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Washington DC: Environmental Health Trust Scientists and international experts sent a letter to President Biden expressing the urgent need to evaluate the human health and environmental impact of 5G and the proliferation of wireless networks. They call for reducing wireless exposures, an awareness campaign, the development of protective wireless safety limits, addressing occupational exposures an update to the CDC and EPA website pages that downplay the science and an action plan to minimize the health effects of technology to children. The letter addresses the lack of accountability in the US government in regards to non ionizing radiation as the EPA was defunded in 1996.
The letter to President Biden makes 12 recommendations and was accompanied by a scientific briefing on the health and environmental effects of 5G that has been send to policymakers worldwide. In 2019 US medical professionals sent a letter to President Trump calling for urgent action on 5G and wireless networks.
The scientists recommend in their letter to President Biden:
1. A sustainable wired (not wireless) infrastructure: The administration should focus on infrastructure that includes wired networks up to and inside of buildings and evaluate economic opportunities to ensure environmentally sustainable infrastructure.
In anticipating thousands of miles of new transmission lines to be laid to renew the electrical grid, we stress that much-needed expanded access to broadband need not and should not depend on wireless networks but instead on economical wired fiber-optic cable that goes to and through the premises.
2. An immediate halt to the 5G rollout and associated 4G densification.
Consistent with concerns expressed by a number of environmental organizations in this nation and expert advice from experts in other nations, we call for a full halt to the more than 1 million new 5G network antennas and associated cell towers — some slated for neighborhoods and areas of pristine wilderness in our National Parks — and the concomitant destruction of hundreds of thousands of trees and wildlife habitats.
3. An assessment of the energy consumption and climate impact of 5G and 4G densification.
We urge you to include a full life-cycle assessment of the potential impact of wireless antenna densification on climate policy that takes into account growing evidence of substantially increased greenhouse gas emissions if 5G were to be implemented, as well as emissions and pollution analysis related to the extraction, production, transportation, and disposal of materials in the full life cycle of wireless technologies.
4. An assessment of the environmental impact of the 5G network.
The U.S. must first do a comprehensive assessment on the environmental impacts of the hundreds of thousands of new 5G/4G wireless facilities which includes impacts to tree canopy, wildlife habitat, and how millimeter waves will impact insects and pollinators and more.
5. A genuine review of the entire body of scientific research on non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation on human and environmental health
Independent experts and relevant government authorities must conduct a review of the full body of scientific research so that they may develop biologically based federal safety limits for human and wildlife exposures to radiofrequency and magnetic field non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation. The review must engage all relevant U.S. health, science, and environmental agencies (such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Toxicology Program (NTP)) and take into account the ever-growing scientific evidence of immediate and long-term biological impacts as well as the rapidly expanding impacts on climate, wildlife, and our natural world.
6. The development of science-based safety limits for human and wildlife exposures to RFR and non ionizing EMF.
The allowable exposure limits for RFR were adopted in 1996 and have not changed since then. The EPA should develop safety limits based on the scientific research. The United States must also develop exposure limits on magnetic field EMF and other frequencies in the non-ionizing range used in electricity distribution, wireless power transfer and other applications.
7. Appointment of FCC commissioners who are absent of ties to the wireless Industry.
We call on you to end the revolving door through which FCC commissioners come from and return to the telecom industry. The FCC is termed a “Captured Agency” in a Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard Law School report. We ask you to ban all telecom industry executives, lobbyists, and representatives from any advisory or official position in your transition team, cabinet, and administration.
8. Appointment of an interdisciplinary committee at the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) to review the science underlying 5G and wireless networks, to identify major data gaps and uncertainties, and to set priorities for research on health and safety.
This review must systematically consider the full lifetime costs and benefits of 5G and other telecom technologies now on the drawing board and evaluate immediate and long-term climate impacts. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report “An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and Their Families at Overseas Embassies” commissioned by the U.S. State Department cites “directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy” as “the most plausible mechanism” to explain the mystery illness suffered by U.S. Embassy personnel. The NAS must also develop a major interdisciplinary training program for medical and engineering professionals to better understand the impacts of bioelectromagnetics.
9. A multimedia national public awareness education campaign so that people know why and how to reduce exposure to wireless and other non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation.
We also ask that your administration develop and validate a nationwide educational campaign for parents, teachers, and the public so they understand why and how to reduce daily exposures to wireless radiofrequency and other non-ionizing radiation from laptops, cell phones, and the numerous digital devices in our lives today. This includes an update to the public information posted on the websites of the CDC, EPA, National Cancer Institute, and FCC to include straightforward, unambiguous recommendations to reduce exposure to non-ionizing radiation as well as refer to the full results of the National Toxicology Program study and other independent research on wireless and non-ionizing radiation.
10. Promotion of policies that reduce wireless exposures in schools.
Strategies are urgently needed to eliminate sources of radiofrequency radiation in the indoor environment, especially in schools and public buildings. Wi-Fi infrastructure should be replaced with wired networks in the classroom where children spent most of their waking hours.
11. Labor policy that addresses growing occupational exposures.
An investigation by the National Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration into current and projected occupational exposures and practical measures to reduce occupational exposures is urgently needed addressing the range of workplace exposure from hospitals, to schools, to delivery drivers, to electricians working on rooftops, to cell tower climbers.
12. The launch of a task force convened by the Surgeon General on how to minimize health effects of technology on children.
The harmful physical, social, and emotional effects of screens is well documented yet our children’s use of screens is ever increasing.
“Non-ionizing radiation at lower frequencies also can cause biological harm to humans, studies show. As an example, Kaiser Permanente research on prenatal exposures to magnetic field non-ionizing electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation has found increased miscarriage as well as higher incidences of ADHD, obesity, and asthma. While several countries have strict limits on residential exposures, the United States has no regulatory limits whatsoever on allowable exposures to magnetic field non-ionizing EMF.
Recent reports from the Swiss government’s EMF expert advisory group, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and Yale Medicine, confirm the view that legal levels of wireless radiation can damage the health of children, pregnant women, and the medically vulnerable. “
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Watch Biden state that 5G should be studied in this video from a community gathering.
Download the Letters
The letter states, “5G requires hundreds of thousands of new so-called “small” cell towers and billions of new wireless devices, which will use massive amounts of energy in their production, operation, and disposal. 5G antennas are referred to as “hungry, hungry hippos” and “a battery vampire.” Numerous reports have documented the exponentially increased use of energy by 5G and 4G densification and the Internet of Things. Streaming with wireless results in higher greenhouse gas emissions compared to safer, faster, and more secure corded/wired fiber-optic connections. While there may be improvements in energy efficiency for new devices individually, these gains are completely lost in the increases in total demand that will take place with the proliferation of games, videos, other streaming services, and the continued generation of highly addictive apps.”
In France over 500 scientists and professors called to boycott 5G due to the skyrocketing energy consumption of 5G documented in numerous reports stating that “5G is accelerating the destruction of the planet. And not just because of global warming: the mining required to manufacture new technological gadgets has, in some parts of the world, dramatic consequences. In addition to the damage to ecosystems, they are men, women and children working in mines without protection, with rudimentary tools, for a pittance, sometimes under paramilitary or mafia control.”
Over 600 cities in Italy have passed resolutions to halt 5G until safety research has been completed adding to numerous cities around the world. In the United States, the New Hampshire Commission to Study the Environmental and Health Effects of Evolving 5G Technology has released its final report recommending reducing public exposure to radio frequency radiation, measuring RF radiation levels and replacing Wi-Fi with wired (not Wi-Fi) devices. Resolutions to halt 5G have been passed by Hawaii County, Farragut Tennessee, Coconut Creek Florida, and Easton Connecticut. Cities such as Los Altos,Petaluma, Mill Valley, and San Diego County California have adopted policies to restrict 5G small cells near homes. Oregon passed a Bill to study Wi-Fi health effects. Hundreds of scientists and thousands of doctors are calling to halt 5G and reduce exposure to people and the environment.
Numerous environmental groups have written letters and appeals on the issue of the unfettered energy consumption and the harm to trees, bees and wildlife. Greenpeace France released a position on 5G as creating “digital pollution” that will increase carbon emissions, increase e-waste, strip the earth of natural resources and contribute to human tragedies on a global scale. The Green Party of California, Ecologists in Action of Spain, and the Sierra Clubs of California, Washington DC, and Montgomery County Maryland have taken positions for protecting trees/environment and addressing the energy consumption of 5G networks.
