The Dungarvan Observer was invited to attend the screening of 'Sleeping with the Enemy' which is produced by James Richings and direct­ed by David Reed, of U.K. Film company Machten Ltd. It is an hour long documentary probing the issue of Geopathic Stress lines and the link to ill­ness particularly in the home. "Where strong Geopathic Stress lines are found you will always find illness, I do believe that these lines of Geopathic Stress are a major cause of cancer," stated guest speaker Brendan Murphy from Wexford.

Geopathic Stress lines are caused by underground dis­placements, ore deposits, min­eral deposits, caves and faults, and in particular the move­ment of subterranean water creating electromagnetic fields that can interfere with humans and cause illness. By determining where the stress lines are under a house, resi­dents can then take measures to ensure that they are not sleeping or spending long periods of time in that loca­tion.

Mr. Murphy was inter­viewed earlier the same day by Billy McCarthy on WLR/FM. Producer Ger Byrne said that the station was inundated with calls from con­cerned people, who all wanted Brendan's phone number.

Maureen Carroll of Tramore Environment Group (incorporating Tramore Tidy

Towns) introduced NUJ mem­ber and radio presenter Alan McGuire of South East Radio who explained that for the last three years he has followed the activities of Brendan Murphy, who locates Geopathic Stress lines by means of 'divining' or 'dows­ing'. A not unfamiliar activity in Ireland where divining has often been used as a means of locating underground water sources. Mr. McGuire said that he found the evidence overwhelming and has given substantial radio time to the issue over the last three years.

The documentary included supporting interviews with Josephine Casey of the Wexford Cancer Foundation, Welsh Biologist and Scientist Roger Coghill, Louisa Griffen Geologist, and a spokes­woman from University College London among oth­ers. During the film Mr. Coghill showed that the Geopathic Stress lines found by means of dowsing by Brendan McCarthy were also detectable and measurable in scientific terms using an elec­tromagnetic meter, which is also used to detect levels of electromagnetic energy from Powerlines. A firm of Wexford Architects, Design Unlimited described how they were asked to locate and build around Geopathic Stress lines for a client who is building a large health and leisure com­plex.

Adrian Joyce of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland said that they were aware of the topic of Geopathic Stress and the alleged effects of subterranean features and structures on health, "The RIAI would sup­port any research that might be taken into this environmen­tal factor and it's effect on health and wellbeing, perti­nent results of such research inparticular the impact on building design would be of interest to the RIAI and it's members", she said.

A member of the audience who identified himself as a building developer asked why safety guidelines did not exist in relation to Geopathic Stress Lines, when at least three pages of the Builder's home bond guide covered a similar problem with radon emis­sions. The duty Geologist for Geological survey of Ireland (a sub-section of the Department of the Marine & Natural Resources) when asked to comment said that while his department were aware of the existence of Geopathic stress lines, to his knowledge nobody has as yet studied the effects on human health to any great extent in  Ireland

While radon had been known to cause lung cancer in miners working in Uranium mines, it was only in the last decade that radon was classi­fied as a Class 1 carcinogen, primarily as the result of a study carried out between 1992 and 1999 on private dwellings in Ireland by the Radiological Protection Institute. Waterford was iden­tified as a high-risk region. In 1997 the Homebond technical guideline document outlined safety measures to be employed in the construction of homes, and on the 1st of July 1998 Radon prevention measures in buildings became law. While it would appear that no thorough study has yet been undertaken in Ireland to quantify the risk to health from Geopathic stress lines, investigations are underway in Germany. Funded by the German Government research is being carried out by Professor Hildebert Wagner at the University of Munich's Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, and a report is due out next year.