending on your lifestyle can add value might not be the most common example if you have if you run an Airbnb, and you need to be able to manage the law from wherever you are. So you can change the code. Or you can just lock everyone out or right that’s a great that. And that saves you two hours of driving back and forth to the rental or coordinating with the visitors. That’s a great use case right there where that does actually add value and go for it. But everyone is not everyone, a lot of people are just buying the next smart thing, because it’s being marketed to them. And there’s this just this implicit assumption, as I say that it’s safe, and that it adds value. And it’s so many of these cases it does not add value. When it comes to smart meters, there’s the promise that it leads to a smarter where we are using allocating energy more intelligently, more efficiently, you won’t your even your costs will go down because of this, I have yet to see that actually play out in any meaningful way based on any reporting of the smart grid. That is not something that I see happening. So the promise of smart meters has yet to reveal itself. And what you’re doing is you’re mounting a basically a cell phone on your house that’s running 24 hours a day. And and it’s constantly sending out the signals to a base station. And in a lot of cases not everywhere. But in a lot of cases you don’t even have a choice, because they’re actually mandating it. I’ve spoken to I don’t memorize all the regulations around the world. But I remember speaking to a woman in Australia, who was cut off by her power company, because she refused the smart meter. I speak to other people who just have to pay, I think, what five or $10 a month extra to opt out and they’re happy to do it. So it all depends on where you live. But what you’ll be allowed to do whether you can opt out, or whether you’re stuck with it. It is it is a yet another source and it is a one of the it is a powerful source. When I say it’s like a cell phone. Some people might think oh, that’s nothing I carry one around in my pocket, hey, you shouldn’t be these cell phones. Remember, they have enough EMF they have to communicate for miles and miles. These are really powerful devices. These are not just these innocuous little things. And so when I say it has it’s like having a cell phone mounted to your house constantly going that’s actually a serious amount of this radiation. And so I know I was all over the place there but it’s a deep issue. With with a lot of intersecting considerations, like I said, EMF exposure, the fact that it’s a smart device that isn’t actually doing what they promised it would do, the fact that some people don’t have any choice in the matter. It is it is a it is certainly a negative development, at least from my perspective, if if it had shown some of the promise that they promised us to that, then the evaluation could be a little bit different. But if this goes to what I was saying before, which is don’t just like the smart fridge, what do I really need it for? Don’t just get a smart device, because it’s smart, and you think it’s cooler, think about whether it actually adds value to your life, because it is going to increase your health risk. That doesn’t mean you don’t do it, it means you really have to engage in this mindful process of is this worth it to me, we all do things that increase our health risks all the time we go driving increases our risk of dying, and only a certain amount, and we decide you know what, it’s worth it to get to work, or to go shopping, or whatever it is, I’ve heard of

Kat Khatibi 36:05
these EMF blocking paints and roofs that you can buy, do those actually work? Wouldn’t that mean that you can’t operate anything in your home?

R Blank 36:15
So yes, and yes. So that there might be brands out there that I don’t know about that don’t work. But in general of emf shielding paint, for instance, is is a real technology, the big seller of that is a company called y shield, the letter Y dash shield. And it does really work EMF shield, which is what my products are also based in. That is a well established, universally accepted area of science, it goes back to the 1800s when Michael Faraday, a British scientist created the Faraday cage. And he showed that if you weave conductive metals into a certain pattern, you can deflect EMF radiation. And so that’s what this paint that you’re talking about what it does, in terms of the roofs, I don’t know offhand which one you’re talking about. But the technology is sound, so I have no reason to think that isn’t a real product. And so yes, they really do work. Now, that gets to your second question, or the second half of that question, which is, doesn’t it impact the devices inside the house? Yes, it certainly does. And this is why I don’t discourage people from doing what I call home shielding, because if someone wants to do it, they should certainly do it. But a, you’re going to need a consultant to make sure you do it right. Because if you miss any gaps, or it can have also it can have all sorts of negative impact on your actual exposure. But the other side of that is you need to alter your lifestyle in that house. Because you can’t use your cell phone, you can’t use your Wi Fi, it’ll actually increase your exposures. And now the equations a little different. If you’re talking about for instance, just painting a wall, let’s say in the example you gave me earlier, where with your bed, and you discover that the sore that of your half of the bed is just on the other side of the wall, then maybe it makes sense to just paint the wall. And that would help address the problem. So you can use you don’t need to shield your entire house in order to make use of these things. And like I said, Why shield paint, you could use it just on one wall and deflect radiation away from where you’re spending your time. But anyone who’s thinking of anything like that, again, I strongly recommend engaging the services of an EMF consultant because you really want to make sure you’re doing

Kat Khatibi 38:34
so would it be wise to say use EMF blocking paint behind your refrigerator, or you’re saying you need a consultant so is there like a bad effect like you’re deflecting it maybe too much in one direction?

R Blank 38:46
Yep, you could, you also have to make sure you’re handling the grounding properly. Because if you’re shielding against particularly electric fields you do so in many instances, for instance, that paint that you were talking about it needs to be grounded in which means it needs to be plugged into you know that that third round, plug in your outlet and doing that knowing if you have to do it and doing it correctly, are things that the mF consultant like one certified by the building biology Institute, they have a whole team all around the US and all around the world independent consultants that that are certified in this particular type of thing. And they would be I struck like you could do it without a consultant but I strongly recommend using

Kat Khatibi 39:27
I heard that when you plug in, let’s say like your hair, blow dryer, whatever, you when you plug that in, and you leave it plugged in and walk away it’s still like getting energy so it could still be doing something and that if you get one of those strips, or restricting their surge protecting strips and plug it in there and they have an on off switch, it’ll stop it there. Do you think that would be like to use your appliances and stuff with one of

R Blank 39:50
those with any device like that. So in the example you gave, I, you really need to use that meter that you got and measure To see if it’s really actually a significant source, it could be. So even I’m saying even when it’s off, if it remains to be a significant source, it could be, it could also not be a lot of these products, they’ll just vary based on how they’re wired and how they’re set up. But in general, plugging as much into a strip and then just turning it off, that is a fantastic solution. Also, when it comes to hair dryers, there are low EMF hair dryers. The thing with a hairdryer is the motor, the big source from a hairdryer is the motor. And most hair dryers, when you use the motor is positioned very close to your head, because that’s how they’re designed. But there’s other hair dryers where you can keep the motor much further from your head. And you’re basically just holding an air hose up to your head. And so for people who are concerned about that, as you can see, it’s not a really pressing issue for me. But for people who are concerned about it, there are that’s that is a product where there are low EMF options available.

Kat Khatibi 41:00
Okay, good to know, let’s talk about some of your products. I’m interested in your flex shields. So where would I get the best bang for my buck for that, should I put it, maybe put them behind the TV behind the router? What are some examples of where you would use that?

R Blank 41:19
Sure. So that’s and thank you for asking about that. That’s one of my products where, where you really do need to think about how you’re going to use it, right. So for instance, on my phone pouch, you just put your phone in it. And that’s how you use it and the laptop pad, you just put your laptop on it. And that’s how you use it. With the flex shields, you really need to know where you’re going to use it. A good example for that could be Oh, and so I guess I should explain since this is a podcast, the flex shield is a product that’s you can think of it like a sticker, each shield is six inches by six inches, and it has adhesive on the back. So you can just put it on any flat surface. So you could put it on a wall, you could put it on a table or a desk, and it forms an EMF blocker. And and it comes in a pack of four so you can get a 12 with each pack, you can get a 12 by 12 area. And so let’s say you live in an apartment building and your neighbor has a Wi Fi router on the other side of the wall, that is a good opportunity for you to use a product like the flex shield, and you put it on your side of the wall immediately opposite where your neighbor’s Wi Fi router is. Another good example would be for smart meters. If a smart meter is mounted outside of your house, you can put the flex shield on the inside wall opposite the smart meter. The thing with the flex shield is you always have to make sure that the area you’re covering is at least as big as the source that you’re blocking against. So it’s like a I mean EMF shields work like a window shade, except instead of blocking sunlight or visible light, they’re blocking EMF, so you need it to be at least as big as the source that you are protecting.

Kat Khatibi 42:58
So if it’s a little bit smaller, what does that mean? It’ll get through anyways.

R Blank 43:03
So it’ll still work as a protection solution, but it won’t be as effective more we’ll get around then then it would have you mate covered a larger area.

Kat Khatibi 43:13
Okay, I’ve heard of the these tube headsets and I think you sell them as well. But some people say that they don’t work. You can’t hear anything. So like how do they work? And how is the volume? Sure.

R Blank 43:26
Do I have? No I don’t I’m sorry. I thought I had Oh wait, I do so air tube headsets. Okay, so let’s start with the problem that they’re trying to solve. I told you earlier, right, never hold your phone up to your head. And so the options are speaker phone or using a headset. speakerphone isn’t always useful. Like if you’re out in public, or if you’re trying to listen to this podcast, it might not be great. So that leaves headsets. And I want to tell everyone that standard headsets are like the headset that came with your phone. That is way safer to use than holding the phone up to your head. So even if you don’t have air tubes, keep using the headset that you have because that is way safer than holding a phone up to your head. But there is an issue with standard headsets. And that is they are made with wire and wire conducts EMF. So when you plug a headset into your phone or into your laptop or into your tablet, the headset will conduct a small portion of that device’s radiation up into your ear canal which is obviously right next to your brain and your auditory nerve. So that’s where air tubes come in. And with air tubes and it depends on the specific model exactly where this happens. But they’ll all have a something like this bead that you see here. And so before the bead it’s wire and after the bead it is a silicone tube. So from here up into your head, there’s no more wire the EMF does not get conducted. So in this bead, the sound gets converted from an electrical signal to actual audio volume and it pumps the sound through the tube into your ear. That’s how it works. They do work some brands have are just lower quality than others they can break. So in terms of not being able to hear anything that’s a faulty, that would be a faulty unit that if it’s actually working, then you’d hear something. But that said, their sound quality isn’t fancy, even the best air tubes possible, they’re not going to match the sound quality of a standard headset. And that’s I recommend them for talking on the phone, for listening to podcasts, even possibly playing games, stuff like that. But if you want to listen to music, it’s probably going to be a less than satisfying experience, which is why I have the separate solution which we call the heart which is also on my website. That stands for headset anti radiation device. I have one here, but it’s plugged, I’m using it. So I can’t really show but I can see Okay, cool. So what you do is you plug the heart into your phone or your laptop or and then you plug your standard headset like the one I’m using here into the heart has a sack of dielectric gel in there, which lab we have laboratory testing shows, it filters out that stray radiation from the signal. So if you’re looking to actually have a higher quality experience with radiation protection, then I definitely recommend the heart. But the headsets remain a very popular product. We’ve been selling them now for I guess five years and they remain a very popular product. But we have both options.

Kat Khatibi 46:43
Okay. I don’t know if you can answer this question. But I’m wondering maybe you can there’s these little black clips that you clip over wires? Oh, I

R Blank 46:52
think you’re right beads.

Kat Khatibi 46:54
Yeah. What are those for EMF.

R Blank 46:58
The claim with ferrite beads is very similar to what I explained about my my heart device. Except I have yet I have not seen any science or laboratory reports to bear out those claims, or the claim of ferrite beads is that they do what I just described, my heart does, but I don’t I haven’t seen any laboratory science or reports that actually supports those claims. And you’ll find that a lot with EMF protection, because there’s all sorts of kinds of protection, like we’ve been talking about shielding, because that’s the kind of product that I make. And that one is easy to show in a lab. And you can even do it the tests yourself at home with the the meter, the trifield that you have. But then there’s other types of emf protection that have claims that are difficult to verify sometimes even to understand exactly even what they’re saying it does. So you’ll see that it’s unfortunate, but sometimes that can actually work. I can’t know for sure, but I have people tell me that Oh, I got such and such a product, and I’m sleeping so much better now. Or my anxiety went away or my rash went away or whatever it is. And I say great, keep using it. But it’s hard for me, you know, to actually evaluate a product if it doesn’t have a testable claim associated with it. And so that’s why whenever I’m talking to people, I always, even if they’re not going to come to shield your body for a product, I always recommend that they should go for a product that has testable claims and has laboratory data to support those claims.

Kat Khatibi 48:30
Okay, you also have a pocket pack on your website. So because the other option for a cellphone would be the pouch and that’s a little bit too big for what I would carry around right as a girl who doesn’t put it in her pocket but does a patch work the same or is it less than the phone shield,

R Blank 48:49
it works the same, the different and it’s actually a little bit of my heart for that allocated for that part that was my first product and that was back in 2013. I released the phone the pocket patch and what you do is you stick it on the back of a pocket so basically you turn your trousers or your skirt or your jacket or your shirt, whatever pocket you’re trying to shield and you turn it inside out and apply that patch to the inside. And it’s a permanent adhesive so you’re permanently turning that that pocket into a cellphone radiation shield. And then it makes it safer to carry your phone in whichever pocket you have shield and it works great. Couple of the differences one as I just said it’s permanent, it’s a permanent applique so you’re making that pocket radiation shield but if you were not sure tomorrow but you have to put a patch on that one as well but it’s all Another difference is that it is the shielding material itself is made with a hypoallergenic cotton base. Because in the foam pouch, the shielding doesn’t come in contact with your skin. So we use a different shielding material in the pocket patch it can come into contact with your skin. So we use a very high grade cotton as the base along with silver as the shielding age. So it is it’s a very nice quality shielding fabric. And that’s how it works. And yeah, it is laboratory data shows it’s just as effective as the phone pouch.

Kat Khatibi 50:09
Okay, nice. Are there any other maybe habits that I’m not thinking about wireless like Bluetooth, like any switches that we can make that maybe we haven’t mentioned,

R Blank 50:21
that can make a really big difference. If you this? Well, I would strongly recommend that everyone learn how to test so get a decent meter. If you care about EMF, you should get a decent meter and learn how to use it. Because that’s the only way you’re going to know how much there is. If you discover for instance, that there’s a high level in your bedroom. One thing that we tell people they can do right away, again, without costing any money is to de power de energize their bedroom. And that’s by going to the circuit breaker and turning off the circuit that powers your bedroom or circuits depending on on how your house is wired, that will cut off all of the wiring in your bedroom. And it will it basically unless you’re you’re getting EMF from neighbors or nearby power lines will cut off all the EMF that your house itself is emitting into your bedroom. And if you find that helps you sleep better, or makes it easier to fall asleep, or you just wake up feeling better, then what you can do is call an electrician and have them install a kill switch. Because that’s safer than just doing that every single day. circuit breakers aren’t really designed to be flipped back and forth every single day. But you can test yourself by just turning off the circuit for a few nights and seeing if that helps. That’s a really good one. Stay away from Bluetooth headsets. These are becoming they’ve been around for a long time, especially since Apple released the air pods. And

Kat Khatibi 51:46
before we go, I wanted to ask you another question. What are your thoughts on Elan musk and his starlink beaming internet all over the world?

R Blank 51:54
As you might imagine, I have some serious concerns about this. And they’re not the only one I forget all the project names. But Amazon has a an equivalent project Facebook has an equivalent project. Obviously broadband is incredibly important to participate in modern society. And there are places and I used to live in one where it’s either underserved or totally unserved by broadband. And for people who live in those places. They’re being excluded from modern society in a way that I think a lot of urban dwellers maybe don’t fully appreciate. And that’s true, you say that you think of sub Saharan Africa, but it’s true and big chunks of the US. And so that is a problem that needs a solution. The issue with starlink and others is that it is again being done without any consideration for the the health effects that will result from these exposures and you’re talking about adding radiation to parts of the world that right now are the only refuge for people with EHS the condition we discussed earlier. So I feel it like a lot of what Elan musk does is it is a clever solution to a serious problem that is done without full consideration of the impact.

Kat Khatibi 53:08
Agreed. So tell us about your free EMF protection guide

R Blank 53:14
sure any of your listeners who are interested you we talked about a couple of these ways that people can reduce their exposure and decrease their health risk. And we talked about a couple of them I have a guide with several that goes into detail not explains the those techniques, but it also goes into detail about why they work and why they are some of the most important ones to address in terms of your relationship with your cell phone or your laptop or Wi Fi and that’s a free download. It’s not just a two page infographic it’s it’s a real guide that has helped a lot of people. And it’s available for free for anyone who goes to shield your body comm slash caca TV. And right there at the very top of the page, there’s a button get get the guide, and you just enter your email address and it’s emailed to you and that’s a really good place for people to start. That is because it’s just we’ve talked about I sell, I make and sell EMF protection products. But even I don’t go around saying that’s what you need that the place to start is making these changes in your life that can make a really big difference in your exposure.

Kat Khatibi 54:16
So where can everyone find you online or then your website which social media platforms are you most active on,

R Blank 54:23
so most active on YouTube, so that’s youtube.com slash shield your body. We have a lot of great videos up there, webinars, instructional videos, some really good content on YouTube, that’s also Facebook and Instagram, we’re shield your body all one word so that we’re on both platforms we we share all of our content to both of those. So those would be the three YouTube first and then Facebook and Instagram Second.

Kat Khatibi 54:45
Okay, so awesome. So thank you again for your time. Thank you. We’ll also put everything in the show notes so everyone can go check it out.

R Blank 54:52
It’s been a real pleasure. I really appreciate you making the time to have me come in. I thank you so much.

Kat Khatibi 54:58
Thank you. Thank you for listening. To the show, please show your support for the podcast by leaving a five star review. Learn more about the show and what I have to offer you at caca tv.com consider being a part of the new Patreon where episodes are ad free and you’ll find extra bonus content send a voicemail question or emailed me check the show notes for more information. I had an episode a while back with Dr. Mona for whom of feminine essence and we spoke about feminine essence maca harmony and their maca products. And if you’re a woman who’s ever had hormonal imbalances, if you’re trying to come off the birth control pill, or even if you’re going through menopause, this is a natural way to help ease that transition and to help balance your hormones there is nothing quite like it. So go to feminists and stuff calm enter code Kat 15k T one five for 15% off any of their single pack products and definitely go check out that episode just search for Moana for whom on my podcast and listen, you won’t regret it. This podcast is for informational merrymaking and metaphysical purposes only statements and views are not medical advice. This podcast including caca TV disclaim any adverse effects by the use of information you may have heard, opinions of guests are totally their own. This podcast is not endorsed statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications, abilities or sanity. Individuals may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to on the podcast. If you think you have a medical problem, consult with a licensed medical physician, not just the spirit of your ancestors while on io aashka

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R Blank, SYB Founder

I take pride in designing great, effective products, based on real, measurable science – AND taking the time to ensure that each and every one of you has the information you need to understand EMF and make informed decisions.

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R Blank

R Blank
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