Why I Won’t Let This Go

I am writing this as a father, an engineer, and someone who has lived the costs of getting wireless policy wrong.

In 1977, at seven years old, I lost a kidney. My parents were living on a military base in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with radar in the background of our daily life. Decades later I would learn the vocabulary for what my family felt but could never quite prove: persistent, low‑level microwave exposure can shape biology in ways the thermal rulebook doesn’t see. In 1995, I lost my firstborn daughter. Two years after her passing, a study appeared showing dramatic developmental impacts in embryos subjected to microwave exposure. I don’t need a courtroom to tell me what a lifetime of engineering, reading, and watching has told me: the risks from non‑thermal exposure are real enough to warrant a different path—especially where children are concerned.

I have spent more than 25 years building alternatives, not just criticizing the status quo. In the 1990s I designed an interferometric antenna to reduce head exposure and eliminate hearing‑aid buzzing. Hearing‑aid advocacy groups used that engineering win alongside ADA principles to push for Hearing Aid Compatibility standards—ultimately reflected in the FCC’s 2003 HAC rules and the handset M/T ratings millions rely on today. That quiet victory matters: it shows that when we engineer for people first, policy can follow.

Here is the simple truth as I’ve come to know it: biology runs on signals, not just on heat. We evolved in a quiet electromagnetic niche—a Goldilocks zone where Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere shaped particle flux and the ozone layer filtered DNA‑damaging ultraviolet. Nature even invented “hacks” for UV damage (think tardigrades); there is no hack for scrambled, chronic, artificial signaling. That’s why I argue we must keep the data and lose the unnecessary RF burden, especially indoors and near children.

Since 1996, U.S. exposure policy has treated “safety” almost entirely as a thermal problem. Communities lost their voice under Section 704; local officials can’t consider health where FCC limits are met, even when families are pleading for distance, better siting, or safer alternatives. A federal appeals court remanded the FCC’s 2019 decision in 2021, faulting the agency for failing to address non‑thermal evidence and children’s risks—but here we are in 2025 with no new exposure standard, no practical roadmap, and a wireless build‑out that assumes yesterday’s metrics are enough.

I don’t accept that. I won’t. Not after a childhood kidney surgery, not after losing a daughter, not after watching cluster after cluster of fear and confusion whenever a new site goes up by a playground, a bedroom, or a NICU. My answer is not to retreat from modern life. It is to upgrade it—to move from the Microwave Age to the Light Age, using photons for high‑bandwidth indoor links (where walls should contain signals) and reserving RF for mobility, emergency, and edge cases. It is to design for low exposure by default, to measure what matters (peaks, pulses, duty cycles, hotspots, and cumulative dose), to restore local voice, and to put health agencies—not spectrum auctioneers—in charge of health questions.

This is my life’s work. If you share the goal—protect children, modernize standards, and build better networks—then let’s get specific and get it done.

The Clean Ether Act — Policy & Engineering Blueprint (Actionable)

A. Purpose & Principles

Purpose: Make connectivity life‑compatible by design.
Principles:
1. Health‑first defaults (especially for children, bedrooms, classrooms, clinics).
2. Measure what matters beyond SAR: peaks, pulse structure, duty cycle, proximity hotspots, and cumulative dose.
3. Prefer photons indoors: standardize Li‑Fi/OWC (e.g., IEEE 802.11bb) and wired backbones where high‑bandwidth is needed.
4. Transparency: the public has a right to know the RF environment in homes, schools, workplaces, and the public realm.
5. Local voice restored: communities must be able to influence siting and design on health‑protective grounds when alternatives exist.

B. Who Does What — A Results‑First Checklist

1) Congress

Reassign health oversight of chronic, non‑ionizing RF exposure to EPA/FDA under the Radiation Control for Health & Safety Act; define a permanent Non‑Ionizing Radiation Office with pediatric expertise.
Reform Section 704 of the 1996 Telecom Act to permit health‑protective siting and design choices (distance, orientation, shielding, wired/optical alternatives) when compliance options exist.
Fund an Exposure‑Modernization Program:
- National RF mapping (peaks, pulses, duty cycles) in schools/clinics/housing.
- Grants to convert public buildings to fiber + Li‑Fi with wired backbones.
- Independent replications of animal‑tumor and fertility findings using modern modulations and open dosimetry.
Procurement mandates: Federal facilities and grantees (schools, VA, NIH, CDC, HHS) adopt wired/optical‑first indoors and exposure‑minimizing defaults on devices.

2) EPA / FDA (Health Agencies)

Set exposure goals and contextual targets (e.g., stringent nighttime bedroom targets for children; quieter targets for NICUs).
Define non‑thermal metrics and test protocols: peak E‑field, envelope shape (pulse), duty cycle, time‑weighted dose, and on‑body hotspot mapping at 0 mm.
Require device/environment labeling: publish exposure profiles for phones, wearables, routers, and classrooms (including on‑body power management).
Post‑market surveillance: establish a national registry for RF exposure incidents and patterns (with privacy protection), linked to environmental telemetry.

3) FCC

Open a new RF health docket focused on non‑thermal metrics and exposure‑aware network design (beam‑forming away from residences, child‑sensitive zones).
Authorize & prioritize optical/low‑RF systems for schools and hospitals; include exposure budgets in site approvals (not just power and interference).
Require carriers and OEMs to publish RF dashboards (per‑device, per‑site) with time‑series and peak data, not only SAR.

4) States & Localities

Update building codes:
- Wired backbones mandatory in new construction and major retrofits.
- Li‑Fi‑ready lighting (power and backhaul to luminaires).
- RF‑quiet rooms in schools/clinics (shielding, placement, and device policies).
Adopt permitting guidelines that favor:
- Distance from bedrooms/classrooms,
- Antenna orientation away from homes,
- Lower‑power microcells with fiber backhaul,
- Co‑location to reduce total site count.

5) Industry (OEMs, OS vendors, Carriers, Lighting)

Ship safer defaults:
- On‑body detection with automatic output throttling and proximity alerts.
- Bedtime radio scheduler (user‑friendly curfew for Wi‑Fi/cellular/Bluetooth).
- One‑tap wired/optical priority: devices auto‑prefer Ethernet/Li‑Fi indoors.
Publish exposure telemetry (opt‑in, privacy‑preserving): let users see duty cycle, peaks, time near‑body, and cumulative dose proxies.
Accelerate 802.11bb Li‑Fi in access points, laptops, tablets, phones, and lighting.

6) Schools & Health Systems

Wired‑first networks; Li‑Fi in classrooms and patient areas; RF‑quiet rooms for sensitive use.
Transparent RF maps posted for staff and parents; device policies that enforce distance/duration/damping.
Staff training on exposure‑aware classroom practices (e.g., device parking, timed sessions).

7) Researchers & Funders

Replicate animal tumor and male‑fertility endpoints with current waveforms (5G/6G patterns, burst structures).
Standardize dosimetry and reporting so studies can be pooled.
Build open datasets linking environmental telemetry with health outcomes (strict privacy safeguards).

8) Families & Individuals (The 3‑D Rule)

Distance: speakerphone/stand; don’t carry active phones against the body.
Duration: shorter sessions; schedule radio‑off windows at night.
Damping: turn off radios you’re not using; hard‑wire stationary gear.

C. Engineering the Transition (Indoors First)

Network Architecture

Fiber to the room (or PoE) + Li‑Fi downlink via luminaires for high‑bandwidth tasks; RF reserved for mobility/voice/emergency.
Access‑point placement: above head height, away from desks/beds; power just high enough to cover the room; no hallway blast.

Device Behavior

On‑body power control: continuous proximity sensing; dynamic duty‑cycle scaling when the device is in a pocket or against the head.
Auto‑prefer wired/optical when available; auto‑sleep radios on screen‑off unless apps explicitly require them.
Exposure readout in settings (peaks, time‑near‑body, cumulative estimate) with plain‑language tips.

Measurement & Labels

Peak & pulse reporting (not just 6‑min averages).
Hotspot maps at 0 mm and typical carry positions.
Context labels (e.g., “at‑ear”, “in‑pocket”, “on‑lap”) so users understand real usage profiles.

Building & Room Design

RF‑quiet zones (shielding + optical service) for bedrooms, nurseries, ICU/NICU, testing centers.
Wired workstations by default; device parking at room edges; router placement away from seating and sleeping areas.

D. Implementation Timeline (12–24 Months)

0–6 Months

Congress drafts Clean Ether package (oversight reassignments + funding).
EPA/FDA publish metrics blueprint; launch pilot RF mapping in selected school districts and clinics.
FCC opens a non‑thermal metrics docket; OEMs roll out bedtime radio scheduling and on‑body alerts.

6–12 Months

Federal procurement shifts to wired/optical‑first indoors; grants awarded for school conversions.
First 802.11bb classroom pilots at scale; exposure dashboards live in OS updates.
States adopt code updates for wired backbones in new construction.

12–24 Months

National RF environment dashboards for schools/clinics/housing.
Major OEMs ship Li‑Fi‑capable devices; carriers expose per‑site peak/pulse telemetry.
Hospitals and schools certify RF‑quiet rooms; insurers add wellness credits for exposure‑aware buildings.

E. Accountability, Enforcement, and Transparency

Public dashboards: ambient RF (peaks/pulses/duty) for public buildings, updated at least quarterly.
Compliance audits: random checks on device labels vs. emitted profiles and building target zones.
Right‑to‑know: tenants, parents, and patients can access simple RF maps and device exposure profiles.
Audit trails: every regulatory decision (site approvals, waivers) logged with health‑protective alternatives considered and why they were accepted or rejected.

F. What Success Looks Like

Children sleep and learn in quieter EM environments without giving up bandwidth.
Public agencies model wired/optical‑first; RF is targeted, not omnipresent.
Devices tell the truth about peaks, pulses, and proximity—and ship with safer defaults.
Communities regain a lawful voice in siting and design.
Research gets cleaner (better dosimetry, better pooling), so policy can iterate on evidence instead of waiting decades.

G. Closing

We don’t need to choose between connectivity and our children’s biology. We need to engineer smarter, govern honestly, and measure the right things. That is the point of this blueprint. It is not anti‑technology. It is pro‑life‑compatible technology.

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