Mother and Child

Study: Fluoride in Pregnancy Linked to Worse Child Behavior Outcomes

No one should be drinking straight from the tap municipal water. It very likely has contaminants that are linked to diseases such as cancers and neuro-degenerative diseases.

Epidemiological studies have suggested that fluoride is a human developmental neurotoxicant that reduces measures of intelligence in children, placing it into the same category as toxic metals (lead, methylmercury, arsenic) and polychlorinated biphenyls.

This article focuses on a 2024 cohort study looking at the baby’s exposure in the womb to fluoride and neuro and behavioral problems in the early years.

The study

In a cohort study of 229 mother-child pairs, researchers found that higher levels of fluoride exposure during pregnancy were significantly associated with increased neurobehavioral problems in children by age 3.1 For each 0.68 mg/L increase in maternal urinary fluoride levels, children had nearly double the odds of total neurobehavioral issues reaching the borderline clinical or clinical range.[1]

They found:

  1. a higher prenatal fluoride levels were tied to a 2.29-point increase in internalizing problem scores, including emotional reactivity, anxiety, withdrawal, and somatic complaints, as well as a 2.14-point increase in total neurobehavioral problem scores.3 

  2. children of mothers with greater fluoride exposure were also rated higher on symptoms related to Autism Spectrum Disorder. As the authors note, these effect sizes are concerning given the relatively low fluoride levels in the study sample, which are typical for fluoridated areas in the US.

The JAMA study authors conclude that "there may be a need to establish recommendations for limiting fluoride exposure during the prenatal period," echoing previous calls from researchers and health advocates.

Fluoride and IQ

This study adds to a body of research going back at least decades on the impact of fluorosis on IQ.

In 2008, a China meta-analysis study examined the literature on the relationship between endemic fluorosis and children's intelligence development published between 1995 and 2007 were retrieved electronically and manually. Thirteen studies covered 2 508 children from the high fluoride group and 2 330 children from the control group.

The study suggested a negative correlation between high fluorosis exposure and children's intelligence development.

In 2023, another meta-analysis systematic review out of Italy analysed 30 studies out of 1996 potentially relevant literature records. The goal was to characterize this relation through a dose-response approach, by comparing the intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the highest versus the lowest fluoride exposure category with a random-effects model

It concluded that their findings supported the overall evidence that an adverse effect of fluoride exposure on children's IQ, starting at low levels of exposure.

How can fluoride harm the brain?

Animal and cellular studies provide clues to the mechanisms behind fluoride's harmful neurodevelopmental impacts, including oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, disrupted neurotransmitter signaling, and altered thyroid function - all of which can derail healthy brain development.

Exposure to fluoride is linked to hypothyroidism, which negatively affects early neurodevelopment both in fetuses and newborn children (Peckham et al., 2015; Prezioso et al., 2018).

Fluoride compounds are also used in aluminum, petroleum, chemical, and plastics industries, therefore workers in such industries may be exposed to higher levels of fluoride — higher than the safety exposures — than the standard population.

You can administer fluoride yourself, with toothpastes, mouth rinses, gels, and varnishes.

Some countries take a whole community-based strategies (e.g., water, salt, and milk fluoridation), as well as individually prescribed drops or tablet supplementation. However, this raises concerns on the safety and efficacy both for dental and health in general.

Which countries in the world fluoridate their water

Water fluoridation is the adding of fluoride to a public water supply to the population. The policy was introduced in the 1930s in a bid to reduce tooth decay. It is typically at concentrations ranging from 0.7 mg/L to 1.2 mg/L.

Only three countries in the world have government/federal mandated fluoridation: Ireland, Singapore New Zealand. Only eight countries in the world have more than 50% of the population on fluoridated water: USA (70%), Australia (90%), Ireland (70%), Singapore (100%), Chile (70%), Brunei (95%), New Zealand (52%), and Malaysia (66%).

The whole of continental Europe is NOT fluoridated.

Only 10% of the UK is fluoridated.

References & resources

  1. 1 Malin AJ, Eckel SP, Hu H, et al. Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(5):e2411987. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11987

  2. Hypothyroidism is one https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935123000312#bib41

  3. Read an extensive body of research in the GreenMedInfo.com database revealing fluoride's little-recognized dark side. With over 300 studies, the database links fluoride to more than 100 adverse health effects, from hypothyroidism6 and immune dysfunction7 to skeletal fluorosis and, most troublingly, neurotoxicity.

  4. Learn about the environmental toxins that can impact children’s brain development.

New Studies Link Emf Radiation from Mobile Phones to Adverse Outcomes in Pregnancy, Birth, and Infant Outcomes

If you knew that the top factor that influences the health outcome of your child is something that you use every day, what would you do?

Electro-pollution is invisible radiation that is common in many homes from personal sources such as your mobile phone and the latest smart gadgets, moving subatomic particles (i.e., light in the body) at the speed of light.

It directly affects the human body's electric and biochemical responses, especially during the sensitive stages of pre and post pregnancy.

EMFs harm both the baby in-utero and the pregnant mother

In a recent study published in the journal Heliyon, researchers systematically reviewed and analyzed articles that highlight the impact of harmful electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation on physiological as well as pregnancy outcomes with regards to the mother, birth, and the child.

Electromagnetic fields disorder the body’s physiological balance, increase the lifespan of free radicals, and lead to DNA damage in individuals [22]. In addition, according to gender, density of body tissue, life cycle, and exposure, the effect of environmental pollution varies. Many sources can cause humans to be exposed to magnetic fields. Power supplies, computers, televisions, radios, and telephones are some of these resources.

We’re fundamentally bio-electric in Nature, which means every single cell process runs on bioelectricity. Any artificial electromagnetic fields has the potential to affect these processes.

The female placenta facilitates an exchange of oxygen and nutrients between the tissues of the mother and the fetus. Thus, alterations in the mother’s body can affect fetal growth and development. EMF radiation emitted from mobile phones can penetrate fetal tissues and cause hormonal imbalances in the mother and thermal, anthropometric, and cardiovascular changes in the fetus. Hence, analyzing these radiation-induced damaging effects in terms of physiological and pregnancy outcomes on the mother and the baby is important.

study: Emfs Is Linked to poorer pregnancy and infant outcomes

The researchers looked up all qualitative or qualitative studies printed in English within the past five years that reported the negative physiological and pregnancy outcomes of smartphone induced EMF radiation on mothers and child’s health in humans and animals, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (PRISMA) guidelines.

They found 10,450 published articles, and selected 18 articles.

The studies found that pregnant women exposed to high levels of EMF radiation had elevated levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).

They also had higher rates of miscarriages, premature birth along with low birth weight, fluctuations in temperature, heart rate variability (HRV), altered development of the nervous system, decreased head and chest circumference, hyperactivity, and speech problems in the infant.

Link to the study: El Jarrah, I. and Rababa, M. (2022) "Impacts of smartphone radiation on pregnancy: A systematic review", Heliyon, 8(2), p. e08915. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08915https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(22)00203-1

Emfs Is Linked to Higher Risks of Fetal and Childhood Abnormalities

The following year in 2023, another study was published. It noted that electromagnetic waves can have harmful effects on the cell components that lead to differentiation and abnormalities in cell proliferation, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage, chromosomal abnormalities, cancers, and birth defects.

It also noted that the UK showed that the prevalence of hospital admission due to congenital anomalies has increased significantly from 1999 to 2019. It also cited an Australian study from 2005 to 2015 reported an increasing trend in admissions due to congenital anomalies

It showed:

  • In mothers who have more exposure to EMFs, the odds of fetal developmental disorders in fetus were 1.34 times as many as in mothers who have no exposure to EMFs. The odds for development disorders was 2.10.

  • In mothers who have more exposure to EMFs, the mean change in gene expression in fetus was 1.02 units as many as in mothers who have no exposure to EMFs.

  • In mothers that have more exposure to EMFs, the mean of antioxidant parameters in fetus was 0.84 units lower than in mothers that have no exposure to EMFs.

Link to the study: Electromagnetic fields exposure on fetal and childhood abnormalities: Systematic review and meta-analysis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10183723/

What EMFs do to the human body — the fertility link

In today’s world, EMF exposure is more or less inevitable. 

Unless you live way out in the woods, where you live is a matrix of wireless routers and cellphones.

In fact, EMFs messes with your biology in a few different ways that are most directly detrimental to fertility, conception, and throughout the pregnancy process! What we do know:

  • Infertility in men. A 2014 study found that cell phone exposure reduces sperm quality. People who carried mobile phones that were actively receiving cell signals (that is, their phones were not in airplane mode) saw a significant decrease in sperm motility and viability[*]. 

  • Infertility in women. A study of 462 pregnant women in Tehran found that the women experienced a significant increase in miscarriages after exposure to EMFs[*]. On top of that, a 2015 study found that EMF exposure increased the number of viable eggs you lose with each menstrual cycle[*].

  • Decreased sleep quality. A 2019 study found that daily exposure to EMFs disrupts sleep and contribute to both depression and anxiety[*]. Another study found that EMF exposure caused people to release less melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy and helps you access the deepest, most restorative stages of sleep[*].

  • Mental stress. EMFs cause concentrated oxidative stress in your brain[*][*]. A series of recent studies suggest that EMF exposure could even be a cause of neurodegeneration as you age, contributing to diseases like dementia[*][*]. This is the total opposite of what we want to mothers during postpartum recovery when the brain is adjusting to a whole new life with baby!

Mothers are increasingly exposed to environmental toxins

How much EMF exposure before it causes harm? It depends on gender, density of body tissue, life cycle, and exposure…

And for pregnant women, exposure to children begins in the womb. Women and babies (including in the womb) are also softer and more vulnerable to the penetration to EMFs.

With the increase in the modernity process and the increase in exposure of mothers to environmental pollutants, the hospital admission rate due to congenital malformations has increased by almost 19% from 1999 to 2019.

Any older mother visiting a gynaecologist’s office is well aware of the script — that mothers above 35 years have an increased risk of congenital anomalies by 3.93 times and the risk of spontaneous abortion by 12.82 times…

References & Resouces

Doi M, Usui N, Shimada S. Prenatal environment and neurodevelopmental disorders. Front Endocrinol. 2022;13:407. [PMC free article] [PubMed]

Otto M, von Mühlendahl KE. Electromagnetic fields (EMF): do they play a role in children’s environmental health (CEH)? Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2007;210(5):635–44. [PubMed]

EMFs & The Microbiome: How EMFs Can Cause Gut Imbalance

We are used to thinking about our body as parts, but did you know we are essentially made up of trillions of cellular microorganisms? Scientists call this the human micro biome, and it’s essential for our survival.

Our microbiome is directly impacted by artificial EMFs, which are everywhere in a digital society. 

What are EMFs?

Electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, are invisible areas of energy (radiation) that come from power lines, Wi-Fi towers, and electronic devices. Anything that runs on electrical power can also produce EMFs. They can be grouped into two categories:

Ionizing EMFs are produced by sunlight or X-rays.

Non-ionizing EMFs are practically everywhere in a digital high-tech society, not least in your pocket from mobile devices and in personal spaces from everyday items such as SMART appliances, microwaves, computers, WiFi, Bluetooth devices, power lines, and MRI. Learn more about the types of EMFs here

How do EMFs affect gut health? 

We already know the effects of EMFs include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans.

Research is discovering how it affects the gut.

Wellness doesn’t begin and end with what’s on your plate. Food is a direct source of energy and can be powerful medicine. However, your overall health is influenced by internal and external factors, and that includes your gut health.

While thousands of studies mount on the direct health effect of a cell phone and its radiofrequency (RF) EMF to human, the effect to unicellular organisms IS rather apparent. Even weak EMFs can cause all sorts of dramatic non-thermal effects in body cells, tissues and organs.

It is important to understand that the gut is a microbial system, and how our microbiota responds to say RF-EMF (just one type of EMFs) from cell phones and personal electronic devices. This is an important mechanism of a human health threat brought about by the disruption of the intimate and balanced host-microbiota relationship. 

Signs of poor gut health

Symptoms can be chronic such as the niggly skin rash you have no idea what the trigger is. Gut health can also show up as autoimmune conditions, increasingly common celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, and myasthenia gravis.

  • Heartburn

  • Intestinal gas, and Bloating

  • Constipation

  • Diarrhea

  • Fatigue

  • Skin rashes

  • Autoimmune diseases, which can show up every body system, including the brain, thyroid, blood, GI tract, nerves, lungs, skin, muscles, and bones. It can also show up as PCOS and endometriosis.

Why an optimal gut health is so important

The gut impacts virtually everything because your gut controls your immune system and your brain, and your brain controls all the parts of your body.

Research into the “microbiome” as a term only properly began a decade or so ago. The digestive microbiome is made up of bacteria, viruses, or one-celled beings—essentially beneficial microorganisms.

Our gut performs many roles for us:

  1. The digestive tract is your immune system.

    The gut microbiome covers over 3000 sq ft in surface area and inhabited by over 40 trillion microbes. Without a healthy gut, you have no healthy immune system. The microbiome and the immune system are inextricably connected and the immune system would cease to function without the microbiome.

    These microorganisms also support immune function as the digestive tract is open to the outside world, so imagine approximately 70% of your immune system lives there!

  2. The digestive tract has a direct link to the neurological system and brain.

    Did you know the gut sends more information to your brain, than vice versa?

    The gut impacts virtually everything because your gut controls your immune system and your brain, and your brain controls all the parts of your body.

    This is not only through the vagus nerve but as these microorganisms excrete neurochemicals like serotonin and dopamine. It also produces gamma-aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter, which helps control fear and anxiety.

    The gut has over 100 million neurons that communicate with your neurological system ensuring that your general health and mental well being are maintained.

  3. The digestive system also has its own nervous system.

    Its nervous system is also known as the enteric nervous system. Approximately 30 micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids) are needed for the brain to function!

Gut dysbiosis: What causes gut health problems?

If your gut microbiota is out of balance, health problems start.

These are common reasons why someone might suffer gut dysbiosis:

  • Food intolerance and processed food/low diversity in the diet. Low stomach acidity, pancreatic insufficiency, or gallbladder/liver dysfunction

  • Nutrient deficiency

  • Chronic stress

  • Pesticide and chemical exposure

  • Scientists also found out that EMFs are directly affecting these cellular organisms that make up our gut.

For example, the neurochemical serotonin, which also governs appetite, temperature regulation, and is turned into melatonin to activate sleep and natural opiods for pain is then depleted.

When this happens, people's appetite is altered, along with their sleep and mood.

Certain foods negatively effect the microbiome, i.e. lots of sugar whether through alcohol or excess in food wipe out vitamin B1. Do this often and long enough, and it leads to a form of dementia called Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, common with hardcore alcoholics.

In fact, many, now recognise dementia as type 3 diabetes.

Many people have difficulty absorbing B vitamins, due to a methylation issue affecting vitamin B9 and the others B vitamins (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, or MTHFR). This means the body have difficulty removing waste from the cells and as a whole.

Synthetic and fortified B vitamins can make the problem worse. It is estimated between 30-70% of the population have this problem dependent on where they live, i.e. Italians have high levels.

Dementia patients and most mental health problems have MTHFR linked in with it. As you get older, your digestive system, particularly eating the trashy Western diet, deteriorates, hence the reduction in nutrient absorption and the impact on the brain and body.

MTHFR is also linked to approximately 150 illnesses, including cardiac problems, high BP, obesity, diabetes, cancer. Interestingly the covid jab wipes out the microbiome, hence the significant deterioration in health, it is one of the factors.

Folks with MTHFR seem to be hardest hit not only with the covid but also with the jab. There seems to be a correlation.

In fact, our gut is so sensitive, that even if another family member goes on a round of antibiotics, YOUR own microbiome can be affected. In essence, when one person in a household is on antibiotics, the gut disruption that this person experiences is shared by everyone else in the home. That’s incredible news!

How to improve your gut health

First: we’ve heard the quote: “You are what you eat.” This dates back to 1825 — and it’s as true today as when French bon vivant Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin penned the axiom in his book The Physiology of Taste.

Not all bacteria are harmful. Some of them are essential for our bodies. They help us digest food, absorb nutrients, and produce vitamins like niacin, folic acid, B6, and B12 in our intestinal tracts. Eating the right foods fortifies your gut’s complex microbiome and the trillions of microbes — including “good” bacteria ­— that call it home. It’s essential for your health to maintain a good balance of gut bacteria.

For example, e.coli produces vitamin K, lactobacillus helps metabolism and form some of the B vitamins.

If the gut is depleted and unable to produce B vitamins that are needed by every cell in your body to gain energy, we suffer low energy.

The microbiome is made from what you eat

You feed the microbiome with pre- and pro- biotics. Probiotics are the beneficial microorganisms, prebiotics are their food. This is usually some form of fibre, such as Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, burdock root, chicory root, garlic, and other members of the Allium family, flax seeds.

You can buy your supplements, or you can eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha which contain both pro and prebiotics. This needs to be a regular in your diet.

Let food be thy medicine, and keep your space a sanctuary

It is no secret that medical schools teach little, if anything, about nutrition, especially as pharmaceuticals came to dominance in the mid 1800s. Fewer know about the effect of EMFs on your gut microbiota.

Fortunately, more people are recognising the direct link between their every day wellbeing and what they put into their mouths.

And more of us are realising that we are living in artificial environments with harmful electromagnetic fields emitted by our own lifestyle devices, and this is harming our gut, and therefore, our whole health.

No quick fix or single silver bullet can be relied to healing and health, if you’re living in today’s world. You have to chip away at old toxic practices and be open to including “new” (relatively speaking) ways of being.

One day we will treat food the way it once was: and as modern day naturopaths and medical herbalists do. Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. We will keep our environments free of pollutants, as it is our space that determines how well we thrive.

References & resources

  1. Kıvrak, Elfide Gizem et al. “Effects of electromagnetic fields exposure on the antioxidant defense system.” Journal of microscopy and ultrastructure vol. 5,4 (2017): 167-176. doi:10.1016/j.jmau.2017.07.003

  2. Dartsch PC (2020). Compensation of Mobile Phone Radiation by the Medic Amber: In Vitro Investigations Using a Novel Test System . J Biomed Sci Res 2(3): 131

  3. Report on Preclinical Research of Somavedic Medic Uran Case Efficacy (2019). https://somavedic.at/wp-content/uploads/Preclinical_Research_of_Somavedic.pdf. PDF download

  4. Examination of an effect of Somavedic Medic device in relationship to stress of electrosmog using analysis of blood cells in dark field https://somavedic.fi/_files/200000101-12838137d4/IGEF_Blood_analysis.pdf. PDF download

  5. Antiobiotic use affects family members — Microbiologist Kiran Krishnan describes this disconcerting information in the Healing Quest podcast. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/microbiome-cloud-sharing/

What You Should Know about Wireless Radiation: Health Impacts on Babies and Children

Wireless radiation is basically EMFs, or electromagnetic fields that are invisible waves of energy emitted by electronic devices like WiFi routers, cell phones, and baby monitors. You can’t see them, but it’s how your iPad and mobile devices connects to the cell tower.

You cannot sense these as with other pollution such as smog, noise pollution, but your body is definitely sensitive to these fields.

  • Children are uniquely vulnerable to wireless radiation.

Children are more vulnerable to wireless radiation and cell phone radiation because they have smaller heads, they have thinner skulls, and they have developing brains. Research shows that children absorb higher levels of wireless radiation.

Wherever you are using your wireless device, this radiation is being absorbed into your body, quite intensely, whenever it’s nearby. So, if it’s in your head, you’re going to get high levels of absorption of the non-ionizing radiation into your head and brain. If it’s near the abdomen and you’re pregnant, your body will receive that radiation as will your developing baby.

  • Wireless radiation is linked to a wide range of symptoms.

Before it even becomes an acute disease, Some studies of people living near cell towers have also confirmed an array of health complaints, including dizziness, nausea, headaches, tinnitus and insomnia, from people identified as having "electromagnetic hypersensitivity."

  • Wireless radiation is considered a carcinogen.

In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, cited troubling but uncertain evidence in classifying wireless radiation as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”

In 2018, a study by the federal government that was nearly two decades in the making found “clear evidence” that cellphone radiation caused cancer in lab animals. A major study in Italy produced similar results.

  • The main reason for this new classification was its linked to gliomas.

Cellphone radiation was classified a “possible carcinogen” in 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, a conclusion based on human epidemiological studies that found an increased risk of glioma, a malignant brain cancer, associated with cellphone use.

Gliomas are the most common CNS tumors in children and adolescents; it is usually a fast-growing cancer that affects your child's brain or spinal cord.

Leukaemia and brain cancer are BOTH among the top five most common childhood cancers in most countries that track such statistics, from Singapore, Malaysia in the tropics to the UK, across Europe.

In fact, leukaemia and brain cancer account for more than half of all childhood cancers. Check out the population statistics in countries such as the UK, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia. By contrast, these cancers are rare in adults.

While these childhood cancers are rare and have high overall survival, it remains the first cause of death from

disease in children and adolescents. Can you imagine what the leading factor to such cancers are?

  • They’ve been concerned for a long time.

“They” being the many official institutions. For example, before the WHO’s 2011 official declaration, between 2008 and 2011, the European Union Parliament and the Council of Europe passed multiple resolutions against the “early, ill-considered, and prolonged use of mobiles and other devices emitting microwaves.”

The European parliaments’ advice for an exposure level was called A.L.A.R.A. (as low as reasonably achievable). (How low is still up to you to achieve as there are no standard regulations.)

Many medical associations in North America and Europe have also issued public statements to warn about the serious health risks associated with using wireless devices. Among them, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine wrote:

  • Wireless radiation is linked to autism and spectrum disorders.

A majority of studies that have looked at something called oxidative stress have found an effect. Now oxidative stress can lead to inflammation and more inflammation can lead to a lot of other health implications.

Dr. Martha Herbert documented in her publications, looking at autism and ADHD, there is inflammation in the brain. With electromagnetic fields, there are studies showing inflammation as well.

Many clinicians, doctors, and health professionals have found reducing electromagnetic fields can help with kids who have behavioral problems or have autism and other health issues. It’s been a way to impact or reduce electromagnetic fields that can support the child’s resilience.

  • Wireless radiation can cause behavioural problems in children.

If you are pregnant and exposed to cellphone radiation, your baby could be born susceptible to behavioural issues. A Yale study in 2012 found hyperactivity and reduced memory in mice exposed to cellphone radiation in the womb, consistent with human epidemiological research showing a rise in behavioral disorders among children who were exposed to cellphones in the womb.

The researchers exposed the pregnant mice to radiation from a muted and silenced cell phone positioned above the cage and placed on an active phone call for the duration of the trial. A control group of mice was kept under the same conditions but with the phone deactivated (such as being on “airplane mode”).

After the mice were born, researchers conducted psychological and behavioral tests, as well as measured their brain electrical activity.

“We have shown that behavioral problems in mice that resemble ADHD are caused by cell phone exposure in the womb. The evidence is really, really strong now that there is a causal relationship between cellphone radiation exposure and behavior issues in children. — Dr. Hugh Taylor, the author of the mouse study and chair of the obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences department at the Yale School of Medicine”

Concerned scientists are advocating for education around possible harms of wireless tech and how it should be used with care around children.

The BabySafe Project was conceived jointly by Dr. Devra Davis of Environmental Health Trust and Patti and Doug Wood of Grassroots Environmental Education after attending a conference in Stonington, Connecticut — it was where Dr. Hugh Taylor of Yale School of Medicine presented the results of his important study on fetal exposures to cell phone radiation. https://www.babysafeproject.org/science

Your child may already be suffering from EMF

A case in Canada saw three young children with an environmental intolerance, medically known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). They regularly suffered with symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, concentration and memory problems, anxiety, abdominal pain, nosebleeds, ringing in the ears, and more. These symptoms were otherwise unexplainable.

In May of 2012, to accommodate children with EHS and to provide choice for parents who want to heed health warnings to reduce exposure for children who are most vulnerable, the BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC) called for a moratorium on Wi-Fi in schools.

  • EMFs health impacts begin pre-conception.

Higher levels of exposure could reduce sperm quality in men and increase miscarriage risk in women. The two miscarriage studies, conducted by Kaiser Permanente and funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, are particularly interesting because they're some of the only ones to date that actually measured EMF exposure in subjects using a magnetic field monitoring device.

"We took [913 pregnant women] and asked them to wear the monitor for the duration of their pregnancy. Studies right now aren't using the meters because most of them are focusing on cancer. Cancer can take 20 years to develop—you can't measure your exposure from 20 years ago, so in those cases, you just ask how much the person uses their cell phone." — reproductive epidemiologist De-Kun Li, MD, PhD, the principle investigator on both studies (one published in 2002, one published in 2017).

  • Any safety regulations is out of date.

Any safety data is so out of date, it is not even funny.

No standards even consider the impact to a pregnant woman, as that research didn’t exist 25 years ago.

For example, the US Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, based on an adult male and they don’t even consider a child’s developing brain. They last adjusted its woefully outdated health standards for wireless radiation a quarter-century ago, well before wireless devices became ubiquitous, heavily used appliances synonymous with modern life.

I hope this compilation of research and studies will help you make a more informed decision about Wifi and its use in your family.

Resources & recommendations

Study: Dangerous levels of metal toxicity in clothing

Metals are used to make clothing and textile products in many processes, such as:

  • metal complex dye (cobalt, copper, chromium, lead),

  • pigments,

  • mordant (chromium),

  • catalyst in synthetic fabrics manufacture (antimony oxide),

  • synergists of flame retardants (Sb2O3), antimicrobials (nanoparticles of silver, titanium oxide and zinc oxide),

  • water repellents, and;

  • odour-preventive agents

When we wear these metals on our skin, our body’s largest organ, heavy metals may mean a potential danger to human health.

The study

The researchers analysed clothes made of different materials, colours, and brands.

The results

Different materials in darker dyes have different levels of metals. The researchers found high levels of Cr in polyamide dark clothes (605 mg/kg), high Sb concentrations in polyester clothes (141 mg/kg), and great Cu levels in some green cotton fabrics (around 280 mg/kg).

Significantly lower concentrations of Al and Sr were found in “eco” clothes,.

No significant differences were observed in branded and unbranded clothing pieces.

Study: Early life circadian rhythm disruption in mice alters brain and behavior in adulthood

Health begins with the light you live in. The AM light is a powerful opportunity to reset your circadian rhythms, that govern all of your body’s biological processes.

This is especially crucial during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, when development is at a sensitive stage.

Anyone can tell you it is also a stage when time flies and space just seems a perpetual chaos!

The study

Beginning on the day of birth, female mice and their litters were exposed to either a regular light-dark cycle or a disrupting light-dark cycle where dark onset was brought forward by 8 hours every second day.

Early circadian rhythm disturbances on adult spatial learning, working memory, and anxiety

The 12 mice were assessed using the Elevated Plus Maze. The disrupted animals had significantly less entries into the open arms than did the undisrupted control group. In other words, the diminished exploratory behavior is consistent with higher anxiety-like behavior in the disrupted animals.

Also, the disrupted animals spent significantly less time in the exposed arms (8.1 ± 11.0 s) compared to the controls.

The same mice were then assessed using Morris Water Maze. The disrupted animals took significantly more time to reach the platform compared to controls.

The researchers also examined neuronal complexity in the areas of the brain hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala, respectively.

Circadian disruption during the last trimester and extending to the preschool years

The first 3 weeks postnatal in mice are comparable to a relatively wide developmental period in humans.

Postnatal days 1–10 exhibit developmental stages that correspond to the last trimester of pregnancy in humans, while brain development events in mice at postnatal days 20–21 are roughly equivalent to human brain development events observed at 2–3 years of age in children50.

This suggests that circadian disruption during the last trimester and extending to the preschool years could still have an impact on brain development. Indeed, poor sleep at 2 years of age is associated with less gray matter at 7 years of age14.

Additionally, poor sleep at 6–12 months of age17, or at 2 years of age18,19 were both predictive of delayed social-emotional development in children.

Why this is important for every mother and child

This study adds to the growing body of research we know about how circadian rhythms, including uneven sleep patterns, can affect health.

Other studies find similar effects in hyperactivity and increased anxiety.

Aside from socioeconomic status and other environmental stressors, one area that is consistently adversely impacted in these cases is the quality of sleep.

While in utero disruption led to more severe impairments in adulthood, significant deficits were still observed when circadian disruption was restricted to the postnatal period, such as was observed in the mouse study.

Infancy and childhood are critical periods for the growth and development of brain and behaviour. Adversity during this period can have profound implications for how the child develops, leading to deficits later in life such as increase rates of psychopathology.

If you are doing shift work, this could impact the circadian health of the child as well.

Sleep is a premium for any mom during pregnancy and in the precious post partum months with a newborn. Prioritising a regular, quality sleep routine is a crucial part of ensuring a healthy baby and his or her brain development, with implications far beyond just what we think we would observe.

Link to study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11335-0


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