Crystallising the potential of 5G

Editor — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 10:51:51 +0000

Written by Patrizia Toia on 5 December 2019 in Opinion

About the author

Patrizia Toia (IT, S&D) is vice chair of the Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee.

The coming of 5G seems to offer huge potential but realising this safely and effectively will require detailed investigation and careful planning.

The diffusion of mobile telephony ﬁrst and the subsequent introduction of smartphones have created a “revolution in the revolution”. This is because they have brought all the disruptive power of digital technology into the pockets of all citizens, opening the door to a range of applications that are fundamentally changing our society and our economy.

However, all these innovations have hit a limit created by the capacity of mobile devices to connect to the internet with sufficient bandwidth, reliability and minimal latency.

The introduction of the ﬁfth generation of mobile connection, 5G, now promises to overcome the current limitations of existing mobile devices. More importantly, 5G could enable a new wave of technologies and applications, based on its novel infrastructure for smart cities, advanced manufacturing, healthcare systems and connected cars.

This is why every country in the world is investing in accelerating this change. The USA, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are competing with EU to be the ﬁrst to develop a fully-functioning 5G network and reap the potential beneﬁts for the economy.

The European Union’s connectivity goals for 2025 – including 5G coverage in all urban areas – is set out in its Communication on Connectivity for a Competitive Digital Single Market – Towards a European Gigabit Society. It foresees a budget estimated at €500 billion.

However, the introduction of 5G is a more complicated issue than a simple international race of investments and deployment. There are doubts over the safety of the new wireless connections, which are slowing down the deployment of the new 5G infrastructure.

This is why work on 5G infrastructure in the city of Brussels has stopped. Moreover, public and private actors are reluctant to invest large sums in a technology where the business model that will transform those investments into proﬁts remains nebulous.

These are urgent issues that have to be addressed at European level. This is why I recently forwarded a written question to the European Commission on the assessment of the impact of 5G in real world conditions.

A study recently presented to the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy noted that the impact of 5G technology and radiation in real world conditions is still to be properly assessed; indeed, it is not yet possible to do this accurately.

World Health Organization: setting the standard for a wireless world of harm

Editor — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 14:12:38 +0000

A document by Olga Sheean regarding the special interests behind WHO’s wireless safety standards.

Excerpt from pdf: Lentegeur Cape Town South Africa
Broken-hearted
My name is Amanda Collins and I live with my 12-year-old daughter Skyla
[pictured in the pdf] in Lentegeur —a suburb on the outskirts of Cape Town. Aged
four, Skyla was diagnosed with autism and ADD and attends a ‘special needs’
school. Since the installation of a cell tower, 10 metres from our home, around
a year ago, I have noticed a complete change in Skyla’s demeanour. She has
retracted back into the shell she was starting to escape from and become quiet,
introverted and rarely initiates conversations.
My heart is broken as I do not know how to help my daughter. I too am suffering and have learnt to live with buzzing in my ears, difficulty falling asleep at night, as well as regular headaches. I now keep a supply of pain pills on hand.
My crowning glory used to be my hair, which was thick, straight and shiny. Today, I hardly recognize myself in the mirror as my hair has become wiry and dry.
Under Apartheid, my community was disenfranchised. It is how I feel once again today!
—Amanda Collins, Cape Town, South Africa.

Olga Sheaan’s document asks:

What kind of world…?
…puts profit before people, the planet and prosperity?
…rejects the kind of science that makes sense of our biology and keeps us safe?
…forces young schoolchildren to be exposed to high levels of microwave radiation?
…penalizes teachers for trying to protect themselves/their students from WiFi radiation?
…dismisses the physical suffering of millions of global citizens with microwave sickness?
…has governments that refuse to acknowledge or talk to their constituents about the wireless
technology deployed without their consent and without limits, monitoring or control?
…employs industry-biased/-funded ‘experts’ to downplay the dangers of wireless technology?
…fails to advise the public of the dangers identified by the telecoms industry itself?
What kind of World Health Organization condones worldwide harm in favour of industry?

The pdf is available at this link:

WHO Harm

The post World Health Organization: setting the standard for a wireless world of harm appeared first on EMFSA.

Profits Archives - EMFSA

Crystallising the potential of 5G

World Health Organization: setting the standard for a wireless world of harm