Could our wireless gadgets, cell service and 5G be behind the sharp increase in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in children?

After decades (centuries, really) of blindly accepting common household baby items as safe, parents around the Western world had been storing their kids’ food in hormone-disrupting plastics, feeding them pesticide-laden, genetically modified formula and baby food, and buying them toys coated with lead paint.

By and large, that wasn’t the public’s fault: this was before the internet and parents simply had no way of knowing.

But even now that mass awareness and public efforts have begun removing these known toxins from our children’s environments, developmental delays, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and attention deficit disorders have continued to surge at unprecedented rates.

In fact, the CDC sites that since 2000 the prevalence of autism has swelled from 1 in 150 to 1 in 44. Those are literally epidemic proportions.

And yet researchers are scratching their heads in bewilderment while ignoring a vast trove of evidence linking neurodevelopmental disorders with increased exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Here’s what we know about the connection between Autism and electromagnetic fields (EMFs)

Dr. Martha Herbert offers offers an astute overview of the subject, highlighting how many of the etiological features of autism share suspicious overlap with EMF exposure.

For instance, EMFs are capable of causing:

• genetic damage
• protein misfolding – which can interfere with our cells’ ability to send and receive the body’s electrical signals
• mitochondrial dysregulation
• brittle and leaky cellular membrane – which also make receptors in cell membranes less efficient
• Damage to the blood-brain and gut-blood barrier – the former prevents toxins from crossing into the brain and gut-blood barrier

Other facets of autism that can be directly attributed to EMF exposure include:

• heightened stress response
• melatonin depletion and disrupted sleep patterns
• altered brain waves
• increased brainwave disorganization
• heightened risk for seizures
• creation of brain noise that interferes with neural signaling

For further reading, click here.

This is another meticulous (albeit more technical) resource by Dr. Herbert that I highly suggest a brief perusal. If nothing else, it’ll offer a bird’s eye view on just how extensive of a role EMFs play and how our trusted authorities have turned a blind eye to uncovering the causes behind this life-altering disability.

We don’t have time to break it all down here, but it’s important to understand a few select issues.

Genotoxicity

Among the antiquated, one-sided research “big medicine” does understand about autism is its heritability. “It’s merely the child’s genes,” they assure desperate parents; it sets the fatalist precedent that “nothing could have been done.”

Yet this is a faulty and dangerous assumption. Contrarily, it’s not only possible for environmental or epigenetic changes to occur, but with the ubiquitous presence of constantly pulsing signals, it’s becoming increasingly common.

If you’ve stuck around for some of my other posts, you already know that both high and low frequency EMFs can do anything from physically break single and double-strands to cause DNA mutations through micronucleation or chromosomal aberrations, as well as change the expression of both genes and proteins.

Dr. Herbert posits that some of these mutations, which are incidentally found in autistic children but not their parents, were a result of EMF exposure-induced genetic alterations.

It sounds alarming, and while the thought of your double helix being forcefully ripped apart is a dramatic scene, cell phone signals are far from the only genotoxic forces in the world. In fact, pretty much anything that causes oxidative stress in the body, i.e., free radicals, has the potential to damage our cells and their DNA, which leads us to our next point..

Oxidative Stress

It’s hard to imagine how something that’s invisible, odorless, tasteless, and not even matter, for that matter, can tax our bodies in any significant way, but imagine that every single device you owned was a lit cigarette with its own cloud of smoke.

Though sitting in a room full of smokers isn’t going to induce lung cancer overnight, most of us in the modern world avoid this lifestyle because of the cumulative toll.

Like smoking, wireless signals produce free radicals, or technically, oxygen reactive species (ROS) within the body that forces its antioxidant defenses to work overtime to scavenge. If these defenses fail to keep pace, this causes “oxidative stress,” where over time, we risk succumbing to chronic and/or inflammatory disease and sometimes more serious conditions like cancer.

Unfortunately, even without cigarettes, our modern lifestyles have allowed for an abundance of environmental free radicals; EMFs just happen to be a particularly potent source.

If oxidative stress is challenging on our bodies, you can only imagine how grave the consequences must be on such a fragile creature whose cells are rapidly and constantly dividing.

Studies cited in the above report have linked increased oxidative stress loads with blood and cerebral tissues changes, which have led to prior conclusions that contaminants like air pollution and pesticides increase the risk for autism.

EMFs are of no exception. In fact, it elaborates that “further indications of a link to oxidative stress are findings that EMF and RFR at very low intensities can modulate glutamate, glutathione and GABA, and affect mitochondrial metabolism.”

Simply put, this unnatural alteration of neurotransmitters and hormones can cause a cascade of imbalances in a growing brain, even prevent it from signaling and developing properly. Speaking of antioxidants and hormones –

The Melatonin Connection

While we’re here, let’s take a brief yet closer look at the under-appreciated significance of melatonin.

Casually known as the sleep hormone, most of us are aware that melatonin primarily dictates the body’s circadian rhythm, but the best-kept secret about melatonin lies in its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-apoptotic (anti-cell death), and ultimately neuroprotective properties throughout all stages of life.

In utero, proper melatonin levels are of exceptional importance, as they protect the baby’s developing brain from damage as well as many forms of the aforementioned oxidative stress to which it is highly susceptible.

Without adequate melatonin levels, the child may suffer lasting disruptions to its circadian rhythm, subsequent hormonal disruption, heightened risk of cancers, and improper brain development from some of the earliest stages of life.

Of course, recent studies have been connecting some suspiciously causal dots between pre and neo-natal melatonin disruption and autism.

And what are EMFs notorious for suppressing? You guessed it: melatonin levels. To put it simply, it’s suspected that our pineal glands actually recognize EMFs as sources of light, which suppresses our brain’s ability to secrete this necessary nighttime hormone.

As a reminder, this happens at levels far, far below the international “safety” standards; in fact, simply keeping your phone nearby could be enough to trick your brain into thinking you’re sleeping with the lights on. 

Do yourself a favor and turn off both visible and invisible lights at night: the difference it could make might be far grander than you could imagine for you or your baby.

Beyond Autism

Even without threats as severe as autism, there are still a host of reasons to break out the ethernet cables in the house. Here are a few additional studies that have noted other ways your wifi can wreak havoc on a developing child that our trendy friends in Big Tech don’t want you to know about.

Evidence that EMFs may lead to behavioral problems

In multiple studies, a statistically significant, dose-dependent difference in behavior or attention was found in mothers who used their cell phones more frequently than those with either minimal or no use.

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to cell phone use and behavioral problems in children

Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child behavioral problems in five birth cohorts

Association Between Maternal Exposure to Magnetic Field Nonionizing Radiation During Pregnancy and Risk of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Offspring in a Longitudinal Birth Cohort

Mother’s Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields before and during Pregnancy is Associated with Risk of Speech Problems in Offspring

Effects of prenatal exposure to WIFI signal (2.45 GHz) on postnatal development and behavior in rat: Influence of maternal restraint

This last study is of particular interest because, unlike the previous studies that could not ethically experiment on children, by subjecting a group of rats to EMFs in the WiFi band, researchers were able to compare firsthand the differences in brain chemistry and behavior to those that had never been exposed.

Even though we’re not rats, their findings were especially harrowing, as biochemical disparities persisted through adulthood.

The most vulnerable members of society

Due to their softer bone structure (among other reasons), children absorb more radiation, which consequently makes them more vulnerable to the many side effects of EMFs.

See for yourself how simply using a phone is far more damaging on your kids – and potential ones – than you may realize.

Stopping the Statistics

All these factors in mind, is it purely a coincidence that these biological anomalies that just so happen to also be caused by EMF exposure are rising at the pace of our use of wireless electronics?

Meanwhile, our elected and public health officials have not only ignored pleas for intervention, but rolled out the red carpet for telecom companies who want to install MORE of this untested infrastructure in your front yard.

Are you appalled yet? You’re feeling the right emotions. Autism is a serious, lifelong condition – and there’s a chance some cases could be prevented. We should be enraged and mortified.

And we need concerned parents and citizens like YOU raising hell to your local representatives, senators, school superintendents, and even city council members.

As far as matters that are within our control, there are several steps we can take to safeguard the future of our children.

Protecting their future

For a more in-depth guide on understanding the safety basics, check out my other post here, but here are a few additional steps to ensure your baby (and future babies) are kept a healthy distance from unwanted EMFs.

1. Be judicious about every single device you use and its location in relation to your baby (especially if you’re pregnant).

The “smart home” may as well be an old smoke-filled, asbestos-insulated, lead-painted building which you do NOT want to inhabit more than necessary. The wireless doorbell isn’t needed, and Alexa can go into (hopefully permanent) hibernation.

2. Remove all wearable tech (this includes wireless earbuds) for the entirety of the pregnancy.

Use your phone on speaker or with corded earbuds when making calls; even challenge yourself to use your cell phone less, as it emits an impressively high amount of radiation. Stop storing your phone on your person too, unless it’s on airplane mode. Again, keeping devices by our reproductive organs is bad news bears for our sperm and eggs.

3. Turn down the output of your wifi and turn it off as much as possible, especially during nights.

There’s a reason why you can probably pick up several neighbors’ wifi networks, and most of us don’t need our signals to cover the entire block! Now, in recent years, more ISPs have made it increasingly difficult to find these settings (why guys?), but most still allow you to find them by typing your router’s IP address in the internet browser.

From there, you can do things like reduce the intensity of the signal and disable it altogether. Heck, even at 10%, I could connect from the farthest corner in my house. Also, unplug it at night.

4. Ensure you live a safe enough distance from major EMF-emitting structures.

Cell towers, discreet 5G towers, high-voltage power lines and electrical substations are all capable of affecting you adversely. See this post for more specifics, but if you’re a mile away from high-voltage power lines and a half mile from everything else, you and your children will be plenty safe.

5. Ditch the baby monitor.

How do they communicate, after all? They’re radios! With, don’t forget, a virtually unlimited output capacity. The one I tested isn’t quite as powerful as a cell phone while it was active, but for all intents and purposes, treat it like you would a cell phone. If you still plan to use one, at least place it in the farthest corner from the crib.

6. And for the love of all that is sacred, please do not let a baby or toddler come anywhere near your devices.

I have seen countless children barely at potty training age holding their parents’ phones in stores and restaurants and I wince every time. Look, I get it: there’s nothing more humiliating than being the parent with the screaming kid, but it’s an easy habit to form.

If you must use your phone or tablet as a distraction (because yes, there ARE those emergencies), download something in advance, like a paint app that can be used offline and turn your phone to airplane mode when letting them use it. It’s also a safe practice for preventing unexpected purchases.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend allowing kids to use any wireless device for any amount of time. It’s easy to dismiss a half hour of tablet time as a non-issue, but it’s so easy for that to set a precedent.

Once my kids are old enough for electronics, it’s going to be hardwired computers only.

These measures might look neurotic…

They might seem like overkill, but just remember, we haven’t even had wireless gadgets for an entire generation and we’re already witnessing a reproductive and developmental disability epidemic while NO ONE in our government is investigating this avenue.

Best case scenario, we start pushing that autism bar graph back down; worst case scenario, you’ve defended yourself and your children from a whole bunch of unpleasant side effects.

Mark my words, 50 years in the future, we’re going to be mortified we even used wireless baby monitors, let alone converted our entire houses to cancer-emitting machines.

Don’t wait on the FCC to tell you this stuff is toxic.