David Fancy, who believes he is sensitive to electromagnetic fields, claims the paper-sized stainless steel Springlife polarizer is the only thing, aside from moving into a tent on the woodlot of a friend in Ontario, Canada, that helped the blinding headaches, brain fog, and full-body nerve pain he'd been suffering from, since 2001.
A report from The Verge describes this tiny polarizer as looking "not much as more than "a tiny metal box." In addition, the sound healing energy website that's selling it claims the product is made up of "special minerals," as well as Earth substances that are attracting and soaking up particular wavelengths of cosmic radiation.
How fears of electromagnetic radiation spawned a snake-oil industry https://t.co/iX7GxEe3Tu pic.twitter.com/evYdiuGkMe
— The Verge (@verge) May 17, 2022
It is currently being promoted as a technique for blocking electromagnetic fields, although without a clear or proven explanation of how and why.
As for Fancy, he said he had tried many different products to address his health concerns. He has already spent thousands of dollars on cell phone stickers, handheld the so-called handheld energy shields, and other devices promoted as approaches to make him feel well.
Recalling his previous use of the said approaches, his experience has "been that 90 percent of these devices" are ineffective.
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity
A professor at Brock University's dramatic arts department in Ontario, Fancy has what's described as "real symptoms" that he attributes to a controversial condition known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity or EHS.
EHS, detailed in the Environmental Research journal, elucidates symptoms that range from dizziness to headaches or pain to the waves that come off devices such as microwaves or cell phones.
In the United States, it is considered a fringe health theory, and the reasons for such symptoms are heatedly argued among scientists and doctors.
Several peer-reviewed studies like the one published in the Bioelectromagnetics journal. Found no scientific association between exposure to electromagnetic fields or EMFs, and illness, although many studies have proposed further research needs to be done for further insights into people's symptoms.
Protection from Low-Frequency Radiation
Due to his condition, Fancy has become an easy target for businesses that sell products climbing to shield him from low-frequency radiation.
Other people who believe they have EHS are targeted, too. More so, being largely isolated by, not to mention, doubtful of the mainstream medical community, these people are particularly vulnerable to the marketing, explained Fancy.
Both the pandemic and the growing prominence of health misinformation and conspiracies on the internet have created the perfect community for the snake-oil business to flourish, tapping into distrust in and legitimate worries about the healthcare industry, not to mention providing costly, useless devices as a solution.
Does Snake Oil Really Help?
Snake oil products that shield humans from radio waves became common as apprehensions about radiofrequency radiation grew throughout the 20th century.
Moreover, the increase in radios, cell phones, and microwaves each stimulated a new wave of fears about radiofrequency radiation.
Radiation has characteristics that increase people's sense of risk as it can't be seen, explained Professor Emeritus Kenneth Foster from the University of Pennsylvania, who has been studying the impact of radiation on humans since 1976.
Foster added that people often mistake non-ionizing radiation, the low-frequency radiation that comes from cell phones or home appliances that cannot directly damage DNA or directly, or ionizing radiation such as X-rays that can be potentially hazardous to humans.
Related information about electromagnetic radiation is shown on Lesics' YouTube video below:
Check out more news and information on Radiation in Science Times.
