Coincidence?

 

From the date of the earliest historical records, opinions have been divided on the subject of the causes and origins of pandemic diseases.

In 1799, prolific author Noah Webster compiled a two-volume work titled, A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases in which he references the influence of electricity on the human body.

On page 317 of volume two of Webster’s treatise, he writes, “Now it is proved by experiments that the fibres [ers] of living animals are the most perfect conductors of electricity, while the integuments [the natural covering of an organism] which cover them are non-conductors. A consequence of these principles must be, that in all the motions or operations of electricity in the atmosphere, the nerves must be the principal subjects of its influence. Hence if the atmosphere is, at times, electrified beyond the degree which is usual, and necessary to preserve the body in a due state of excitement, the nerves must be too highly excited, and under a continued operation of undue stimulus, become extremely irritable, and subject to debility [disease, exhaustion, malaise]. Shall we not find, in this hypothesis, a rational solution of the phenomenon which has puzzled medical men, the excessive irritability of the nervous system, in times of epidemic diseases?”

Webster had valid grounds for concern as the use of electricity on living beings in the eighteenth century had become so widespread in Europe and America that a wealth of valuable knowledge had been collected about its effect on people, plants, and animals; knowledge that has unfortunately been entirely forgotten. Knowledge that is far more extensive and detailed than what today’s doctors are aware of, who see daily–but without recognition–its effects on their patients, and who seemingly do not even know such knowledge ever existed.

American scientist and journalist on the subject of electromagnetic radiation and health, Arthur Firstenberg, traces the history of electricity from the early eighteenth century to the present, making a compelling case that many environmental problems, as well as the major diseases of industrialized civilization–heart disease, diabetes, and cancer–are related to electrical pollution.

In his well-researched and thoroughly referenced book, The Invisible Rainbow, A History of Electricity and Life, first published in 2017 and again in 2020, Firstenberg writes, “But the floodgates were wide open, and the torrent of enthusiasm about electricity rushed on unhindered and would continue to do so during the coming centuries, sweeping caution against the rocks, crushing hints of danger like so many bits of driftwood, obliterating whole tracts of knowledge and reducing them to mere footnotes in the history of invention.”

Over the last 220 years, society has evolved a universal belief that electricity is ‘safe’ for humanity and the planet. Firstenberg disrupts this conviction by telling the story of electricity in a way it has never been told before–from an environmental point of view–by detailing the effects that this fundamental societal building block has had on our health and our planet.

Firstenberg suggests a large, rapid, qualitative change in the earth’s electromagnetic environment has occurred six times in history, each ushering in a wave of disease.

He notes, “In 1889, power line harmonic radiation [electromagnetic waves radiated by electric power systems on the ground] began. From that year forward the earth’s magnetic field bore the imprint of power line frequencies and their harmonics. In that year, exactly, the natural magnetic activity of the earth began to be suppressed. This has affected all life on earth. The power line age was ushered in by the 1889 pandemic of influenza.

“In 1918, the radio era began. It began with the building of hundreds of powerful radio stations at LF [low-frequency] and VLF [very low-frequency] frequencies, the frequencies guaranteed to most alter the magnetosphere [the region of space surrounding Earth where the dominant magnetic field is the magnetic field of Earth, rather than the magnetic field of interplanetary space]. The radio era was ushered in by the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918.

“In 1957, the radar era began. It began with the building of hundreds of powerful early warning radar stations that littered the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere, hurling millions of watts of microwave energy skyward. Low-frequency components of these waves rode on magnetic field lines to the southern hemisphere, polluting it as well. The radar era was ushered in by the Asian flu pandemic of 1957.

“In 1968, the satellite era began. It began with the launch of dozens of satellites whose broadcast power was relatively weak. But since they were already in the magnetosphere, they had as big an effect on it as the small amount of radiation that managed to enter it from sources on the ground. The satellite era was ushered in by the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968.”

The other two mileposts of technology–the beginning of the wireless era and the activation of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)– belong to very recent times and will be addressed in a future column.

“Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.” –Emery Allen.

Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.