Russ Loader and his wife Kathy moved into an apartment on Colborne St. in Oshawa eight years ago. The building was new and clean, and it is run by Gateway Community Homes; most of the tenants pay rent geared to income.

Russ and Kathy — he’s a teacher, she’s an interior decorator — pay market rent. They were happy to move in, but they really wanted the apartment across the hall, with its precious view of the park and the peony garden.

They got their wish a few years ago, but, in moving across the hall, they moved into hell. Shortly after unpacking, they began to get sick.

Russ, who has arthritis said, “My feet are size 10; they swelled up to size 14.” Worse, he soon developed gaping sores on his legs, and his ankles ballooned and his toenails rotted off.

Kathy said, “I also lost my ankles. I had skinny ankles before we moved in.” She rolled down her socks. The swelling is visible, and doesn’t look right; you don’t want to see her toenails.

Russ, who used to be an amateur runner said, “I had to have home care for a year because of my sores; people thought I was an AIDS patient.”

Their ailments seemed weird and inexplicable; but then, a couple of years ago, a light went on: Russ typed his symptoms into the Internet and found a clip of dancing cows.

Dancing cows?

It seems that when dairy cows live in barns that have a strong electromagnetic field underfoot, they are unable to stand still; in time, their hooves rot, their joints swell and they develop weeping sores.

Russ immediately found a specialist to test his apartment for the presence of an electromagnetic field. The results? “He went into the bedroom. He came out white.”

On the back of the meter used to test for EMF radiation is this caution: when EMF levels are higher than three gauss, biological damage can occur. The level beneath the Loaders’ bed registered 100.

Russ was able to track the levels throughout the apartment —100 in the bedroom, 75 in the office, 50 in the hall. You remember what I said about a light turning on? Russ discovered that he is able to light a small bulb using nothing but a ground wire, a piece of tin foil, and the current running under the floor.

They moved their bed into the living room, but they are still ill. And I’m no scientist, nor am I a doctor or an electrician, but no one living in any apartment anywhere in the world ought to be able to light a bulb by touching it to the bedroom floor.

Russ did more research and showed the results to the building manager; no response. He wrote to his landlord and got this reply, from the board of Gateway Homes:

“The Board takes the position that electromagnetic fields do not cause any medical ill effects. The Board is not aware of any heavy wiring near your apartment . . .”

The reply also indicated that if there was a problem, it was probably coming from his computers.

Russ then wrote to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, who ducked the problem but referred him to the Ministry of Health.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

He got this reply from the Ministry of Health: “Unfortunately, your problems lie outside (our) jurisdiction . . . and this ministry is unable to be of assistance.”

Don’t you love it?

So Russ went to the Landlord and Tenant Board, and he brought Dr. Magda Havas with him. She is a scientist at Trent University, and one of the world’s leading experts in electromagnetism.

The LTB judge was impressed enough with their presentation that he invited himself over to the Loader apartment in order to see the problem for himself.

And then he ruled against them.

I want to howl from the rooftops.

I don’t know why Russ and Kathy are ill. I cannot summarize the work of Dr. Havas, nor can I explain the decision of the LTB, and I don’t give a fig for the weasel words of provincial cabinet ministers.

But I do know that there is an abnormally strong electromagnetic field running through the apartment of Russ and Kathy, and it is powerful enough to turn on a light, and that is simply wrong.

Yet no one has the guts to act.

Makes me sick.

Joe Fiorito appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email: jfiorito@thestar.ca