OVERVIEW

Before us looms perhaps the biggest health and environmental crisis of our times, that of the proliferation of wireless technology. The current soup of wireless radiation is effectively playing with the genetic makeup of all life.

And yet we now stand at the threshold of unleashing 5th generation cellular technology, 5G, which according to former FCC Chair Wheeler “will make available more licensed spectrum for mobile than in the cumulative history of mobile spectrum allocation.” It will take nothing short of a massive public awareness campaign to put the breaks on the aggressive and fast-moving wireless industry and our complicit government. But there is no choice. Many scientists are calling for caution now, and more recently, 180 scientists issued an appeal for a moratorium on 5g. We must heed the call.

We have a problem

It is well known, and even the FCC agrees, that wireless radiation that heats us, can be harmful. If it burns us, it can harm us. But a debate has been on-going for over 60 years as to whether radiation that has negligible thermal effects – that is, it heats us only minimally – can impact health. Independent science overwhelmingly finds that non-thermal radiation can cause a multitude of health problems, while industry-funded science, more often than not, contends non-thermal radiation is safe.

So sixteen years ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioned the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a branch of the National Institute of Health (NIH), to conduct a study to settle this debate once and for all. The NTP designed an elaborate, $25 million dollar study on “cell phone radiation”, which was the largest and most extensive study ever conducted by the NTP.

In 2018, the NTP released their findings and concluded there was “clear evidence” linking radiation to cancer in rats. “Significant evidence” of DNA damage was also noted. The recent Ramazzini study, out of Italy, corroborated the findings.of cancer but at radiation levels lower than those of the NTP Study. (For more on these studies, please see https://ehtrust.org/clear-evidence-of-cancer-concludes-the-expert-panel-to-the-us-national-toxicology-program-on-cell-phone-radiation-study-findings/}

The NTP and Ramazzini studies underscore the 2011 World Health Organization’s classification of radio frequency/microwave radiation as a 2B possible carcinogen. (This classification will likely move to 2A probable carcinogen as a result of these studies.) The findings also corroborate thousands of peer-reviewed studies showing adverse health effects from exposure to wireless radiation, a sampling of which can be found here

The NTP and Ramazzini studies add further weight to both the International Scientists Appeal, in which 223 scientists from 41 countries urged the UN and the World Health Organization to call for more protective EMF guidelines and increased public education, and to the declaration to the European Union by 180 leading scientists and doctors demanding a moratorium on 5g. In April, 2018, the International Society of Doctors for the Environment issued an appeal for a standstill on 5G “experimentations” explaining,

“We believe it should be unethical to ignore the available evidence waiting a possible ‘a posteriori’ demonstration of health damages in the presence of a present and potentially manageable risk for public health.”

For more on health effects from wireless, please see:

• Physicians For Safe Technology (Website)
• Grassroots Environmental Education  Emerging science: Compilation of scientific studies on wireless (microwave) radiation
• IRRADIATED; A comprehensive compilation and analysis of the literature on radiofrequency fields and the negative biological impacts of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (particularly radiofrequency fields) on biological organisms
• THE BIOINITIATIVE REPORT 2012
• Updated Research Summaries, from the BioInitiative Report, Dec. 15th, 2017
• EMF Scientist Appeal
• National Toxicology Program Finds Cellphone Radiation Causes Cancer
• Recent Research on Wireless Radiation and Electromagnetic Fields
• Oxidative mechanisms of biological activity of low-intensity radiofrequency radiation
• International Perspective on Health Effects of Low Intensity Non-Ionizing Radiation

The problem’s getting worse

Six short weeks after the release of the NTP partial findings, the FCC approved 5G to usher in the Internet of Things (IoT) and faster video download speeds. In addition to the lower frequencies that have been used up until now, 5G will open up large swaths of bandwidths in the higher millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies. 5G infrastructure promises to take radiation densification to a whole new level. According to FCC Chair Wheeler, “5G build-out is going to be very infrastructure intensive, requiring a massive deployment of small cells.” Virtually every lamppost and/or utility pole will be outfitted with a small cell.

The vast body of research on the health effects of radiofrequency/microwave radiation has been conducted primarily on the lower frequencies, such as those currently used for cell phones and WiFi. The majority of independent peer-reviewed studies confirm that these lower frequencies cause adverse health effects. The higher mmW frequencies, though less studied, are proving harmful as well. Whereas the lower frequencies travel through our bodies, the higher, mmW frequencies, do not. With 5G frequencies, the outer layer of our bodies will be affected – skin and eyes. (Please note that even though 5G frequencies don’t penetrate deeply, it is likely that other systems will also be affected as no organ operates in isolation.) Although science cannot keep pace with the “race to 5G,” enough studies have been conducted to warrant putting a hold on 5G. 

We might presume that in light of the recent NTP study and the wealth of peer-reviewed independent science that overwhelmingly shows adverse health effects from radiation, our government would give great consideration before barreling headfirst into a massive deployment of 5G small cells. But sadly, this is not the case. Unlike other countries, such as New Zealand and India, which are currently studying these new frequencies before exposing the public, our government prefers to bypass this “long and arduous task” in order to be “first out the gate.” FCC Chair Wheeler states:

“If the Commission approves my proposal next month, [and it did] the United States will be the first country in the world to open up high-band spectrum for 5G networks and applications. And that’s damn important because it means U.S. companies will be first out of the gate.”

For more about 5G and health, please see:

• 5G: Great Risk for EU, U.S. and International Health! Compelling Evidence for Eight Distinct Types of Great Harm Caused by Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Exposures and the Mechanism that Causes Them
• 5G wireless telecommunications expansion: Public health and environmental implications
• Millimeter Wave Frequency Studies and Reviews
• The FCC Approves 5G Millimeter Wave Spectrum Frontiers
• Wireless Pollution “Out of Control” as Corporate Race for 5G “Microwave Spectra” Gears Up
• The 5G Wireless Technology: Potential Health Impacts of Electromagnetic Radiation
• Comments submitted to the FCC opposing 5G on the grounds of health
• MIllimeter Wave Frequency Studies and Reviews
• Long-Term Exposure to Microwave Radiation Provokes Cancer Growth Evidences From Radars and Mobile Communication Systems

Government agencies are not protecting us

The FCC “safety” standards for radiofrequency/microwave radiation were set in 1996 when very few people owned a cell phone and well before the advent of WiFi. Since that time, wireless technology has become ubiquitous with most people using one or more wireless devices throughout the day (and night!). In addition, far more research has been conducted, and many experts now agree that the current FCC guidelines are inadequate and not protective of health. A resolution by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine states:

“Existing safety limits for pulsed RF [radiofrequency] were termed ‘not protective of public health’ by the Radiofrequency Interagency Working Group (a federal inter agency working group including the FDA, FCC, OSHA, the EPA, and others).” 

A thorough and very well-researched investigative article, How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe: A Special Investigation, details how for years industry has war-gamed the science and managed to obfuscate findings of independent research. Author Mark Hertsgaard states, 

“And I think that’s the real parallel with both Big Oil and Big Tobacco. In each case, these big companies were told privately by their own scientists that there are serious questions about your product, whether it be cigarettes or fossil fuels or cellphones. And in each case, those executives decided not to share that with the public, but rather to keep that information to themselves, while telling the public and telling the press and telling policymakers there’s no problem.”

Already in 2002, in a letter to the EMR Policy Institute, Norbert Hankin from the EPA wrote.

“The FCC’s exposure guideline is considered protective of effects arising from a thermal mechanism but not from all possible mechanisms. Therefore, the generalization by many that the guidelines protect human beings from harm by any or all mechanisms is not justified.”

The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP) recently sent a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) calling for more “balanced” representation in the WHO RF working group. The letter discusses ICNIRP’s antiquated exposure standards which are slightly more protective of health than the FCC standards, but nearly comparable. Oleg A. Grigoriev, Chairman DrSc., PhD, Assoc. Prof. Head of the Scientific Department of Non-Ionizing Radiation, Federal Medical Biophysical Center of Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia states:

For a fuller discussion of the FCC “safety” guidelines, please see

• Outdated FCC “Safety” Standards
• The Health Argument Against Cell phones and Cell Towers (Pages 5-9)
• FCC Maximum Permissible Exposure Limits for Electromagnetic Radiation, as Applicable to Smart Meters
• Inform the Public of Wireless Tech Risks – 33 Recommendations for the Federal Communications Commission 
• FCC Maximum Permissible Exposure Limits for Electromagnetic Radiation, as Applicable to Smart Meters

Prior legislation interfered with our right to oppose cell towers

In 1996, after three years of intense lobbying and much pressure from the wireless industry, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Hidden deep within this vast and complex Act, lies Section 704 which states:

No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission’s [the Federal Communications Commission’s] regulations concerning such emissions.

This unprecedented legislation set the stage for the onslaught of the wireless industry and its deluge of cell towers. Though “health effects” is not stated explicitly in Section 704, some judges have interpreted “environmental effects” to include health effects. With the advent of 5G and the IoT, cities and municipalities are again reluctant to accept 5G infrastructure, so the wireless industry is pulling out all the stops in an effort to get legislation passed to “streamline” the deployment of 5G small cell infrastructure. Former FCC Chair Wheeler states in his  Prepared Remarks to the Competitive Carriers Association:

For our part, the Commission is united in its commitment to cutting red tape and facilitating siting. We’ve streamlined our environmental and historic preservation rules, and tightened our ‘shot clock’ for siting application reviews. And there’s a bipartisan commitment to do more as warranted. Both my Republican colleagues, for instance, have recently agreed that where states or localities are imposing fees or not being “fair and reasonable” for access to local rights of way, the FCC should preempt them. We shouldn’t be afraid to use all of our authority under the Communications Act to address unreasonable local barriers.

More on the FCC’s “hard ball tactics”:

• Captured Agency How the Federal Communications Commission Is Dominated by the Industries It Presumably Regulates An Exposé of the FCC:
• An Agency Captured by the Industries it Regulates Cell-Phone Towers and Communities:
• The Struggle for Local Control The Rules and Regulations That Frame Us The Telecommunications Act of 1996 Removes Our Rights to Stop Cell Towers Because of Health Concerns
• The inconvenient truth about cancer and mobile phones
• How Big Wireless Made Us Think That Cell Phones Are Safe: A Special Investigation The disinformation campaign—and massive radiation increase—behind the 5G rollout

What we can do

Call for ONE BIG DIG – Fiber to the every home, business, and school and farm: Government and industry must build a safe and reliable fiber optic and coaxial cable Internet and communications technology infrastructure to all homes, businesses, schools, and farms. Government should put a halt to the continued proliferation of unsafe wireless infrastructure and the Internet of Things.

Measures you can take on a personal level:

1. Use wired Internet connections whenever possible and be sure to deactivate the wireless settings on all routers and laptops.
2. Use a corded landline phone whenever possible.
3. Limit your time on cell phones or cordless phones. If you must have wireless, use either speaker or an Air Tube headset.
4. Do not carry wireless devices on your person, and when possible switch all devices to Airplane Mode.
5. Choose conventional ovens not microwave ovens.
6. Avoid buying IoT, Internet-connected machines, appliances, or “things”. Your health is worth far more than any wireless gizmo!
7. For more complete guidelines, please see:Tips to Reduce Your Exposure to Wireless Radiation How to Reduce the Electromagnetic Radiation in Your Home

Actions you can take:

Stay abreast of all new applications for wireless infrastructure being considered in your community or new zoning ordinances. Keep an eye out for new legislation that would further streamline the requirements for wireless infrastructure siting. Attend public hearings on cell towers. Educate your City Council. And submit comment both orally and written whenever possible on all new zoning regulations and cell tower or “small” cell applications.

Protest, protest and protest some more! This seems to be the only avenue left for protecting our rights.

Communities have been successful in stopping the wireless industry. For more information about actions you can take, please see   https://whatis5g.info/small-cells/ and http://scientists4wiredtech.com/. Share information with friends, colleagues, schools, universities, and encourage others to take action as well. Word of mouth and grass roots efforts can be very effective. Finally, to keep up-to-date on developments concerning 5G and the IoT, and to connect with other like-minded folk, please check out the Facebook Page, What is 5g and the Internet of Things, and consider joining the Facebook Group, Responding to 5G and the Internet of Things.