NY times article on "health risks" from driving hybrids

[charlesp210]

I recall reading something about my first Prius (2001) possible in the New Car Features Guide where it discussed the EMF issue. It described reasons why EMF levels in the Prius are not as bad as you might have expected, because of some shielded cables and shielding from the chassis metal, and because many of the current flows are DC not AC. It also sounded like some actual engineering had been done to reduce EMF, at least what could be done at small cost. At least they thought about it when writing the manual.

It's my opinion that no one has really got to the bottom of the EMF issue. Though the sheer difficulty of proving ill effects suggests that the effects are not actually that large, and there may be certain interactions that are required for those affects to appear. Or maybe there's nothing to it at all, but ... There may be some reason why only a few people (if any) are affected, like a genetic or environmental variation of some kind. My hypothesis is this: people with amalgam fillings are at higher risk because in a strong EMF field, the fillings release small amounts of mercury vapor. That puts together two things (EMF and amalgam) that are favorite concerns of web crackpots. That may not be the answer, but it shows what I mean by "interaction."

I have a milligauss meter and sometimes check things out. Even 20 years after the Swedish computer monitor standards (2 milligauss or less) one can find LCD (!) computer monitors that put out 100 milligauss or more, while others fall neatly within the Swedish MPII standards. The same is true for almost all other electrical devices. Sometimes it's a matter of chance, other times it may simply be that some manufacturers are more conscientious than others.

If you were concerned about EMF, you'd take your milligauss meter with you everywhere. Chances are, the Prius would be about the least of your concerns. Come to think of it, I haven't even tested mine yet.

[micheal]

Originally Posted by morpheusx

It is nothing more then a propaganda story to slow the gullable soccer mom's from trading in their big SUV's in droves for a Toyota or Honda Hybrid. That way they trade them in for less economical but "Safer" non-hybrid vehicle from GM, Ford, or Chrysler. Did anyone notice there was no mention of bad EMF readings in any of the few Hybrid GM and Ford Vehicles.

That's because it is too hard to find one, especially with so many of them being recalled for faulty batteries.

[fthorn]

Not sure about magnetic waves and stuff, but if I talk on a cell phone for a long time, I begin to sneeze like crazy. It begins to tickle my sinuses just behind and below the eyes, dead center.

[BIGGDOGG]

Originally Posted by efusco

Come on people...look at the facts. That woman in the picture said driving a hybrid "made her drowsy"...now if that isn't F'n proof I don't know what is.
I'm wearing my tin hat for now on dang it...! Then who'll have the last laugh?!

It might have been the cough syrup and booze that made her drowsy. Take off that silly hat!!!

[Speedwing]

I know I have been smelling a lot less gas fumes at the pump compared to my co-workers with Ford Expeditions! My heart rate at the pumps is less and I feel a lot less stressful looking at the credit card gas bills.

So I'd say my health risks are less!

[Yoda-chan]

Driving the Prius makes me drowsy, too. It drives so much more smoothly than my Civic, I sometimes forget that I'm on the road!

[Mormegil]

People who claim to suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity tend to also suffer from other "psychosomatic illnesses" such as chronic fatigue syndrome (where a minority of people have been diagnosed with a causative viral infection).

The only successful treatment for electromagnetic hypersensitivity is usually psychological.


I forget where, but there's a city that's having it's public Wi-Fi system sued by people "suffering" from EMH.

[eak354]