Posted on 06/19/2008 1:44:33 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Purchasers of hybrid vehicles, which are subsidized by the federal government and championed by environmental activists as a way to reduce gasoline consumption, are trading in their vehicles because of health fears concerning electromagnetic fields created by the hybrid batteries, says John Dale Dunn, a policy advisor for the American Council on Science and Health.
As noted in an April 27 article in the New York Times:
Some hybrid vehicle owners are complaining of a variety of health problems allegedly caused by strong electromagnetic currents from the cars' batteries. Reported ailments and concerns include rising blood pressure, drowsiness behind the wheel and higher leukemia risks. Various agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, acknowledge the potential hazards of long-term exposure to a strong electromagnetic field (E.M.F.), and have done studies on the association of cancer risks with living near high-voltage utility lines. Drivers who have given up their hybrids have reportedly documented "dangerously high" electromagnetic fields, leading them to conclude driving the vehicles is not worth risking blood for oil. This issue illustrates the double standard regarding environmental activists, says H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.
"Environmental activists routinely use the Precautionary Principle as a weapon against technologies and products they do not like," Burnett explains. "They assert that until and unless a product they oppose can be definitively proven to be safe, the product must be banned. Now, however, when consumers and some scientists assert that one of the activists' pet products may be causing serious health harms, the activists act like they have never heard of the Precautionary Principle."
Source: John Dale Dunn, "Hybrid Vehicle Owners Report Adverse Health Effects," Heartland Institute, July 1, 2008; and Jim Motavalli, "Fear, but Few Facts, on Hybrid Risk," New York Times, April 27, 2008.
For text:
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=23393
For Times text:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/automobiles/27EMF.html
For more on Environment Issues:
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=31
That’s nothing. I’ve had the yips every since someone told me that there’s a tank of highly combustible fuel set to blow me a mile high right under my seat! I’m not even sure I should be talking about this. The car companies might try to shut me up.
Despite tons of research, no one has confirmed problems with electrical field exposure. High power lines carry far more current and at AC frequencies, and much longer exposure periods (24hrs a day) and there is still nothing.
Have you ever seen the pollution that thing can lay down in the roadway?
But it’s a healthy ORGANIC polution....
“Microwaves generally don’t bother pacemakers anymore because newer models have better shielding, but large industrial motors have enough of a magnetic field to affect pacemakers”
We can’t run our Autoclave in the office when there is a patient with a pacemaker. I feel bad for anyone with one of those things.
The pioneers are always the ones with the electromagnetic field arrows in their backs.
Driving a hybrid is like sitting inside a cell phone eh? lol
My point is that I don’t think that you’ll get 50 MPG strictly on a highway if the car is a gas/battery variety.....it’s still gas on the highway mostly..... and my cost number was from historic remembrance of costs which wasn’t all at $4/gallon.
I hope they don’t find out that they are being sterilized as they drive.
I didn’t ask you because I wasn’t interested in your particular situation (SUV or not) I only commented to the person that mentioned it was about 3300 miles and that was something I could readily relate to....I sure as heck couldn’t have related to saving $400/month because I don’t spend that much in the first place....sorry you were offended but my thoughts were elsewhere from why/what/where of your choice.
It might. A steady current will not radiate, but the varying movement of the entire vehicle, wires and all, could produce this. Not counting the effect of the rotation of the planet, which tends to be smooth.
It should be required by law that libs drive hybrids then.
Actually, there are a number of variables that factor into whether or not RF energy is dangerous to you. First, is it ionizing or non-ionizing? Secondly, what frequency is it (wavelength) and what is the field strength? What is the distance from it since the drop off is 1/R^2.
Where I'd start to get worried is when the wavelength gets to be in resonance with some important part of the body, sizewise because that can tend to cause maximum transfer of power. Then I'd be worried about how long I was exposed to it.
AC power lines are at 60 Hz which is a pretty damn long wavelength...I tend to look at this something like MRI equipment. Very damn powerful electromagnets but no harm (as yet determined) to human tissue.
I get calls occasionally because of the line of work I'm with exactly these kinds of complaints; a large majority of the people that actually find their way to me I'd classify as kooks.
Didn’t your mom tell you not to sit too close to the TV? And what are all of us sitting just inches away from?
My guess is that some digital engineer has figured out how to maximize something and has pulsed the supply to get better efficiency....just a guess...
Can’t be any worse than living under a powerline, which has been a topic for decades. I first heard of that when I was reading some IEEE journals a long time ago.
Believe it or not there are just some scum in this country that 'jess wanna get paid.'
Uh oh! Now you’ve gone and done it! Now, you’ve given them the idea! Shame on you!
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