To the Editor:Â
Re: the cell tower issue: In 2008 I was made very ill by exposure to mold toxins, which according to many of the physicians I’ve since consulted, led to my ensuing severe chemical and electromagnetic field sensitivity.
From far too many hours researching and networking on the internet, I’ve learned that this causal chain is common in people whose immune systems have come under assault from pesticides, Lyme disease, etc.
Dr. William Rea, one of the earliest and most sought after physicians on chemical and mold issues, has noted a dramatic increase in co-incidence of EHS (electro-hypersensitivity).
If someone opens a smartphone within three feet of me I feel pressure in my head. I was able to tell, from my inflammatory symptoms alone, the exact night when a neighbor in my apartment building turned on wi-fi for the first time.
Wi-fi and nearby cell towers gave me heart palpitations in addition to a sickening inflammation in my chest and intense head pressure. Â Last year I had to get a pacemaker, which I am certain is because EMF screwed up my heart rate and electrical flow.
I can’t scientifically prove this with a control group and years long study because 1. It would cost millions 2. I’m too busy spending thousands on medical tests, treatments and supplements. 3. Who would participate in a study where the non-control group would end up with cardiac arrhythmias, palpitations, inflammation, and a pacemaker or death?
I have met people who had not other health issues who had to leave their homes when “Smart” meters were installed or a cell tower placed nearby. Trying to find a home not too near others’ smart meters, wi-fi or cell towers is a nightmare.
I’d recommend for a start that any resident on the fence about another cell tower watch Dr. Erika Mallery-Blythe’s video(www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNFdZVeXw7M).
She shows photos of DNA degradation from wi-fi. Also Martha Herbert, M.D. on autism and EMF (electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/herbert-lausd).
If you need one more clue about how many people are already getting ill from EMF, check out how many products attempting to protect those already vulnerable are on the website lessemf.com.
Adding to the load, adding another tower, makes it ever more likely that one day you will be writing a public letter telling infinitely more than you wish about your illness, in order to save other people from the same fate that has befallen you.
Daniel Berman
To the Editor:
The author of the article “Toxic Air in the Rose City” missed a huge part of the problem – the container-hauling semi-truck traffic from the Brooklyn Yard.
The city allows Union Pacific to use SE 26th Ave. between their main yard on Holgate and a smaller overflow lot at 23rd and SE Gladstone as their truck route which is actually part of the larger property.
These behemoth trucks, many longer than 60’ make hundreds of runs a week through our residential neighborhood on a street that isn’t anywhere near wide enough to accommodate them. They’re so wide they can barely pass each other and can’t make the corners without swinging into oncoming lanes. These contracted drivers roar through as early as 5 am and as late as 2 am. The noise level in our front yards is between 87-93 dB which means we can’t use our front porches or leave our windows open anymore.
Some drivers speed after dark when there’s less car traffic and cut through adjacent neighborhoods which are all posted as No Trucks streets. We’ve witnessed repeated incidences of these truck running red lights and have seen drivers texting and talking on their cellphones.
PBOT’s solution to this issue, which flies in the face of the city’s own transportation and sustainability plans, has been to deny that there’s any problem at all. They refuse to do an updated traffic count (the last was from before the time the trucks started rolling through), refuse to check the noise or pollution levels and deny the neighbors’ requests to drop the speed limit or even enforce the current one. We hear they may actually replace the missing speed signs but nobody’s holding their breath.
SE 26th Ave. has always had considerable daytime traffic but the vehicles were smaller and there wasn’t the constant noise and air pollution around the clock that we suffer now. Unlike most of east side Portland neighborhoods, our property values and quality of life are dropping
             C H White