Does your smart meter make your nose bleed?
Are you terrified of your microwave?
Have you installed am anti-brain cancer thingy on your cell phone?
Welcome to the world of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and their alleged harmful effects.
For the last ten years or so, people have been worrying about EMFs, along with the increase in the use of electronics. And even though scientific data obtained so far is reassuring about the effects of EMFs on human health, a lot of people are still scared.
It took almost a year to create this comic. After all, the topic is mind-blowingly complex and, as a pharmacist, I am not at all qualified to speculate about it. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to work with two awesome collaborators from the very beginning:
Jérôme Poulin (Ph. D) is a physicist and researcher in optical physics. His Ph.D thesis was about cold atom guidance in a hollow-core photonic cristal fibre using a blue detuned hollow laser beam (Olivier’s note: I have no idea what that means… I think it’s about building the next Death Star or something). He was also part of the Electro-Urban Brigade, a team of scientists who measured the daily exposure to electromagnetic fields of citizens in the province of Quebec, Canada.
Michel Trottier-McDonald (Ph.D) is a physicist and data scientist. He namely worked on the ATLAS experiment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN in order to find the Higgs Boson (Olivier’s note: yeah, that big thing).
None of us are experts on the effects of EMFs on health and we don’t pretend otherwise. Fortunately, scientific knowledge on the matter is advanced enough for us to relay conclusive evidence to you.
The 5 key messages of the comic go as follows:
- Certain types of electromagnetic radiation can break the molecules of the body, others cannot;
- Until proven otherwise, mobile/radio/Wi-Fi fields do not pose a threat to human health;
- Every day, we are exposed electromagnetic radiation that is hundreds, if not thousands of times below the international standards deemed safe;
- Symptoms experienced by people who identify as “electrosensitive” do not appear to be caused by electromagnetic fields;
- So-called experts and companies that pretend otherwise may not be trustworthy, or even qualified to discuss EMFs.
But hey, you should to read the comic before disagreeing…
So cover your head with aluminium foil, make holes for your eyes, turn off your router & 4G and read this right away!
P.S. As always, scientific references for this comic are listed in the first comment.
Translated by Patricia Rainville; edits and proofreading by Robyn Penney.
Posted in Comics
Tagged 4G, alarmist, aloe, aluminium foil, anti-EMF, apartment, baby monitor, balanced, bananas, Bioinitiative Report, Bluetooth, boil, bombarded, brain, brain cancer, brain cells, brain tumors, break, burn, cancer, cap, carcinogenic, cell phone, charismatic, claims, coconut oil, coffee, companies, conspiracy, cosmic rays, criticism, daily, dangerous, data, deposits, depression, device, distress, DNA, doctor, doubt, Earth, electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, electronics, electrophobia, electrosensitive, electrosensitivity, EMF, EMFs, emitters, energy, equipment, experts, exposure, Faraday cage, fatigue, gadgets, geeks, Group 2B, harmful, heache, health, heat, hermit, home, hoodie, house, human body, hurts, impacts, international standards, ionizing, irregular heartbeat, justification, knowledgeable, laser, leader, leukemia, light bulb, Linky, long-term, LTE, media, medicine, mental illness, metallic, microwave, mobile, molecules, motives, mutations, next-generation, Nobel, non-ionizing, nosebleeds, nuclear, objective, off, on, overblown, panties, participants, pendant, physicists, physics, possibly carcinogenic, potassium, power lines, pragmatism, precautionary principle, pregnancy belt, protection, psychological disorders, radiation, radio, radio towers, radio waves, radioactivity, reactions, reassuring, research, retina, router, safer, safety margin, scared, scientific evidence, scientists, scoop, screen, sick, signal, smart electric meter, smart meter, so-called, solid, stricter, suffering, suicides, sun, sunburn, sunlight, symptoms, technology, threat, tissues, trials, TV remote, ultraviolet, unanimous, under-diagnosed, unsafe, UV rays, visible light, waves, WHO, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi allergy, World Health Organization, wristband, X-rays
Who says “summer” says “sun.” And who says “sun” says “suntanning” … or “cancer“.
I don’t think anyone should freak out over exposure to the sun. On the other hand, if you’re gonna use sunscreen, you might as well use it properly.
After all, this is not just about cancer: UVA rays cause premature aging of the skin, while UVB cause those infuriating sunburns.
At the pharmacy, people very seldom ask me for advice when it comes time to sunscreens. I wonder what determines their choice. A nice bottle with a cute doggy on it? Statements like “Ultimate Protection Apocalyptic 3000”? Low (or high) price tag?
Here’s the truth: choosing the best sunscreen is FAR from easy, even for me. It’s not easy to use it well either.
In this comic, I address 5 beliefs about sun exposure and sunscreen that I hear all the time.
In a second comic, I’ll address the issue of allegedly toxic ingredients in sunscreen (such as nanoparticles and endocrine disruptors), vitamin D deficiency and the belief that sunscreen is more carcinogenic than the sun itself.
P.S. There’s a joke that is a direct homage to the Simpsons. Who’s gonna find it first?
Translation by Olivier Bernard, proofreading by Lauren Knight.
Posted in Comics
Tagged 15, 30, amount, benefit, best brands, best sunscreens, blonde, bottle, brands, cancer, carcinogenic, chemical filter, dark, expensive, exposure, filters, fragrance, hair, health, ingredients, kids, logos, marketing, melanoma, Mexoryl, mineral filter, misleading, natural, organic, perfume, phototype, physical filter, price, radioactive white, rays, reflected, reflection, repeat, shade, shooter glass, skin, skin tone, SPF, spray, sun, sun cream, sun protection factor, sunburn, sunscreen, suntan, suntanning, sweat, swimming, tan, Tinosorb, titanium dioxide, toxic, tropical, use, UV, UVA, UVB, water, water-resistant, waterproof, what amount of sunscreen, white, white film, zinc oxide
