Overview
- A social media thread by wellness entrepreneur Peter Cowan linking low‑frequency EMFs to soft‑tissue damage went viral with roughly 22 million views, citing an 8.5–9.0 mG reading near the 49ers’ practice fields.
- Medical physicists including UCSF’s Michael Hoff and UC Davis’s Jerrold Bushberg called the theory implausible, noting Earth’s magnetic field is hundreds of milligauss and that proposed mechanisms lack consistent evidence.
- UC Berkeley researcher Joel Moskowitz said limited studies suggest possible biological effects but called the EMF explanation unlikely as the primary driver of the team’s injuries.
- Players and agents have taken notice, with locker‑room jokes and survey responses indicating concern, while the 49ers declined comment and Santa Clara’s Silicon Valley Power did not respond; the adjacent substation has operated since 1986.
- Independent analyses confirm San Francisco’s heavy injury toll in recent years, with experts pointing to football factors such as playing style, turf incidents, and training‑room issues; for Saturday’s game in Seattle, the team expects to be without George Kittle and Nick Bosa, with Fred Warner likely out and Ricky Pearsall trending toward a return.