Could electronic radiation make you ill?

In Sweden, 285, 000 people (over three per cent of the population) are registered as ES sufferers and claim disability benefit from the government. In Germany, the bau-biologie movement helps people organise their own living and working places to minimise environmental hazards.

In the UK, ES is not an officially recognised condition and GPs are, on the whole, not familiar with the problem. The World Health Organisation in a statement drafted in December 2005 says, 'There is no scientific basis to link ES symptoms to EMF exposure. Further, ES is not a medical diagnosis, nor is it clear that it represents a single medical problem.'

Sarah Dacre is another sufferer who self-diagnosed ES after getting no answers from the health profession.

'Four years ago, I was fit, in my forties, with a dynamic marketing and media business, exciting social life and active sporting schedule. My lifestyle was exciting and affluent. I had energy and dynamism. Without noticing too much, I gradually succumbed to a host of symptoms which sapped my energy and stole my memory.

'I kept myself going and as insomnia, erratic high blood pressure and heart palpitations joined the list, I got nervous. I tried my doctor, various complimentary practitioners, a Chinese doctor and then, as I felt more and more unwell, I paid what seemed an enormous sum to visit a private 'doctor' on Harley Street. Not one of them told me what was wrong with me.'

Sarah now sleeps in a shielded room with foil-lined wallpaper. Her windows are screened with EMF-proof fabric, she wears a radiation-proof head net for car travel, takes numerous supplements and avoids all toxic environments. She has now joined a group of scientists, hese-UK, who assess human exposure to EMFs and pool and collate ES case studies from around the world.

Before you dismiss it, Sir William Stewart, the head of the UK Health Protection Agency and National Radiological Protection Board points out that our bodies are all unique and can take different stresses and strains. In a safety report to the Trade and Industry Select Committee Inquiry of Parliament, with regard specifically to mobile phone microwaves, he said 'it is simply not possible to say that there are no potential effects on the human population.'

Professor Lawrie Challis, one of the world's leading experts on mobile phone radiation and chair of the mobile telecommunications health research programme, seems in agreement.

Speaking to The Times, Professor Challis reveals that the first batch of research the programme has carried out confirms mobile phones are safe in the short-term (under ten years).

But there is some worrying news. 'It's encouraging because they found nothing for people who've used phones for less than ten years,' adds Challis. 'But there is a hint of something for people using them more.' Professor challis is currently trying to get funding for more research.

For more information on ES, visit www.electrosensitivity.org.uk and for electrosmog detectors, visit www.detect-protect.com