New legislation will help communities control how 5G gets implemented. Action Alert!
New bills in the House and Senate will roll back FCC regulations that prevent local communities from having input over how 5G networks get installed in their towns. We must encourage our elected officials to support this legislation, and more importantly, urge them to halt the expansion of 5G networks until more safety studies are done.
The federal bills roll back FCC rules that put a strict time limit (90 days) on cities to review small-cell site applications and limit the amount of money cities can charge cable companies for using public infrastructure.
As you’ll recall, 5G networks require installing “small cells” all over neighborhoods and cities. These small cells include antennas, power supplies, electric meters, switches, bundles of cables, and boxes—all strapped to streetlights and utility poles. Some have refrigerator-sized containers on the ground. These cells are supposed to be placed every 500 feet along residential streets and through commercial districts.
The major problem with 5G networks is the radiation emitted by all these small cells. There are already concerns about ubiquitous cell phone usage with current 4G networks; 5G networks exponentially compound these problems. 5G will utilize millimeter-wave frequencies—smaller waves than those emitted in 4G networks, which present new health concerns:
- Israeli researchers found that our sweat ducts act as antennas for millimeter waves, meaning we would absorb more of this energy into our bodies.
- Millimeter wavelengths are also used in crowd control systems, making people caught in the high-powered millimeter wave feel like their skin is on fire.
- A group of hundreds of scientists from around the world recently sent a letter to the United Nations and the World Health Organization warning of “serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) generated by electric and wireless devices.” The scientists explain that EMF “affects living organisms at levels well below most international guidelines,” causing increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in free radicals, genetic damage, changes to the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, and neurological disorders.
These are just some of the safety concerns we know about with regard to 5G networks. The fact is that safety testing to determine the safety of 5G networks for human health has simply not been done, yet the government and the telecoms industry are rushing towards implementing this technology—at the expense of local democracy.
There are other, more hidden dangers of rolling out 5G before proper testing and preparation have been done. The chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), recently wrote to the FCC warning of potential interference of urban 5G networks with weather satellites, which could negatively impact our ability to predict and track hurricanes and other inclement weather.
These federal bills do not allow communities to halt the implementation of 5G. Communities can’t say no entirely since crony-driven federal legislation took away the right of localities to question any of these service on the basis health or environmental effects. The bills do, at least, allow communities to exercise more control over how it is implemented. We must also fight so that more safety testing is done before 5G is launched in more communities.
Action Alert! Tell your elected officials to support these bills, and also demand that more safety testing be done before 5G can be implemented. Please send your message immediately.
