Testimonials

My life with mobile telephony

One man's heroic struggle for health proves the damaging nature of cell phone tower radiation

"My name is Josef Schmitt, I am 52 years old, married, I work as a machine fitter and have been living with my family since 1982 on a beautiful property, with a house, workshop and music studio, on the outskirts of Weilersbach / Upper Franconia in Germany.

Until the summer of 1999, I lived there in perfect health and was able to pursue my work as a craftsman and my hobby as a musician with great dedication and pleasure. I am said to be a "workaholic".

In the summer of 1999, a T-Mobile phone tower was erected on a field barn 70 meters from our property and 110 meters from our house. As I was still completely unencumbered at the time and had no idea about mobile telephony, I didn't take much notice of the project.

A neighbor living further away asked me at the time: "Why would you allow something like this to be built here?" And I replied, as any normal person would: "If it was dangerous, then surely they wouldn't be allowed to put up the tower."

That very summer of 1999, my ordeal began.

First I got an unprecedented itching between my fingers and toes, then all over my hands and feet. The itching became so severe that my feet became chafed and scales formed on my hands, the skin dried out and burst open, it cracked and became so sore that you could see the open flesh.

At the same time, I began to get dizzy spells, quite irregularly, as it seemed to me, only fractions of a second, but nevertheless remarkably often.

My eyes were also constantly burning and dry.
As I had always been a very active person, I suddenly noticed that I felt so tired and limp all of a sudden and it got worse by the day. I would come home from work in the evening feeling dead tired, had to lie down and was no longer able to do any work in the house or yard. I had to force myself to even do the smallest little job.

This continued with me going to work in the morning feeling tired and exhausted. My body and my state of health became increasingly unbalanced. I became weaker and weaker and felt more and more down.

I also experienced joint pain. First in both shoulders, then my elbows, hips, knees to the ankles.

The joint pain intensified so much in the shoulder area that I was sent to Bad Soden/Saalmünster for a spa stay with the diagnosis "ambilateral frozen shoulder". I could no longer lift my arms even 90° from my body. Only with extreme pain! Any higher was almost impossible. At the spa, the specialist staff were able to help me find relief through baths, electrotherapy, massages and targeted movement of the shoulders, which greatly improved my condition.

I had only been home from the spa for a week when the same problems as before
reappeared. Itching, dizziness, joint pain, low spirits, my body felt like it was
burned out.

At night, I also started grinding my teeth, which I had never had before.

However, my condition deteriorated even further. I had two episodes of allergic shock with large red spots all over my body, unbelievable itching, immense palpitations and enormous breathing difficulties.
— I was scared of dying!

Both times the emergency doctor was called and he gave me cortisone injections to stabilize my condition. But the strange thing was and is that I had been examined by a dermatologist shortly beforehand and had undergone a major allergy test with the result that none of the samples were positive, which in turn means that I am not allergic to conventional and known pollen, house dust, animal hair, etc.

I had a third heart attack, was again treated by the emergency doctor and paramedics took me to Forchheim hospital, where I lay in intensive care connected to many tubes. Brain waves were measured and monitored, as was an electrocardiogram, and ultrasound examinations were also carried out. The next morning I was immediately taken to the university hospital in Erlangen and a heart catheter was inserted.

All these examinations showed that I was perfectly healthy and nothing, absolutely nothing could be found. Blood counts are OK, coronary arteries are not narrowed, cardiovascular system is OK, lungs are working normally, nobody had an explanation.

During my illness, I saw an internist, a neurologist, a dermatologist, an orthopaedist, a dentist and a general practitioner, i.e. family doctor, and absolutely no one could tell me the cause.

During all this time, I lived next to this transmission tower for two very bad years and never once did it occur to me that all my illnesses could come from it.

I started looking for possible causes myself and narrowed down one possible problem after another. In the house, in the garden, in my environment, in my lifestyle and in my
workplace. I had all the chemicals I had to deal with at work tested in the laboratory at Erlangen University Hospital, and everything turned out to be negative in terms of finding the cause of my illness.

I came to the conclusion: I was treated in a spa for four weeks, i.e. away from my usual environment and I felt better. Once I was back home in my familiar surroundings, I immediately felt bad again. This gave me the certainty that the source of my illness was at home in my immediate surroundings.

In November 2001, a fellow citizen from Weilersbach asked me if I had ever thought that all my problems could come from the mobile phone transmitter?

I then got hold of documents, leaflets etc. about mobile telephony, base stations, cell phones and the possible symptoms of this technology. I was scared to death! I had all the potential pathologies listed there, combined. It was a shock!

I called a building biologist, Ms. Ruth Frank, on 17 Janary 2002 and had measurements taken by means of spectral analysis, which I received back from her in an analysis report. I can still hear the words of this woman today: "I have already taken many measurements in the D-Netz (a German mobile phone network), but I have never had such high readings!"

On the balcony/terrace it was 7,061.12 µW/m²
In the living room it was 4,503.39 µW/m²

The guideline values of building biology*:
5 µW/m²= weak anomaly
5-100 µW/m²= strong anomaly
greater than 100 µW/m²= extreme anomaly

* from Baubiologie: an academic discipline originating in Germany that deals with the design and construction of ecological and biological buildings and facilities.

I went to the landlord of this field barn, Alfons Roppelt, explained to him the measured data and the only logical cause of my illness, the mobile phone tower!

His first statement was: "If the phone tower is dangerous, it has to come down!"

At that time we were 4 citizens of Weilersbach, who still live in the immediate vicinity of this transmitter tower, who took this issue very seriously and worried about our families, especially our children. So we founded a citizens' initiative to protect the people of Weilersbach from radiation exposure from mobile phone towers.

As one of the transmitters is aimed directly at our house and the other at the school, as concerned citizens we felt it was our duty to inform the local authority about this.

We attended a public meeting of the local council and presented our concerns. We explained to the local council and the mayor at the time, A. D., about the dangers this transmitter tower could pose. I underlined the danger describing my medical condition at the time and adding that one transmitter radiated in the direction of the school and therefore was a danger for the children.

I also described my conversation with the landlord of the field barn, where the cause of all evil is located, who is also a local councillor, and my attempt to persuade him to terminate his contract with T-Mobile as soon as possible, who also confirmed his statement mentioned above.

We presented our measurement results, which in the meantime each of us had had carried out privately at home and at our own expense, so that the municipality would have the best possible facts to hand in any discussions with the operator.

Suddenly we were accused of scaremongering and that this transmitter tower posed no danger at all, that there were transmitters like this everywhere and that there was no legal chance of removing it anyvway. They also don't want to use our measurements, but instead want to commission an accredited measurement company to carry out a new series of measurement at points determined by the municipal council.

Another clear statement from the municipal council was that a unanimous decision had been reached that no transmitter would be mounted on a public building in the municipality of Weilersbach.

An application from the operator had therefore been unanimously rejected! Including by municipal council member Alfons Roppelt!

One day after the local council meeting, an installation team from T-Mobile arrived, twisted and changed the direction of the transmitter, which was facing the school. We have photographic evidence of this!

*On Wednesday, February 20, 2002, a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

The citizens' initiative printed flyers about the danger of these transmitter towers and enclosed them with the community newspaper. We then collected signatures and asked our fellow villagers for their support in removing the tower from the area. We had already received over 500 signatures in the upper part of Weilersbach, i.e. in the immediate radiation area, in a village with just under 2000 residents at the time.

Furthermore, the citizens' initiative organized an information and education evening for all citizens of Weilersbach and interested outsiders in the gymnasium on 15 March 2002. The main speaker was Siegfried Zwerenz from Tirschenreuth, 1st chairman of the umbrella organization of citizens' initiatives for protection against electrosmog. Another speaker on technology was Helmut Günther, retired engineer at Phillips from the Bund Naturschutz.

On April 23, 2002, the promised accredited measurement was carried out in Weilersbach by the engineering firm Dr. Rasek / Moggast, which produced the expected results:

Schoolyard (After twisting the transmitter and behind some school walls!)
Schoolyard: power density 0.68 µW/m²
Am Hetzenhof: power density 4213.94 µW/m² (my home)
Am Baumgarten: power density 183.95 µW/m²
At the town hall: power density 46.86 µW/m²

On May 10, 2002, I had a telephone conversation with the landlord of the field barn, Alfons Roppelt, and again raised the issue of the transmitter with him and he asked me for time to think about it.

Alfons Roppelt consulted the operator T-Mobile. They explained to him, which he emphasized in a second telephone conversation with me on 18 May 2002, that my illnesses could in no way be caused by the transmission tower, as it was transmitting far below the applicable limits and had not been erected above the permitted height of 10 meters, which does not require a permit. He did not need to worry about this matter and should no longer talk to anyone on this subject, let alone give any information, because he was in the right! Should any questions arise, one could contact Deutsche T-Mobile directly.

He also said he no longer wanted to talk to me about it and hung up the phone.

On the third attempt, on June 5, 2002, to talk to him, he immediately hung up the phone demonstratively without saying a word.

Finally, even Pastor Schrenk tried to persuade the Roppelt family to talk to the citizens' initiative — in vain, he was viciously insulted!

After the local council at the time, encouraged by Mr. Rasek's accredited measurement, had played down the risk of possible illness from the transmitter tower and there was no more talking to the landlord, we tried, with success, to get these men and women to reconsider via the press and the public. A kind of battle of words ensued with letters to the editor in the local newspapers and the community newspaper. This was even supported by the other side with very polemical letters to the editor from a T-Mobile employee, a certain Mr. Ott.

After constant unsuccessful attempts to clarify the situation and equally unsuccessful requests for assistance in this matter so highly dangerous for many fellow citizens, I personally came to the conclusion that if you don't help yourself, nobody will help you!

*On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

I thought about how, if I really got sick from this radiation, I could protect my family and myself. At school, we learned that radiation cannot penetrate a Faraday cage. But I didn't like the idea of building a cage over our house because I didn't want to live like an animal in a cage, so I came up with another idea. If I erect a huge protective grid at the boundary of our property so that our house is, figuratively speaking, in the lee of the transmission tower, I can move freely and, above all, protected not only in the house, but also on the terrace, balcony and in the garden.

*On Friday, 7 November 2002 a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

To substantiate this idea, I had Ms. Frank take measurements again on 9 November 2002. We established a fixed point on the terrace where we aligned the receiving antenna of the spectrum analyzer on a tripod to the transmission tower. This was followed by the first measurement, which was identical to the measurement on 17 January 2002.

We then held various grids and tissue samples measuring approximately 1m² between the transmitter and receiver, and we took a new measurement each time. Specifically, these were: ISPO fabric, Swiss-Shield fabric, Cuprotect mesh, chicken wire single and chicken wire double. The double chicken wire, staggered on top of each other, gave the best result:

With this 1m² piece of chicken wire, I was already able to shield over 95% of the radiation exposure.

*On Wednesday, November 13, 2002, a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

Whereupon I came to the conclusion: If the radiation really made me ill and I can shield more than 95% of it, I must therefore feel better again after building a radiation protection grid!

I immediately started with the planning and structural analysis of this building project. I obtained a site plan and took the transmission tower on the field barn as my starting point. Then I drew a line from there past our house on the left and another line past it on the right. I then drew a line directly on our property boundary between the first two lines.

This connected the first two lines and created the length of my radiation protection grid. It was 24 meters long.

I did the same on site and knocked wooden posts into the ground for orientation. I was then able to measure and the result was also 24 linear meters.

To determine the height, I screwed roof battens together and marked a thick black line every meter. A friend held the roof battens vertically between the house and the transmission tower, I went into the attic, looked over the ridge to the top of the transmission tower and was thus able to read the number of meters on the roof batten, which stood exactly in between. The result was a height of 9 meters.

I drew up a rough sketch of what the project should look like and consulted our mayor about my plans. He told me that I would have to submit a building application for a project of this size, which would first have to be approved by the municipality and then by the district office.

I then commissioned an architect to draw up a construction plan in triplicate, which I submitted to the municipality of Weilersbach.

The vote was close, late, because of the summer break, but in my favor.

After this was reported in the press, a representative of the operator T-Mobile, a certain Mr. Ott, came to a public citizens' initiative meeting that had been convened in the meantime and asked me the question: "In your opinion, how much transmission power would T-Mobile have to turn down so that you don't erect your radiation protection grid?"

My answer was clear and unequivocal: only if the transmitter is dismantled will I not erect a fence!

The construction plan then went to the district office which confirmed receipt on 14 November 2002 of the "building project erection of a radiation protection grid".

On 18 November 2002, I went in person to the then head of the building authority in Ebermannstadt, Mr. Ziegelmeier, explaining to him once again the urgency of this protective measure and handing him the results of the last immission measurement, which had taken place on 9 November 2002. I emphasized once again that if he refused, I did not know whether I would survive the fourth heart attack, because I only wanted to protect myself and not be a burden to anyone else.

As such a huge fence (H 9m x W 24m) naturally doesn't look good in such a rural area and for fear of possible copycats, the approval was certainly not easy. But I received it on 4 December 2002.

After the harsh winter, I was only able to start excavating the foundations in February 2003. I was already able to do the preliminary metal work during the winter, such as cutting the base plates, drilling, making anchors for anchoring in the foundations, as well as purchase priming paint and varnish, screws, nuts, galvanized hexagonal mesh (chicken wire 6 rolls of 50m² each), all steel beams and pipes in various designs.

*On Friday, 16 May 2003 a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

I started welding the large beams after the winter. I needed a lifting frame and lots of helpers to erect the beams and tubes. After erecting the lower and upper scaffolding and attaching the cross and diagonal tie rods, we placed the lattice over the substructure and the project was completed on June 14, 2003.

Now it was time to find out whether the so-called radiation protection grid could really protect me against this pulsed radiation, which was probably making me ill.

radiation protection grid 1 radiation protection grid 2

Foto credit: Josef Schmitt

A week went by, two weeks, a third week, and I was beginning to doubt whether all the work and energy I had put into this project might have been in vain after all. Still, I told myself, at least you tried.

A good friend of mine, who is familiar with Asian medicine, told me that my body became ill due to external radiation. My body had reacted to this and built up defenses. Nevertheless, I was still ill to a certain extent. After building up a barrier with the radiation protection grid, the radiation from outside no longer hit my body as intensely as before. But my body still produced the defenses, meaning I could get worse in the short term. Now my body had to realize that it no longer needed to produce the defenses, and once this was accomplished, things would get better.

And lo and behold, after four weeks it got better day by day. It took no more than a week and all the symptoms I'd had up to that point were gone. The itching, the sore hands healed up again, the burning eyes were gone, the constant tiredness, the joint pain, all gone as if by magic. Since then, no more allergies and no more heart attacks.

I felt reborn, like a new person and had absolute confirmation that I was right.

On 12 August 2003 I had another measurement carried out (Dr. Moldan) and it turned out that I was able to shield 99% of the previously transmitted power with my shielding measures!

This measurement was again carried out in the presence of the press and the mayor and was not only published in the regional newspapers via the dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur [German News Agency]), but also distributed throughout Germany.

This led to nationwide reactions. The operators played everything down and made me out to be a nutcase, saying that it was purely a placebo effect, that faith moves mountains, etc., and that my illnesses were purely coincidental.

The Bavarian radio stations Bayern1 and Bayern2 reported on the project, as did the television stations Bayerischer Rundfunk Regionalprogramm, Oberfranken TV, RTL, SAT1, all of which reported on the then unique shielding measure.

I received calls from affected citizens all over Germany who were at their wits' end and asked me for advice and help. Many people who were severely affected by electrosmog came to see me and felt immediate relief from their symptoms behind my grille.

I was able to enjoy the best of health again for a total of 1 ½ years. But I had created something that the operator T-Mobile didn't like.

Because suddenly, towards the end of October, beginning of November 2004, I felt this itching between my fingers again, the blistering and cracking of the skin. I told my wife that something had changed and I had to have another measurement taken to find out.

On 11 January 2005, Dr. Moldan took another measurement and found that the operator T-Mobile had increased the transmission power by over 100%. This meant that the radiation level behind my grille had also increased, which at this level was enough to make me ill.

I started to think again about what I could do about this new situation.

I came to the conclusion that if I stretched wire ropes over the existing diagonal struts of my radiation protection grid and also covered them with chicken wire, I would have an additional different angle of incidence for the mobile phone radiation.

In May 2005, I procured wire ropes, 3 rolls of 50m² chicken wire and, with a few helpers, covered the inclined struts of the existing grid. And lo and behold, shortly afterwards I felt better again and all the symptoms of illness disappeared completely, for a second time. This is where chance ends for me at the latest!

However, on November 7, 2005, work began to raise the transmission tower by two antenna levels, definitely by 3.25 m. Three UMTS transmitters were now additionally mounted on the first level and the two existing D1 transmitters were mounted 3.25 m higher on the second level.

After setting up my new, slanted grille, also due to the erection of the higher transmission tower, Dr. Moldan made a new measurement on 23 December 2005 with the result that the UMTS transmitters were not yet switched on, but I was able to reduce the 100% increased transmission power of the two D1 transmitters by 99% again, but only on the terrace area and on the 1st floor.

In 2005, I extended the 2nd floor of our house for our daughter. She moved in with her husband in March 2006. I was very worried that due to their higher position, the two D1 transmitters were now radiating directly into the apartment on the second floor, passing above my existing radiation protection grille.

*On Friday, 07 July 2006, a dead calf was carried out of the barn!

My radiation protection grid, which had worked perfectly until then, no longer provided sufficient protection, as the pulsed radiation was able to penetrate our house again unhindered. I soon had to experience this again on my own body. The reflections of the radiation in the house again caused joint problems in my fingers. When I clench my fist, all the limbs in my hand tighten as if they were swollen.

On 6 March 2007, a microwave transmission antenna / transmitter was additionally attached to the existing tower. This and the UMTS transmitters that have been switched on since 2006 have little effect on my health as they are behind my grille, but the two original D1 transmitters are causing me problems again.

The impetus for raising my radiation protection grid was the birth of our granddaughter on May 19, 2007.

At the same time, I found out that the farmer and landlord of the field barn, Alfons Roppelt, was having another transmitter tower installed on his barn by the operator O2.

This new tower was erected on 17 July 2007.

On 20 July 2007, my building plan, submitted in triplicate, was already approved at a special meeting of the Weilersbach municipal council.

I am now awaiting approval from the district office. As soon as I have this, I will increase and extend my existing radiation protection grid from 9m x 24m to 13m x 30m!

I'm not doing this crazy work for fun or to annoy anyone, I have to do it so that I can live!

I will report further details after the grid has been extended.

Kind regards,

Josef Schmitt, 3 August 2007

Josef Schmitt
Am Hetzenhof 6
91365 Weilersbach"

Testimonials

My life with mobile telephony

One man's heroic struggle for health proves the damaging nature of cell phone tower radiation

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