TPMS have been mandated in the USA by the TREAD Act, and have been installed on all cars for the past decade.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire-pressure_monitoring_system). They are mandated and used in many other countries as well. There are myriad types of these sensors. For two that provide specifications on the Web, they transmit the data wirelessly at ~433 MHz. Neither Web site shows the strength of the radiation.
(https://tirepressuremonitor.com/pressurepro-tpms-specifications/)
(https://tsttruck.com/media/productsupport/tmp/documents/TST-Doc-507_Manual-_B_.pdf)
Some of the systems seem to operate full time; others when only the engine is on. Ideally, the system would operate only when the readings are displayed on the screen. That's the only time operation is actually required. If that were possible, exposures for a few seconds once or twice a week should be manageable for most people. I can't draw any conclusions about the safety of existing TPMS, since I don't have sufficient data.
Further insights on the automobile push-button start issue mentioned in the email below.
To summarize, the push-button start capability is rapidly becoming ubiquitous in new cars. In the Subaru family, a 134 KHz wireless network is required for this capability, and is the default. The Owner's Manual states that the radio waves from the network could potentially interfere with an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator, and accompanies this statement with a Warning icon. The Owner's Manual provides two approaches to disabling the keyless access capability, thereby converting the key fob to effectively a key with some remote control functions (like the TV remote control).
I have finally completed the disabling of this function. I was not able to do it myself, even though two alternative methods were provided in the Owner's Manual. The Subaru dealer from whom I bought the vehicle said the disabling was not possible, and the second Subaru dealer I visited required two technicians to experiment before they could finally disable it.
Here's the critical point of this email. The technicians (and other service personnel) of the second dealer told me no one had ever requested this disabling before! From the first dealer's feedback, I'm sure they had never received such a request before either.
This means that the customers with implanted electrical devices who purchase these Subarus are not disabling the 134 KHz wireless network. My guess is they don't even know about this network. The salespeople I had at any of the dealerships who offered test drives in cars with keyless access function (and there were probably half a dozen different brands in my case) never asked whether I had an implantable electrical device (I don't) nor mentioned the presence of the 134 KHz network, or any other frequency. I doubt whether any of them knew.
Here's the bottom line. If people with implantable devices are not motivated to eliminate these wireless networks, where there exists a less debatable danger, how will we ever convince those who are healthy (or relatively healthy) to avoid wireless systems/radiation?
A final note. While I was sitting in the waiting room while the system was being disabled, I read a few car magazines. In a couple of new car reviews, the reviewers critiqued the car for not having push-button start and keyless access, intimating this made the car look out-dated and low tech. I suspect in a few years, the keyed option will no longer exist. It will go the way of the landline!
I still believe there's a legal issue (at least) for people with implanted devices who are not warned of the potential dangers before taking a test drive. Do the lawyers on the distribution have any thoughts on this?
According to the Owner's Manual, my new car has a 134 KHz continuously operating wireless network that allows the doors to be opened and closed, and the ignition to be started by push-button, when the key fob is within proximity.
Luckily, according to the Owner's Manual, this wireless system/function can be disabled. The disabling is allowed not because of any manufacturer concern for the adverse effects of wireless radiation on normal humans. It is allowed because it could potentially interfere with the operation of Pacemakers and other similar devices, thereby, I suspect, subjecting the manufacturers to legal suits if they did not at least post a warning an an alternative.
I assume Subaru is not unique in this use of wireless radiation, and the other cars I have seen with similar remote functionalities probably have similar wireless networks. The question now is: what other wireless functions in the new cars are associated with continuously operating wireless networks, and can they be disabled? I will now read the voluminous Owner's Manual with a fine-toothed-comb!
The manufacturers should be required, at a minimum, to post a warning sticker to the effect that the following functions generate wireless radiation, and could interfere with Pacemakers or similar devices.
Any of those on the distribution list that have concerns about wireless radiation should check the Owner's Manual of their vehicle for the presence of any such networks. Not much of a problem with older cars, but becoming somewhat ubiquitous on newer cars.
Whatever dangers the 134 KHz network would pose in isolation, I suspect in combination with the other sources I mentioned in previous emails, the adverse effects would be amplified substantially. While one could make some (albeit feeble) arguments about some applications of wireless radiation being useful/justified in extreme emergencies, installing a wireless network to eliminate inserting a key into a lock is technology gone mad!
RNK
From: Kostoff, Ronald N
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 8:03 AM
To: Kostoff, Ronald N <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: AUTOMOTIVE RADIATION
From: Dr. Ronald N. Kostoff
To: EMF Health Effects Distribution
Subj: Automotive Radiation
In response to yesterday's mailing on Automotive Radar, I received a number of informative comments. One that I would like to share (with the author's permission) is reproduced below. Dr. Metsis provides very useful detail about sensors and communications systems to complement yesterday's mailing.
While the picture presented below is quite disturbing, it should be emphasized this is one piece in the much larger toxic stimulus puzzle. Our book chapter on health effects of combined toxic stimuli including non-ionizing radiation (attached) makes clear that combinations of toxic stimuli have the potential to exert far more serious health effects than toxic stimuli applied in isolation. This derives from potential synergistic and additive effects.
A recent monograph on combined effects supports these conclusions (https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/59719). It states that "these combinations 1) typically lower the threshold constituent exposure levels associated with damage compared to 2) tests of combination constituents run in isolation.....there is no reason to believe today that ANY of the Exposure Limits on potentially toxic stimuli that have been set by ANY of the regulatory agencies are fully protective against serious adverse health effects.
While radiofrequency radiation (RFR) is used for illustrative purposes in a number of the examples presented, the conclusions are applicable to essentially all potential contributing factors to disease amenable to Exposure Limits."
A follow-up monograph confirms the above conclusions and shows that we have essentially zero government protection from any of these toxic stimuli, including non-ionizing radiation (https://smartech.gatech.edu/handle/1853/60067). Unfortunately, we have extremely limited data on test results from combinations of toxic stimuli, and what little data we have come mainly from combinations of two toxic stimuli. Real-world toxic stimuli exposures would include those listed by Dr. Metsis below, PLUS lifestyle, iatrogenic, biotoxin, occupational and environmental, etc, toxic stimuli exposures. So, for individuals exposed to many of the toxic stimuli in the categories above, and who may have genetic disposition to various diseases, the addition of the non-ionizing radiation toxic stimuli summarized by Dr. Metsis could be the final 'straw-that-breaks-the-camel's-back'.
RNK
From: Theodore Metsis <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 5:56 AM
To: Kostoff, Ronald N
Subject: Radiation in cars
I got your email from a colleague and I will attempt to pass some further and perhaps useful info
Modern cars namely 2018 models have high low-frequency radiation arising from many wireless sensors incorporated in today's automotive technology.
Attached is a drawing with most of these sensors you find in modern vehicles.
Depending on the wiring architecture inside the car, EMFs are more pronounced depending also on fuse box location, battery and alternator position and currents flowing close to the cabin.
EMFs in a car in motion with brakes applied + ABS activation may well exceed 100 mG. Adding RF radiation from blue tooth, Wi Fi, the cell phones of the passengers, the 4G antennas laid out all along the major roads plus the radars of cars already equipped with, located behind, left or right of a vehicle, the total EMF and EMR fields will exceed any limits humans can tolerate over a long period of time.
EHS people are nowadays searching for pre 2000 models otherwise they cannot drive them and low frequency EMF is very difficult to shield.
In Sweden with more that 200000 EHS citizens there are special Navigation maps showing the roads these people have to follow avoiding cell phone base stations.
With the 5G application and V2V and V2I connectivity, the conditions inside the car will be appalling and this is why we will have autonomous vehicles because driving under these conditions cannot be sustained over a long period.
Cars in effect will be micro-wave ovens on wheels! The attached info is from two slides I use in my EMR presentation showing also statistics of car accidents in US, a good excuse for adding all these lethal gadgets to vehicles.
Kind regards
Dr. Theodore P. Metsis
Dipl.Eng., M.Sc.(Eng.), Ph.D.
Mechanical, Electrical, Environmental Engineer
Athens, Greece
email: [email protected]
EMF Health & Safety: Protection - Consulting - Education
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