It seems this agency will stop at nothing until the telecoms industry gets what it wants. Action Alert!
At the behest of the telecoms industry, the FCC is trying to update an old rule in a way that would allow industry to turn consenting private residences into cell towers. It is another way in which the FCC and industry are undermining the ability of local communities to decide how and whether 5G technology gets implemented, and we have to fight back.
The OTARD rule, an acronym for “over the air reception device,” was adopted as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This rule prohibits local municipalities from restricting the installation of satellite dish antennas and other antennas on private residences for reception of TV signals. This rule was amended in 2002 to allow for signal transmission, but with the caveat that the antenna had to be used primarily for the use of the tenant or homeowner.
This rule has never been applied to the use of antennas to transmit signals to others in one’s neighborhood. What started off as a pro-consumer measure has now been fashioned into a bludgeon for industry to avoid accountability and local oversight.
At industry prompting, the FCC has proposed a change to the OTARD rule that would cover wireless “hubs.” This would allow the industry to turn people’s homes into cell towers, and since this would be done on private property, it effectively circumvents the need for companies to meet local zoning and environmental requirements. If your neighbor agrees to accept a fee and turn their home into a cell tower, you could do nothing about it. The limited tools that citizens have to keep dangerous levels of microwave radiation out of their neighborhoods would disappear.
This is a critical health and safety issue, yet astoundingly little has been done to understand the human health implications of 5G deployment. 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.”
The comment period for this proposal has closed, and all indications are that the FCC will move forward. We must generate grassroots pressure on the FCC and on Capitol Hill opposing this and other actions that are undermining our ability to check the telecoms industry and 5G expansion.
This isn’t the only way in which cronyism undermines our health. The FDA and the FTC are actively working to keep information from the public about how natural medicine can help protect us from COVID-19 infection. We must oppose these assaults on our freedoms.
Action Alert! Write to the FCC and Congress opposing changes to the OTARD rule. Please send your message immediately. By sending this message, you will also be supporting our petition to ungag doctors so that they can share with patients the benefits of supplements and natural treatments for COVID.
