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On this episode, Omar and R chat about how to protect our children from the harms of EMF radiation.
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Omar Chowdry 0:15
Hey guys, welcome to episode two. In this episode we are going to be talking to R blank, CEO of a company called shield your body. He is the son of internationally renowned researcher Dr. Martin blank in the field of EMF health effects. R blank offers products, services or advice on how to use wireless devices safely and what dangers to look out for that may cause a detrimental health effects. I hope you enjoyed this one so much for doing this. It’s a subject I’ve been reading about on and off for the last few years. But whenever I speak to about about it to my friends and family, it just seems to be it’s a case of well, it’s not a physical he can’t see it. So there’s no issue. And I’m pretty sure you’ve you may have heard a similar things I’ve read I think dad’s book called The overpowered is that your dad? Yeah, yeah, amazing book. And I love the I think one of the first ones is like the first thing everyone does, what I do is like, keys, wallet phone.
R Blank 1:13
That’s right, yeah, it’s vital to just living in existing today to have your phone.
Omar Chowdry 1:18
That’s it. The theme of my show for this season is raising a healthy child in a toxic world. So if you could let the listeners know who you are, how you got to where you are, and why you got into EMFs.
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R Blank 1:32
Okay, sure. So my name is R blank, and I run a company called shield your body. We create a lot of educational materials on the subject of electromagnetic fields, or EMFs. And we make and sell a catalogue of laboratory tested EMF shielding products as well, in terms of how I got into this. As you mentioned, my father was Dr. Martin Blanc. And he was one of the world’s leading scientists on EMF and health. And it was 10 years ago. And he had a contract to write a book, what became overpowered. And this book was intended to communicate his view of everything he had learned on the issues of EMF and health and why people should care about it. But to a general audience, not to other scientists, not to academics, not even particularly to activists, but to just normal people. And so he asked me, because at the time I was teaching at, I had been teaching at University of Southern California. And I’d written a couple of books. And I’ve done a lot of teaching. So he asked me for some help. And so I jumped in. And we co wrote what became, as I said, overpowered, and was in the course of writing that book, that a few key aspects of EMF really hit home to me, in a way, I mean, obviously, you know, my father had been doing this work almost my entire life. So I had some kind of awareness of these issues. But it was really the experience of writing. Overpowered with him, that really, like I say, hit a few key things home. And one is just how strong the science is. I mean, we’re talking about 1000s of high quality scientific studies into these questions in a wide variety of negative health effects. It’s not just brain tumors, which gets, you know, most of the airtime, but a wide array, and we can talk about it, but it’s a really wide range. So it’s a very strong body of science. That’s very convincing when you actually look into it. And then you sit back and realize, you know, the sources of these fields, which, for those who don’t know, is everything that communicates wirelessly, but it’s not only everything that communicates wirelessly, it’s also anything that runs on power. And you sit back and you think well, I mean, that’s what you’re talking about there is the fundamental infrastructure of all of modern life. In other words, you’re not getting rid of this stuff. Right? So the science says this stuff is definitely bioactive, this stuff is definitely harmful. But on the other hand, you’re not getting rid of it. And so I knew there had to be safer ways for people to use and engage with modern technology. And that’s where the idea for what became sy be where that came from. So that so that was in 2012. In 2013, I released my first product, and now 2022 And I have it’s about two dozen products we offer consulting. We also just launched our first course on improved sleep, and we have hundreds of articles. We have dozens of videos and webinar archives, we have the healthier tech podcast Stan, so we we’ve grown in that time, and I anticipate and hope that we continue to.
Omar Chowdry 5:07
Amazing. It’s interesting you said about helping people sleep. My brother in law said couple of things last year, because I’ve been listening to podcasts and reading on and off about EMF, because there’s quite a few books out there now. And one recommendation was to turn off your Wi Fi in the night, if you have an issue sleeping, so I said that to my brother in law was his thing. So we’re done and I just can’t sleep. I was like, Do you leave your Wi Fi on? He was like, Yeah, I was like, turn it off. I didn’t hear about it. i He didn’t tell me what happened after it was only I think maybe like a month or two later. I just presumed maybe it didn’t work. And I said, So how have you actually slipped over the day? He’s like, did it guessing their work? That’s why he didn’t say anything. He’s like, No, I turned it off. And he slept like a baby. I’ve been keeping the Wi Fi off for the last couple of years now ever since I read about it. But my question is, though, like, is it a case of because the, the Wi Fi in your house is the most closest to you? Because there’s Wi Fi all around us? Isn’t it? So? So what what do you say about that?
R Blank 6:12
Yeah, no. So that’s definitely the case that it’s because it’s so close to the power of EMF radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. So every time you double the distance, you’re cutting the power of your exposure by 75%. That’s how the the law of inverse squares works, which is what this follows. So that’s one key reason why turning yours off matters so much, because it’s generally the one that’s closest to you. But also, you know, you keep in mind, you can’t control the world light you there, there’s certain exposures you’re just going to live with these days. And so where you can make the biggest difference is, is in the ones that you actually control. So even if you live in an apartment building, and you can see, you know, 30 Wi Fi networks, when you, when you scroll through your, your Wireless menu, you can’t control the other 29, all you can control is the one the 30 of the one right by you. And fortunately, in terms of the impact of of your actions, that also tends to be the strongest one that that you’re being exposed to. So yes, distance is. That’s also why, you know, should never carry your phone in your pocket or in your bra. Because when you’re doing that it’s directly on your body, and you’re getting the maximum possible dose that that device has to offer.
Omar Chowdry 7:31
What kind of effects does it have? If someone I think I know we can say, but for the listeners out there point of view, or put your phone in your pocket when you’re bright? And another one that was quite common in the where I live? I mean, who heads golf, they literally slide in there. And I’m like, What do you think? Well,
R Blank 7:47
so I mean, the, what we see what the science that the story the science has been painting for us is that you see negative health outcomes in virtually every system, where you investigate for them. And so, I mean, the big ones that get a ton of attention, tend to be tumors and cancers. And it makes a lot of sense that those get a lot of attention, because those are terrifying. So when you’re talking about, you know, holding up to your head, obviously, you’re talking about brain tumors and certain other tumors have nerve specific nerves in in near your brain in your head. When you’re talking about the pocket, you’re talking about prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. And when you’re talking about the breast, when you’re talking about breast cancer, and by the way, that that isn’t just true for women, many men carry their phones in their suit jacket, breast pockets and and men get breast cancer do but there are numerous other negative health right so something just because something doesn’t give you cancer doesn’t mean it’s it’s safe. So one of the most one of the strongest areas of science, in fact is in areas of male infertility and subfertility. There’s a tremendous amount of science on this. And so men who carry their pocket their phones in their pockets, also men who use their laptops on their laps, have very strongly demonstrated correlations between that behavior and reduced sperm count and reduced sperm health. When it comes to women, women who for instance, are exposed to higher levels of EMF when they are pregnant have significantly greater risks or rates of miscarriage. They also have significantly greater risks of their child developing birth defects. Well, you can call for negative health effects within their their young life, right so there for instance, there’s there’s a study about women who are exposed to higher rates of EMF when they’re pregnant, and you You have increased rates of ADHD in the children by the time that they are 13. So that’s not an immediate outcome. That’s when that’s delayed by by a while. So those are examples. But, and I point those out because of what we’re talking about in terms of, you know, the use case of phones in pockets and bras, by the way, I don’t know, you know, sometimes you talk to younger men, and you say, Well, you know, this, this is strongly linked to infertility and sub fertility. And like, I don’t want to get anybody pregnant either. So so then I say, Well, do you know that there’s a growing body of science linking it to erectile dysfunction, and then suddenly, you start getting a bit more attention. But you know, you one of the, as you were just saying, with the anecdote from your brother in law, there’s very strong links to between EMF exposure in general, and endocrine system function. And part of endocrine system function is melatonin production, which regulates the circadian rhythm and your sleep cycle. And so that is one of the suspected mechanisms by which EMF interferes with your sleep so much. And so even though you know, the phone in your pocket is down by your waist, it’s interfering with your entire body, because guess your strongest exposures are down in that region. But it’s, it’s still exposing your body. And for the other. The other thing to remember about phones and pockets isn’t just the proximity or how close it is to your body. It’s also how long you tend to do it right. You don’t put your phone in your pocket for a minute, you tend to do it for hours and every day. And so we’re talking about really significant exposures when you add it all up. And that that’s exactly the kind of thing that can have these wide ranging impacts. Not just in the most obvious candidate locations, like in the gonads, or in the brain, or whatever it might be.
Omar Chowdry 12:01
I remember that was a couple years ago. I’m pretty sure you may you may have seen it does a lot lecture on YouTube from a lady who basically got smoking banned on aeroplanes. And she was she was she I think the lecturer was in Australia. She was from America. And she was basically saying how actually, if you look on your phone, if you go to settings and go to legal, he actually tells you that you shouldn’t actually keep your phone too close to your pocket anyway. That’s correct. And
Dr. Devra Davis 12:28
when somebody said to me, there could be a problem with this with our health. I said, Oh, don’t be ridiculous. If there was a problem, I’d know about it. Well, I was wrong. And what I now know is that information is being sent to people routinely to give them safety information. I’m going to ask you, to help me out here by looking at how many of you have an iPhone. Now, I have to go to General. All right, under General, under Settings, then go to about which is at the top got there? About Yes. Okay. Now you have to scroll all the way down to something you don’t normally see. Called legal. You have to legal. Alright, now click on RF exposure. Now, you can read it later. But it’s basically telling you that you need to know that you can not keep the phone directly next to your body without exceeding the as tested exposure guidelines. And by the way, the iPhone does it, I happen to know how to find it on the iPhone, I’m just learning the Android system myself. But all smartphones come with some information that basically says, don’t keep the phone in your pocket, or you will exceed the as tested exposure guidelines. Now how many of you knew that before today?
R Blank 13:53
Correct. And I haven’t seen that video. But that’s that’s a, that’s something I often met. So the one the one example I give most often is the iPhone, but it’s actually multiple models. And yes, they they call that for a minimum distance of separation in order to be at or below radiation safety, maximum radiation safety levels. So you know, but most people and by the way, it’s not just that, I mean, that applies to carrying your phone in your pocket or not carrying your phone in your pocket as it may be. But keep that in mind. They’re saying there has to be a minimum distance in order for it to be you know, quote, unquote safe for a product that’s designed to be held up against you directly up against your head. Right. So the use the main use case that this thing is designed for is one that if you you know you put the pieces together you connect the dots is one that they’re admitting is not safe. And they’re they’re just allowed to play this dance where they design a product to be held right up against you and used right up against your body but then they put in the little legal fine print that no you shouldn’t really. That’s right.
Omar Chowdry 14:56
And also, I’m sure you know about this as well, you most likely probably can expand a bit as well. So the way they test mobile phones is basically based on a guy called Sam a mannequin called Sam. And if you could just talk about that a little bit.
R Blank 15:12
Sure. And I actually, I used to know this, I forget what Sam stands for. But But So Sam, obviously isn’t human. He is He is a doll, effectively. And he’s filled with certain types of fluids that are meant to mimic the density of our body and so forth. The thing is, was, well, actually, in order to explain Sam, I have to step back one, one step, which is, cell phone radiation is not regulated by how much radiation the phone gives off. Cell phone radiation is regulated based on how much radiation you absorb from the phone. Right. And so in order to measure how much radiation you absorb from the phone, they don’t measure you, obviously, you know that you’ve never been to the lab to take the test. They have this standardized dummy named Sam. And Sam is designed to emulate I believe it is a six foot two tune Yeah, the lb AMI guy, right. Yeah. So which, which, which is larger than 95% of the human population. And so if you’re any smaller than this guy who’s bigger than 95% of humanity, you will be absorbing more radiation than that dummy does in the lab. And so that is that is just one of the many flaws that are built, or shall we say, baked into the cake, of how cellphone radiations regulations are created and enforced? Another one is that, you know, when and I don’t know exactly how it is in the UK, I mean, I, I know roughly how it is in the UK, but I know exactly. I know much more about the United States. But, you know, the government is the one that sets the standards, right? So in the United States is the Federal Communications Commission or FCC? And so a lot of people just think, right? Oh, well, the government must be testing these phones. And that’s not at all how it goes. So like when Apple has a new iPhone to release, Apple hires a lab, the lab tests the phone, so Apple has paid a private lab to do these tests. On the the radiation absorption resulting from from using the iPhone, there is no guidance or regulation on where the phone is held. how strong the signal is, right? Because the weaker the signal, the more radiation your phone is putting out. There is no as far as I’ve been able to tell there is no standard in terms of how many wireless connections are active on the phone at the time, right? Because cell phones aren’t just cell phones, they are cell data, they are Wi Fi, they are Bluetooth, they are NFC, there’s multiple wireless cards in each one. So anyway, getting back to the main point, the government doesn’t test this stuff. They let the companies do it. And they let the companies be pretty arbitrary with how this is done. And so as a result, I don’t know if you have heard, I mean, you sound pretty well informed, you may well, I’ve maybe well, just telling you something you already know. But a few years ago in France,
they were able to get the government to test that was about 300 phones, by themselves. So they didn’t just rely on the manufacturers, the government itself went and tested about 300 models of foams. And 88% of them were found to emit more radiation than the manufacturer said they did. Wow. And several of the models were Act actually recalled, because they admitted more radiation than was legally allowed. And so that is a great example or a great illustration of what I think you would find if you just had that as a standard policy where the you know, you were testing the the government was actually testing these phones, you would find that almost all of them emit more radiation than the manufacturers claim. Because there’s no, there’s no way to test. Right? So if I wanted to test or and you came to me and you said I want to see how much radiation is coming off of my TV, I could say okay, here’s the kind of meter you can buy. And here’s how you use it. But the thing is, is that that’s what you can easily measure at home are radiation emissions. Right, you can see how much radiation is coming off your TV, but the way the whole cell phone system is regulated, the radiation side of it is absorption, as we’ve just talked about, it’s right. You can’t there is no way for you to test that at home. So there’s no way to like for me or you to just get The right meter and measure an iPhone and say, Wow, that’s way higher than they say. The whole thing is designed in such a way as to disempower and disempower consumers. And con, just convolute the entire issue. Wow.
Omar Chowdry 20:16
And I can imagine them because it all goes down to its effectiveness on a cellular level, isn’t it?
R Blank 20:22
Yes. I mean, there’s there’s certain several. So I’ll give a few examples. One was actually some of the work my father did was most well known for in his career. And what he showed is that exposure to even low levels of EMF radiation triggers the cells of the cellular stress response, releasing heat shock proteins. And what he, the way that he explained it is that this shows that the body is interpreting EMF, as a stressor as a threat as something to react against whether or not we feel it, our cells recognize it. Another great example of the way this impacts us on the cellular level is the work of Dr. Henry Lai and Dr. Narendra Singh, this was in the 1990s, their work was around cordless phones, because again, it was the 90s. And cell phones weren’t as popular. And what they showed is that even short exposures to cordless phone radiation led to increases in strand breaks of DNA. That means, you know, DNA is made up of two strands. So when the strand breaks, that’s what it sounds like, the strand is actually just broken. If if, if both strands break, the cell kills itself. If only one strand breaks, the cell will try to recreate it from the mirror image information in the other strand. And that is a mechanism by which mutations occur, which is a mechanism by which disease forms.
Omar Chowdry 22:00
Hey, guys, it’s quick break, I just want to say thank you to my sponsors for today’s episode, Sun chlorella, amazing supplement, it’s got to be 12. It detoxes is a collator. So it removes heavy metals from the body, I give it to my kids, my clients and my family, check it out,
R Blank 22:15
they more Concerningly or I don’t know if it’s more Concerningly adding to the concern of their findings was that the damage continued for hours after the Explore, I should say the increased rates of damage increase remained for hours after the exposure.
Omar Chowdry 22:30
And that links to the example that your dad put in your in the book where it says about the thunderstorm the story about the thunderstorm. And the lancet put it in the report where basically there was a thunderstorm. They’re planning, they’re playing golf somewhere in America and two people got injured. And the one that had a heart attack was like three weeks later, and they confirmed that it was because of the Mm
R Blank 22:51
hmm. Yeah, I’ve actually forgotten I maybe I should pick up the book again. I forgotten that an
Omar Chowdry 22:59
example how it’s not a case of that there’s a lot of there’s a lot of I guess,
thought about if it’s not happening to me now, then we’re fine. But actually, it is a case of why is something happening today. It’s not gonna happen to you tomorrow, it could happen to you like anytime later on, right?
R Blank 23:16
Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s really what’s one of the critical issues to realize when it comes to EMF, because, right, so we’ve talked about some of the flaws in cellphone radiation, regulations. But at least they exist, right? It’s better that they exist than they don’t exist. So why why is it better? Right? If I’m saying they don’t protect you, why is it better? Because they do actually protect you from certain things, right? And so what do they what are those things that they’re protecting you from? And this gets back to what you were just saying about immediate versus non immediate enough EMF radiation in the kind of the kind that cell phones give off. Enough of that can cook. And that is, in fact, the exact way a microwave oven cooks, microwaves, microwave ovens use microwaves, microwaves are EMF radiation of the kind that are used by cell phones and cordless phones and Wi Fi. So if you have enough of that, you can actually cook like literally cook food or you know, unfortunately, you and so those and the threshold at which that happens is referred to as the thermal effect. Right? So that’s when the thermal when there’s enough EMF radiation, you can trigger the thermal effect, and that is an instance of immediate harm. And that is what cellphone radiation regulation is based around preventing triggering the thermal effect. In fact, it’s what essentially every EMF radiation regulation in the world that impacts consumers. That’s what it’s based on is preventing the thermal impact the thermal effect And that’s good, right, we definitely don’t want the thermal effect, we don’t want to be exposed to enough EMF radiation where it’s cooking us. So but that is the only immediate impact of EMF radiation. And that’s what the regulations are designed to protect us against. But the whole wide array of negative health outcomes, some of which we’ve already talked about here, but which extend even much further than just, you know, cancer and infertility. All of those are non immediate, they happen at levels far lower than what trigger the thermal impact. And that is precisely what is so challenging to get implemented, or at least even recognized in the regulations that not all damage from EMF is immediate, some of it in fact, a lot of it happens later. And as a result, not just of one exposure, but cumulative exposures and a lifetime of cumulative exposures. And so yes, I think you hit on, I think you hit on something very, very vital to the whole debate.
Omar Chowdry 26:01
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You mentioned microwave ovens. I think I’ve listened in your previous podcasts where you said that your father didn’t allow you to use the microwave. Is that correct? Or are we
R Blank 26:12
just never had one? Oh, yeah.
Omar Chowdry 26:15
Was there a reason for it? Was that because of the EMF stuff? Or did
R Blank 26:18
yes, you’re going anyway? Yeah, no, it was because of the EMF, we’d never never had one.
Omar Chowdry 26:23
Okay, so is that so because I have my own view on why I wasn’t I haven’t been using a microwave. But is your view because of the radiation that comes out? Or the radiation that affects the food that you’re eating?
R Blank 26:37
So well, I, for me, it’s about the radiation emissions, which are incredibly high. I also, I have suspicions in terms of what it does to the quality of the food. And my understanding is that there is a growing body of science on that question. But I I’m not familiar. In fact, this is actually I think, the fourth time in two weeks, I’ve been asked that question in an interview. So maybe I should do a little reading up on it. But but it doesn’t impact me at all right? Because I don’t use microwave. So it’s just not a high priority for me. But it also I have no problem like believing that that could be the case, right? This is very powerful stuff. And I’ve seen what it can do to the body. So it doesn’t, wouldn’t surprise me that it alters foods in ways that impact their, you know, their their, their their reaction or body or the resulting nutritional value, or whatever it might be. Yeah,
Omar Chowdry 27:30
because from my view, from what I’ve read, and from my understanding of it is Dr. Mercola, he put a research paper on microwaving foods and what effect it had on that short nutritional loss. And there’s there are mixed, there are mixed research about it. So from his research, I think it’s from Sweden, they said that broccoli last day that was cooked in America last night and 7% was antioxidants. And from a me as a health coach, what I tell my clients is, you should eat whole foods, not something that set out so you know, you can get vitamin supplements are separated. For me, from my point of view, everything should be a whole. And there’s a reason why it’s hard because each component supports each other when you eat it. So if the broccoli has lost 97% of its antioxidants, that means no longer hold anymore, isn’t you’re not eating the food anymore. So that’s what that’s my point of view. But then there’s other reports, I remember the BBC put on YouTube, and they said that, I think they put I think it was a pepper and it increases vitamin C content. But at the same time it actually tell you what was lost. And then it goes back to what I said about a whole food. There’s a reason why a whole food is a whole food because it needs everything for you to nourish the body. So yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s my take on it. I would love to, you know, if you have any research and in, you know, in the future, I’d love to see that. Also, there’ll be sure
R Blank 28:59
Yeah, if I do. Yeah, yeah, that’d be great.
Omar Chowdry 29:01
And ionizing EMF versus ionizing. And that I think that we’ve kind of covered it, where is this comes down to the thermal effect, right?
R Blank 29:09
No, so great question. So the thermal effect is a question of power. And so how much power the field has, or the that energy has, right? So at a certain level of power, you can transmit a cellphone signal, if you boost the power, that same frequency can cook right. So that’s, that’s a question of power. Ionizing versus non ionizing is a question of energy. And we’re and I know this is, you know, I had to learn this too, right? Because power and energy are often used interchangeably. Like give it more energy, give it more power, right. You think that’s the same thing, but when it comes to EMF, that’s not the case. Power is like volume, right? So He’s talking like this versus talking like this, right? That’s more power. Energy is frequency. So that’s talking, for instance, at a higher pitch, or a lower pitch. And so right EMF exists on the spectrum of frequencies. And right in the middle is visible light, like we get from the sun. In fact, for you know, billions of years of life on Earth, that was essentially the only form of EMF that all life was exposed to. Now, if if there’s certain forms of EMF with higher energy with more energy, or you might say, a higher frequencies than visible light, and those include things like X rays, and gamma rays, and those have so much energy that they have, they have, they have enough energy to knock electrons loose from the cells in your body. And that’s why they are called ionizing because these fields, even in very low power levels, can ionize the cells in your body and that causes immediate and significant and severe harm.
Omar Chowdry 31:05
And is that part of reason why they tend to the doctors tend to hide behind the wall when they do X
R Blank 31:09
ray. Yeah, that’s exactly why and they cover you in a leather jacket, if you know, you know, yeah, and you want to minimize the amount of X rays that you get in your life. I mean, because if you need an X ray, they’re a great tool. But you don’t need more than you need. And they each each one comes at a cost to you. So that’s that’s what ionizing radiation is. Non ionizing are all the forms of EMF with less energy than visible light. And those are all the ones that we’ve been talking. So microwave and radiofrequency for wireless communication, elf or extremely low frequency for things that come off of power lines. These are the key forms of EMF that I and people you know, who talk on these topics, that those are the types that we’re talking about. So whenever you hear about you know, cellphone radiation, or powerline radiation, that’s always non ionizing, even if it gets to the power level of power, like a microwave oven that can cook food, it’s still non ionizing, it’s just at a at a higher level of power.
Omar Chowdry 32:14
Bone back to actually children. So how can light devices now? Because nowadays, you talked about mobile phones have is tested on the domain that’s really big. Then nowadays, again, up to eight year old kids having mobile phones now in that Oh, younger, yeah, YouTube video I was telling you about. She was saying how like, because the the skull of a child is thinner than an adult. So could you talk about that?
R Blank 32:39
Sure. Well, I mean, well, you just said it, the skull of a child is thinner than an adult, the skull provides a degree, it’s not perfect, but a degree of natural shielding. So the thinner the skull, the less natural shielding there is, by the way, that’s another reason why holding your phone up to your head, or using air pods, you know, a Bluetooth headsets, that’s one of the most vulnerable places on your your head, because there’s a gap in the skull, for the ears to work, that’s where the ear canal runs through. So the less skull that you have the thinner a skull that you have, the less natural shielding you have in place. But it goes beyond that, right? Because a child’s brain is smaller than yours. And at that, that’s part of until they grow up, their brains are smaller. So if for instance, you had just to pull an example, if you had a cell phone radiation, a field of cellphone radiation that extended one inch into the brain, that is going to impact much more of the child’s brain than it would have your brain purse on a percentage basis. So those are two of the reasons right there. Another is that damage from children are growing, right? Obviously, that’s which means that their cells are dividing much more rapidly than once you grow older. And that means any damage to a cell, for instance, that type of genetic damage I was talking about earlier with the lion seeing studies show that replicates faster to more of the body than it would in an adult. And then of course, finally, you have the fact that the child has much longer to live, right. So they they hopefully right, and so they will have much longer to deal with or cope with the damage that results from these exposures. And of course, keeping in mind that they’re they’re already being exposed to more radii much more radiation than you know, I was when I was a kid. You were when you were a kid. That means by the time they’re my age, they’re still going to be exposed to more radiation than someone my age today. Right? So they’re facing a lifetime. They’re not just having increased exposures now, and then having to physiologically cope those exposures over life, they are facing a life of increased exposures. And these are some of the reasons why in general, children are more vulnerable than adults. And they will say babies are more vulnerable than children and fetuses are more vulnerable than babies. Because the further back down that chain you go, right, the more these issues impact you. And now there’s also several other right. So for instance, we seem to be seeing that certain types of EMF exposures, negatively impact learning capacity, the capacity to form new memories. Now, my reading of the science right now also makes it a little hard to know how much of that is due to EMF, versus how much of that is due to just using phones, right. So it’s not the EMF from the phone, it’s the experience of the phone, it’s the experience of the screen. It’s the experience of social networks, all of this can contribute to these these outcomes. But we are still you know, once you have those negative impacts on learning on memory, that early in life, that creates knock on effects that follow that child or individual for the rest of their lives.
Omar Chowdry 36:13
And what kind of issues are we talking about here? So I know, I know for a fact that blue light, and sleep will affect the child from using the devices because you sometimes you have children that are just on the device or too late in the night, and they just eventually just can’t sleep on a routine basis, isn’t it?
R Blank 36:29
Yes, but it’s not. I mean, blue light is a big part of this. But it’s also EMF. So that’s right, your Wi Fi router isn’t? I mean, General, isn’t emitting blue light. That’s not the reason it’s negatively impacting your sleep. It’s but blue light also contributes. And to be clear, blue light is a type of EMF all visible light is a type of EMF, but it’s, it’s generally considered a little bit differently, because you can see it and so more people leave it, I guess. Yeah. But so. So yeah, I mean, so sleep disruption is just a part of the developmental disruption there. There. There are studies now, for instance, showing that cell phone, just having a cell phone in the classroom, accessible to the child leads to significantly diminished grades or test performance. There is research into the negative impact of cellphone use on the development of figure figural memory skills. There, there’s I mean, this again, for some of these types of studies, I mean, to be totally fair, it’s not clear where the impact is coming from EMF or the phone, or both. Right? So I’ll give you an example. Yeah, having a cell phone, sleeping with a cell phone in your bedroom is pretty bad, right? And for the same reason that having your Wi Fi router on is bad, although probably even worse, because the bed the phone is probably right next to your head, and some people sleep with it under their pillow. Yeah, I see it, I see it a lot. Yeah. And that’s really bad from an EMF perspective. That said, there’s research that shows that just having your phone in your room, even off totally powered down negatively impacts your sleep. And that is because of the these kinds of addiction mechanisms that get formed in your brain and your relationship with this device where even though it’s off, you kind of expect like it could give you a notification at any moment. And that that alone, that force is enough to disrupt your sleep. So that’s an example where yes, the EMF disrupts your sleep, but also the phone without the EMF disrupts your sleep. And we are seeing I believe we are seeing more and more of that. Of that that kind of complexity being painted by the more research that is being done now into, shall we say the social science aspect of our relationship with devices just as much as you know, the our bio physiological relationship with with EMF from these devices,
Omar Chowdry 39:12
no show. So what I do is, instead of leaving the Wi Fi on iPad, I download all the videos on and then turn it turn it on airplane mode. Is that better?
R Blank 39:22
Yeah, airplane mode is fantastic. So when you put your phone into airplane mode, you are essentially eliminating all of the EMF there’s still going to be a tiny little bit because it’s still running on power. But but in a way for for all intents and purposes. What I tell people is that it cuts off the EMF because it cuts off so much of it. And yes, there there is a you know some people when they hear airplane mode, they think oh my phone’s a useless brick and airplane mode. But no, like you’re just pointed out there’s a lot you can do. You can download videos you can tell Little podcasts and obviously the alarms will still work, certain games will still work, your calendar notifications will still disrupt you, you know, this stuff will. So your phones can still do a lot in airplane mode, but then you don’t have all of these exposures.
Omar Chowdry 40:19
But then the one thing, the one pickle I have that my own experiences like you literally can’t call anyone. That’s I mean, that’s the only thing isn’t it? Like you literally if there’s a, um, the thing it feels emergency call and you’re going for a walk like so I go for a walk every morning while everyone’s asleep, because the sun’s out. And you know, once it’s winter, it’s a bit yes, but too much. So I go for a walk, and I leave actually my phone at home. But if I’m, I don’t know, if I use what I used to do, or thought was like, well, let’s say someone needed to call me right now, would you say about that?
R Blank 40:51
Yeah, well, I’ll tell you, as soon as someone whose phone has been in airplane mode almost entirely for like the past 10 years. You know, that’s an exaggeration. But it’s an airplane mode a lot. And it’s an Do Not Disturb mode even more. You don’t need your phone on as much as you think you do. And the more you keep it off, the more those around, you are trained to expect that it will be off. Now that said, you know, they’re, you know, if you need your phone on, you need your phone on. Yeah, and that, that’s where that’s where a you want to keep as much distance as possible. But again, if you’re walking around, you know, you can’t keep it 10 feet away from you, you’re walking around. And so that’s a that’s a really good example of where EMF protection products come in. And that’s so that’s like the type of product that I make and sell at my company shield your body. So, in fact, my most popular product is one that addresses that specific use case pouch.
Omar Chowdry 41:53
I looked at it and I was like, you know why? This, there’s um, this is a bit iffy about stickers, I’m not too sure about them the stickers
R Blank 42:00
and then you have the well we don’t have the sticker. So So what is this? Well,
Omar Chowdry 42:05
how does the stickers work? And if it if it doesn’t work, because I know when again, when I watched, Dr. McColl had someone on there. And he was saying the stickers don’t work. But then he got companies selling it saying that it does. And then and then for me
R Blank 42:21
so well, the way I because I yeah, I the way I answer that question, because there’s a lot of types of offers out there for EMF protection. You know, there’s stickers, there’s crystals, there’s Harmonizers, there’s, you know, rocks, you know, there’s, there’s all sorts of things that claim to be EMF protection. And the way when someone asked me about one of those, you know, the way I answer is I have never seen any science that would explain the way they work, or that shows that they work. Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t work. It just means I don’t understand how they would work. And I’ve never seen any proof that they do work. And that is in contrast to the types of products I make. So when I don’t know if you caught it, but earlier in the conversation when I was introducing myself, I meant You know, I mentioned that shield, your body makes EMF shielding products, which is a type of EMF protection. But it’s a type that is universally accepted. It’s based on technology that’s almost 200 years old, since the British scientist Michael Faraday created the first Faraday cage. And what he did is he showed that if you weave conductive metals into certain patterns, you can block and deflect EMF radiation in the other direction, the way that us a window shade blocks and deflect sunlight. And so it’s just that in the last, you know, 180 years or so, technology is better. So you don’t need like thick fences, you can actually get really, really thin fibers and weave them into fabrics. And so that’s how my products work. And what that means is not only that they’re based on universal, universally accepted technology. And not only is it testable in a lab, but you can test it for yourself at home using quipment of a sufficient quality right so that that means you can’t get away with a you know $30 or 30 pound meter but neither do you need a $10,000 meter you need you know about what goes for in the United States $150 meter and you can see for myself for yourself that my products actually do what I say that they do. So that’s what separates a product like mine from products like stickers, or crystals.
Omar Chowdry 44:43
That’s a really that’s really comforting to know because you talk about meters as well because I remember I was I was in the car with a friend and he bought like a EMF meter from wish and it’s like 15 pounds and and he He put it up on my phone and it was blowing up. Let me and that’s
R Blank 45:03
about all I can detect, though is if it like if it’s super high, I mean, in general, I don’t know that meter in particular. But those cheap meters, if you put it somewhere where it’s super high, they go off. And otherwise, you can’t really rely on it detecting much of anything, even if you have kind of elevated levels.
Omar Chowdry 45:23
Okay, yeah. Because even we drove past a little bit because we’re driving at the time we drove past a 5g mast, and it just went off as we were passing by. But is that just down to because it was really high? That’s the only reason that it worked. Yes. Right. In.
R Blank 45:38
Yeah. And so. So you know, I have an E, a free ebook, because I don’t make or sell EMF meters. But I have a free ebook, in which because I get this question a lot. And I also don’t like people using that meters. So I put together an ebook that explains how to test it has meter recommendations in it. And again, I don’t make or sell them. I don’t even get affiliate commissions out of those referrals. It’s just the ones I recommend. And then I also explain how to use them, how to understand the units that you’re getting out of them, comparing it to international safety recommendations. And that’s now actually it’s in its sixth edition, and that’s for that’s available for free on my website. And I strongly recommend anyone who’s interested in EMF testing to to check out that ebook,
Omar Chowdry 46:30
correct. Great. And wireless headphones. What do you think about those, especially for kids? Because the theme is that raising a healthy child? I’m seeing more and more kids now even teenagers with the you know, the Apple wireless headphones. Yeah, no, it’s, that must be like frying something in your brain, right? Well, so that’s the same type of radiation blues. So
R Blank 46:50
those use Bluetooth, which is the same type of radiation as Wi Fi, except it is it tends to be lower power. Because why? So the way it goes is, you know, cell phones have the most power, because they need to communicate miles. Wi Fi has less power, because it needs to be able to communicate, you know, 150 200 feet, maybe 300 feet. And then Bluetooth has the least amount of power, because it needs to communicate anywhere from 10 to 30 feet. So it’s the same type of radiation as Wi Fi but with lower power, but it’s right against your body. In a particularly vulnerable part of your body, right where I was just talking about earlier, right? You it’s not just against your head, near your brain, it’s also in a part of your head where there’s no skull, to provide that limited amount of natural shielding. And you tend to use it for extended periods of time. So while it might be lower power, that doesn’t mean your exposure is lower, because again, it’s right against and remember the distance factor, it’s right up against your body. And, in particular, I don’t think anybody should be using Bluetooth wearables, there is no way to use a pair of Bluetooth headsets more safely, right? Because remember, I was talking about distance being your friend, you can’t use Bluetooth headsets at a different at a greater distance. There’s, you can only use it against your body. And there’s no ability to put shielding in place, because you need it to you need an unobstructed channel from the headset to your ear to your eardrum. So there’s no ability to use it more safely at all. And again, you’re encouraging generally longer term exposures, right? We’re not we’re not just talking about two minutes, we’re talking about two hours or three hours. I see some people wear them literally all day long. And I can understand why it feels like it’s cool. But it’s like super risky, man like that. And then for children in particular, you know, if they’re more vulnerable to damage, but again, keeping in mind, you know, this is in addition to all their other exposures that they’re getting from their phones, like even from their Wi Fi in their schools, from their friends, phones, they’re getting just way more exposures than you or I got when we were kids, and they are facing a whole lifetime of exposures. Now to add to it to give the to specifically address your question, what does you know, using air pods for 10 years do? There is no answer to that question yet? Because they weren’t forced to do that kind of testing before releasing the product. That’s not how wireless technology is how it works, right? They first they released the product, and then we get to use it for 10 years. And then scientists can see what it does after 10 years of use. So we don’t yet know what using air pods for 10 years will do. But again, you know there’s quite a bit of science at this point on all other whole other assortment of sources of EMF, whether you’re talking about power lines, or Wi Fi, or cell phones or cordless phones, we know what those exposures do. And so we can make educated guesses that what types of impacts this will have on children who are starting to use them super young, using them for extended periods of time, and who will likely continue using them for decades, what types of impact that’ll have and it you know it to me look. So in general, I want to be clear, I am not the kind of person even though I talk about EMF issues a lot, I am not the kind of person to advocate against using technologies, I advocate for more intentional, use more mindful use, just being aware of the health risks of what you’re doing, and keeping that in mind when you make your technology decisions. But when it comes to technology, like air pods, when it comes to technology, like you know, the face, book, Ray Ban glasses, or the Snapchat glasses, when it comes to these types of technologies that are both wearable, and just simply impossible to protect against, because there’s no way to use them at a bigger distance, and there’s no way to put shielding in place. I really don’t believe that people should be using these. So that is, that is my perspective.
Omar Chowdry 51:24
And surely the answer is what wired headphones for kids, right? Because I guess the only other option is a wired headphone might be cool having less wires, but for health reasons. It should be wired. That’s it.
R Blank 51:37
Yep, that is it, we make the s YB. air tube headset. And air tubes, instead of having wire go away, they convert the sound to air. And then we use air in a tube hence the name air tube to to get the sound up to your ear. And, and so that so for people who want to even cut out those exposures, you can use a product like the SY B air tubes. But again, I don’t want to discourage people from from using wired headsets, because they are just so much safer.
Omar Chowdry 52:11
And that’s the main thing. We’re not We’re not here to talk about that. Don’t stop, don’t stop using technology altogether. It’s as finding a safer way. That’s all it is. We just want to take away because like, it just seems like you remember when sickness cigarettes were healthy. And then they found that they weren’t.
R Blank 52:27
Yeah, their doctors doing the ads? Yeah, yeah.
Omar Chowdry 52:30
It’s the same situation. It’s a different product.
R Blank 52:33
Yeah. Yeah. Except the difference is that tobacco essentially provides no value. It is just a vise, wherever, whereas this stuff does provide a tremendous amount of value. And so there is no banning it. There, there’s better there certainly could be better regulation. But there is no banning it, there is no getting rid of it. There. You can’t just really like it’s not practical to go around and say hey, you should quit tech, hey, you should quit the way it is like hey, man, you really should quit smoking. And so that is a fundamental difference in the nature of whether you want to view it as a pollutant or a toxin. That is a very fundamental difference. Now, just despite that difference, that is there are many similarities between how the tobacco industry reacted to the science. And I should say similarities, the way that tobacco industry reacted to emerging science and the wireless industry, for instance, react to emerging science. So we see a lot of what is called the or referred to as the tobacco playbook in use, in terms of how industry interacts with science, addresses science, fun science funds media, in order to muddy this issue, longer to eke out more profits. But again, I don’t feel like they need to because we’re not talking about no one is talking about getting rid of this stuff. No one that has that is and so all they are doing is delaying improved regulations that would save lives and improve health. And that is to me it’s it’s unfortunate because they’re not facing the same existential threat that tobacco was in my opinion. No one is going to talk about I mean, we might talk about getting rid of some stupid products like you know, wireless tampons like smart tampons like that you
Omar Chowdry 54:39
know about that I heard yeah like wireless teddy bears nappies for kids.
R Blank 54:43
Yeah. So we might we might at the edges be able to, you know, the get rid of some of the really stupid exposures. But in general by I mean, no one is talking about banning cell phones. No one is talking about banning Wi Fi. I’m And so yeah, like I say, it’s just from that perspective, it’s a fundamentally different issue. It is my opinion that the tech industry, you know, really should be open to this kind of thing it because again, you know, at least I can speak for myself, I am not anti Tech, I, I’m very pro tech. In fact, in terms, I mean, just look around us at all we have accomplished with technology, it is remarkable. But it is also a little bit out of control. And it would be very healthy for the world and for us as humans, if we were able to exert some more control over the technology
Omar Chowdry 55:40
100%. And that’s the thing about electric cars, isn’t that they’re not tested? Are they?
R Blank 55:45
Yeah, I have no idea if they are or not, if they are, they don’t have to publish it. It’s, but it’s not just electric cars, it’s all cars, right? Even even conventional engine cars now come with so many wireless doodads, that, you know, you don’t have to be in an electric car to get a high exposure. And so you think, you know, if the if you’re putting in, you know, Wi Fi, and LiDAR, and Bluetooth and, you know, all of these NFC and all of these other fancy technologies that allows your car to interact with your devices, and with external networks, that they should at least tell you what your exposure is. But, but they don’t. And it’s, it’s, there’s a whole set of exposures, right, that are just totally unregulated. And so then an example I give in the United States is power lines, power lines can be a source of huge exposures, depending on the grid, where you live, how close you are to the power line, or the transformer on the power line. Like that could be a really big exposure for you. But there is literally no no regulations determining how what those emissions are legally allowed to be.
Omar Chowdry 56:59
Wow. Is the body an antenna? Yes. Yeah, a lot. I hear a lot of people who are into EMF and the dangers and stuff do is essentially the body’s an antenna, because we’re electrical beings.
R Blank 57:14
Yeah, I mean, so I mean, that’s, that’s how our body functions, right? I mean, it’s literally by sending electromagnetic signals, through our nerves. And right, that’s how the brain controls the rest of your body. That’s how the body communicates back to the brain is using electrical signals, which are low powered EMF. And so you know, obviously, the nervous system is quite capable of conducting these types of signals. My father had a theory in which he published that DNA itself is a fractal antenna, which would serve to amplify the impact of EMF, because that’s how fractal antennas work. That’s how they get such powerful antennas into tiny little phones is because they are engineered as fractal antennas, which, which again, amplify or magnify the power of the of the function of the antenna? So yes, there’s plenty of reason for that. Yeah. Good question.
Omar Chowdry 58:15
Top three tips for saving children from EMF exposure.
R Blank 58:19
Well, so children in particular, well, they’re all Yeah, so one is to not use any, you know, don’t get them wearable tech, like the air pods or, and that’s the most popular one, as far as I understand. But you know, as the glasses get more popular, don’t give them the glasses, don’t use wearable tech delay, as long as possible when you get them a cell phone, because once you get them a cell phone, they’re never not going to have a cell phone ever again.
Omar Chowdry 58:47
My four year old asked whether she could have one. Yeah. She was like wine. And it’s like, you try and make it as simple as possible. But it’s like, I think the pressure is when she goes to school because she’s starting school this week. And I don’t expect kids to have mobile phones at their age. We never know, you never know. But it’s that peer pressure, all that pressure. I’m sure. The same age what you know,
R Blank 59:16
I am not saying that that is easy. I’m just saying that that is what I would recommend. In the United States, there is a movement called wait until eighth, which is parents who organize around the notion of waiting until the eighth grade to get their children phones. And for any parent who is looking for support in delaying the onset of cell phones into their child’s life. The wait until eighth movement has a lot of those types of resources to support you, man. Yeah, don’t. I mean, teach your child the proximity rules as early as possible. So you know, not carrying the phone in the air. I know I again, I don’t want to pretend that this is hard that this is easy with children, especially you know if they’re out of your eyesight for huge chunks of the day, and you have no idea if they’re really following. But this is what I would do is do what you can to teach those proximity rules, meaning don’t carry the phone in the pocket, or anywhere immediately on your body. Unless it’s in airplane mode. Don’t use a laptop on the lap, don’t allow the child to hold a tablet, you know, directly in their lap, teach them the distance, because the distance, the distance is the single most other than turning off the device. The distance is the single most powerful thing that you can do to protect yourself from these exposures. So those are the three things I would recommend for children, for parents of children.
Omar Chowdry 1:00:47
That’s great. And that’s the same thing for adults as well, isn’t it? And that Yeah, well, it’s more or less the same thing.
R Blank 1:00:52
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
Omar Chowdry 1:00:54
And the last question before we finish, what does health mean to you?
R Blank 1:01:00
Oh, wow. What does health mean to me? That’s, it means the ability to live comfortably. Fantastic. That’s it. Yeah.
Omar Chowdry 1:01:11
Our thank you so much. I think this is going to help a lot of people, especially children, for parents, because their mind this season is mainly about parents and you know, I’m pretty sure they’ve got some good tips from this call. Thank you so much.
R Blank 1:01:25
Excellent. Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
