Update 4:44 pm, Jan. 14
: Hi,
. Check out our
.
--
may remember the name
Arthur Firstenberg
. He's the "electrosensitive" activist who has
in public buildings and,
, against digital television broadcasts.
Firstenberg claims that the low-level electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones and other modern gadgets makes him, and others "sensitive" to radio waves, suffer terribly. The side-effects of exposure, he believes, include "
nausea, vertigo, diarrhea,
ringing in the ears, severe headaches and body aches, crippling joint pains, insomnia, impaired vision, impaired muscular control" and other ailments, some potentially
deadly
.
In the past, he has taken his case to City Hall, where he found a polite if unreceptive audience.
Now, Firstenberg wants
a judge to
stop his neighbor from using her iPhone
, her wireless internet and her laptop charger, saying the radiation has forced him from his home.
He also wants
$530,000 in damages
, including $100,000 for pain and suffering.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 4 at the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. Firstenberg's attorney, Lindsay Lovejoy, Jr, is a
, as well as a former Assistant New Mexico Assistant Attorney General who has argued cases
now-US Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM.
Read more about this bizarre lawsuit after the cut. We'll update this post as we learn more.
Lovejoy did not immediately return a message left at his office.
Update 1:46 pm, Jan. 7
: Lovejoy did not immediately return a second message—but he has been talking to KOAT, according to Melissa Vega, a reporter for that station. SFR just dropped by Firstenberg's neighbor's house, where Vega and a cameraman are
, waiting for the woman to exit.
Vega says Lovejoy told her he wants the case to play out in court (rather than in the media, presumably).
Update 2:14 pm
: SFR's
points out that if the iPhone next door was bad for Firstenberg, that KOAT news truck must really be murder.
Update 3:21 pm, Jan. 8
: Today, the Santa Fe New Mexican
. Firstenberg isn't giving much to them, either, although Tom Sharpe takes care to note that Firstenberg is keeping his bedding in his car. Does that mean he's living in it? Firstenberg (and his lawyer) haven't returned SFR's messages.
From a purely egotistical perspective, it's annoying that the New Mexican didn't credit SFR with finding this story first. Sure, it came from a public record, but
.
There's a
more serious problem
with Sharpe's story: It essentially takes Firstenberg's claims about the existence of individual electrosensitivity—and the adverse health effects of casual exposure to wireless signals—at face value.
This is irresponsible
: People could get scared for no good reason.
Which raises to one likely reason why Firstenberg and Lovejoy haven't returned SFR's calls: They know we'll ask them to defend their outlandish claims.
As SFR
:
Perhaps, if the judge doesn't dismiss his lawsuit immediately, actual scientists can be called to address Firstenberg's claims in court.
In the meantime, Firstenberg ought to be asked
how much money he's made
promoting his theory of electrosensitivity.
Update 9:35 am, Jan. 13
: Firstenberg probably hasn't made much money. He's been getting disability payments for years (in part for his electrosensitivity) and, according to court documents, had been relying on his mother to purchase a home for him.
New and return visitors
: Be sure to check out out the
follow-up to this story in the print issue of SFR
that hit the streets today.
--
Here are JPEGs of Firstenbirg's lawsuit. Click to enlarge.
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