QUESTIONING THE ROLLOUT OF 5G: "As a rumble in the sphere of public opinion begins that our ubiquitous electronic devices may not be entirely harmless, the pushback from industry is inevitable.".

• Author: Jensen, Beverly A.
• Position: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

DURING THIS PANDEMIC, speculation that 5G was a factor in the outbreak of the Coronavirus has been covered by the media. That speculation may be a conspiracy theory, but a great benefit of the attention has been an awakening to the dangers of EMF, electromagnetic frequencies or fields. There are health impacts at 2G, 3G, 4G, and beyond.

As a rumble in the sphere of public opinion begins that our ubiquitous electronic devices may not be entirely harmless, the pushback from industry is inevitable. The rollout of 5G involves many companies and billions of dollars. This is not the time the telecom industry wants us to discover that all electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is harmful.

In February 2019, the directors of two telecom industry groups--Competitive Carriers Association and Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association--told a Senate committee that they did not know of any independent research done on the health or safety effects of this higher level of 5G radiation. Although U.S. telecom companies have not funded any research by independent sources since the mid 1980s, thousands of studies on the health impact of EMF have been conducted globally since 2000.

At the end of the Senate 5G Commerce Committee hearing in February 2019, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D.-Conn.) concluded, "So, there really is no research ongoing. We're kind of flying blind here, as far as health and safety is concerned."

Deep in the brochures of every new cell phone is a safety warning that the device should not be held closer than one inch from the body. Virtually nobody reads that far into the manual, and the industry does not want you to be informed of this safety measure.

In 2015, Berkeley, Calif., passed an ordinance that retail sellers of cell phones were required to post prominently in their establishment "Right to Know" instructions for safe use of the device. The telecom industry immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the city. In July 2019, the 9th District Circuit Court in San Francisco ruled against telecom. The case went to the Supreme Court in December 2019, which let the District Court ruling stand: telecom's "free speech" was not violated by the city's posting requirement.

In the 1960s, my dad was in the forefront of creating satellite communication systems for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. My siblings and I liked to visit his workroom, and he drilled into us: If a device emits radio signals and receives radio signals, it is dangerous. Keep back and keep it turned off when not in use.

In the 1970s, I knew of the Motorola engineers developing cell phones who died of cancer. I never forgot Dad's lesson. When I bought my daughter her first cell phone in 1999 because she was commuting to the university, I warned her, "Never put this against your head--use speakerphone; keep it away from your body; and use it for short, urgent communication." Well, two of the three lessons stuck, and she later bought air tubes for conversations.

...