You Won’t Believe What the Feds Said About Cell Phone Radiation

An updated “fact” sheet from the National Toxicology Program (NTP) contains more fiction than fact…and bids to turn a blind eye to growing national and international concern over Wifi and cell phone cancer risks. Action Alert!

THE TOPLINE

• NTP recently announced it has no further plans to study the health effects of radiofrequency radiation (RFR).
• NTP’s own study found that RFR is linked with cancer, and our exposure to this radiation has increased dramatically since NTP finished its study in 2018, based on 2G and 3G technology.
• The federal government is playing fast and loose with our health by allowing the widespread rollout of 5G technology that will bathe our communities in ever increasing amounts of this radiation.

We’ve written previously about how the increasing tendency towards censorship, which got turbocharged during the COVID pandemic, is undermining the scientific method. Another tactic that accomplishes the same goal is, apparently, to simply stop investigating uncomfortable questions.

The NTP recently announced that it is closing the book on looking at the harmful effects of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) from cell phones. In an update to a fact sheet on its research and findings, NTP says that “no additional RFR studies are planned.” This, despite the fact that NTP’s own findings are that “clear evidence” links cell phone use to heart tumors in rats, with “some evidence” linking cell phone RFR radiation to brain and adrenal tumors. Further, head tumors from cell phone use have increased over the last two decades. That’s not to mention the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer that classifies RF radiation as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”  This shocking nonchalance to the public health dangers represented by radiation from electromagnetic fields (EMF) is another example of how big industries—in this case, the telecommunications industry—capture government agencies to influence policies in the interest of profits, not health.

One of the most disturbing aspects of NTP’s announcement is that the situation is almost certainly many times worse now than it was when it was conducting its study, which ended in 2018. That work focused on the radiation emitted from 2G and 3G cell phones; the 4G and 5G phones now in use represent a whole new threat, as does the growing ubiquity of Wi-Fi in the modern world, represented by the “Internet of Things (IoT).”

Consider, for example, that substantially more children are using cell phones, and from younger and younger ages. Note that research has found that children’s brains absorb 2-3 times more radiation than an adult’s, which is just one of many other risks specific to children from these exposures. Even more concerning is the specific dangers posed by 5G technology, which has supplanted 2G, 3G, and 4G.

5G technology makes wireless networks capable of more data streaming at faster speeds because it uses a broader frequency spectrum, as explained here. Whereas 4G networks use up to 6 GHz, 5G uses frequencies between 24 GHz and 100 GHz, known as millimeter-wave frequencies. This necessitates installing a denser network of “small cell” towers since millimeter waves are less able to penetrate through obstacles like trees or buildings.

Scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm about the potential dangers and health implications of exposure to EMF—not to mention the risks posed to natural ecosystems. 5G networks drastically increase these 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.

Astoundingly, there are no independent safety studies about the safety of 5G. During a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked members of the FDA and FTC if any studies were being conducted on the safety of 5G. At the end of the exchange, Blumenthal concluded, “So there really is no research ongoing.  We’re kind of flying blind here, as far as health and safety is concerned.”

What is especially maddening is that federal regulatory agencies are apparently not too concerned about the absence of studies to confirm the safety of 5G and large-scale EMF exposures for the population, but in other areas use a lack of research to restrict our natural health options. Lack of data on safety was one of the main reasons cited by the FDA for threatening compounded peptides with a ban. They’re not OK with us using peptides, but totally fine with bathing us in EMF radiation from cellphones in our pocket, routers in our houses, smart meters, electric vehicles, innumerable 5G towers, and soon, all the additional paraphernalia of the IoT. 

It also seems that NTP’s own (former) staff disagree with the nonchalant approach. A recent review led by Linda Birnbaum, PhD, the former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and NTP, concluded there is “substantial scientific evidence” that RFR associated with wireless communication networks causes cancer, endocrine and neurological problems, and many other negative health effects. The study authors noted that the case is far from closed on RFR radiation:

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…Thus, on this matter the absence of evidence is not proof of safety. 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.

We’ve written several articles on the issue of cell phone radiation and the inadequate attention being paid to this critical issue on the part of the federal government. Given all of this, it is astounding that the government seems poised to give up on studying the effects of EMF radiation. We need to band together and make sure our representatives hear from real people, not just the telecoms industry, when it comes to protecting the public from these risks.

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.