Crowd control. No these aren’t the words of a conspiracy theorist but actual history of 5G (a form of radio frequency, or RF radiation) which was originally used in the last Century for crowd control but was later mostly abandoned because it burnt people. This week’s opinion piece has been an accumulation of many weeks of research and communication with experts in the field of the effects of 5G on human health. It was therefore heartening to see the media recently take on this controversial topic.
The key sentence in this Stuff article is an eloquent quote from University of Auckland psychology professor Susan Pockett: “Approximately 600 peer-reviewed research reports from a range of international scientists show us that radio frequency radiation is linked to [multiple medical conditions including] infertility, diabetes, various kinds of cancer and psychiatric disorders”.
In fact, the research on the health effects of 5G is even more extensive than that quoted by in that article with tens of thousands published over the last 80 years. This huge database clearly refutes the industry funded research that claims no harmful effects from EMF’s (here and here).
As the Stuff article mentions, “more than 200 scientists have written to the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) expressing concerns about potential health risks from the technology”. Whilst RF radiation was classified as Group 2B in 2011, a possible human carcinogen (along with lead) after advice from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) there have been further studies since then which have strengthened the association, leading to many scientists calling for EMFs to be classified as a “Group 1 carcinogen” along with tobacco smoke and asbestos.
One of the reasons for the classification of RF’s as class 2B is the original science that only looked at RFs thermal effects. However, the mechanism of adverse health effects has been demonstrated by multiple studies to partly be through oxidative stress and affects most human cell components, including our DNA. These effects occur at levels very much lower than that needed to ‘cook us’. Along with these effects is RFs ability to cause an individual to be sensitised to EMF (known as electrohypersensitivity (EHS).
High profile individuals with EHS include, for instance, Gro Harlem Brundtland (the former 3-time Prime Minister of Norway and former Director General of the World Health Organization); Matti Niemela (former Nokia Technology chief); as well as the wife of Frank Clegg (who formerly headed Microsoft Canada and is current head of Canadians for Safe Technology). Frank Clegg is the man sitting beside Washington State University Professor in this video summary of the issues of 5G at a “Health in Buildings Roundtable” sponsored by the National Institute of Health & co-organized by the USA CDC.
The WHO has ‘appeared’ to be proactive by launching a paper for public comment in 2014 on RF fields and health. However, it turned out that five of the six members of the Core Group in charge of the paper are affiliated with International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), an industry loyal organisation, and thus have a serious conflict of interest.
It therefore seems obvious that the WHO have not learned the lesson of their own report on the underhand tactics of the tobacco industry on health guidelines which concluded that : “Tobacco companies have operated for many years with the deliberate purpose of subverting the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to control tobacco use. The attempted subversion has been elaborate, well financed, sophisticated, and usually invisible.”
Take that with a dose of evidence that research findings are influenced by the funding source and we humans have a bitter pill to swallow (Huss A, Egger M, Hug K, et al. Source of funding and results of studies of health effects of mobile phone use/ systematic review of experimental studies. Environ Health Perspect 2007%3B 115/ 1–4.)
In spite of the evidence, most countries have done little to reduce exposure and educate people on health hazards from EMFs with levels in most countries actually increasing. Thankfully more enlightened countries like Brussels have called a ban on 5G for now, with the Environment minister Céline Fremault (CDH) telling local media, “The people of Brussels are not guinea pigs whose health I can sell at a profit. We cannot leave anything to doubt.”
In addition 5G is unable to be fully deployed in countries like China and Russia because they have far stricter radiation limits than ours. It is also heartening that some government health authorities have recently taken steps to reduce public exposure to EMFs by regulating use of wireless devices by children and recommending use of wired communication, but much more is needed. An inspiring summary of various organisations , including the American Academy of Paediatrics, efforts to stop the 5G rollout can be found here.
The 5G network is not, as the hype suggests, just to be used for creating cars that talk to each other and for faster internet download speed but will also be used to capture data on citizens that can be sold. I’m sure you have experienced similar situations to the following example. I have a friend who visited a car sales yard, left no details, had not discussed with family, and had not yet looked at any cars on any internet or social media networks but still received feed on their social media and also emails related to buying cars.
In terms of protection, it is not time to bring out the foil caps but there are a number of EMF protection devices. The first, and also the simplest and cheapest is to turn off your Wi-Fi and unplug your portable landline as much as possible. Keep your cellphone as far from your body as possible and certainly don’t carry it in a pocket. Also, use your speakerphone on your cellphone as much as possible.
At the very least, like new medications, we should surely be calling on the 5G industry to prove that EMF’s prove no threat. Our health is more important than having cars that talk to each other or faster movie downloads.