Twenty-Four Canadian Groups Say: Suspend 5G Until Proven Safe

Appeal to the Government of Canada “Look Before We Leap”

For Immediate Release

May 14, 2020

Ottawa: Scientists and citizens groups from across Canada are demanding the right to say “No” to 5G in their neighbourhoods. Twenty four Canadian groups are banding together and appealing to the Trudeau government for a national moratorium on 5G roll out, until questions about its human health effects are resolved.

“This has nothing to do with Covid-19. All groups launching this Appeal condemn acts of violence such as burning antenna towers” said one of the organizers. “The Parliamentary Health Committee has been investigating the negative health impacts of cell phones, cell towers and Wi-Fi for over a decade. So far the only assurance that it’s safe comes from the wireless companies profiting from it, but scientists disagree.”

“Health Canada’s 2015 guidelines for human exposure to non-ionizing radiation (Safety Code 6) were out of date before they were published, and the review process was flawed,” said Dr. Meg Sears, PhD, Chair of Ottawa based Prevent Cancer Now, one of the signatory groups. “Hundreds of peer-reviewed, published studies show that radiofrequency (RF) radiation can cause cancers, damage sperm and DNA, impair reproduction, learning and memory, and more. We should be limiting public exposure, not increasing it.”

“We have sufficient data to classify RF radiation as a Group 1, known human carcinogen, along with, for example, asbestos and tobacco smoke,” states Dr. Anthony Miller MD, Professor Emeritus of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, who worked with the International Agency for Research on Cancer on the 2011 scientific review. Dr. Miller is a signatory to the appeal.

The groups from across Canada have joined forces to request that Health Canada engage broadly and complete, for the first time, a comprehensive and rigorous assessment of effects of RF radiation on the health of Canadians.

Numerous 4G and 5G micro-cell antennae are appearing in neighbourhoods with no prior notice, some even being mounted on utility poles close to the bedroom windows of children. Such a disregard for the potential health consequences is definitely unCanadian.

“The proponents would prefer that we hear only about the up-side – the additional billions in purported revenues from 5G – but there is little recognition of the increased costs,” said Frank Clegg, former President of Microsoft Canada and CEO of Canadians For Safe Technology.

“Canadians deserve a full economic analysis including the unspoken increased costs to our healthcare system, which is particularly stressed right now. Also the lost productivity from adverse health effects; security and privacy breaches; increased energy consumption; damage to the environment; and risks to safety and property should be included. We are living in a different world than we were three months ago, and this is a standard cost-benefit analysis that might open the eyes of the public that is paying for it,” said Clegg.

Jean Hudon of the Quebec based campaign Stoppons la 5G summarizes, “Canadians are asking the Government of Canada to place a moratorium on the 5G spectrum auctions as well as the rollout of small cell antennas until Safety Code 6 is updated and the full economic assessment is completed. Current federal funding should be devoted to a robust fibre optic infrastructure, which has zero negative health impacts.”

The Appeal requests that Ottawa give local governments and their citizens proper notification and grant them a decisive say over the placement of cell towers and small cell antennas.