Theodora Scarato MSW is the Executive Director of Environmental Health Trust (EHT), a scientific think tank that publishes research and educates policymakers on environmental health issues.
She is a co-author of a chapter in the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments Nursing’s textbook explaining how wireless radiation is an environmental exposure and an emerging health issue. Numerous studies have linked EMFs to a wide variety of health endpoints such as brain cancer, DNA damage, oxidative stress, immune dysfunction, altered brain development, damaged reproduction, sleep changes, hyperactivity, and memory damage.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from cell phones and wireless are scientifically linked to several health issues. Many doctors and governments around the world educate people on how to reduce exposure, especially for children. Scarato was a co-author of the comprehensive review paper Building science and radiofrequency radiation: What makes smart and healthy buildings published in Building And Environment after the conference at the National Institute of Health conference. Scarato has presented at both the 2019 and 2021 Medical Conferences on Electromagnetic Fields. In 2021 she presented at the Chamber of Electrical Engineers Istanbul Branch Conference ” The Electromagnetic Fields and Their Effects 2021 – EMANET 2021.
As a petitioner in the historic lawsuit EHT et al., v the FCC, Scarato, and EHT have spearheaded efforts to strengthen U.S. wireless radiation limits. Scarato has published research on international policy and maintains EHT’s renowned EMF policy database. Scarato has lectured at the National Institutes of Health, the New Hampshire State 5G Commission, the University of California San Francisco, and several international conferences.
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Wildlife at Risk
The FCC’s current FCC radiofrequency radiation (RFR) emissions limits apply to human exposures. They do not address wildlife, plants, or trees. Birds perch and nest on cell towers. Bats and bees and other airborne species occupy air space in close proximity to transmitting cell antennas. Wireless network densification increases RFR levels (El-Hajj & Naous, 2020) and with over 800,000 new cell sites projected for the 5G buildout, environmental effects need to be properly examined because ambient RFR is increasing in wildlife habitats.
A landmark three-part research review on the effects on wildlife was published in Reviews on Environmental Health in 2021 by U.S. experts, including former U.S. Fish and Wildlife senior biologist Albert Manville. The authors reviewed and cited more than 1,200 scientific references. These experts concluded that the evidence was adequate to trigger urgent regulatory action. The review found adverse biological effects on wildlife from even very low-intensity non-ionizing radiation emissions at multiple orders of magnitude below current FCC-allowed levels (Levitt et al., 2021a, Levitt et al., 2021b, Levitt et al., 2021c).
