The Health Council of the Netherlands released on September 2, 2020 their evaluation on 5G and health. It was largely based on a World Health Organization draft and report by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, both criticized for not being impartial. The guidelines by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection were recommended to be used, although they have been considered to be insufficient to protect against health hazards.
The full report can be found here.
Abstract: The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) published 2020 updated guidelines on radiofrequency (RF) radiation in the frequency range 100 kHz to 300 GHz. Harmful effects on human health and the environment at levels below the guidelines are downplayed although evidence is steadily increasing. Only thermal (heating) effects are acknowledged and therefore form the basis for the guidelines. Despite the increasing scientific evidence of non-thermal effects, the new ICNIRP guidelines are not lower compared with the previous levels. Expert groups from the WHO, the EU Commission and Sweden are to a large extent made up of members from ICNIRP, with no representative from the many scientists who are critical of the ICNIRP standpoint.
This article is relevant for the implementation of 5G. The full article is free to download and can be found here.
Two members of the EU Parliament, Claus Buchner and Michèle Rivasi, published on June 19, 2020 a document on ICNIRP. It shows the many conflicts of interest that exist among the ICNIRP members.
It clearly also shows that the ICNIRP guidelines should not be used for radiofrequency radiation. At pages 48-49 this is concluded:
“We think that the call for more independent scientific assessment in this area is, for all the arguments mentioned above and in what follows, fully justified. 49 That is the most important conclusion of this report: for really independent scientific advice we cannot rely on ICNIRP. The European Commission and national governments, from countries like Germany, should stop funding ICNIRP. It is high time that the European Commission creates a new, public and fully independent advisory council on non-ionizing radiation. The funds currently allocated to ICNIRP could be used to set up this new organisation. And given the overall rise in R&D funding via Horizon Europe, with a foreseen budget (for 2021-2027) of between 75 and 100 billion euros, funding should in no way constitute an insurmountable hurdle to setting up this new, truly independent, body.”
In a new article the outdated guidelines for radiofrequency radiation by ICNIRP are discussed.
These guidelines are used by many countries. The recent publication by ICNIRP gives even higher levels for exposure compared with the previous ones. Only heating (thermal) effects are considered.
The conclusion in the article is that:
“..the ICNIRP has failed to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of health risks associated with RF radiation. The latest ICNIRP publication cannot be used for guidelines on this exposure.”
The close association between WHO and the ICNIRP has been described in a previous article. Unfortunately, this association seems to have prevented actions on health and the environment. ICNIRP is a private NGO based in Germany that acts pro-industry. In fact, exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation has increased in the society. Now the fifth generation, 5G, of wireless communication is implemented in spite of potential risks to human health and the environment. Our appeal (www.5gappeal.eu) asking for a moratorium until research on risks have been performed has not had any positive response either from EU or the Nordic countries.
Microwave news has now published an update with historical views. It is well worth to read. This information is usually not available to the layman.
At a meeting in Paris on 17 April 2019 Eric van Rongen, the present ICNIRP chairman presented a draft on new ICNIRP guidelines for radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure. The presentation is freely available at the web although labeled as a ’draft – do not cite or quote’.
Most remarkable is that the science on health effects is still based on thermal (heating) effect from RFR just as the evaluations published 1998 and updated in 2009.
In the draft only thermal effects are considered for health effects (page 7). Van Rongen states there is ’No evidence that RF-EMF causes such diseases as cancer’ (page 8).
These comments are based on the power point presentation. However, there is no evidence that non-thermal effects are considered and thus a large majority of scientific evidence on human health effects, not to mention hazards to the environment. Thus the basis for new guidelines is flawed and the whole presentation should be dismissed as scientifically flawed.
If this draft represents the final version on ICNIRP guidelines it is time to close down ICNIRP since their evaluation is not based on science but on selective data such as only thermal effects from RFR, see also www.emfcall.org.
The draft represents a worst-case scenario for public health and represents wishful thinking.
The implementation of the fifth generation, 5G, for wireless communication has been stopped in three cantons in Switzerland (Jura, Geneva and Vaud) until effects on health and environment have been investigated. This is in line with what we have asked for in the 5G appeal, see www.5gappeal.eu.
Thus, we asked for a moratorium until investigations on adverse effects have been studied by independent scientists. The appeal has been signed by more than 230 scientists and medical doctors.
In the article “World Health Organization, radiofrequency radiation and health – a hard nut to crack (Review)” published in 2017 we showed low levels of radiofrequency radiation in the investigated part of the WHO Geneva building. The conclusion was: Ironically enough, whether knowingly or not, the WHO staff seems to protect themselves from high involuntary RF radiation levels at least in the measured areas within the Geneva building.
Those employed at the WHO office in Geneva will now be protected from 5G radiation. The question is if this is justified since people in most parts of the world are not protected and WHO seems not to take action for prevention. As discussed in the article WHO seems to rely on a small group of scientists in the biased ICNIRP group.
It is written that as the highest local health authority, Mayor Dario Nardella is officially committed “to elaborate an overall plan, in agreement with the competent authorities, for the installations of the 5G technology before issuing individual authorizations in view of the application of the Precautionary Principle and public health”, “carefully evaluating any authorization for 5G installations in the territory of the municipality of Florence”.
Florence, after the Stop5G vote expressed by the XII Municipality of Roma, is therefore the first city in Italy to have formally approved the concerns of the political-institutional world on the dangers originated from the fifth generation wireless, recalled in the motion the ambiguity and the ‘uncertainty of supranational and private organizations (such as ICNIRP) that “have very different positions from each other, despite the huge evidence of published studies”, considering that “it would now be established that 5G causes damage to the human body, such as DNA strand breaks”, as the extensive independent biomedical literature produced by the authoritative American biochemist Martin Pall has evaluated.
See news in Italian here.
Our research group published recently a study on radiofrequency (RF) radiation in schools using an exposimeter. RF emissions in the classroom were measured by the teachers in order to approximate the children’s exposure. Teachers in grades 7–12 carried a body-borne exposimeter, EME-Spy 200, in school during 1–4 days of work. Eighteen teachers from seven schools participated. The mean exposure to RF radiation ranged from 1.1 to 66.1 μW/m2. The highest mean level, 396.6 μW/m2, occurred during 5 min of a lesson when the teacher let the students stream and watch YouTube videos. Maximum peaks went up to 82,857 μW/m2 from mobile phone uplink. The exposure levels varied between the different Wi-Fi systems, and if the students were allowed to use their own smartphones on the school’s Wi-Fi network or if they were connected to GSM/3G/4G base stations outside the school. An access point over the teacher’s head gave higher exposure compared with a school with a wired Internet connection for the teacher in the classroom. All values were far below International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection’s reference values, but most mean levels measured were above the precautionary target level of 3–6 μW/m2 as proposed by the Bioinitiative Report. The length of time wireless devices are used is an essential determinant in overall exposure. Measures to minimize children’s exposure to RF radiation in school would include preferring wired connections, allowing laptops, tablets and mobile phones only in flight mode and deactivating Wi-Fi access points, when not used for learning purposes.
In Table 10 in the article examples of methods to reduce children’s exposure to RF radiation in schools are given
1. Wired connection to both teachers and students and no wireless networks or devices in school is the optimal choice. If this is not possible:
2. Wired connection to each classroom
a. to the teacher’s laptop,
b. for the students to download large files and videos.
3. To reduce exposure from Wi-Fi networks in school:
a. turn off Wi-Fi access points when not used for learning purposes,
b. position Wi-Fi access points outside of classrooms,
c. use directional Wi-Fi access points, which radiate into the direction of the client’s device.
4. Keep laptops and tablets in flight mode when Internet is not needed for learning purposes.
5. Wired connection to a landline telephone in each classroom could minimize the need for mobile phones for contact.
6. Mobile phones, including smart phones, could be left at home or collected in turned off mode. If allowed, they should be carried only in flight mode during school hours.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Exposure of humans to low-intensity microwave (MW) radiation under some circumstances leads to several medical conditions, including headache, chronic fatigue, and even cancer. Mechanisms of these effects in many cases may depend on oxidative stress caused by MW exposure. Our study aims to assess oxidative stress features in embryonic cells under low-intensity MW exposure in the first stage of embryogenesis. Methods: Embryos of Japanese quails were exposed in ovo to low-intensity MW of global system for mobile communication (GSM) 900 MHz (0.25 μW/cm2) during 158-360 h discontinuously (48 c – ON, 12 c – OFF) before and in the initial stages of development. The levels of superoxide (O2•−), nitrogen oxide (NO•), and 8-oxo-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) were assessed in cells of 38-h, 5-, and 10-day exposed embryos and compared to the control group. Lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence was used for assessment of GSM modulation role in MW-induced oxidative effects. Results: A significant persistent overproduction of superoxide, nitrogen oxide, and 8-oxo-dG in GSM MW-exposed embryonic cells during all periods of analyses was detected. Conclusion: Exposure of developing quail embryos to low-intensity MW of GSM 900 MHz during the first stages of embryogenesis resulted in a significant overproduction of superoxide and nitrogen oxide and oxidative damages of DNA in embryonic cells. These effects were interpreted to be depended on the GSM modulation of MW.
The article can be found here.
Comment: This is a very interesting and important study. Embryos of Japanese quails were exposed to radiofrequency (RF) radiation using GSM 900 MHz. The average intensity of RF radiation on the surface of hatching eggs in the exposed group was 2 500 μW/m2 (0.25 μW/cm2). SAR was calculated to 3 μW/kg. A control group with no exposure was used. A statistically significant overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative damage of DNA in living cells was reported. The exposure was far below the guideline still provided by ICNIRP for RF radiation as 2 to 10W/m2 depending on frequency and 2 W/kg to the brain. The results in the study show that the ICNIRP guidelines are outdated, see our previous discussion. Moreover, using a safety factor of 10 would give 250 μW/m2 as guideline, a level easily exceeded in many places, see our measurements at Stockholm Central Railway Station and Stockholm Old Town.
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