7/31/2019 Milham Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dirty Electricity 2011

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Attention DeficitHyperactivity Disorder

and Dirty ElectricityTo the Editor:

In February 2010, while studying acancer cluster in teachers at a Californiaelementary school, a fourth-grade teachercomplained that her students were hy-peractive and un-teachable. The class-room levels of high-frequency voltagetransients (dirty electricity) in the radiofrequencies (RF) between 4 and 100kHz measured in the outlets of her class-room with a Graham/Stetzer Micro-surge meter were very high. Dirty elec-

tricity is a term coined by the electricalutilities to describe electrical pollutioncontaminating the 60 Hz electricity onthe electrical grid. A cell phone toweron campus a few feet from this class-room and unshielded fluorescent lightsboth contributed to the electrical pollu-tion in this room. Cell tower transmit-ters, like most modern electrical equip-ment, operate on direct current. Theelectrical current brought to the toweris alternating current that needs tobe changed to direct current. This isdone by a switching power supply.These devices interrupt the alternatingcurrent and are the likely major sourceof the dirty electricity in the classroom.

On a Friday afternoon after school,I filtered the 5 outlets in this room

with Graham/Stetzer plug-in capaci-tive filters, reducing the measured

dirty electricity in the room wiringfrom more than 5000 Graham/Stetzerunits to less than 50 units. With nochange in either the lighting or thecell tower radiation, the teacher re-

ported an immediate dramatic im-provement in the behavior of her stu-dents in the following week. They

were calmer, paid more attention, andwere teachable all week except forWednesday when they spent part ofthe day in the library.

In his 1973 book, Health andLight,1 John N. Ott described a 1973study of 4 first-grade classrooms in a

windowless Sarasota, Florida school.Two of the rooms had standard white

fluorescent lighting and the other twohad full-spectrum fluorescent light-ing with a grounded aluminum wirescreen to remove the RF radiation pro-duced by fluorescent bulbs and bal-lasts. Concealed time-lapse camerasrecorded student behavior in class-rooms for 4 months.2 In the un-shielded rooms, the first graders dev-eloped, nervous fatigue, irritability,lapses of attention, and hyperactive be-havior. students could be ob-served fidgeting to an extreme de-gree, leaping from their seats, flailingtheir arms, and paying little attentionto their teachers. In the RF-shieldedrooms, Behavior was entirely differ-ent. Youngsters were calmer and farmore interested in their work.

The Old Order Amish live withoutelectricity. A pediatric group practice

in Jasper, Indiana, which cares for

more than 800 Amish families has not

diagnosed a single child with atten-

tion deficit hyperactivity disorder

(ADHD).3 Dozens of cases of child-

hood ADHD have been cured withno further need for drugs by simply

changing their electrical environments

(David Stetzer 2010, personal commu-

nication [www.Stetzerelectric.com]).

Before children are treated with

drugs for ADHD, the dirty electricity

levels in their homes and school envi-

ronments should first be examined

and reduced if needed.

I present the epidemiologic evi-

dence linking dirty electricity to the

other diseases of civilization in a re-cent book.4,5

Disclosure: The author declares no

conflict of interest.

Samuel Milham, MD, MPH

Retired, Washington State HealthDepartment

Tumwater, WA

REFERENCES

1. Ott JN. Afterword. In: Health and Light.

Columbus, OH; Atlanta, GA: Ariel Press;1973:200205.

2. Ott JN. Exploring the Spectrum: The

Effects of Natural and Artificial Light on

Living Organisms [DVD]; 2008.

3. Ruff ME. Attention deficit disorder and

stimulant use: an epidemic of modernity.

Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2005;44:557563.

4. Milham S. Dirty Electricity. Bloomington,

IN: iUniverse; 2010.

5. www.sammilham.com. Accessed in 2011.

Correspondence

Vol. 32, No. 8, October 2011 www.jdbp.org | 1

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