5G networks are being deployed on a major scale as corporates gear up for the Internet of Things (IoT), despite a lack of safety testing and a growing body of evidence suggesting harm. Action Alert!
A review recently published in the journal Environmental Research, led by Linda Birnbaum, PhD, the former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and National Toxicology Program, concluded there is “substantial scientific evidence” that radiofrequency (RF) radiation associated with wireless communication networks causes cancer, endocrine and neurological problems, and many other negative health effects.
Yet investment in 5G infrastructure, transmitting roughly between 800 MHz and 100 GHz, continues with barely a hiccup. That includes the ongoing phasing-in of high frequency mm-wave systems that carry more data but over shorter distances, necessitating more cells and antennae closer to people, especially in densely populated areas.
Look carefully, and you will notice “small cell” towers in many of our cities and towns are already being erected in great numbers and, if not stopped, will soon saturate our neighborhoods with RF radiation. Current safety standards that are based on thermal, non-thermal effects, are completely inadequate to protect Americans, but Congress and federal regulators are too beholden to the interests of the telecoms industry to care.
All of this, before we even begin to factor in the psychological impacts of digital or internet addiction on the young.
Birnbaum and her colleagues applied a modified version of Koch’s postulates to determine if RF radiation causes cancer. (Koch’s postulates were developed in the 19th century to assess whether specific microorganisms were the causative agents in particular diseases.) Using this model, the authors concluded that there is a “plethora of both experimental and epidemiological evidence establishing a causal relationship between EMF and cancer and other adverse health effects including adverse effects on fetal development and the endocrine system.”
This will be nothing new to those who have been following this technological rollout over the years. In previous articles we’ve reviewed both the lack of safety testing on 5G networks and the evidence of negative health effects that could result from widespread use of this technology. There is a telling irony here: a perceived lack of evidence is often used as the pretext to ban or restrict access to natural health products like supplements, homeopathy, or compounded medicines—never mind the fact there is abundant evidence to back up the use of these products to promote and optimize health.
The model is the same when it comes to 5G and telecoms networks. Regulatory agencies are captured by corporate interests, hollow claims of safety are made despite an appalling lack of evidence, the independent research community is starved of funding to allow more detailed investigation of known health and environmental risks—and rollout continues unhindered. Putting the lives of millions of Americans at risk in the process, along with all the other organisms that are particularly sensitive to electromagnetic fields, most notably many species of birds and insects.
Consider the following points made by the study’s authors:
Since the 1990s, panels of government and other experts have repeatedly examined the scientific evidence [for the safety of RF radiation], found it wanting and called for more research to be conducted. Although the call for further research constitutes the one matter on which all are agreed, funding for this work remains quite limited. Thus, the principal output of such inquiries is to recommend research but has not resulted in major ongoing funding for such research…The U.S. government programs on the subject were defunded by Congress…Thus, on this matter the absence of evidence is not proof of safety. Rather it is an indication of the intense struggle that has led to a lack of funding with respect to critical research questions, the failure to monitor human and environmental health impacts, and the ongoing manufacturing of doubt that has been documented by a number of experts.
These concerns were echoed in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in 2019 on the future of 5G technology, in which Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) concluded that “We’re kind of flying blind here, as far as health and safety are concerned.”
Unfortunately, accumulating evidence, as noted by the study’s authors, is giving us a clearer picture of the safety of 5G, and the outlook isn’t good if the 5G/6G plan maintains its current trajectory. A group of hundreds of scientists from around the world, for example, sent a letter to the United Nations and the World Health Organization warning of “serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to [RF radiation] generated by electric and wireless devices.” The scientists explain that RF radiation “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.
The US government’s National Toxicology Program (NTP) invested in a $30 million, ten-year project looking into the link between cell phones and cancer. It concluded that “there is clear evidence that male rats exposed to high levels of [RF radiation] like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones developed cancerous heart tumors.” Of the studies done in the last 30 years on the health effects of RF radiation, 75 percent reported significant biological effects.
Yet the telecoms industry, borrowing from Big Pharma, Big Biotech and Big Chem’s playbook, is able to spin these findings. Just consider some of these excerpts from mainstream media coverage at the time the NTP study was released: “Seriously, stop with the irresponsible reporting on cell phones and cancer,” read a Vox headline. “Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer? Don’t Believe the Hype,” said The Washington Post. In the present circumstances, we shouldn’t expect Congress to come to our aid either: the telecoms industry spends billions lobbying in Washington DC to make sure its plans can proceed with minimal disruption.
Government standards for protecting Americans from RF radiation are also both woefully out of date and completely inadequate, as we’ve explained in previous coverage. These standards were designed to prevent radiation from having thermal effects on the body—that is, causing damage by literally heating our bodies like a microwave oven. But we know that radiation at lower levels can cause a multitude of other, non-thermal health effects that the author of this new study and many other studies describe.
In short, the institutions meant to safeguard the American public are utterly failing to carry out their mandates.
5G networks might make our lives more convenient in certain respects, but the evidence is demonstrating that this convenience could be coming at a great cost. To protect ourselves and our families, we must demand that public health, not corporate profits, determine our policies on 5G networks.
Action Alert! Send a message to Congress calling for a moratorium on 5G rollout until safety can be assessed and urge Congress to update standards for RF radiation exposure to better protect Americans. Please send your message immediately.
