© Hallberg Independent Research Jan 2012. http://hir.nu Updated 2012-02-28
Several papers have addressed the clear association between cancer incidence and body length. [1-2] A very strong correlation between cancer and the use (%) of metal spring mattresses has also been noticed. [3] It also appears that sleep position can affect the cancer risk. [4] By collecting data on body length and the use of metal spring mattresses in different countries we analyzed if there was any correlation between body length and the use of metal spring mattresses.
The hypothesis was that metal spring mattresses can act as reflecting radio wave antennas and thereby may disturb both DNA repair capacity (DRC) at all ages and at younger age increase production of the growth hormone IGF-I. We therefore postulated that countries with high rate of using metal spring mattresses should show both higher cancer incidence and greater average body length.
Figure 1 shows that the total cancer rate is increasing by body length as reported from different countries around the world. Each dot represents one country.
Figure 1. Cancer rate (ASRw) vs. average body length in different countries of the world.
Figure 2 shows the strong correlation between breast cancer and the use of metal spring mattresses in different parts of the world. From left to right: Japan, South America, Asia, Eastern Europ, Australia, Western Europe, Sweden, USA
Figure 2. Breast cancer incidence vs use of metal spring mattresses.
Finally, Figure 3 gives data on average body length for men and the average use of metal spring mattresses in different parts of the world. Current estimates of average use in different countries are listed in http://hir.nu/Spring.htm.
Figure 3. Body length vs. use of metal spring mattresses.
Figure 4 shows that the relation between the heights of men and women is very much unchanged over the whole world. This means that there is not a speciality for e.g. men to get cancer if they are tall. It is, however, a strong argument that there is a common reason why both men and women get increased body length. It may well be a factor in their common bed room....
Figure 4. A linear relationship is seen between the body length of women and men in all countries
Figure 5 shows that there is also an exponential association between body length and melanoma incidence around the world. Since alll Swedish municipalities use metal spring mattresses roughly equally much, the difference we see here is mainly due to different radiation patterns within Sweden.
Figure 5. Age standardized incidence of melanoma among men is clearly associated with body height. Each blue dot represents one country. The red dots represent municipalities (communes) within Sweden.
And in Sweden we know that the melanoma incidence is strongly associated with the number of main FM broadcasting transmitters covering an area. Figure 6 is from ref. [5] and it gives the average incidence of melanoma in all communes (municipalities) covered by X number of transmitters. Totally, there are 290 communes in Sweden and each dot represents the average incidence from at least five communes.
Figure 6. Melanoma incidence in Swedish communes relative to the number of FM broadcasting transmitters covering the communes. [5]
So, what about the length of Swedish men over time? Has there been any sudden
increase in body length during the 20th century? We took a look at the registrated
lengths of young men, due for military service at 18 years of age to see if
there was any sudden change of body length around the years 1955 to 1965. This
was the time period when a completely new public environment was formed as the
radio and TV transmitters were rized to cover the whole country. In a longer
time perspective the body height has really exploded during the 20th century.
It is not really likely that this was due to a sudden overflow of food, which
generally is believed to be the case. And why are people in Japan still around
165 cm as we also used to be? Are they starving?
Figure 7 shows indeed that the body length increased suddenly by 2 cm in just 5 years, from 1958 to 1963. The hypothesis is than that this increase was larger in areas covered by several FM main transmitters than in areas covereed by only one. It is also interesting to note that when all 18 year old men have been living in the new environment for all of their lives, the body length is stabilizing at 179 cm. but from the magic year 1997 the body length starts increasing again. From now on there are not only FM radio waves in the air...
Figure 7. Body length of Swedish men, 18 years old during the 20th century.
In order to test the hypothesis that even the body height is influenced by hormone disturbing radio waves, we asked the 21 geographical regions we have in Sweden to provide data on average body height from all municipalities (communes) within each region. We have 290 communes and several regions have supplied data, which are shown in Figure 8. It appears, so far, that both the incidence of melanoma and body lengths are significantly associated with the number of surrounding and covering main transmitters for the FM radio broadcasting. Also the total power density has some effect on melanoma incidence. A power density equal to the average in Sweden adds 0.4 transmitters extra.The fraction of 18 year old men longer than 190 cm increased fast after 1950.
Figure 8. Melanoma incidence and body height vs. number of covering broadcasting main FM transmitters.
It is also clear that the body length in Sweden is significantly correlated with the incidence of melanoma, see Figure 9.
Figure 9. Body height for men and women vs. melanoma incidence in different
communes in Sweden.
It appears that also breast cancer has a strong correlation with body length.
Figure 10 shows body length among women and the breast cancer incidence in the
so far reported municipalities in Sweden.
Figure 10. Body length and breast cancer incidence in Swedish communes.
The number of transmitters shown on the X-axis of Figure 8 are mainly based on overlapping circles from a coverage map of broadcasting main transmitters in Sweden. Obviously, this number is not a precise measure of the radiation characteristics at every spot in the country. Since the melanoma incidence within Sweden varies from 1 to 34/100 000 person years (py) we used the melanoma incidence to recalculate the corresponding effective number of covering transmitters over the country. Figure 11 thus shows the breast cancer incidence and also women body height vs. the effective number of covering transmitters.
Figure 11. Breast cancer and women body length vs. effective number of covering FM main transmitters in Sweden.
The initial approach back in 1999 was to investigate the association between total power density from surrounding FM main transmitters and melanoma incidence. It turned out that the association was quite week, R2 was around 8%, although still significant. Figure 12 gives details on that.
Figure 12. There was a week association between power density and melanoma incidence.
However, when looking at the association between melanoma nad the number of transmitters covering an area, the correlation became much stronger, see Figure 13.
Figure 13. Melanoma incidence and the number of overlapping transmitters are strongly correlated.
So, if we take both the number of overlapping transmitters and the total power density into consideration we will improve the correlation even more. A power density equal to the average for whole of Sweden turned out to be equal to 0.4 extra FM main transmitters. The simple expression giving the strongest association with melanoma incidence thus became:
Teff=T+0.4xP/Pavg
where Teff is the effective number of covering transmitters including a small factor due to the local power density.
Figure 14 shows the total picture where the melanoma incidence is plotted vs. Teff.
Figure 14. Melanoma incidence in Swedish municipalities vs. number of overlapping transmitters and power density.
This simple model has a high explanation degree (r2=0.3118) with a very high significance. There is still a variation to explain, and one factor not accounted for yet is the geographical distribution of the transmitters. If e.g. all three transmitters are in one line they will not cause more resonance effects than what one single transmitter does. And if a municipality is at a sea shore with transmitters along the coast line, the likelyhood the bed is directed in parallel to the coast is about 50%. Even worse, if there are transmitters from the other side of the lake they may cover up for those sleeping perpendicular to the coast line. This is, in fact the situation for the top circle in Figure 13 plotted at 3,5 transmitters. The town is Ödeshög, and it turns out that it also holds a bronse medal for breast cancer incidence (top 3 out of 289 communes).
It is time to think about what is the real cause to the cancer boom since 1955. You won't get cancer just because you are tall, but more probably because you still are sleeping in a bed that acts as a radio wave antenna, which initially made your body grow so fast. In the long run this is not a good idea - get rid of that mattress! And the fact that the body length seems related to the number of FM transmitters might not only open up opportunities to buy smaller sized shoes in the future, but also to reduce the cancer costs dramatically.
The number of covering transmitters was initially determined by counting overlapping coverage map circles, and is not a precise measure of the radiation level at a specific place. Instead, we conclude that the melanoma incidence is a better tool to estimate radiation levels within a country. Between countries, melanoma incidence is a good tool to estimate the % of metal spring mattresses used in a country. This hypothesis should be very easy to test by a standard marketing survey in several countries if it is not already done.
References
D. Gunnell, M. Okasha, G. Davey Smith, S. E. Oliver, J. Sandhu, and J. M. P. Holly. Height, Leg Length, and Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review. Epidemiologic Reviews 2001; 23:313-342
Green J, Cairns BJ, Casabonne D, Wright FL, Reeves G, Beral V. Height and cancer incidence in the Million Women Study: prospective cohort, and meta-analysis of prospective studies of height and total cancer risk. Lancet Oncol. 2011; 12:785-94.
Hallberg O. Bed types and cancer incidence. Pathophysiology. 2010; 17:161.
