Do You Have To Sit So Close To The Screen?

Health Tips

Do You Have To Sit So
Close To The Screen?

by Naomi Glauberman

If we most fear what we can't understand or see clearly, it makes complete sense for our members, faced with a total upheaval in work technology, to worry about the hints and allegations of trouble-causing rays emitted by video display terminals.

Responses to rumors and reports about potential dangers of low-frequency electro-magnetic fields are as varied as the data itself. Some shrug off the possiblility of a bit more radiation in daily life, while for others it's one threat too many. The following tale of trauma in the editing room is an account of how one editor moved from terror to shaky accomodation with the new technology.

"I hadn't known anything about it," says Lynzee Klingman. Lynzee was editing 'Home for the Holidays', using Lightworks for the first time, when Sally Menke, dropped into her cutting-room, with tales of digital anxiety. Sally was pregnant when she cut 'Pulp Fiction' and had been concerned about studies linking miscarriages to the electromagnetic fields emitted by video monitors. "I was completely blown away," Lindzee says. "It had never occurred to me there was radiation coming out of these things. I went ballistic". Attending a meeting of editors, she was amazed to discover that about half of them were familiar with problems of pulsed magnetic fields. Why wasn't this a subject of public discussion? Why hadn't she heard any of this before?

Overwhelmed by the data, Lynzee asked Mary Jansen, her post-production supervisor, for help. "She got right on it," Lynzee says. These reports were not news to Mary Jansen. Several years earlier, while house-hunting, she had read a New Yorker article by Paul Brodeur about the potential risks of cancer from exposure to ultra and very low frequency magnetic fields.

Within days, Delson Zamora, an employee of NoRad. a high technology company in Carson, that manufactures and sells products that reduce the electric and magnetic fields around computer monitors and terminals, measured the fields in the cutting room, and determined they were relatively high.

Michelle C. Hartzell, NoRad's President, emphasizes that the company makes no claims as to the possible dangers of electric and magnetic fields. "Scientists and researchers are not even in agreement about the mechanisms," she says. "There are a lot of slices to this problem - length of exposure, frequency of exposure, exposure at a young age..." But for anyone not willing to wait until all the evidence is in, NoRad has several products designed to bring computers and monitors into compliance with standards developed by the Swedish government's MPR II Standards.

Mary brought the reports of the high readings to Jodie Foster, and Peggy Rajski, the film's director and producer, and they immediately authorized the purchase of three of NoRad's JitterBoxes, which enclose the terminals and monitors, absorbing the fields, as well as a glass shield for the Sony Trinitron monitor. The Lightworks computer monitors didn't need glass shields. After the installation of this equipment, the electric and magnetic fields of Lynzee Klingman's Lightworks were significantly reduced. She also reduces her exposure by sitting at least three feet from the monitors. Is she satisfied? Not completely. "Who knows what other kinds of rays are still out there?" she asks. But she is relatively certain that everyone has done what had to be done.

The bad news is that despite numerous studies, no-one is quite sure what the risks and dangers actually are; the good news is that these low frequency electromagnetic fields can be significantly reduced. Unlike power lines, which are extremely expensive to replace or retrofit, video display terminals can be manufactured to emit less radiation, or they can be retrofitted with devices like those sold by NoRad. The accompanying newsletter article "Health Tips for Digital Editors" offers a check list of sensible precautions, what "risk analysts" call "prudent avoidance" of potential risks. Both the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison will provide information on electromagnetic fields and will visit any site to provide free readings of radiation levels.

Phone numbers:

For the U.S. Dept. of Energy report on Electric and Magnetic Fields
800-363-2381

NoRad:
800-262-3260

Southern California Edison
Frank A. Wasko
310-491-2924

LA Department of Water and Power
800-342-5397

Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 16, No. 2 - March/April 1995

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Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776


	*Health Tips* Do You Have To Sit So Close To The Screen? by Naomi Glauberman
		If we most fear what we can't understand or see clearly, it makes complete sense for our members, faced with a total upheaval in work technology, to worry about the hints and allegations of trouble-causing rays emitted by video display terminals. Responses to rumors and reports about potential dangers of low-frequency electro-magnetic fields are as varied as the data itself. Some shrug off the possiblility of a bit more radiation in daily life, while for others it's one threat too many. The following tale of trauma in the editing room is an account of how one editor moved from terror to shaky accomodation with the new technology. "I hadn't known anything about it," says Lynzee Klingman. Lynzee was editing 'Home for the Holidays', using Lightworks for the first time, when Sally Menke, dropped into her cutting-room, with tales of digital anxiety. Sally was pregnant when she cut 'Pulp Fiction' and had been concerned about studies linking miscarriages to the electromagnetic fields emitted by video monitors. "I was completely blown away," Lindzee says. "It had never occurred to me there was radiation coming out of these things. I went ballistic". Attending a meeting of editors, she was amazed to discover that about half of them were familiar with problems of pulsed magnetic fields. Why wasn't this a subject of public discussion? Why hadn't she heard any of this before? Overwhelmed by the data, Lynzee asked Mary Jansen, her post-production supervisor, for help. "She got right on it," Lynzee says. These reports were not news to Mary Jansen. Several years earlier, while house-hunting, she had read a New Yorker article by Paul Brodeur about the potential risks of cancer from exposure to ultra and very low frequency magnetic fields. Within days, Delson Zamora, an employee of NoRad. a high technology company in Carson, that manufactures and sells products that reduce the electric and magnetic fields around computer monitors and terminals, measured the fields in the cutting room, and determined they were relatively high. Michelle C. Hartzell, NoRad's President, emphasizes that the company makes no claims as to the possible dangers of electric and magnetic fields. "Scientists and researchers are not even in agreement about the mechanisms," she says. "There are a lot of slices to this problem - length of exposure, frequency of exposure, exposure at a young age..." But for anyone not willing to wait until all the evidence is in, NoRad has several products designed to bring computers and monitors into compliance with standards developed by the Swedish government's MPR II Standards. Mary brought the reports of the high readings to Jodie Foster, and Peggy Rajski, the film's director and producer, and they immediately authorized the purchase of three of NoRad's JitterBoxes, which enclose the terminals and monitors, absorbing the fields, as well as a glass shield for the Sony Trinitron monitor. The Lightworks computer monitors didn't need glass shields. After the installation of this equipment, the electric and magnetic fields of Lynzee Klingman's Lightworks were significantly reduced. She also reduces her exposure by sitting at least three feet from the monitors. Is she satisfied? Not completely. "Who knows what other kinds of rays are still out there?" she asks. But she is relatively certain that everyone has done what had to be done. The bad news is that despite numerous studies, no-one is quite sure what the risks and dangers actually are; the good news is that these low frequency electromagnetic fields can be significantly reduced. Unlike power lines, which are extremely expensive to replace or retrofit, video display terminals can be manufactured to emit less radiation, or they can be retrofitted with devices like those sold by NoRad. The accompanying newsletter article "Health Tips for Digital Editors" offers a check list of sensible precautions, what "risk analysts" call "prudent avoidance" of potential risks. Both the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Edison will provide information on electromagnetic fields and will visit any site to provide free readings of radiation levels.
	Phone numbers: For the U.S. Dept. of Energy report on Electric and Magnetic Fields 800-363-2381 NoRad: 800-262-3260 Southern California Edison Frank A. Wasko 310-491-2924 LA Department of Water and Power 800-342-5397 Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 16, No. 2 - March/April 1995 Guild Home \| Newsletter Home \| Top of Page Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776