gabe@gabegold.com
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2019 15:36:27 -0400
The Feds Try To End the Debate Over 5G Health Concerns' Data Sheet
It's the question everyone wants to go away: are 5G wireless networks safe or are they a risk to human health?
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug
Administration tried to put the question to bed once more. The FCC announced
it would hold its radio frequency exposure limits for cell phones, cellular
towers, and other wireless gear at current levels. The use of some new
frequencies as part of the 5G rollout did not change the situation, the
agency said. After a review of the scientific record and consultations with
health agencies, ``we find it appropriate to maintain the existing radio
frequency limits, which are among the most stringent in the world for cell
phones,'' Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology, said. That came backed with excerpted comments from Jeffrey
Shuren, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices
and Radiological Health. The ``available scientific evidence to date does
not support adverse health effects in humans due to exposures at or under
the current limit'' and ``[n]o changes to the current standards are
warranted at this time,'' Shuren explained in a letter cited in part by the
FCC.
That's also the same conclusion that the scientific association the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE, came to back in
February, when it completed a review of recommended exposure limits and also
agreed to maintain them at current levels.
But the announcements are unlikely to end the debate
<https://fortune.com/2019/05/22/health-concerns-5g-cellphones-cancer/>.
Worriers can point to a few studies and the decision by the World Health
Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify
cellular radio waves as a possible carcinogen back in 2011. And countries
like Belgium and Switzerland have delayed 5G networks over health concerns.
On the other side, research from the American Cancer Society and the
National Institutes of Health, among others, have concluded there are no
risks. And so round it goes. The WHO has a vast, new study underway that,
perhaps, will offer a more definitive result. For a truly deep dive, check
out the page maintained by the National Cancer Institute on cell phones and
cancer research
<https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/cell-phones-fact-sheet>.
https://fortune.com/2019/08/09/the-feds-try-to-end-the-debate-over-5g-health-concerns-data-sheet/