Speculation linking 5G mobile telephony and data networks to a range of health threats, has been rife. Some claims even go to the extent of attributing the current COVID-19 pandemic to the initial rollouts of 5G networks. Unfortunately, a lot of opinions aired do not come with a high degree of credibility and amount to no more than flights of fancy. Some of them even claim that there is no virus and that all the health effects are caused by 5G.

Read more at: https://www.csir.co.za/documents/5g-technical-articlepdf

CONTACT PERSON

Dr Moshe Masonta

mmasonta@csir.co.za

RELATED INFORMATION

https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-enterprises-and-institutions

https://www.csir.co.za/nextgen-health

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Safety limits and the deployment of the 5G MIMO towers

Will the deployment of the 5G MIMO towers in India will be challenging because of the lower safety limits for emissions from cell towers? India has implemented safety limits for emissions of radiation from cell towers that are 1/10 of the ICNIRP guidelines. Presentation by Christer Törnevik, Senior Expert, EMF and Health, Ericsson Research, Stockholm, at the TU Workshop on 5G, EMF & Health Warsaw, December 5 2017, shows the problem: S3_Christer_Tornevik

Below is shown the distribution of radiation from 5G MIMO tower, located on the top of the high-rise building, when the radiation limit is 1/10 of the ICNIRP guidelines.In this setting placing 5G MIMO cell tower on top of the building is not possible without breaking the exposure limits in the apartments located at the top levels of the building.

Below is the distribution of radiation from 5G MIMO tower, located on the top of the high-rise building, when the radiation limit is 1/100 of the ICNIRP guidelines. In this setting placing 5G MIMO cell tower on top of the building is impossible without breaking the exposure limits.

Those who wondered why the industry does not ask ICNIRP to lower exposure limits when the devices emit only fraction of allowed radiation level. This is the reason why the telecom industry is resistant to ideas of lowering exposure limits even if the currently used devices would allow to do so. One never knows what the power will be needed for the devices developed in the future.

Example of the problem is as illustrated above from India. Citizens complained about cell tower radiation. Limits were lowered. Now there will be problems with 5G deployment. It is “easy” to lower the limit but it is very difficult to bring it back to higher level when needed…

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Brief Report from the 5G session at the EMERG meeting in Australia

Meeting of the EMERG, Electromagnetic Energy Reference Group

@ ARPANSA in Yallambie/Melbourne, Australia on May 8, 2018

The 5G Technology session

Slides are available for download from Between a Rock and A Hard Place

Excerpts:

Mike Wood of AMTA – Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association:

• 4G LTE is reaching its maximum capacity
• Commercial launch of 5G in Australia is expected in 2020 and mass adoption of 5G will be in 2025
• Launch of 5G networks will come first (MIMO, massive input massive output, – antennas will be similar in size to 4G antennas but of squared shape)
• At first the 5G will work together with 4G: 4G macro connectivity (cell towers) 5G micro-connectivity (small cells)
• Later on 5G will also stand alone, without 4G (?): 5G will provide macro-connectivity (MIMO towers) and micro-connectivity (small cells; millimeter-waves 30-100GHz)
• Launch of 5G handsets will come later – first handsets with 3G, 4G and 5G connectivity expected in 2020 –2021
• Small cells will be deployed throughout neighborhoods as hot spots to which households will connect
• 5G will be complementary to the fixed internet systems = 5G is not intended to replace the wired internet
• Advantages of 5G: enhanced broadband connectivity – more data and faster
  • Latency of data transfer in 5G will be down to 1 millisecond – nearly instantaneous what is necessary for successful robotics; e.g. surgeon operating on patient located far away using robot will be possible with the 1 millisecond latency
  • In 4G the latency was 40-50 millisecond
• Environmental EMF levels may increase slightly (near to sites) with the addition of 5G networks

(DL: what is slight increase in EMF levels for AMTA is still unclear; AMTA confirms that 5G devices must comply with safety standards; safety standards are still not defined by neither ICNIRP nor WHO EMF Project; there are plans to allow higher exposures than current safety limits permit. 

Few notes from Dariusz Leszczynski’s presentation

• The problem with 5G deployment and health safety
  • Deployment of technology is based on an assumed lack of health hazard
  • The assumed lack of health hazard might be false; in past it happened with cell phones – deployment with the assumption of no health risk but subsequent research has shown radiation to be a possible human carcinogen
  • Very limited biomedical research on 5G-emitted novel radiation (millimeter-waves) shows potentially hazardous outcomes on humans and environment
• Serious limitations of biomedical research on millimeter-waves
  • Very limited number of studies; EMF Portal (www.emf-portal.org) lists only <200 studies; few more on PubMed database
  • Lack of studies examining responses of human physiology to exposure (human volunteer studies)
  • Lack of studies on chronic exposures
  • Published studies came from a very limited number of research groups
  • Lack of replication studies confirming correctness of the observations
• False assumption that because the radiation will be absorbed by skin only thus, there will be no major health problem – it is just skin – false assumption from the EMF engineers – skin is the largest organ in human body and plays vital role in regulation of immune responses and is host to a multitude of microorganisms that regulate normal human physiology, it is not just a “coat” covering the body! (e.g. Sanford JA, Gallo RL. Semin Immunol 25, 2013: 370–377)

Few notes from Andrew Wood’s presentation

• As a scientist, Andrew Wood agrees that more research needs to be done
• Andrew Wood considers that the current basic restrictions for the millimeter-waves exposures to humans, based on thermal mechanisms, are adequate to protect from any unwanted health effects
• Reviewed some of the research studies (see slides for details)
  • Interesting studies from Marvin Ziskin who has shown that application of millimeter-waves in some area of skin induces a biological response in other, distant from the exposure area, place
  • Ziskin work suggested that the millimeter-waves can induce non-thermal effects
  • However, Andrew Wood suspects that thermal mechanisms played role in Ziskin’s therapy applications of millimeter-waves
  • Ziskin was awarded in 2011, for his research in EMF, the highest honor of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) – the d’Arsonval Award

Presentation #4 by Rodney Croft, Wollongong University, ACEBR and ICNIRP

Rodney Croft refused to share his slides claiming that these might be misunderstood out of the context of the EMERG meeting.

• Rodney Croft, when asked about the EHC for RF-EMF being prepared by the WHO EMF Project, said that he knows nothing about any personnel changes to the core group of the scientists who will be preparing draft document for the working group that will finalize the EHC for RF-EMF. Croft also commented that he does not know that any systematic reviews will be prepared to replace the earlier version documents prepared under the guidance of ICNIRP. These were quite surprising responses – either Croft was under-informed or the WHO EMF Project is just “playing games”…

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