Electronic pollution is all around us. Each day you voluntarily zap yourself electronically whenever you use the cell phone, a computer or microwave. Many believe that household electronics are safe and wouldn’t dream of life without them. However, what you don’t know IS hurting you.   

Take Ann Louise Gittleman. She calls herself an accidental activist. The renowned health pioneer and an award-winning author of thirty books thought she was “doing everything right” when it came to nutrition and her health. Imagine how she felt after a diagnosis with a rare benign parotid (salivary gland tumor) at her jawbone in 2005. After diving into some research, Gittleman found that parotid tumors were caused by ionizing radiation from X-rays. While she hadn’t been exposed to no such thing, she unknowingly was making herself vulnerable to non-ionizing microwave radiation by using her cell phone.

“I saw research in 2008 that showed individuals who kept their cell phone plastered on one side of their head was 50 percent more likely to develop parotid tumors,” says Gittleman. “It was right where I was holding the cell phone. This was an epiphany and an ‘aha’ moment. I started seeing strange things with my clients as well. Kids sleep with their cell phone. They are bathed in a sea of radiation.”

Gittleman wants others to learn from her mistake and to take charge of their lives, so she penned Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution (HarperOne, $25.99). The book shows how to protect yourself and detoxify your home without getting rid of the electronic gadgets that are harming you.

“We must change the way we use these things. Not so frequently. Keep them from our bodies at distance. Then we’re safe,” says Gittleman. “People have this false sense of security. They see everyone using everything. You don’t need to use things so much. The purpose isn’t to scare people but to empower them. It’s up to us to protect our family. This is a grassroots movement.”

Zap Proof Your Life:

• “Every microwave oven leaks radiation. Never stay in the same room when it’s on. Stand 1,500 feet away.”

• “Don’t linger at the refrigerator. That’s a huge electrical field.”

• “Keep your laptop off your lap! There is an energy going to your system. You don’t want to radiate your reproductive organ.”

• “Make your bedroom and those of your children a wireless free zone.”

• “Do not use your cell phone as your alarm clock. You should not sleep with it near your body, especially your head.”

• “Go retro and get a corded phone. Cordless phones are even more hazardous than cell phones because the charger is constantly emitting radiation even when you aren’t talking.”

• “Try not to have your bed in a room over a ceiling fan.”

• “Your cell phone emits its strongest signal when your call is connecting. Keep it away from your head during those few seconds. Better yet, keep it away from your head for the whole call by using a headset or speakerphone.”