Many of you are likely familiar with the phrase “canaries in a coal mine”, which refers to the previous practice of miner’s taking canaries into the mines with them in order to detect high levels of dangerous gases. If the concentration of these gases rose too high the exposed canaries would be killed before killing the miners. It therefore provided a useful warning for the miners to leave the area. Many ecologic systems are monitored in part bt observing a decline in sensitive specie populations. For example, a decline in fresh water mussels may serve as an early warning that the associated water quality is in decline. The phrase has come to mean …..something (or someone) whose sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it useful as am early indicator of such conditions and which warns of potential upcoming danger.

In the Future Doc Practice patients are screened for several common stressors or burdens that may prevent or slow the healing process or in fact….may be directly causing a deteriorating health condition. These stressors have been discussed in previous Future Doc articles.  Also included within the screening process is the burden of radiation. In other words, radiation is ruled out as/or determined to be an obstacle or burden to the healing process. Since beginning this screening method about seven years ago the Future Doc Practice has found an increasing number of patients being burdened by radiation.  Most frequently,  those being adversely effected have been office workers and those working with computer monitors several hours per day. Occasionally, a specific body area such as a hip, shoulder,  or neck problem was slow to respond favorably to standard Chiropractic treatment until the cell phone was removed from the pocket and the accumulated radiation reduced.

Another not so surprising situation in which radiation has been found to be a burdening factor are those undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. It is widely known that some forms of radiation are indeed harmful or deadly at high exposures.  For example, ionizing radiation emitted by X-ray,  gamma rays, and nuclear leaks and explosions. It is also well established that some forms if non- ionizing radiation have a thermogenic effect on biological tissues and can be harmful as such (microwave ). What is less understood and more controversial are the lower frequencies of radiation and their potential biological effects. This would include the extremely low frequencies,  radio frequencies, and the so called “dirty electricity” emitted by the power grid and common household wiring and appliances.

While in Chiropractic school in the late 1980’s I read a book called “The Body Electric…Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life” by Robert Becker, MD and Gary Selden. This fascinating book introduced to me the concept of life itself, and our physical bodies are essentially electromagnetic and that electromagnetic fields can enhance or adversely effect healing processes. The latter part of this book brought into question the then known and unknown controversial sources of made made Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and their potential for deleterious biological effects. Without question, since the late 1980’s our environment has become an ever increasing sea of various EMF’s. There is no doubt that we are being effected because we ALL are electrosensative.

More recently in the the Future Doc Practice I have encountered what has been termed….the “electrohypersensative”. These individuals entered my office reluctantly due to their sensativity to our cell phones, wifi, and even our light dimmer switches. These individuals have moved from different and distant locations across the US to the relatively low EMF environment found in Pocahontas County (due to the Greenbank Observatory). These individuals are defacto refugees fleeing an increasingly unsafe environment being created by  ever expanding sources of EMF’S that remain largely unregulated by protective government and industry policies.

These individuals are the hypersensitive, these people are the Canaries in the coal mine. What are we encountering now and what will we encounter in the not so distant future when the accumulative effects of radiation are upon us? What might be the consequences of those children that are now being handed a cell phone just after learning to crawl?

The first step in solving a problem is being AWARE that there is a problem……then knowing that something CAN be done about it.

– Dr. Tim Pence. Hashtag #84. December, 2016.