Why EMF Shielding Doesn't Work
Practical ways we can minimize harm from EMF
What we’ll learn in this article:
1. Why is it difficult to shield EMFs?
2. How magnetic fields are difficult to shield
3. How do EMFs travel along our electrical wiring?
4. Does EMF-protective clothing work?
5. Do EMF shields for cell phones work?
6. Is airplane mode really safe?
7. What are some practical ways we can reduce EMFs?
6. EMF 101 Registration CLOSES TODAY
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I’ve never worn a tin foil hat, although I’ve been accused of this fashion offense many times. Tin foil hats, as it turns out, can actually work, just not in the way we think they do.
In the 1960s, biologist Allan Frey conducted experiments for the US military, showing that a protective aluminum wire mesh could shield from electromagnetic fields, otherwise known as EMFs.
EMFs are a complex animal, more akin to a cat than a dog, and can often exacerbate harm when shielding is employed, since there are a multitude of frequencies and currents that constantly surround us. In today’s world of consumerism we like to apply band aid solutions, rather than look at the root cause of our bleeding.
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
~ Albert Einstein
Marketeers and “healers” try to sell us on everything from pendants, bed sheets, to even EMF-protective clothing for our pets.
Why is shielding difficult?
We like to think that EMFs from our phones and Wi-Fi will be stopped by a wall of metal. However our phones do not shoot bullets or cannonballs.
Our devices emit both visible and non-visible light, which is harder to catch than a fly with chopsticks.
Here are some factors to consider when addressing EMF shielding:
1. Frequency Soup
There are a plethora of frequencies being constantly emitted along the electromagnetic spectrum. Cell towers, satellites, and our neighbors’ phones all transmit at varying speeds. The millimeter wave frequencies of 5G, for example, are the size of a rain drop.
If there are any defects in EMF shielding fabric, this could easily allow more EMFs to penetrate and surround us while we sleep, making matters worse.
2. Electrical Wiring Errors
Many homes have wiring errors, and can often be improperly grounded, which creates stronger magnetic fields.1
For instance, code 250.6. “Objectionable Current Flowing Through The Grounding Path” under the National Electrical Code (NEC) can often be an issue.
This type of current is often created by:2
An improper neutral-to-ground connection;
Errors in the wiring installation or;
Improperly using the grounding path to carry neutral current
Alternating current (AC) magnetic fields that are produced and exacerbated by our home wiring may affect our blood cell reproduction, and can be a precursor to leukemia.3 Unless the magnetic field is highly localized, it's virtually impossible to address with shielding, whereas electric fields are more easily shielded. Some magnetic fields can even pass through lead.
3. Magnetic Field Coupling
Ever wonder how incandescent light bulbs were made to glow? Any time you have a metal such as copper, in a certain mass and geometric formation such as a loop (below), you can generate wireless electricity by creating a magnetic field.
Let’s say you sleep close to your refrigerator, which is on the opposite side of your bedroom wall. Not only will the wall not shield you from the magnetic field, the field generated by the refrigerator’s transformer coils could couple with the metal shielding fabric of your EMF canopy or protective clothing.
What is the “skin effect?”
In electrical engineering, this coupling is known as mutual inductance. When mutual inductance occurs, currents will then travel along the surface of wires and conductive surfaces such as metal, rather than being evenly distributed. This is known as the skin effect. In this example, the skin effect isn’t referring to our skin, but the surface of conductive materials such as wiring.
The illustration above shows an increasing skin effect as frequencies (Hz) also increase. Our homes use 60 Hz for electricity. However, radiowaves and Wi-Fi operate at much higher frequencies.
For example, Wi-Fi typically runs at 2,450,000 kHz. (2.45 GHz) This frequency would generate a substantially greater current along the surface / skin of wires, which could lead to even more mutual inductance by attracting additional EMFs to a protective metal canopy. Basically you’re creating another EMF by introducing more metal into the environment.
This is why building biology advocates such as myself discourage metal bed frames, as they can create their own EMF, and throw off our body’s immune system and circadian rhythm while we sleep.
“When shielding or grounding against high frequencies, the current return path of the shield must be of suitably low inductance in order to be effective (otherwise, the shielding may become a secondary radiator). Calculated resistances using properties of the bulk of the metal are often inadequate at high frequencies, because of the skin effect.”
-Paul Héroux BSc, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor of Public Health, Toxicology, & Electromagnetism, McGill University
Can we shield our bodies with fabric?
Scientists and physicians such as Robert O. Becker, James Oschmann, and Dr. Beverly Rubin have shown how our bodies not only produce their own electricity through a DC (direct current) electric circuit, but also act as antennas for our environment through what is known as the biofield.
Biofield practices such as acupuncture work on our energy meridians, which run along the same lines as our nervous system, and have even been shown to not only be electrically conductive, but also contain large amounts of DNA. EMFs can act upon what are known as Brillouin precursors, that force electrical current through our bodies.
Our bodies are extremely sensitive to minor changes in our electrical environment, so introducing another medium such as an EMF fabric may be potentially disruptive. In addition, our bodies also contain metals such as copper and we may even have toxic metals in our organs like aluminum, which would interact with the additional EMF created by clothing or a canopy.
Clothing with metallic fibers can keep direct radiation exposure off the area being protected, however the clothing can also magnify that radiation to other parts of our body, called hot spots. According to building biologists such as Bill Cadwallader, the question we need to consider when wearing this clothing is “which body part isn’t important to you?” Any exposed areas will still receive the light signal from WiFi, and all metabolic processes ultimately begin in our skin and eyes.
This is why I like wearing wool, as it is an electrical insulator that has been shown to help reduce electrical fields, and is a natural, breathable fabric.
The video below shows how EMFs are actually increased by protective clothing, when in the vicinity of a cell phone:
Some EMF clothing lines that can do a better job:
When considering EMF-protective clothing, it’s hard to know who or what product we can trust.
has personally tested the hoodie and Monk’s Habit hat from EMF Protection, and has measured the RF fields inside the clothing, which registered close to zero:
Do EMF shields for cell phones work?
Cases may amplify our EMF exposure:
All cell phones, ranging from flip phones to modern-day smartphones, are designed to provide network coverage even in the most remote of areas. To accomplish this, companies encode a radiation boost feature in your phone in case of a weak signal.
There is no perfect Faraday cage (metal enclosure that reduces non-native EMF) as some amount of radiation will always get through. When even the tiniest amount of radiation seeps in through the cage, our phone can detect this weak spot and boost its signal to better connect with a cell tower.
In this example, using an EMF blocking phone case can cause you to face an increased level of EMF emissions.
We can’t shield a false sense of security
Another problem with such phone cases is that they implicitly encourage the notion that it’s somehow “safer” to hold your phone against your head if you use their product. Never hold a cell phone against your head.
What about airplane mode?
Thank you
for shedding light on why airplane mode isn’t so safe:What are some practical ways we can reduce EMFs?
Address electrical wiring in your home - Have an electrician you trust inspect the premises to make sure that all wires are grounded all the way back to the breaker. Wiring errors may lead to what is known as “objectionable current.” (National Electrical Code: 250)
Address data (ethernet) wiring: Even once you disable Wi-Fi and hardwire your devices, your ethernet cables should also be shielded. Many cat 7 and cat 8 ethernet wires have this feature.
Remove any EMF that you can control in your home. You can shut off the electrical breaker at night*, and even have a kill-switch installed by an electrician so you don’t have to walk into the cold garage before bed like I do.
*Note: installing these kill-switches can be a tricky, complex process that should be done by an experienced electrician with guidance from an EMF remediation professional.
Increase distance from the towers - as radio waves travel outward from their source - a transmitter - they lose intensity, and rapidly. The intensity of radio waves over distance obeys the inverse-square law, which states that intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from a source. For example: when you double the distance, you get four times less power being emitted to your body.
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P. Héroux: "60 Hz Electric and Magnetic Fields Generated by a Distribution Network",
BioElectroMagnetics, Vol 8, pp 135-148, 1987. DOI: 10.1002/bem.2250080204
Becker, Robert O. 1990. Cross Currents. New York: Penguin Group (USA)
Sounds like a return to the wooden four-poster rope bed, which my daughter and husband sleep on, as my father made it for her. Very interesting post. Personally I prefer to wear fabrics which arose from the earth--currently inhabiting 98% cotton jeans, 100% cotton t-shirt, wool hand-knit socks.
Thank you for clarifying how invisible EMF pollution is completely out of control now.. I've been railing about this for about three years now... getting even my children to wake up and protect their children seems almost hopeless.. Maybe they'll listen to you.? I'm reduced to substantial bribery now.. We have to turn this around.. So back to work and forwarding your publication!