Berkeley's Council Says Cell Phones Cause Cancer—Now Shasta County Supervisors Vote to Investigate 'Chemtrails'

Recent events are conspiring to bolster the old joke: God tilted the world on its axis, and all the nuts rolled into California. Consider that the Berkeley city council plans to debate requiring cancer warnings on cell phones. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
"Cell phones are a risk, and I believe the public has a right to information that's credible, readable and understandable about the device they're using," said Berkeley City Councilman Max Anderson, who's co-sponsoring the ordinance and has a background in public health. "I'm not intimidated by the cell phone industry. The legal department might be, but I'm not."
Sigh. As I have earlier reported:
The National Cancer Institute flatly states that "to date there is no evidence from studies of cells, animals, or humans that radiofrequency energy can cause cancer." A 2012 comprehensive review of studies in the journal Bioelctromagnetics found "no statistically significant increase in risk for adult brain or other head tumors from wireless phone use."
Next look for Berkeley to slap cancer warning labels on coffee since the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies cell phones as being as likely to be carcinogenic as that caffeinated libation.
As scientifically clueless as the Berkeley city council is, its members appear to be the soul of probity when compared to the nonsense about "chemtrails" that is apparently being endorsed by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors. Those of you who are blissfully unaware of the chemtrails conspiracy can get up to speed with this article by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. From the Redding Record Searchlight:
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to seek more information on "chemtrails" after nearly four hours of public comment on the issue.
Supervisor Pam Giacomini put the item on the agenda, and a number of so-called chemtrail experts addressed the panel, followed by dozens of speakers who blamed a host of personal and environmental ills on airplane exhaust.
Supervisor David Kehoe lauded Shasta County resident Dane Wigington's efforts to put together the panel of speakers who addressed the board on the issue. …
Activists claim the government is targeting populations with airplane exhaust laden with heavy metals added secretly to planes at airports and military bases. This effort, which activists also call "geo-engineering," pollutes the earth and waterways when those metals eventually make their way back to earth. …
Dozens of residents stepped up to the podium to address their concerns. They blamed a host of illnesses to "chemtrails," including cancer, fibers growing out of their skin, general feelings of malaise, neurological problems and compromised immune systems.
Others ticked off environmental damage, including insects disappearing from one woman's property, trees dying, aquatic insects dying off in water contaminated by aluminum, drought, wildfires and holes in the ozone layer.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, supervisor Giacomini said it was an important discussion to have when brought up by so many of the people she represents.
Just amazing.
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The party of science.
"I'm not intimidated by the cell phone industry. The legal department might be, but I'm not."
Fuck yeah! Slay that windmill!!!
Incidentally, this is nowhere near as crazy as the Berkeley City Council can get. They were trying to conduct foreign policy when I went to school there...
Oh, and don't forget the "nuclear free zone", which is proudly announced on all of the signs at city limits.
Louisville had nuclear free zone signs in the 80s.
I wonder how smoke detectors and emergency exit signs work in Berkeley and Louisville?
And "the center will not hold!"
Last time I was there, Hoboken, NJ still has their nuclear free zone signs.
Pretty sure Davis, CA is also.
Did they allow transmission of electricity from nuclear plants into the city?
No. And worse:
http://www.dailycal.org/2011/1.....-free-act/
You know one of the Republicans in our district was running on a policy of protecting children from EM radiation including cell phones/towers and excessive wifi.
Kevin Mottus
By a funny coincidence, that's when cell phones started to become more popular!!! Wow!
He actually says that right after the quoted text. I think he believes people will start freaking out now that we're all suddenly going to get cancer from 10-15 years of cell use. I've only got about 7 under my belt so far. So enjoy the cancer, suckers!
Mottus obviously has no background in physics. Nor does he understand why cells become cancerous.
Cell phones and other wireless devices operate at to low a frequency (wavelength is to long) to damage DNA. This, in physics, is called non-ionizing radiation. Non-ionizing radiation simply does not have enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules. IOW, there isn't enough energy to damage the DNA.
So, you are familiar with the research of Dr. Henry Lai at the University of Washington?
Your comments about DNA and cancer are about as misleading as saying we are protected thanks to the inverse square law.
There is a huge difference between acute reactions and chronic ones. Unfortunately it took several generations before the issue of second hand smoke became of serious concern.
The WHO has stated that there is a probable link between cell phone use and brain cancer.
http://healthland.time.com/201.....-now-what/
I suspect their conclusion would have been more strongly stated had it not been for the influence of lobby groups (i.e. the mobile industry).
It is understandable that people just don't want to have to worry about their "toys", but denial is simply unscientific. All evidence must be considered.
If there ever was a reason for applying The Precautionary Principle, this is it. Many places are using this principle and severely limiting WiFi or not allowing it at all. Have you read your cell phone manual? They certainly take the possibility of litigation seriously.
I predict that WiFi and its related forms of EMR will be the next "second hand smoke" issue in the workplace.
We must protect our precious bodily fluids!
Do they mean hair?
If it's wool or silk, I would like to invest immediately.
They saved it off just yesterday, and yet it's already back!
My God!!! That happens to my face, EVERYDAY!!! AIIIIE!!!!
*runs out of room, frantically trying to scrub heavy metals off of self*
I believe they are referring to Morgellons.
I got a new mattress and without a shirt i laid on it to test it out with the factory plastic still covering it.
I itched all night.
I've always preferred Max Anderson to Min Anderson. I think it's the intensity.
Gillian Anderson is still intense to me, just saying.
I just wish medium Anderson would fuck off. I don't like people who waffel.
huh - I've seen some WW2-era photos and it looks like the Chemtrail spraying started back then. Obviously part of the effort to bring the Germans down. /dons tinfoil hat.
has a background in public health
Maybe he should talk to someone with a background in physics or EE.
The director of the Oregon Obamacare exchange also has a background in public health. Hmmm....
Which one? It's a revolving door at this point.
Bah. Scientists are quacks. Except for climate scientists.
Well, you know the left is all sciencey and truthly and stuff!
Wonder how many kids will leave the phone at home?
Max Anderson, who's co-sponsoring the ordinance and has a background in public health.
There's your explanation.
Looks like CW doesn't have a background in closing tags.
Cause of Chemtrails?
Global Warming. Duh.
I thought it was the jets.
Benny and the Jets or the New York Jets?
When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way...
The chemtrail people are awesome and usually are flouride people who are also hilarious.
Intentionally putting chemicals in people's drinking water is a lot worse than just flying over them in a jet.
The claim is that these chemicals are secretly loaded onto commercial flights. They also claim the chemtrails are dispersed in a grid pattern. So why as no airline passenger reported that their flight was flying in grid patterns?
p.s. Photos of gridlike contrails (as in above photo) are taken in areas where there are criss-crossing flight corridors, such Southern California, near major hubs, etc.
general feelings of malaise
I blame Jimmy Carter. Or maybe Billy beer.
When I was 17, I bought a very good beer...
Olympia ("Its the water") or National Bohemian perhaps?
It's the water, that's why it's yellow.
Reports? The SF Chronicle? Oh, well, I guess it is more polite than the more-accurate "The SF Chronicle babbles:"
"I say the thing is evil! And people should be able to read why from credible sources!"
Soooo Tony-esque. I love it!
OldMexican|7.16.14 @ 1:30PM|#
" 'The San Francisco Chronicle reports:'
Reports? The SF Chronicle? Oh, well, I guess it is more polite than the more-accurate "The SF Chronicle babbles:""
The Chron has maybe three or four 'reporters' remaining; it regularly rents its front page to some special interest group or another, and they copy/paste the AP feed.
They have 6 or 8 columnists spouting lefty tropes, and of course this is considered 'edgy' while it's boring in the extreme.
The comix section keeps the coffee off the table in the morning. And most always I can mine and post some stupidity as I did this several days ago.
Most news sites just copy the AP feed. I watch basketball games and see dozens of reporters there, but afterward there are only 2 or 3 stories about the game.
I've said it before, but CA is the epicenter of stupidity in the world. Berkeley is ground zero.
"There are two major products that come from Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
Jeremy S. Anderson
Stuff like this is why I would never move to California. NY is crazy, but we're not that crazy.
Seriously, are there not enough reasonable people in Berkeley or Shasta to say, "Hey, numbnuts, we elected you to take care of local issues, not worry about pie-in-the-sky theories. Now quit wasting our money, or we'll replace all of you at the next election"?
I laughed at the headline because I pictured the yokles who run my county having this discussion.
It won't happen because they are actually aware of their limitations - and they want to wrap their meetings up in time to have dinner and watch Dancing with the Stars.
That's funny, Drake.
Strangely, the Redding Record Searchlight features a climate change blog at their Redding.com site, and the blogger posts about the existence of "chemtrails" conspiracy from time to time -- not to mention the many posts about the Koch conspiracy to mislead the public about climate change.
The person who introduced the Catastrophic Global Warming issue to the blogger in the first place is the main force behind the "chemtrail" movement in the county.
So I guess it makes sense that the county believes this? It's sort of hilarious.
Also, an old colleague of Bailey's, when they worked at Forbes, is a columnist at the Redding paper and is a big reason why the climate change blogger has a blog there, I think.
Maybe Bailey is part of the "chemtrail" conspiracy, too. I mean, you never know. He is a part of the Koch conspiracy already.
*where's my tin foil hat?*
"Hey, numbnuts, we elected you to take care of local issues, not worry about pie-in-the-sky theories
Maybe they prefer them wasting time worrying about crap like chemtrails. the alternative is them fucking up those "local issues" by DOING SOMETHING!!!11!!! ZOMG!!1!!!
It's what you get when the majority of your voters are non-local college kids brainwashed by the hard left progressive UCB professors. You get much of the same nuttiness anywhere the college kids outnumber the permanent residents. Ei. Davis.
As a shareholder in Chevron and Southwest Airlines, I'd be pretty pissed if they were wasting my money putting expensive heavy metals in the jet fuel. I'm pretty sure the auditors would have caught on to such a large expenditure.
That is what they want you to think!!!1!!!1!oneoneone!1eleventy!
fibers growing out of their skin
I can only conclude that these are lizard people who think chemtrails are a secret plot to turn them into mammals with hair.
TOP. MEN.
Clearly we have the right people in charge.
WTF, is Art Bell still around?
Last seen, last year:
"Art Bell's Dark Matter, on Sirius XM Radio began on September 16, 2013 and ended 6 weeks later on November 4, 2013."
So what do we call the cell phone industry? Big Tower? Big Viterbi?
Big Screen, now!
Big Wave
Big Spectrum?
What the fuck is wrong with Californians?
Their verdant, shimmering paradise of a Golden State isn't paradisey enough, so they have to keep tinkering and making sure everybody straightens up.
I wish I new. It's such a beautiful place, but the imbecile/m^2 is off the charts.
The politicians I can understand. They are generally horrible people who intrinsically understand that many people will put up with a lot of shit to enjoy the climate etc. This gives the pols great leeway to fleece, abuse, manipulate and otherwise fuck with the populace.
What I don't get is the government co-dependence displayed by so many of my fellow citizens. Spit the Cock of Authoritah out of your mouth and grow a backbone.
Nothing that splitting into six state won't solve:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/si.....-up-state/
so we can have 12 Fiensteins in DC instead of 2?
I think I'm against that.
That's only the Bay Area. Much of the rest of the state is libertarian or conservative.
Bwah hah hah! I take it you're not from the state...
Shasta County
Germain video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_XEOrAl1J8
Why on God's green Earth are the Shasta County supervisors worried about chemtrails? Shasta County is in the middle of Bigfoot country -- shouldn't Bigfoot research be a higher priority?
It is, it is! Didn't you know that chemtrails cause mutations in innocent little bunny rabbits, turning them into voracious bigfoot creatures?
My question is when are they going to start regulating Dihydrogen Monoxide?
Believe me, the pols think they already have.
Dihydrogen monoxide in chemtrails, it can KILL YOU.
California is the breakfast cereal state: it's full of fruits, flakes, and nuts.
One of which had this to say:
"I saw bigfoot once! 1951! It made a sound that I would not want to hear twice in my life."
it's like putting a mini-microwave next to your brain
Sigh... No it isn't. The frequencies are completely different. See Greg F's post above for a good explanation of why cellphones can't possibly cause cancer. Or better yet, I'll copy/ paste:
That was supposed to be reply to BambiB. I blame the skwirrelz.
Also, technically microwaves don't "fry" anything, they boil them from the inside out. The reason they operate at 2.4 GHz is because that frequency is readily absorbed by water, 900MHz-1.8 GHz are not.
Clearly they don't cook "from the inside out" as anyone who has ever reheated anything dense can attest the middle is cold.. but yeah it vibrates those water molecules.
I bet all these chemtrail and fluoride nuts all voted for Ron Paul.
Berkeley's Council Says Cell Phones Cause Cancer - Now Shasta County Supervisors Vote to Investigate "Chemtrails"
Is there anything these people will not freak out about?
"Is there anything these people will not freak out about?"
Seems not. A couple of years ago, their undies were twisted over whether a guy playing baseball juiced or not.
No mention of the Republican Senator from Arizona who just hosted a forum on chemtrails? What about your homestate Mr. Bailey, still teaching creationism? Unfortunately crazy is bipartisan and non geographical....
So tu quoque means he shouldn't write about the Berkeley City Council?
Unanimous? Wow. I am not surprised by the cell-phone discussion, that is a very common myth, but chemtrails are full-bown tinfoil hat territory.
So what's wrong with seeking more info? Consider all the evil they might do instead; self-enlightenment doesn't rank up there. Either chemtrails exist or not, so why shouldn't they clear the Q up?
If you want lots of detailed info on the chemtrail nonsense, take a look at the Contrail Sceince website. And look at the replies if you find chemtrailers to be amusing...
Tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of people have used cell phones consistently for more than 15 years.
Yet cancer rates are down...here...
& as others have pointed out - science clearly shows the only thing to fear here is fear itself.
That and idiots in power of course. Hopefully they'll ban cell phones altogether. That should help bring back all those businesses that fled CA due to insane regulations and taxes.
Because if anything screams government competence, it has to be "let's spend government money chasing fantasies, all of which science, time, and common sense have already proven fruitless".
1W = 1J/s
Specific heat of water ~4.1J/K/cm^3
Roughly every 4 seconds you'll raise one ml of water in your body one Kelvin. You'll be holding that phone for a while.
They done studies on groups of people with brain cancer who used cell phones and looked at their handedness vs where the tumors were. That is, they looked to see if right handed cell phone users got their tumors on the right side of their head, and left handed users on the right side, which you'd expect if the cell phones were a cause of the cancer. However, no correlation was found.