WASHINGTON, DC—Environmental Health Trust is launching a new initiative — the #SafeTechChallenge — for individuals to share how they use technology in ways that minimize health risks. The #SafeTechChallenge is part of EHT’s newest campaign to inspire families and friends by showcasing how easy and beneficial it is to reduce their wireless footprint.
EHT invites people worldwide to share a picture or short video—15 seconds to 2 minutes—of how they personally “practice safe tech”. Videos can be tagged #safetechchallenge on social media “to spark widespread action and awareness.”
EHT will use the submissions to create compilation videos to share. Submissions can be sent to EHT in a dedicated Dropbox or via email to info@ehtrust.org with “Safe Tech Challenge” in the subject line.
See EHTs webpage on the Safe Tech Challenge.
“We want to empower people to take simple steps that will help make their everyday use of technology safer,” stated Theodora Scarato, Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust. “Connections don’t have to be wireless or nothing, especially at home. The #SafeTechChallenge is a gift that we can give each other to help one another live a healthier life.”
In the era of COVID, most family members are home, staring at laptops, cell phones or other devices for hours each day yet they are connected to the Internet through Wi-Fi, which means they are daily exposed to wireless radiation. Scientific research has linked several negative health impacts to wireless exposure. Impacts range from attention issues and hyperactivity to cancer, sperm damage and headaches.
State-of-the-art scientific modeling shows children are uniquely vulnerable to the wireless emissions from multiple devices they use every day. Wireless radiation penetrates deeper into children’s brains and bodies when compared to adult exposures. Research associates wireless radiation with various brain impacts. A replication study of teenagers found cell phone use at the head associated with memory loss after just one year. EHT promotes reducing exposure especially for children because their developing brains could develop long-lasting impacts from a lifetime of wireless exposure.
“We are pro-health and pro-technology. Hundreds of studies show adverse effects, yet the federal agencies tasked to protect the public from harm have failed to acknowledge this reality and refuse to modernize their 24 year old wireless radiation regulations,” said Dr. Devra Davis, MPH, PhD, Founder and President of Environmental Health Trust. “Until federal protections are enacted to protect the public, individuals and families can make everyday choices to create surroundings that are safer from environmental toxins while we work to promote meaningful policy change that protects our communities.”
Worldwide medical organizations and doctors recommend simple steps to use technology in safer ways. In the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, the California Department of Public Health and New Hampshire and Maryland State Expert Commissions, and internationally the International Society of Doctors for Environment, Vienna Medical Association, Cyprus National Committee on Environment and Child Health, and Doctors from Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Athens, Canada, Africa, Germany and the United Kingdom, have called for updated policies to inform and protect the public.
Environmental Health Trust will release more scientific studies and community programming in 2021 to help individuals and families stay safe from wireless radiation exposure caused by the expansion of 5G, which relies on a burgeoning number of cell phone towers and antenna installations near homes, schools, offices and parks. “Research shows 5G will bring more cell towers into communities, increasing the ambient levels of wireless radiation,” stated Scarato, who pointed out the Safe Tech Challenge includes personal use devices and also how people are advocating for protective laws with positive political action.
EHT is a Jackson Hole based scientific non-profit think tank cutting-edge research on environmental health risks with some of the world’s top researchers. Please visit EHtrust.org on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular updates.
