The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life
By Arthur Firstenberg
Chelsea Green Publishing
At the heart of Arthur Firstenbergâs The Invisible Rainbow is a simple question: âWhat is the effect of electricity on life?â One would think, given electricityâs ubiquity, that the reÂsponse to this pressing issue would not be burÂied in obscurity, but as Firstenberg says, âThe effects of non-lethal electricity are something mainstream science no longer wants to know.â
Firstenberg shares his extensive knowledge on the history of electricity and electromagnetic radiation in a manner that is not only instructive but enjoyable. Historical photos and first-hand accounts bring to life a time in history long past and forgotten. Who would have guessed that everyone from ministers to mechanics had early static electricity machines with which to shock people? Or that parlor games involving static electric kisses would become the rage? The inventions made possible by electricity also allowed people to âannihilate space and time.â You could talk with someone two thousand miles away or travel one hundred miles in just a few hours instead of almost a week.
Some of those who discovered electricÂity expressed trepidation about the power and impact of this force. However, as with so many discoveries and technologies, most proponents touted electricityâs benefits while ignoring or minimizing the risks. Wherever electricity went, though, illness or injury seemed to follow. Individuals who worked in the new industries unleashed by harnessing electricity (such as telegraph operators and telephone switchboard operators) often suffered dramatic injuries and illnesses. Doctors of the day noted that they were witnessing new diseases spread along telegraph and railroad lines, and some attributed these issues directly to electricity.
Firstenberg points out that electricity, while incredibly dangerous, also came to be viewed as medically beneficial and even miraculous. One reason that electricity became a popular therapy was becauseâeven if people didnât and still donât know why or howâit addressed a host of conditions. People were partially or fully cured from a wide array of afflictions by often minuscule doses of electricityâthe deaf would hear, and the lame would walk. Especially compared to the alternative treatments of the day, one can recognize the appeal.
There was a great deal in this book that surprised, enlightened, amused or otherwise educated me. For example, I had never encounÂtered the idea that acupuncture is actually a reÂfined form of electrotherapyâusing the natural charge of earth and atmosphere and body to treat disease. Equally thought-provoking (and a bit terrifying) is Firstenbergâs exploration of the flu and a number of other permanent fixtures of modern life as phenomena intimately tied to and driven by the age of electricity. Did you know that before modern times, flu pandemics closely tracked the sunâs activity cycle, and dozens of doctors and researchers had documented the relationship? Or that influenzaâs spread pattern defies the common idea that it primarily passes from person to person? Letâs just say I had to pause and walk away a number of times during Chapter Seven alone to ponder the implications of all the research and data with which The Invisible Rainbow invites the reader to engage.
Iâll admit that the book left me with mixed feelings. Recent research continues to highlight substantial dangers tied to the devices and technologies that undergird modern work and lifeâdangers such as cell phones that emit far more radiation than manufacturers care to acÂcurately reportâand the rise of brain cancer and other neurological changes in users. Although there are steps we can take to minimize our exposure (such as hard-wiring our houses for Internet instead of using wireless technology or switching back to corded phones and technoloÂgies when possible), many of these âolder apÂproachesâ are hard to find or not available where people work. Soon they may become completely unavailable. Progress marches on, even if it is at the price of our health. Smart meters, 5G wireless and so much moreâthe initial trickle of electromagnetic radiation is now a ceaseless invisible monsoon.
The Invisible Rainbow is massiveâalmost six hundred pages to work throughâand its size and scope make it somewhat hard to review. Which of the many topics should a reviewer focus on? The connection between our biology and electricity (most poignantly seen in our nervous system)? The harmful synergy between chemical and electrical exposures? Or the deep debate and divide over the safety of AC (alternating current) versus DC (direct current)? The mainstream movie, The Current War, dramatizes this debate.
Firstenbergâs book is a thoughtful read in the same manner as books by Dr. Tom Cowan. You may not agree with or even fully understand all that Firstenberg covers, but he will make you think long and deeply about important matters related to health, history and other topics. UlÂtimately, this book reminds us that âelectricity is intimately connected with biology.â As electrical and biological beings, we are now bathed daily in foreign frequencies of our own making. We ignore the connecÂtion between electricity and biology at our own peril. Two thumbs up.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2020
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The following came through a subscription email and it’s apparently not posted at the “Phone Task Force”
website and so i offer it here. ~chef
–
Arthur Firstenberg, author, environmentalist and activist, died in his home after months of an undiagnosed illness, surrounded by family and
friends.â Ââ Ââ Ââ Ââ Ââ Ââ Ââ
Â
Arthur Firstenberg: _
May 28, 1950 – February 25, 2025_
Arthur Firstenberg, author, environmentalist and activist, died in his home after months of an undiagnosed illness, surrounded by family and
friends.
Arthur was born in Brooklyn, New York to survivors of the Holocaust. His childhood summers in upstate New York, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite
National Park, and on an island near Newfoundland fostered his love of nature. At Cornell University, he devoted half of his time to hiking,
canoeing and rock climbingâand half to physics, mathematics, ancient civilizations and foreign languages. After graduating in 1971, he lived
with small farmers in Norway and among Guatemalaâs traditional Maya.
From 1978 to 1982, Arthur attended medical school at the University of California, Irvine. He left before graduating after more than 40 dental
x-rays led to his experiencing microwave sickness.
He became a vegetarian and a Feldenkrais practitioner.
In 1986, Arthur participated in the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament. While walking across the U.S., he witnessed modern
societyâs destruction of the Earth and its creatures. In 1989, in search of a simple life, he traveled to northernmost Canada but found
heart-wrenching destruction there, too.
In 1996, to expedite the roll-out of cellular phone service, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act. Its Section 704 prohibits
municipalities from denying permits to install cellular antennas based on their environmental effects. Arthur founded the Cellular Phone Task
Force [1] and began providing a clearinghouse for information about wireless technologiesâ injurious effects and a global support network
for people disabled by electromagnetic fields. He began tracking the permit requests that corporations made to municipalities to install
cellular antennas, smart meters and other radiation-emitting technologiesâand rallied others to try to stop such efforts.
In 1997, based on the rights of states, nature and disabled people, the Cellular Phone Task Force joined other groups to challenge the Federal
Communications Commissionâs radio-frequency radiation exposure limits.
Their efforts were unsuccessful.
In 2002, the U.S. Access Board recognized that under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), electromagnetic sensitivities may be
considered disabilities.
Arthur moved to Santa Fe, NM in 2005. Introducing himself to a packed audience at the Womenâs Club, he named some of the effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiationânausea, nosebleeds, diarrhea, headaches, insomnia, fatigue, irregular hair loss and nerve pain. Many people were moved to tears as they realized wireless technologiesâ effects on their families, pets and themselves.
Each time a corporation proposed a new cell tower or the city proposed installing new WiFi, or a utility proposed transmitting âsmartâ
meters, Arthur notified his mailing list and encouraged people to attend public hearings and speak out. The City Council chambers often
overflowed.
Arthur became known for his intolerance of wireless devices, his passionate public comments, his unwillingness to compromise on
ecological or public health, and for suing a neighbor whose Wi-Fi disturbed him. The _NY Times_ and other media repeatedly ridiculed
Arthur for that lawsuit. The attention did not faze him.
In 2021, through the Santa Fe Alliance for Public Health and Safety, he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on 1) whether the Telecom
Actâs Section 704 violates the First Amendment right of access to courts and 2) whether âenvironmental effectsâ also encompasses
âhealth effects.â Many organizations joined this suit, but the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
Arthur tracked the dates of his experience of new or intensified symptomsâand found that they correlated with the dates on which
satellites, 5G and other technologies turned on. In The Invisible Rainbow, he correlated electrificationâs rise with the increase of
previously unknown diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimerâs. He considered radiation emitted by cordless phones,
cellular antennas, mobile phones, laptops, fluorescent lights, satellites, smart utility meters, newer cars and other transmitting
devices a violation of nature.
For years, Arthur got around Santa Fe with a bicycle. He never owned a television or a cell phone. He dreamed of people politely accepting
neighborsâ requests to turn off mobile devices and unplug WiFi. Because computers ravage the Earth and public health from their
cradles-to-graves, he dreamed of a society with sharedânot individually ownedâcomputers. He frequently called for people to quit
using mobile devices.
As a member of Once A Forest, he opposed forest management policies such as thinning and prescribed fires.
Arthur understood the consequences of the electrical power at our fingertips.
~~~
âThe only thing we can really do for the Earth is to stop destroying it.
Then the Earth will take care of itself. Instead of trying to fix the whole planet, let us attend to our own simple lives.â_
– Arthur Firstenberg
~~~
Firstenbergâs books include _The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life_ (Chelsea Green, 2020, more than 100,000 copies
sold); _Microwaving Our Planet: The Environmental Impact of the Wireless Revolution_ (1997); and, most recently, _The Earth and I_ [2]_
_(Skyhorse, 2025).
Arthur Firstenberg is survived by a nephew and countless people committed to respecting nature and reducing electronic technologiesâ
harms to ecosystems and public health.
A memorial gathering was held Saturday, March 1st at the Santa Fe Main Library.
A Zoom memorial will be scheduled at a later date.
~~~