February 13, 2019
The Dangers of 5G to Children’s Health
By the Children’s Health Defense Team
Mobile and wireless technologies are a ubiquitous feature of modern life. Most U.S. adults own
smartphones, a growing proportion are “smartphone-only” Internet users and over a fourth report being online “
almost constantly.” As for children, a 2014 survey of high-income nations reported that almost seven in ten
children used a mobile phone, and two-thirds of those had a smartphone, usually by age 10. As described by
Nielsen,
it is now as common to see “a kid with a smartphone in their hand” as
it was to see “a kid playing with a yo-yo in the years before the
digital age.”
The enthusiasm with which the public has embraced each new mobile and wireless technology—most of which have
never
undergone any appropriate safety testing or standards
development—suggests that consumers rarely stop to consider the health
implications of the infrastructure shoring up their ability to browse,
stream and download anytime and “
on the go.”
Consumers are not entirely to blame for their lack of awareness—it is
not easy to disentangle the technologies’ health risks in the face of
the telecommunications industry’s steady and calculated
disinformation efforts and a captured Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that “
follows the script of fabulously wealthy, bullying, billion-dollar beneficiaries of wireless.”
… powerful 5G (fifth-generation) networks and technology are about to
subject everyone, on a continuous basis, to unprecedented forms and
amounts of mandatory irradiation—without prior study of the potential
health impact or any assurance of safety.
Now, however, a global
5G “frenzy” is upon us and is coming into full force. The rollout of “
blazing fast” 5G technology will “
dramatically increase
the number of transmitters sending signals to cellphones and a host of
new Internet-enabled devices.” The time is ripe for greater grassroots
awareness of the undisclosed tradeoffs between convenience and 5G’s
potentially catastrophic health effects. Far from a simple “next-gen”
upgrade, powerful 5G (fifth-generation) networks and technology are
about to subject everyone, on a continuous basis, to unprecedented forms
and amounts of what retired U.S. government physicist Dr. Ronald Powell
calls “
mandatory irradiation”—without
“prior study of the potential health impact” or any assurance of
safety. Considering that young people (with their smaller body mass and
developing brains) are
particularly vulnerable to radiation, the Environmental Health Trust has termed 5G “the next great
unknown experiment on our children”—and the entire human population.
Early warnings
In fact, the “
giant uncontrolled experiment” on children and adults has already begun, despite an urgent
international appeal
by tens of thousands of scientists, doctors, environmental
organizations and citizens calling for a halt to 5G deployment. In 2018,
telecom carriers in the U.S. and Europe began rolling out 5G technology
in dozens of cities. Focusing (for now) on “dense urban and
high-traffic areas” in the U.S., AT&T began positioning its
5G infrastructure in major cities in eight states, and Verizon started offering
5G home broadband service in “select neighborhoods” in a handful of cities.
… health problems such as insomnia, miscarriage, memory problems and
other neurological issues, and there are widespread reports of
annihilation of insect and bird populations.
For the most part, health concerns have ranked as a tiny footnote in
the midst of the massive hoopla about 5G’s speed and capacity, although
trade magazines admit that there may be “
some objections”
to 5G due to “concerns over potential health risks.” In both Europe and
the U.S., however, individuals living and working in proximity to newly
installed 5G towers and antennas are telling a different story. Many
have immediately started experiencing health problems such as
insomnia, miscarriage,
memory problems and other neurological issues, and there are widespread reports of annihilation of insect and
bird populations.
