AUTHOR
This study has been written by Dr Fiorella Belpoggi, BSc, PhD, International Academy of Toxicologic Pathology Fellow (IATPF), Ramazzini Institute, Bologna (Italy), at the request of the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) and managed by the Scientific Foresight Unit, within the Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament.

The scoping review search was performed by Dr Daria Sgargi, PhD, Master in Biostatistics, and Dr Andrea Vornoli, PhD in Cancer Research, Ramazzini Institute, Bologna.

Conclusions

Link to the PDF https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2021/690012/EPRS_STU(2021)690012_EN.pdf

ISBN 978-92-846-8030-6 | doi: 10.2861/657478 | QA-09-21-134-EN-N

Excerpt:

7.2 Revising the exposure limits for the public and the environment in order to reduce RF exposures from cell towers

“…one policy option might be to revise residential and public exposure maxima throughout Europe. Levels could be reduced by at least 10 times, i.e. to around 6 V/m, which is an exposure level at which no cancer effects in experimental animals have been observed. 6 V/m seems also to be the precautionary limit where no adverse effects on fertility are concerned. It may sound impracticably low if we are to expand telecommunications by 5G, but it is not so.

In Italy, for example, the law sets a top limit of 20V/m, though wherever people are constantly exposed for over four hours (homes, workplaces, schools, centres of congregation, etc.) the critical value is set at 6 V/m. This limit is very close to the 5 V/m we mentioned before as being safe for experimental animals. NOAEL values (“No Observed Adverse Effect Level”) in experimental studies are commonly used in risk assessments and research (Gaylor, 1999).

In many Italian towns, including Bologna, 5G has already been operating at a frequency of 3600 MHz. Monitoring data show that the mean exposure in the municipality of Bologna was 1.97 V/m for 2019 (peaking at 4.62 V/m in one specific instance). Statistics for 2020 are still being processed, but in no cases have the values prescribed by Italian law been exceeded. For the moment, then, it does seem possible to develop new installations whilst keeping within the legal limit.

Another example is Paris. The city has reached an agreement with France’s four main mobile network operators aimed at introducing stricter network radiation norms. The RF-EMF exposure limit was lowered to 5 V/m from the previous 7 V/m for indoor spaces, representing a 30 percent reduction at the frequency reference of 900 MHz, setting a lower limit than the one adopted in Brussels (6 V/m) or Rome (6 V/m). The agreement, approved by the municipality of Paris in 2017, also includes plans for a new monitoring service to help measure EMF levels within buildings. Brussels is a third example of the adoption of a 6 V/m lower limit.

7.5 Promoting information campaigns on 5G
Unfortunately, there is a lack of information on the potential harms of RF-EMF. The information gap creates scope for deniers as well as alarmists, giving rise to social and political tension in many EU countries (OECD, 2017). Campaigns to inform the citizens should be therefore a priority.

Information campaigns should be carried out at all levels, beginning with schools. They should show the potential health risks, but also the opportunities for digital development, what infrastructural alternatives exist for 5G transmission, the safety measures (exposure limits) taken by the EU and Member States, and the correct use of the mobile phone. Only by sound and accurate information can we win back citizen trust and reach a shared agreement over a technological choice which, if properly managed, can bring great social and economic benefits.

Also see:

Environmental impacts of 5G, a study by Arno Thielens, Ghent University, Belgium, at the request of the Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) and managed by the Scientific Foresight Unit, within the Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (EPRS) of the Secretariat of the European Parliament.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_STU(2021)690021

https://www.emfsa.co.za/news/environmental-impacts-of-5g/

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Source: ANFR https://www.anfr.fr/toutes-les-actualites/actualites/les-constellations-de-satellites-de-telecommunications-des-origines-a-nos-jours/

(Auto-translated from French)

In the field of radiocommunications, engineers have always favored high points to install transmitters and receivers: going upwards allows very wide areas to be covered and thus reduces deployment costs. The conquest of space has created the possibility of placing transceivers on artificial satellites that fly over the Earth in outer space, and thus opened up new prospects for long-distance communications. It was in 1960 that the first “telecommunications satellite”, Echo I, a simple reflector, was launched. Its successors will, for their part, quickly embed receivers and transmitters capable of amplifying the received signal before retransmitting it. The projects of constellations of telecommunications satellites do not date from yesterday.

Extract:

The 2010s: non-geostationary constellations

In June 2013, the first four satellites of the O3b constellation were launched. O3b is the acronym for “other 3 billion”, in reference to the three billion inhabitants of the planet who do not yet have an internet. It is a constellation in medium orbit at an altitude of 8,000 km in the equatorial plane, operating in the Ka band. Today, twenty satellites built by Thalès Alenia Space are in orbit and others have been ordered. 

OneWeb, for its part, is a constellation project of around 600 satellites in low orbit at an altitude of 1,200 km, in Ku-band for links with end-users and in Ka-band for links with gateway stations. It currently has 110 satellites in orbit built by a joint company between Airbus and OneWeb. 

The American giant Starlink of the company SpaceX has, meanwhile, already deployed 1,152 satellites and eventually plans 12,000 satellites. 

Amazon is also considering the deployment of 3,236 satellites as part of its Kuiper project. 

In February 2021, Thalès Alenia Space was selected to build the constellation of 298 satellites of the Canadian Telesat. 

Finally, the European Commission announced a project for a European sovereign constellation to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the European Union. In December 2020, it selected a consortium made up of Airbus, Arianespace, Eutelsat, Hispasat, OHB, Orange, SES, Telespazio and Thalès Alenia Space to study the design, development and launch of an independent European space system. communications. 

Efficient operation 

Satellites communicate on the one hand with gateways, which provide interconnection with terrestrial networks and, on the other hand, with smaller end-user terminals in private homes or businesses. As with terrestrial microwave systems which operate in the same frequency bands, the width of the transmission cone is very narrow, just a few degrees. This strong directivity of the antennas makes it possible to share the frequency bands between several constellations of satellites, with geostationary satellite networks as well as with terrestrial networks. 

The complexity of satellites and associated ground equipment varies from one constellation to another. Some operate like conventional satellites, retransmitting signals received from a user directly to a gateway. Others are more sophisticated and provide on-board signal processing, as well as inter-satellite links. These inter-satellite links make it possible to deploy a real mesh network in space, and communications no longer need to pass through certain territories. However, all of the data exchanged between users and satellites must be brought down to Earth: constellations, like high-capacity geostationary satellites, need many gateway stations to ensure this flow. 

Some of the frequencies of these constellations have been declared by France to the ITU . This is the case for the frequencies of the Globalstar constellation, part of the frequencies of OneWeb and O3b. Other French rights registered by ANFR at the ITU could prove to be of interest for future constellation projects. For its part, ARCEP issues authorizations for operators, as it has just done for terminals and gateways in the Starlink / SpaceX constellation in France. 

In terms of constellation, some are already seeing further. Thus, the European Space Agency is studying a constellation of satellites around the Moon in order to develop communication and radio navigation capabilities within the framework of the Moonlight project and to facilitate future missions to the Moon. 

Read the complete article at: https://www.anfr.fr/toutes-les-actualites/actualites/les-constellations-de-satellites-de-telecommunications-des-origines-a-nos-jours/

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In order to discuss these issues, the STOA Panel is organising this virtual workshop. The workshop will be structured around three main questions, which the panellists have been asked to address:

Q1. Is the 2020 International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) risk assessment of the health and environmental effects of electromagnetic fields, sufficiently robust and reliable for protective policymaking?

Q2. Are the ICNIRP recommended exposure limits for electromagnetic fields, which are based mainly on short term tissue heating effects, sufficiently protective to avoid harm from lower level, longer term exposures that are below the ICNIRP limits.

Q3. Is there enough independent research into the health and environmental effects of 5G, which would help to reassure the public and help minimise future liabilities?

PROGRAMME

10:00-10:05 – WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

– Michèle Rivasi, MEP and STOA Panel Member

– Ivo Hristov, MEP and STOA Panel Member

10:05-11:05 – HEALTH IMPACT OF 5G

– Fiorella Belpoggi, Ramazzini Institute, Bologna, Italy

– Elisabeth Cardis, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Spain

– Rodney Croft, International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)

– Franz Karcher, DG Sante, European Commission

11:05-11:35 – ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF 5G

– Arno Thielens, Ghent University – imec, Ghent, Belgium

– Gerard Ledoigt, Clermont Université, Clermont-Ferrand, France

11:35-12:00 – Q&A FROM THE AUDIENCE AND CLOSING REMARKS

– Q&A from the audience

– Ivo Hristov, MEP and STOA Panel Member

– Michèle Rivasi, MEP and STOA Panel Member

Moderator: David Gee, Institute of Environment, Health, and Societies, Brunel University, London, UK

The information on how to join and follow the event will be available closer to the event date.

Source: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/en/events/details/health-and-environmental-impacts-of-5g/20201127WKS03121

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Letter regarding a proposal for the European Union to create a communication strategy that provides reliable information related to EMF and radio equipment including 5G to the Member States and European Citizens by:
Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland and Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden.

Link to the letter: https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/POLITICO-Letter-EMF5G-disinformation-15-countries.pdf

Excerpt:

“……. the fears and worries of those people that are opposed to introducing 5G for reasons relating to EMF concerns have to be taken seriously. In this context, a broad and inclusive debate will ultimately contribute to creating trust among citizens regarding the actions towards continuous development of the mobile networks. Recent events show that joint actions in this field are needed.”

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In a document outlining recommendations for the development of high speed fibre and 5G services across the economic bloc, it called on European Union countries to work on a common approach to address hurdles currently hampering deployments.

Included in the issues it aims to tackle are a reduction in 5G deployment costs, removal of unnecessary administrative hurdles, and support of cross-border services in the transport and industrial sectors.

It added it was essential to “avoid or minimise any delays in granting access to radio spectrum to ensure timely deployment of 5G”.

Among the suggested policies, the EC said a deadline of four months should be imposed for granting or declining permission for civil works associated with high-speed network deployment. It also called for “timely and investment-friendly access to 5G radio spectrum”.

Read more at: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/european-commission-pushes-for-action-on-5g

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