Dr. Holly Lucille, ND, RN, is a nationally recognized and licensed naturopathic doctor, educator, natural products consultant, and television and radio host. She is also the author of several books including Creating and Maintaining Balance: A Women’s Guide to Safe, Natural, Hormone Health and The Healing Power of Trauma Comfrey.
In her Mindful Medicine podcast, Dr. Holly Lucille breaks down the myths and misconceptions about health and health related topics in an articulate, passionate and humorous way.
In this episode, our CEO R Blank chats with Dr. Holly about into 5G, EMF, and all of the active and passive ways this radiation is permeating your body.
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Unknown Speaker 0:01
This is Dr. Holly Lucy’s mindful medicine. Here’s Dr. Holly Lucille.
Dr. Holly Lucille 0:08
Well, hello mindful listeners it is Dr. Holly’s Lucille here for mindful medicine. It is so nice to be with you again, listen, I want to talk about the subject so bad and I’m so happy we have this guest I all the time when I’m working with people in my clinical practice, talk and educate about environmental toxins, you know, how can we reduce exposure as much as possible with the things that we have control over things like, you know, getting to understand what’s organic, and I often cite Ew, g.org, which is environmental working group, because you can find the clean 15, the Dirty Dozen, also a cosmetic database, the stuff that we put on our skin, right? We want to reduce as much as the toxins as we can. But what are the what do we do about the things that are more passive in our environment, things like 5g, things like EMF Well, this gentleman that I’m going to bring to the top of the show right away because we got so much to talk about is the guy to talk about. His name is R blank. He’s the CEO of shield your body. He has written a book, it’s a best selling book with his dad, Dr. Martin blanc called overpowered. And he is one Dr. Martin Blanc is one of the world’s leading EMF scientists. So this all runs in the family. R blank. Welcome to the show.
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R Blank 1:25
Thank you so much, Dr. Holly, it’s a pleasure to be here. Yeah,
Dr. Holly Lucille 1:28
it is so great to have you. So you know, when I was I really want the listeners to understand the harm the harm about 5g, I know that when technology advances, and shoot, I got it, I think I was offered a brand new phone for free if you can just upgrade to 5g. And everybody gets really excited about it. And technology is advancing and things are faster. And you know, we can hear better and clearer and further and all of these things. But there is a downfall to this isn’t there?
R Blank 2:02
Yeah, there certainly is. So I mean, there’s there’s there’s a lot to unpack in that set of beliefs and assumptions that you just you just were talking about of So just as a starting point, 5g is the fifth generation of cellphone networks. That’s where it gets its name 5g. So we just were coming off of 4g, before that there was 3g. And what’s different about 5g, there’s a couple of key things. One is that it uses a different set of frequencies to communicate. So what do I mean by that? All wireless technology communicates using this invisible form of radiation called EMF, which stands for electromagnetic fields. And there’s vibrate, different types of EMF vibrate at different frequencies. And so 5g is using a whole bunch of new frequencies that have never before been used in consumer applications. So it’s totally different from 4g, from Wi Fi, from Bluetooth from radio, all of that. And there’s been some concern that there’s been no long term testing into what the health effects of these new frequencies are. And just so everyone understands pretty clearly, and I think your listeners won’t be surprised by this. But that’s exactly how all of this technology is rolled out. It’s rolled out without any long term testing. The long term testing happens in after the rollout. And we are the study subjects, we are in effect, the lab rats. That said, 5g, while it uses these different frequencies, these are still forms of EMF radiation. And we now have decades and decades of research, numbering 1000s of studies and continually growing into what the effects of prior generations of this tech type of technology have been. And by prior generations, I’m referring not only to 4g, and 3g, but to Wi Fi, to Bluetooth to radio, to cordless phones, to radar and television, which now go back quite some time. And we see that there are a wide wide range of negative health effects that result from exposure to this stuff. These are not generally the type of health effects that manifest after five minutes, but maybe after a year, or five years or 10 years. Some do actually manifest after very short exposures, though. So when I’m talking about a wide range, I’m talking about issues such as anxiety and sleep disruption, both of which increase as a result of exposure to these forces, all the way up to multiple types of cancer and brain tumors. But not brain tumors are the ones that get the big biggest headlines, because they’re kind of terrifying. But we see these links in thyroid cancer, in prostate cancer, in colorectal cancer, in breast cancer, in melanoma, all sorts
Dr. Holly Lucille 4:50
it’s interesting, because those would be end results right of of influencing these factors influencing the body, but I can imagine that it’s creating a mess A bollock disorder and a mitochondrial disorder, that then those cells have a hard time, you know, doing their job creating ATP. And then, you know, they’re they’ve got signaling that’s gone wrong, and you’ve got tumor suppressor genes that are probably turned off. And that’s where then this process happens in the end result is a devastating diagnosis.
R Blank 5:23
Yes, exactly correct. So, there are several mechanisms that have been studied two of the what I believe are perhaps the among the most important one is, as you mentioned, DNA. So there’s there’s research now going back decades, some of the most important studies which have now been replicated multiple times were conducted in the 1990s. These were using cordless phones, which are very similar to cell phones in terms of the irradiation. And what they found doctors, Henry Lyon, Narendra Singh, what they found is that even short term exposure to cordless phone radiation lead to increase is notable increases in DNA strand breaks. And that’s where the information in your DNA is actually broken apart by the force of the radiation. And what that does, if both DNA strands break, then the cell kills itself, which in many ways is actually the preferred outcome. Because if only one strand breaks, the cell will attempt to re reconstruct that broken strand from the information in the other strand. And that’s the process through which mutations can occur. And when those mutations occur, those are totally unpredictable. And those can lead to the types of damage that that can that can result in, in tumors over over an extended period of time. The second mechanism I would point out is, involves something called the voltage gated calcium channels. And that’s these little little channels on your cells that regulate how much calcium gets into each cell. And research by Dr. Martin Paul has shown that EMF exposure, influence well influences or harms these vgccs, the voltage gated calcium channels, allowing too much calcium into cells, which leads to oxidative stress, which then leads to the accumulation of free radicals, and all the damage that can result from those. So those are just two of the mechanisms that are quite well researched at this point. And that, that, that those are the types of I guess, the precursors to the bigger sets of damage and disease that that I was talking about. Earlier,
Dr. Holly Lucille 7:32
it’s interesting that you bring this up, because I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I can say, Gosh, it’s been now I used to say last year, but it’s been now the year before, and post my diagnosis and treatment. One of the things that my integrative oncologist, you know, one of the things we’re doing is definitely taking up the amount of my environment and you know, being aware of how I protect myself from my own EMFs, and 5g, and I’ve got bells and whistles and all things to do that. And I know that your your company, shield your body, your mission is to make technology safer. And with everything that you’ve explained so lovely that I think people can really digest easily. What are the things that we can do? Because it’s out there, 5g is like swift during the nation. And as you said, not only is it’s the new technology or the fifth generation, right, but we still have radio and television and Bluetooth and all the other things. So I bet there’s like a synergistic influence on our body. And it makes it more important for us to do things like I said, we can choose organic, we can choose eco friendly health and beauty aides or cleaning supplies, we can grow our own food, we can do a lot of things that we do have control over, how can we have a little bit more control over this.
R Blank 9:04
So yeah, and obviously speaking with someone like you, I don’t have to underscore just quite how many toxins there are in the modern world that we are all exposed to all the time. But EMF does have different characteristics for many of the other toxins that pollute and characterize our modern environments. So one is that if you actually shut off the source of EMF, the EMF goes away. Now in today’s world, you couldn’t just shut off all sources of EMF, because those are the things that power the modern economy, the modern society, you’d have to go back to a world that looks something more like 1850 to get to a world without any human made EMF. But that said, another characteristic of EMF is that the power of the EMF diminishes exponentially with distance. And what does that mean? It means if you have a cell phone an inch weight from your body, and you move it to two inches away from your body, the power of that exposure is cut by 75%. So that is that that is a very important characteristic of EMF, which is why, even though there is so much emf in our environment, and it is growing continually, at almost exponential rates, if not actual exponential rates every year, because of the number of different sources that are being deployed into our environments, despite all of that, it can be what you do with the sources closest to your body, that can make the biggest difference. So, whereas you can’t just go out and shut down the cell towers, you know, the five cell towers that you see from your home or your apartment, you can’t do anything about those, right, what you can do is stop carrying your phone in your pocket, what you can do is never use your laptop in your lap, what you can do is never hold your cell phone up to your head. And in those three examples I’ve just given you, you can make a huge difference in your own personal level of exposure. The other side of that is you can also opt out of introducing more of these sources into your immediate environment. And what I’m talking about there is the stuff, you know all of this smart tech that is being developed and released and marketed. So it never used to be that you’re your lock on your front door was a source of EMF, it never used to be that your kitty litter box was a source of EMF, right, but now they have smart locks and smart kitty litter boxes, they have smart hairbrushes they even now have smart tampons, there are so many of these smart devices and each one, it’s not just that it’s a source of EMF, it’s that it’s an additional source of EMF because this is all comes as you pointed out, in addition to everything that we are already exposed to. And if just for some context for people, I don’t know, every every one of your listeners will be a different age. So their their answer to this question will be different. But just step back and think what your bedroom looked like when you were six years old. Just look around. And how many sources of EMF were in that bedroom. When I was growing up? I can’t think of one. Actually not even one. I mean other than, of course, you know the wiring in the room. Because we all run off. Every I grew up in a house with electric power. But I’m talking about all of these devices. So my alarm clock was battery powered, that was not plugged into the wall, I didn’t have a TV, I did have a radio. So that would have been a small source. But if I now step out into what an average child’s room looks like, today, you’re looking at, you know, maybe they have a phone line, maybe they probably have a cell phone, maybe they have a tablet, maybe they have a computer, maybe they have an Alexa, maybe they have all of these different things. And that’s what they’re just exposed to in their own room. And that is the sort of the scale of growth of these technologies that we we have been seeing. And that continues.
Dr. Holly Lucille 13:12
Those tips. I mean, like you said, just I mean, when you said it, I actually picked my phone up and I moved it three inches away from me. Those are those are great tips. But also, there are accessories Correct. Like I told you before the show, like when you and I were just chatting. So I have a sleeve on my phone that is supposedly, you know, protecting the fields, the electric magnetic fields, that I can actually talk to you so I can put it on my head. And it’s I’m not having that exposure. I also wear something on my risk. And I actually wear a necklace as well. Can you talk about? I mean, can you talk about those accessories that people can actually purchase and help them protect themselves even more?
R Blank 14:01
Sure. So at shield your body, we focus on two key things, one of which is education, like the information I’ve been sharing with you. And that is because a EMF is kind of a sometimes a complex, definitely a foreign concept to many people. So it’s important to educate, but also because it is important for people to understand that the best forms of defense against EMF are behavioral. They involve your personal relationship with technology in your lives that is under your control. And so that’s what that’s what we started out talking about.
Dr. Holly Lucille 14:34
Yeah. And it’s so fun because at the top of the show, I was like, Hey, these are things are out of your control. But actually, you’re just shining and illuminating the light that we have now. Things that we can do and bring them back in our control. And that’s that’s what’s most exciting.
R Blank 14:49
Oh, well, I’m glad you picked up on that because that’s what I like. I like to hear that from people. So then the other thing we do at sy B is we create law laboratory tested EMF protection products. And while the best and most important things that you can do to protect yourself are your personal behavior with technology, your personal relationship with technology, EMF protection products are an important tool, they are the, what I call the second line of defense, because some exposures are unavoidable, like the ones from the nearby cell towers or your neighbor’s Wi Fi networks. And some may be avoidable, but not practically. So So maybe, you know, you know, you shouldn’t carry your phone in your pocket, but you need your phone on for work and you don’t have anywhere else to carry it. So that so you have exposed exposures that are unavoidable or you prefer not to avoid and that’s where EMF protection products come in. Now, if your listeners go out, and just Google EMF protection product, there will be a huge variety of options available. And you know, this is not a regulated like like many sectors, this is not a regulated sector. So people have all these different types of products. EMF is a very kind of poorly understood concept by a lot of people so they don’t know what to look for. There are a lot of different kinds of this protection, the kind that we make at sy B R, R type of shielding protection. And what do I mean by shielding? Well, EMF shielding works to deflect EMF radiation in the opposite direction, just like a window shade deflects sunlight away from your window. And this is based on technology. It’s now almost 200 years old, created invented by a British scientist named Michael Faraday, which is where some of your listeners may may be familiar with the term Faraday cage, he invented the Faraday cage. And what he showed is that if you weave conductive metals into certain patterns, you can deflect EMF radiation. And in the intervening 200 years, technology has advanced so that you don’t need like this big gated fence kind of structure to do it, you can actually weave microscopic metallic fibers into fabrics. And so that’s what we use in our products are these these EMF shielding fabrics, and we put them into, for instance, a phone pouch or into our baseball cap or into a baby blanket. And these to work to shield your body from harmful EMF radiation by deflecting the EMF radiation in the other direction. Now, unlike many types of EMF protection, ours are not only based on universally accepted science, that are also laboratory tested to do what we claim they do. And we also provide a lot of educational materials so that if people were willing to go out and buy a decent $160 EMF meter, we show them how they can use that meter to prove to themselves that my products are doing exactly what we claim they’re doing. So we have this catalog of electronics, accessories, apparel, and bed canopies, all featuring EMF laboratory tested EMF shielding that that and that’s how they work to protect you from these forces.
Dr. Holly Lucille 18:11
I love it. I mean, I think it’s so important, I have to tell you this. This is way back over 20 years ago, early on in my practice, there’s a woman who is still in my life today, she was a patient, she claims that I diagnosed her breast cancer. But the reason that I was able to do that was because she came in and guess where she was wearing her phone in her bra in her bra. And that was like back in the day. Right? When and and I had to tell you, I can’t tell you the amount of times after that experience, because I don’t think I mean, I think this is a whole part about this podcast, right? Mindful medicine. So can we be more mindful about things and, and for me, even knowing what I know, there was so much when I got into this space that I didn’t know. And folks, honestly, when you go to shield your body.com, or what are says s YB for a short, they’re inputting your email, you get a free download, and that’s going to help you with that behavioral change. So that’s important. But then because I think it’s so pervasive, it’s so great that there are things that you can actually purchase and bring this whole situation back in your control. And what I was going to say is, I can’t tell you, I mean, I probably over 100 times in the last 20 years, what I see a woman like on a hiking trail, or in a mall or you know, while I was on vacation, having her phone in her bra and or in her pants right by her ovaries where I would have to just risk it and go up to a stranger and say, Listen, I don’t mean to bother you, but then I would tell her the story. And so hopefully, you know, those little nudges for folks could increase awareness because I think it’s just a matter of habit right? We just Let’s just put it there. But now there are things and apparel that you can get where you can actually enjoy, you know, the, the the technology that we do have and the benefits that we get from it and mitigate the harm it does to our bodies.
R Blank 20:13
Yes, that’s exactly right. I, I agree fully with what you were just talking about.
Dr. Holly Lucille 20:19
Talk to me a little bit about because you mentioned like baby blankets. I want to talk about EMF and children because I am not kidding you. This was about a month ago, I saw a baby carriage right, just being pushed by a mom down the street. And it was a lovely day, you know, here in Southern California was probably 76 degrees. The sun was out wasn’t too hot, wasn’t too cold, you know, the birds were chirping. And this toddler who was in the in the carriage being pushed, wasn’t looking around and taking in the scenery. Or, you know, the squirrels on the wires or nature or anything like that. The toddler had a phone in front of his face in his hands and was playing games on a phone while it while they’re outside and I’m telling the story, because usually, I would think you’d go outside to be outside, right. And then you’ve got a parent that sticks this phone, in the kids possession to just stare at and be influenced by no matter what that was on the screen. But the screen itself and the the device itself. It was just, it was just unbelievable to me.
R Blank 21:45
Yeah, so I mean, and I know fully what you’re talking about in terms of all humans are. Or certainly, you know, those who live in the developed world are continually using and engaging with technology and more and more of their lives. And children are no exception. The the the risks with children, though, and this is I think what might have been originally asking about are much greater, the younger you are the risk of damage from the same EMF exposure is much greater. So teens are more vulnerable than adults, children are more vulnerable than teens, babies are more vulnerable than children, and in utero, your most vulnerable of all. Now there are a few reasons for this. I mean, one is that children are just smaller, and the when so if you think of there’s a certain there’s an amount of radiation from a phone, and that that penetrates, let’s say an inch into your brain, on a child with a smaller brain that will cover much, much more of the brain. So a higher percentage of their brain would be exposed. But that’s not the only difference. There are other differences. One is that the younger you are, the faster, the more rapid the rate of cell division, because that’s how you grow your cells divide. So any damage to a cell will replicate much more rapidly. And of course, children have much longer to live with the damage so that there’s more time for the damage to accumulate and manifest as disease. And those are just a few there’s there’s others that get into more physiological characteristics. But with the science clearly shows that the younger you are, the more vulnerable you are to damage from these exposures.
Dr. Holly Lucille 23:37
So gosh, it makes all the sense in the world to start preventing this damage, especially because we’re using technology more and more as soon as possible. And I see like, you know, I think you make such a great point. How many times people like they’re called laptops, right? Where do you put them on your lap?
R Blank 23:55
Well, I’ll give. I’ll give a good example of this too, because not everyone calls them laptops anymore, like Apple doesn’t, but Dell still does. And if you open the Dell manual that comes with the laptops, that the product they call a laptop, it says you need an eight inch separation between the device and your body to use it safely. But they still call the product a laptop. But that’s an example of a lot of these products. If you actually read the manual, you’ll find some really sniffy kind of disclaimers in there. Another another one is Apple iPhones, where if you read the manuals, it calls for a minimum distance of separation between the device and your body, but they’re literally designed to be used up against your head. But if you read the manual, it says don’t do that. But going on there. Yeah, exactly. We told you Yeah.
Dr. Holly Lucille 24:51
We told you that you should have it across the room. But yeah, and so you know, you have on your site, and I have in front of me underneath my laptop is a pad. And that pad is designed to protect me if I do take my laptop, you know, away from my desk that I’m working on, and I take it, you know, in front of the once again, where would you take it maybe in front of the television where you’re getting, you know, another you no influencing factor that is somewhat quote unquote passive. But I mean, you bring such great points to this, because I think that there’s a lot of boycotting when 5g came out, and people weren’t understanding that. And I think that you talked about it so eloquently that listen, this is causing cellular damage, and then that cellular damage, makes our metabolic resilience decrease and disease processes can ensue. And then, like I said, you know, you can end up with a diagnosis, like any sort of cancer, but hey, I always think, what’s the mechanism behind the diagnosis? What happened? What soil, you know, got tainted, so that you got sick in it, so we got to change the soil. And then, you know, part of shielding your body is changing that soil, it’s protecting your terrain, it’s, you know, it’s not allowing that micro environment to influence the cells in a negative way. It’s actually creating protection and health. And I think that’s what we’ve got to start looking at things that way.
R Blank 26:17
Yeah, no, I fully agree. I mean, I, I came from a tech background. So I got into this field, when, as you noted, I co wrote overpowered with my father. But before that, I had a career in software engineering, and in in California, of all places, so you’re really at the center of the tech industry. And I was raised in a very, in an era that was where technology was very compelling. It was advancing so quickly. I mean, it’s still advancing quickly. But the actual functional leaps and bounds that were happening every year, you know, are were just awe inspiring, and the creation of the world wide web, which happened in my lifetime. And the, the all of the newer tech computers and phones that were coming out, they really were powering significant leaps, both in business productivity, but also in terms of human enjoyment human entertainment. And I then have this career in software where you really see just so clearly, every new advance, people just welcome like, great we can we now have this new technology. It’s because it’s a new technology. We love it. It’s cool, I want it. There is this real bias. And again, its heaviest in the tech industry, but it really has spread throughout the entire population, where when there’s a new technology, you’re just drawn to it, you think it’s great, you need it. And the fact is, and I think people now are increasingly starting to realize this, but just because the industry has released a new piece of technology does not mean that you need to buy it, it does not mean that it comes without harm. And in fact, I think particularly within the last year, people are starting to realize that technology isn’t all good technology does incur risks for harm, both to your physical health and your mental health. And again, you know, I think this was most clearly demonstrated last year with the Facebook whistleblower testimony, Francis Halligan. But but people are now talking about, well, I really need to take a fast from Facebook. Instagram really isn’t good for kids. They’re talking about technology in ways now that that shows that people are actually aware that there are risks to your health, from just this unbridled acceptance of of immersing yourself in every new gadget that the industry is releasing.
Dr. Holly Lucille 28:50
Yeah, I mean, you say that it’s so funny. It’s like, I live in Los Angeles, right. So it’s like, it used to be I mean, obviously the pandemic has influenced us in a certain way. But you know, once a new piece of technology drops the line, the snaking line, that would be out people would line up at midnight for the store to open at 7am so they could get have their hands on this new device. I know it’s amazing, amazing. I will stand on line for anything. Like a new phone that you could get easily in two weeks without that line, but
R Blank 29:29
that’s how it are you wait a year and you can get it for half the price right or for
Dr. Holly Lucille 29:32
free because they will have to get on that 5g Or you know what I love so much about you is that you do have a company shield your body. But what you offer to people is so much education without even buying a thing. The tips and the tricks that you offer on your website, and then your podcast to your podcast. It is the healthier tech podcast where can people listen to that?
R Blank 29:59
That Oh, yeah, thank you. Yeah, the healthier tech podcast is on Apple podcasts and Spotify and Amazon and every major podcasting platform. And on that podcast, you know, what were shield your body through the work I do through shield, your body is really focused on emf in particular, the healthier tech podcast is focused on a wider range of topics that are all based on finding ways to establish a healthier relationship with technology. So in the season, that is being released right now, for instance, we will I interview, a European member of parliament who is spearheading a right, the legislation to pass at the European level rights that already existed certain countries called the right to disconnect, which is illegal right for you not to be tied to your phone after work hours, which when you talk to an American about that they just don’t even they can’t comprehend that such a right even exists. But it actually it already exists in multiple countries, France and Ireland and Portugal. And this member of parliament is working to pass it at the European level. We also talk about the the health effects of digital detox. So we really work on covering a much wider range of, of topics that I believe a lot of people are increasingly interested in, which is finding a more that’s appropriate for this podcast, a more mindful relationship with technology in your lives. Yeah,
Dr. Holly Lucille 31:27
and it really does take mindfulness takes work. I mean, I even noticed behaviors and myself like I have a lot of shifting professionally go on lately. And I’m, you know, I’m working my days out and my schedules out to get to be balanced in such and that’s a little bit less stimulus than I’m used to. And so in that quiet time, I find myself just almost habitually, like just grabbing my phone and opening it up and scrolling through, you know, seven seconds of social media. And it’s, it’s there’s, like, there’s there is that sort of addictive quality to it.
R Blank 32:05
Technology is hyper addictive, it is hyper, and it’s being engineered to be hyper addictive. And it’s not just an opinion at this point. There’s, there’s real research behind it, too. So it’s not just a metaphorical use of the term Addiction Technology is engineered to be as addictive as possible. And that’s why you are having those reflexes and reactions.
Dr. Holly Lucille 32:28
Yeah. And so that’s where the mindfulness comes in. I mean, it’s the same thing with the food industry. And it’s designed to be addictive. You know, it’s like, just keep drinking and eating that crap. Because it’s, you know, it sells and makes people a lot of money, but it’s doing us harm. Same thing here. R blank, thank you so much for being here on mindful medicine. This is like, this is so much lovely information for folks to actually do. What we want them to do is just open their minds a little bit more about everything that’s going on so they can make healthier choices for themselves and their family. Folks, don’t forget, go to shield your body.com you can get a free download about your own behavioral changes, right? Knowledge is power, self knowledge about who you are and how you use these devices is super power. And then also, there are products that you can purchase to protect yourself. And I think it’s just a must, absolutely a must. So R blank. Thank you for the work that you do and for the work that your father has done and mindful listeners. I appreciate you so much being here spending part of your day and I’m going to see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
