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By Alex Weber, The London Free PressFriday, October 19, 2012 8:07:00 EDT PM=For 20 years, Melissa Chalmers was a commercial pilot, flying around the world.But in March, the 44-year-old took sick leave — at a time when airports and hotels she frequented regularly as part of her job, increased their wireless coverage.That's because Chalmers suffers from a rare condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity — electromagnetic waves emitted from cell towers, wireless devices and wireless routers were making her sick."The cockpit of the plane actually felt pretty good, but I was doing a lot of layovers and all of the hotels were upgrading their wifi," she said."Then they began updating wifi in all the airport terminals . . . and it became too much."Chalmers first noticed her condition two years ago when she was living in an apartment building near White Oaks in London close to three cellphone towers.She started feeling pressure in the head, had frequent dizzy spells and was nauseous. Her doctor diagnosed her with electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and the only treatment he could suggest was for Chalmers to move to an area with fewer cell towers.Chalmers moved to a forested community in Grand Bend, where the trees around her absorb most of the electromagnetic waves emitted by nearby towers.But, in September, Bell Canada built a tower just down the street from her, which it plans to turn on within the next month — meaning she'll have to find a new place to live.Dr. Riina Bray, medical director for the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, says while the number of people living with the hypersensitivity in Canada is small — about 1% of the population — there are likely many people with varying degrees of the condition who don't know it.And with telecommunications companies rapidly expanding wireless coverage, Bray is concerned those with the hypersensitivity will have nowhere to go."This is a real situation," she said. "This is potentially a really big problem and needs to be researched and investigated."In 2011, the World Health Organization classified the radiation from all wireless devices, including cellphones, as possibly carcinogenic and called for more research.Health Canada has acknowledged the ruling but maintains there's no cause for immediate concern or policy change.But that's not good enough for Port Franks grandmother Wendy Hoy.Hoy is walking from London to Ottawa to rally the government to review industry guidelines on radiation exposure in Canada, after Bell Canada announced it was building a cell tower near the Port Franks marina.She's received support from many along the way, including former Microsoft Canada president Frank Clegg, who's building a new organization, Citizens for Safe Technology, that plans to provide consumer safety tips and scientific information about technology including cell towers, cellular phones and wireless Internet.Clegg says the government doesn't share this information effectively enough, despite a growing body of scientific evidence of safety issues.While Chalmers has been able to get her hypersensitivity under control since moving out of the city, she's fearful she'll have to move to the middle of nowhere to escape her symptoms."I'm very concerned. I don't know what to do," she said. "Last year when I was living in London I was in a crisis situation and it took me six months before I was able to find this place."— with files from QMI Agency
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