Concerned about EMFs but not sure what to do about it? Or maybe you haven’t even considered how EMFs are impacting your family’s health and wellbeing. In this interview of R Blank of Shield Your Body, the Toxin Free Talk podcast chatted about why we need to pay attention to EMFs and simple steps you can take to reduce your exposure.
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R Blank 0:00
Like I say this stuff is actually quite harmful. And B, there’s a lot that you can do. Even though we live in a world where we’re surrounded by a massive and growing number of sources of emf and our environment, there is a lot that people can do to take control over their exposures to really get them down and reduce their health risks.
Megan Mikkelsen 0:21
Have you been worried about EMF, or maybe you haven’t even considered the impact that the electromagnetic field around you can impact your health and overall well being? While you’re definitely gonna want to listen to this episode all on EMF and how to protect your family from harmful electromagnetic fields. Hey, they’re all my want to be crunchy mamas. I remember the overwhelm and the massive stress that came with the realization that my home was full of toxins. I totally freaked out. And I headed to the internet just like you did. And I started going down the rabbit hole, I was full of fear, I panicked. And I was totally afraid that I didn’t have the money to do the massive ditch and switch that I knew I needed to do. Stop. Stop right there. What’s up, I’m Meghan Mickelson, and I’m here to simplify this process for you. If you feel it in your heart to detox your life, home, health, beauty, motherhood, and everything in between, then you’re in the right place. I’m here to walk you through the process, step by step, room by room, product by product, ingredient by ingredient, so that you will know what to do to make sure that you are thriving in a happy, healthy home. And I’m going to save you time and money while we do it. So go grab that wash rag and let’s clean up. All right, before we get started in this conversation with R Blank, about around EMF, I wanted to remind you of a few things. So if this is the first time that you are just becoming aware of the toxins in our environment, and your mind is kind of blown and you are just completely overwhelmed. Don’t worry, I’ve got you I created the detox by design the whole method to help you learn all about detoxing your home, why you need to do it, how to do it, what ingredients to look for. And I’ve broken it down in a way that you can learn it simply and easily without getting overwhelmed or busting your budget. You can check out the details at home dot detox dot design. You also might be here and you might already be a toxin free guru. And you might already know everything there is to know about going toxin free.
Unknown Speaker 2:42
Well Yay. I’m
Megan Mikkelsen 2:43
so glad you’re here. And I’m so glad you’re on this toxin free journey with me. But you might also be wondering, what is Megan Hughes? I bet she has done incredible research on the products that she uses in her home with her family. And you know what? Yes, I have, of course I have. So I have created an online store that has everything you need. Everything from beauty products, to deodorant, and lotions and laundry detergent and sunscreen and everything that you would bring into your home. It’s totally safe. It’s my favorite products that work really, really well. The ones that I have researched from top to bottom that I know are safe and that I want to use with on me and also my kids. So you can check out my favorites on www dot detox dot design. All right, now let’s get on with the show. All right, today I have a special guest here on toxin free talk, I have R Blank from shield your body. And he’s going to be sharing with us some general information about EMF, what they are and really what we can do to help protect ourselves and our families. So thank you so much for coming on the show our
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R Blank 4:00
Oh, no, thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure.
Megan Mikkelsen 4:04
So my first question really is how did you get started in EMF, and maybe, um, you know, first tell the listeners what EMF stands for.
R Blank 4:15
Sure. So EMF stands for electromagnetic fields. And it’s a form of energy. And the one that most people are already familiar with is sunlight. Because visible light is a form of electromagnetic fields. Now there’s that’s just one form. There’s a lot of different forms. Some have a lot of energy and are really harmful in even in super small doses. So that would include x rays and gamma rays. And that’s why you always wear a lead coat whenever you get your dental x rays done and the technician puffs it off to another room because that’s that’s how dangerous that stuff is. Now there’s forms of emf with less energy and these are emitted by every wireless device and everything It runs on power, which includes power lines themselves as well as appliances. And for a long time, it was believed that these lower energy forms of emf like you get from cell phones and cordless phones and your microwave oven, that those weren’t harmful to humans. But a very large and growing body of scientific research dating back decades, now shows that that assumption was was wrong. And that these forms of lower energy EMF sometimes called non ionizing, EMF, that those, those are those, those are bioactive, they harm all forms of life, even at doses previously thought to be safe. And you asked how I got into this, my father was Dr. Martin Blanc, he was one of the world’s leading EMF scientists. And back in 2012, he was writing a book and you know, a lot of his work was in academia, he publishing papers and so forth. So in 2012, he was writing a book that was aimed more at up at a mass audience as an average person to help them understand the science of Vmf and health effects. And he asked me to help him. By that point, I had been teaching the engineering faculty at the University of Southern California, I had written a couple of books. And so he asked if I would help. And so I jumped in. And obviously, you know, he’s my father, I already kind of knew about this subject. But really, in the course of writing that book, is when I really became much more deeply familiar with with the subject. And it was in the course of writing that book that I decided to start SBB
Megan Mikkelsen 6:35
Yeah, so thank you for all of that super helpful. And I, you know, I think that for me, personally, emf is something that I have known about. And it’s overwhelming, because it’s kind of like this thing I haven’t really dove in and studied, because I’ve really been focused on other ways we are impacted by our environment. And I also kind of feel like, it’s, it’s hard, because, you know, like you said, all appliances, you know, we go to the dentist, we are exposed, we have our cell phones and our bags or pocket sometimes and, and, you know, I have, you know, my personal things like I have two young girls, and so I never let them sit with their laptop on their laps, and, you know, little things I know, that I can do that can help protect them. But at the same time, it still feels like kind of scary and overwhelming. So I would love to hear more from you just about like, what are some really simple and small steps we can take to reduce our exposure, but also, maybe you want to dive in first to why we need to be paying attention to this.
R Blank 7:50
So why people should care about this is because this stuff is actually harmful you with, as you said, it can be easy to ignore. There’s, as you well know, having you know, I’ve looked over your site and listened to your podcast, you know that there are a lot of toxins in our environment these days. And you can’t, you can’t fight everything. And you and EMF it can be easy to ignore. Because a it’s sort of complicated. You know, it involves a lot of physics and stuff like that. Also, it’s totally invisible, it’s totally odorless, it’s totally tasteless, you can’t feel it. And so it’s just it’s easy to ignore, but people shouldn’t ignore it. Because a, like I say, this stuff is actually quite harmful. And B, there’s a lot that you can do. Even though we live in a world where we’re surrounded by a massive and growing number of sources of emf in our environment, there is a lot that people can do to take control over their exposures to really get them down and reduce their health risks. And I also want to say, you know, I say this is harmful. What do I mean? The body of science on EMF health effects is is quite large at this point. And it really shows health effects across almost every one of our systems in our body. And that is because I mean there’s there’s a few reasons but one is some of the strongest science shows how EMF can harm and even destroy DNA. And DNA is in every cell in our body. Which means it’s it’s it every system in our body is impacted by this. And so you see effects ranging from sleep deprivation and anxiety, all the way up to brain tumors and infertility and sort of everything in between on this wide spectrum. So EMF as a toxin has a lot of bio effects on our bodies. So that’s, I think, why people should care. It’s also why the World Health Organization lists this as a class to be carcinogen, and why if you actually read the manuals of things like your iPhone, they tell you not to put it in your pocket. Although they They put it in really small type, so they don’t pay attention, but it’s in there. Now in terms of some of the stuff people can do, it comes down to what I call the the two key rules of emf protection.
So the first is to minimize use, and the second is to maximize distance. So let me explain what I mean by minimize use. It’s true, you can’t escape EMF exposure, it’s a part of modern life. There’s just no way around it. But it doesn’t mean that you need everything in your life to be wireless. So yes, you need a cell phone? No, maybe you don’t need a smart fridge. Yes, you need internet. But no, maybe you don’t need a nest thermostat. And you can start once you start realizing that every additional piece of this wireless technology that you put into your lives, increases your exposure and increases your health risk from this stuff, you can start to make some more informed and intelligent decisions about does do I really need this new smart device that does x? Or am I good enough? The way I am right now? Do I need my fridge? To know what I need to put on my shopping list? Do I need my kitty litter box to text me updates about my my cat’s health? You know, no, I probably don’t need those things. Right. That’s one way of minimizing use another is to, for instance, turn off your Wi Fi at night, you know, a really big step that some people take is to get rid of Wi Fi and to use Ethernet. But I know you know, because I deal with customers all the time. A lot of people aren’t willing to take that step, it’s more difficult, it’s more expensive, it can lead to you know, limitations on which devices you use and so forth. But, you know, even if you keep Wi Fi in your house, turn it off at night, because no one’s using it, you’re not getting any benefit from it being on overnight. That’s, you know, for most people around eight hours where you can cut out that exposure entirely. So those are examples of ways of minimizing use. And the way the reason that that’s so impactful is obvious, because when you minimize the use of you’re cutting off that exposure, but then I said the second one is maximizing distance. And this one is key and maybe not as intuitive. Because the power of emf radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. So if you, you know, let’s say this is you, you know, you’re sorry, this is audio, let’s say that you have a phone, it’s an inch away from your body. And then you take that same phone and move it two inches away from your body. So that phone is now doubled the distance from one inch to two inch, that means the power of your exposure is 75% less, that’s how powerful this the the the diminish, the exponential diminishment is. So that’s why it’s so important. For instance, not to carry your phone in your pocket. That’s why it’s so important. Absolutely never hold the phone up to your head. When making calls. Always use headsets or speakerphone. That’s why if you have Wi Fi in your house, keep the router as far away as possible from where you and your family and loved ones spend their time. For instance, don’t keep it right next to the couch, don’t keep it right near your kid’s bed, move it further away. So those are the two two key rules, there’s a lot of ways that you can put those into practice I named some of them. But once you start thinking in that way, you know, there’s a lot of these changes you can make in your lifestyle, and in your home, that don’t incur any cost. They don’t cost a dime. And you can start making really big differences in your personal exposure.
Megan Mikkelsen 13:32
Yeah, we in our home, we don’t allow phones in the bedroom at night. And I know we should get a timer to turn off the Wi Fi and that’s something that we will be we will be doing. I’ve thought about it for a long time. And I just haven’t put it in place. But yeah, the phones being in the laundry room, like you know, are really far away from our bedrooms while we sleep has been something I’ve instituted for since the beginning. But even um, you know, my 14 year old didn’t get her first phone until you know her 14th birthday. And I know a lot of people debate like when to get the kids the first phone. But this was one of my arguments was for my daughter to be you know, one of the last of our friends honestly to get her phone because of this additional exposure while they’re still going through a major developmental time. But anyway, I’m kind of getting off track.
R Blank 14:26
No, I think that was really important because people should know and appreciate that children are much more vulnerable to damage from this force than our adults for for a wide variety of reasons. I mean, there there are a lot of reasons to delay getting your kid a phone. I, you know, ranging from socialization to learning development. I’m aware of the wait until eighth movement. I don’t know if you’ve heard of that. That’s what we did. That’s why Yeah, so there’s a lot of reasons but EMF exposure is definitely up there. And and I’ll try to say just very quickly There’s a, there’s a lot of science on this. But children, they’re not just smaller humans, they’re they’re different, they’re physiologically different. So, for instance, their skulls are thinner. And that means there’s less natural shielding against EMF radiation from their skull, their cells are dividing more rapidly. That’s how they grow so much. So any damage that occurs gets spread more widely in their systems. And of course, they have much, much longer hopefully God willing to live. So any damage that they incur, they’re going to have to live with the ramifications biologically, physiologically for much, much longer than if you were I experienced the same type of damage. And so there’s a lot of science indicating that children are much more vulnerable to damage from this type of force. And it is very in delaying getting your child to cell phone. Same for an iPad or tablet or, you know, keeping electronic use certain electronic devices out of the room. The reasons they’re, I’d say very, very strong for any parent to consider.
Megan Mikkelsen 15:59
Yeah. And one quick question, do you think that it makes a difference to put it on airplane mode while it’s in your room, because like I say, I read with my iPad, but I always make sure it’s on airplane mode. And you know, sometimes the live a peloton and my bedroom, again, I turn off the Wi Fi, you know, when I’m not using it, because I don’t want it just collecting the energy
R Blank 16:24
room. No, it makes a huge difference to enable airplane mode. And I myself, I work with several people who recommend against this. But you know, I read with a Kindle in bed because I love my Kindle, it’s so much better way for you to to experience reading for me. But I always have it in airplane mode when I’m using it unless I’m actually downloading a new book. And when you turn your device, any device into airplane mode, it cuts off the wireless EMF entirely, they’ll still be very, very, very low levels of emissions just because of the battery and the circuits and so forth. But in overall, you’re making a massive reduction in the emissions from your device when it’s in airplane mode. So I always I always recommend that people turn their phones into airplane mode when when they’re not needed when they when they don’t need connectivity. Also, it’s you know, I said earlier not to carry your phone in your pocket, turning your phone into Airplane Mode makes it basically safe to carry your phone in your pocket. So airplane mode is a very powerful tool.
Megan Mikkelsen 17:27
Yeah, that makes me feel better, because I thought that was the case. But I wasn’t sure. And I really like how you brought in, you know, just thinking about is this some is this technology, something I need. And I think about that with like, the Apple Watch, or air pods and things like that. You know, I thought that about air pods. And I’ve done a tiny little bit of research. And for me, I decided it wasn’t a route I wanted to go I’m okay with the wire. Because just there’s got to be something with those tiny little things in your ear and how close it is to your head again. I also never I always use speakerphone, I never put my phone up to my ear. So what do you know about air pods? And like other little things like that are becoming so popular? But do you really need them?
R Blank 18:18
Well, I would say no, you don’t really need them. The the one use case, where you know a lot of people have told me this is where they really like using their Bluetooth is during workouts. Because if they’re running or if they’re lifting weights not having these wires all around them. And so that’s that’s one use case where I know a lot of people see value even if there but beyond that you have to realize so air pods and use Bluetooth, Bluetooth is the same type of radiation as Wi Fi. It’s a little less powerful, because Bluetooth doesn’t need to travel as far. But air pods are actually there’s three, there’s three levels of Bluetooth AirPods are the most powerful. But the The fact is you’re taking, you’re taking a source of this type of emf radiation, you’re putting it as you said, right next year brain, and not only you putting it right next to your brain, you’re putting it right next to your brain in a part of your head, where there’s no skull, separating it from you know, because it goes right through the ear canal. There’s no skull between there and in your brain. And as I said earlier, the skull provides some natural degree of shielding. But what’s even worse, in my opinion, is the duration. Right? Because people I’ve as I’ve seen because Bluetooth, I know air pods have made it much more popular. But Bluetooth headsets have been around for a long time. And people just keep them in their head. Even if they’re not actively using them. They just kind of keep them there. So they can be like from Star Trek and someone calls them and they just tap their ear and you know beaming up or whatever. But so that but that that’s all speaks to the the length of the exposure. And even if it’s not as powerful as holding a cell phone up to your head, it’s still harmful and you’re holding You’re holding it in that position for such an extended period of time. And people need to understand your audience. Hopefully, this will help. You know, this stuff is released without any long term testing into human health. Right? It’s not like they took a pair of air pods, and they went to a lab, and they tested a bunch of people with them for 10 years and people without them for 10 years, and saw what the incidence of brain tumors was a that’s they don’t do that type of testing, because it would be unethical to give humans cancer in a lab, but be cancers and other diseases like that take decades to form. And so we are the laboratory, the consumers are the test subjects. And that’s how we will see in time what the actual health effects that manifest are. But the science right now is strong enough to show that there’s every reason to believe that this stuff adds to your cumulative health risk from EMF exposure.
Megan Mikkelsen 21:01
I think the other thing too, is that I don’t know that they’re going to be able to delineate between people that use, you know, air pods and eat a healthy diet versus people that don’t, you know, 15 2025 years down the road when someone ends up having some sort of cancer. Yeah, and you know, even if they, you know, I wish we could have studies that were that, you know, specific, but that’s just not going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess you that, like I said, same with other toxins, too. It’s like we are the testing ground right now. And, you know, it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the way it is.
R Blank 21:40
Yeah. But it is hard to do that type of epidemiology, which is the study of populations, incidents of things and population like disease. But there are some studies that go into that. So there’s, there’s a, it’s not about Bluetooth specifically, but it’s about cordless and cell phones and was published in 2007, out of Europe by Lennart heart, Dell, and it had a lot of data, he surveyed 1000s of subjects based off of their cell phone, a cordless phone use. And I’ll just give you you know, one of the findings from that study, which is those who began using cell phones, or cordless phones before the age of 20, had a 400% increased risk of forming a brain tumor on the side of the head where they use their phone, that’s a four times greater risk, and that that’s true, even if they stopped using their phone at the age of 20. Right? Because these impacts are based off of cumulative views, not just if you’re still using it today. So it is difficult, it’s really difficult to do that kind of science cleanly. But there have been studies that that do those types of investigations, and we do have results that are are very worrisome.
Megan Mikkelsen 22:48
Yeah. Well, and if you think about the fact that, you know, my, my daughter, who’s 14 said, well, Mom, when did you get your first phone? And I was like, Well, I think I was in my young 20s, because they weren’t invented yet. And so I think that we will be seeing an increased risk, just because we will have more people using these technologies for longer periods of time. But we’re just not there yet. Because really, a lot of these technologies are so new.
R Blank 23:14
Yeah, no, it’s true. And there, again, the effects are cumulative. So it’s going to be Yes, holding air pods is bad for you. But you know, maybe now you’ve also started the Apple Watch, and you added a dual band Wi Fi router, and you got a 5g phone, and etc, etc, etc. So it’s not just that it’s going to take time to see what the airports do. It’s in that same time, the number of our exposures just keep growing and growing and growing.
Megan Mikkelsen 23:43
So any tips like let’s just talk about the cell phone quickly, so and distance and time, right. But is there anything else that would be helpful? Like I’ve done a little bit of research on specific covers, or those sorts of things? Do those work?
R Blank 24:02
Well, they can, I mean, so my company shield your body, we make products that are based off of emf shielding technology, this stuff has been around for for 200 years, it’s universally accepted science. Some of your listeners may have heard of the term Faraday cage, it’s like a Faraday cage. Except you know, modern technology is such that you can kind of get get the metal woven into fabrics and and get it integrated into apparel and blankets and phone pouches and so forth. So with any of these products, though, your audience should always look to see what supporting science they have. For instance, on my website, we have laboratory test data of all of our shielding products, but this is so EMF shielding is not only does it work and you can have a tested you can test it yourself with with certain meters that you can buy and and see the results for yourself. So yes, these products can work and the ones I make work And, and so one, it’s actually been my most popular product now for for six over six years. And it’s my phone pouch, and you put your phone in the pouch, and then you carry the pouch on your belt or in your pocket, and the back of the pouch has shielding, but the front of the pouch doesn’t. So what that does is it allows your phone to continue communicating, sending and receiving signal while still deflecting a large amount of the radiation away from your body. So that’s an example. Another one more recent product is my sling bag, which is, you know what a sling bag, it’s like a it’s like a backpack, but it goes on over one shoulder. And it’s same basic idea as the phone patch except it, it’s bigger. And so you it’ll fit not just a phone, it’ll fit multiple phones, it’ll fit a tablet, it’ll fit any of your portable devices. And again, it has shielding on the beside that touches us. So to flex radiation away from you, while still allowing your devices to work. But not not carrying your phone in your pocket is the better solution. But you know, some people still need to whether you know, maybe they’re on call, or maybe they they don’t have anywhere else to carry their phone. And so that’s why I make my products like the phone pouch and the sling bag.
Megan Mikkelsen 26:18
And I’ve seen some like stickers that you can supposedly stick on your phone, and it’s supposed to help do you think those work?
R Blank 26:27
So, no, I don’t think those work. I get asked questions a lot by because I make myself very accessible through my website into my mailing list. And people are very comfortable asking me about and I try very hard not to comment on specific companies, right. But when people ask me about stickers, I say you know the truth, which is I have never seen any science to support the claims. Not only that they work but even how they’re even supposed to work, right? You know, if I guarantee you if I if I could make a sticker that you could just stick on a phone, and suddenly the phone is safe, I would be making that sticker. But I have not seen any any science that would explain the function of of those products. And that I really think it’s important for people to you know, if you’re interested in EMF protection products, to actually do a little bit of research, because it’s a totally unregulated market. And there’s a lot of specious claims out there. And so it’s really important to to look at what you’re buying, what does it claim to do? What data does it have to support its claims, and before making any purchases? And again, you know, my company shield your body, we have all of that information posted so that and we even show people how they can test for themselves at home.
Megan Mikkelsen 27:49
Cool. Yeah, I figured that about the sticker. But I wanted to ask you because it didn’t make sense to me. I mean, I can understand exactly what you’re talking about, about having one side that has the fabric that is the barrier. I mean, it’s just like when you go to the dentist’s office, and you get your x rays you put on that shielding, and they walk out of the room again, distance. So um, yeah, that I had to ask that question. And I did think back to when we were talking about the cumulative effects of, you know, you know, when, let’s say 20 years ago, maybe we did have a cell phone, or was the first cell phones that were out there, but nothing in our home besides that was wireless or Bluetooth right there. Really, there was no Bluetooth speakers, our appliances, we maybe had a microphone or microwaves correct. Our appliances didn’t have Bluetooth, our thermostat didn’t have Bluetooth, not all of us had wireless in our homes. And so really, we are exposed in so many different ways every single day.
R Blank 28:57
Yeah, I mean, this stuff has been in homes ever since the introduction of the power grid. And, and so you had the light bulb, which is a source of emf, and then they It was such a popular invention, they needed to get power to everybody so they could run their light bulbs. And so the power lines became a source of emf then once the power grid was in place, all these other companies said hey, we can do other things with that. And so you got refrigerators and phonographs and so all in 70, we’ve been having human made EMF piped into almost all of our homes. But the wireless revolution has just taken that so much further. And so even though you and I grew up in fully electrified homes with appliances and TVs, you know, the kids today are growing up in a home environment with orders of magnitude more EMF in their environment because of the the cell networks and the Wi Fi networks and all the wireless devices in the homes and so forth.
Megan Mikkelsen 30:04
Yeah, yeah. Well, this has been super helpful. Is there anything else you want to share with our listeners before we head out?
R Blank 30:15
I’m sorry, you cut out there.
Megan Mikkelsen 30:17
Okay. Is there anything else you want to share with the listeners before we’re done here?
R Blank 30:23
Oh, sure. So I’d invite your listeners I have a free guide that covers the top five things that you can do to cut your EMF exposure. It also explains why those are the most important things that you can do. And it’s a free download all you have to do is go to shield your body calm that’s shield your body all one word comm slash toxin free. And you’ll see a big get the guide button there. And I it’s it’s a really it’s not just like a two page infographic it’s, it’s a real ebook that people can hopefully get some good information out of it also has links to other videos and training materials that we’ve done. Because, again, it shows your body we make we make great products, but we also put a lot of resources into creating learning materials for people because I do know how complicated intimidating this can be. And I try to make it as simple and as accessible as possible.
Megan Mikkelsen 31:16
That’s great. And I will share that link in the show notes. You can check it out. And I just want to say thank you so much. It’s been really enlightening. And it’s you know, reconfirmed for me that I need to take some steps to continue to further are, you know, control as much as we can that EMF exposure that we have. So thank you.
R Blank 31:39
Thank you for allowing me to share this information with your audience. Thank you so much.
Megan Mikkelsen 31:44
One more thing before you go. Please tell me did you get value in this episode? I know others will too. So head on over to iTunes, subscribe, and leave a review so that we can share this message with more people. You too can have an incredible impact on the women in your life. Just share what you learn today. Take a quick screenshot posted to your stories and make sure to tag me at them. Megan Mickelson Come on. Let’s start making this planet happier and healthier, one step at a time.
